November 26, 2007 - Erik keeps progressing . . .

Hello Everyone! First we hope that you all were able to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday. We certainly enjoyed the long weekend together! We want to give an update on Erik. He continues to make progress and he is working very hard these days to be included and let us know he has "input"! He is moving his right side (weakened from the seizure in 2005) more and more. When we lay him down in the morning upon waking, he moves his right side so much that you would not even recognize a weakness if you did not know he had one! What a wonderful thing! Thanks again to all of you for your continued prayers and support. We are so excited to be sharing Erik's progress with all of you! Our prayers continue to be focused on the following key areas: - continued total restoration for Erik - that he will walk on his own - that his speech will return - thanks for the healing God has extended to Erik to date - thanks for the small "steps of progress" God gives us to keep our faith and hope alive Love in Christ, Erik's Family

October 25, 2007 - Accomplishments

Hello Everyone! Things are continuing to improve for Erik. We are enjoying watching him get better with time. On October 2, 2007 his Speech Therapist was working with him on taking some thickened liquids by mouth with a spoon. We suggested she try the cup because Erik has always loved drinking out of a cup. He opened his mouth when he saw it coming, he took a sip, and he swallowed immediately! He did all of the things he needed to do to successfully drink. It was awesome since we have not seen that in 18-24 months!!!!!! Erik also is rolling all over the place now. If we place him on the floor, he rolls and rolls, and rolls! This is unbelievable! He has to learn everything all over again and this is what makes all of these successes so important. The good thing about this accomplishment is that he is also changing his position during the night. We position him on his side and he wakes up on his back or even on his belly! He was waking up during the night and we are now thinking that maybe he was waking up because he wanted to re-position himself but couldn't. We would change his position and then he would sleep more. This was fine but still interrupted sleep. We are still trying to stabilize his seizures and are changing his medications. This is always tough and he has had some seizure activity. it is good to see that although this is a challenge, he is still motivated to do new things and show us what he can do. He is so proud once he does something too and this is awesome to see! The week of October 14th, we noticed that Erik was actually trying to keep something in his right hand. To date, his right hand has not been able to hold onto things. We placed something that he liked in his hand and when he felt/heard it slipping, we could see his fingers move in an attempt to not drop it! This was wonderful! Especially since we have been told that he may not be able to have full use of his right hand as a result of all that he has been through. We have continued to stretch, help him hold things, and not give up and it seems to be paying off! You may be like us wondering why all of this is happening in a matter of 2-3 weeks. We cannot say for sure but we are thinking that he is just feeling better now that the infection has cleared his body. He also may be at a place where he normally would be making progress for his age and is finally able to do new things because he is infection free. In case you want to join in with us, we are specifically praying for: - continued/consistent laughter and emotions for Erik (he shows us more of this daily!) - speech/communication to return - for his back to strengthen allowing him to sit on his own and eventually walk without assistance - subsiding of seizure activity. Thanks to all of you who continue to sincerely pray for Erik and us and know that God is answering our prayers. Love in Christ, Erik's Family

September 26, 2007 - Stronger every day...

Hello all! We are doing fine here. Erik has been working very hard with his teachers and therapists and everyone appears to be impressed with the progress he is making. What a blessing!!! We even have added a few new therapists which is nice because they are trying new things with Erik and so far he is doing well and appears motivated to try new things. Erik has taken a BIG step in that he is turning over these days! He does it when you lay him down and on occasion he will turn over during the night! WOW! As he progresses, he will have to learn everything all over and this is a natural step for him to be taking! We are still working on changing his medications but are happy to report that his sodium levels have been stable of late. Just wanted to send an update to share the GREAT news! Love in Christ, Erik's Family

August 20, 2007 - Remember when...

hello all. We are all doing fine these days. Still closely watching Erik and praising God each day for the blessings he has given us. We are changing his meds and so far he is doing fine. It is difficult when caring for a child with special needs to pay attention to the little things and the progress that comes . . . slowly. God has been good to us and has sent many people to us who have been intentional in reminding us of Erik's progress . . . even when we may not be seeing it. Recently, we have been remembering and reminding each other of these things and would like to share some of them with you. Remember when Erik . . . - was having 60 plus seizures . . . daily - couldn't hold his head up - didn't respond to his parents or siblings - didn't smile or laugh - couldn't focus on faces - was fussy and uncomfortable - either from infection, hunger, pain, etc. - had to have his head held up to eat - had a shunt - had a broviac - use to sleep all of the time. couple of 3 hour naps during the day. - spent long nights, days, weeks at the hospital - when we did not even have to think about driving to Duke - it was like we were on "auto-pilot" - was awake throughout the night - when Erik's history, dates, surgeries, etc. were at the tip of our tongue Remember when Erik was: - in constant pain - having confused doctors and having to tell the same story over and over - when he would only look right - setting the clock for various times in the night to wake up to check on him - the doctors telling us it was only a matter of time - doctors telling us that everything that made him who he was was impacted by the seizure and that he would not even know his parents - telling the doctors that we know the "Great Physician" and knew despite what they were telling us that God would carry us through this. There are so many things we could say - these are just the few that came to mind recently. We are now seeing that our dreams and answered prayers are slowly coming true . . . in God's time. With each day, we are realizing that soon we will be able to say... Remember when Erik: - had an ng tube and couldn't drink on his own - couldn't stand - couldn't walk - when we didn't have to worry about telling Erik to stop running in the house - when he wore a diaper - when he had his wheelchair and how good it was for him - when he couldn't talk - when he had to take sodium citrate to keep his sodium levels up - when he was on seizure medicines. What a wonderful time that will be for Erik and for our family! What a wonderful testimony Erik will have to share! These things we now ask God for are so small compared to what God has brought him through so far. He has made it through so much and is more and more responsive each day. Please continue to pray for us so we can all celebrate together when Erik has accomplished all of the above . . and much more. Love in Christ, Erik's Family

July 23, 2007 - The beach was great . . .

hello all. The beach was GREAT! There are no words to describe what it was like to sit on the beach (one of God's greatest creations in our opinion) with a child that man did not predict would still be with us on Earth today! It was amazing! Erik loved it! He was calm and did not even flinch when the water came up on him. It was wonderful for us to be on the beach with all 4 children!

Thanks to all of you for your prayers. Your prayers have helped us make it through some difficult times. It was wonderful to be lifted up during such a wonderful, happy, fun time with our family. Since our return, Erik has experienced some seizure activity as we have continued to make medication changes. We know that this is "par for the course" when changing medications but this does not make it any easier to get through! Please continue to pray that the new medications will be successful and for our goal of Erik being seizure free! What a wonderful day that will be! We have attached photos that we hope you will be able to see. If you are unable to see these, please know that we will be posting these to the website in the near future. Love in Christ, Erik's Family

June 28, 2007 - All Natural!!!

Yes -it is true. This morning Erik had his broviac removed and now he is all Erik! No artificial parts or pieces! As we think back to even a year ago, it is hard to believe we are where we now find ourselves - with a healthy little boy who smiles at us, knows us, and is working very hard to completely recover. It is truly a miracle and work of God that we are where we are. We are taking a big step this week and are taking the entire family to the beach for the week - Saturday - Saturday. We are very excited about this trip. It will be amazing to sit at the edge of the shore with Erik sitting as well and have the water come up. We cannot wait to see his reaction! Now that the broviac is out, we can give it a few days and then we will be allowed to submerge him in water again. This will be great! Please keep us in your prayers when we come to mind over the next week that it will be an uneventful and restful time for us all! Enjoy the holiday . . . Love in Christ, Erik's Family

June 13, 2007 - Where we are . . .

Hi. It has been a bust time for all of us. We are slowly introducing the new medication that we pray will control Erik's seizures while not impacting his sodium levels. So far all is going well. We know that it will take about 4 months to get to a level that will make an impact so keep praying that we will achieve success! We met with the school system last week to discuss Erik's plans for next year. We were pleased to learn that Erik has been given a spot at a school really close to Mom's work. it is a newer school and the ratio for Erik's classroom is 3 teachers to 8 kids. This was great news for us. His primary teacher is a trained Speech Therapist who decided to teach special needs kids - or simply - SPECIAL KIDS! We still had concerns about Erik being medically stable for an outside of the home classroom. The team agreed that he may not be ready medically and agreed to send a note to Erik's physician for his response. We agreed that he may not be ready for full-time in the classroom but we are also concerned about him not getting what he needs to continue to progress. We expressed this and were told that the services he currently receives from the school system may be increased and that he would also be able to go into his classroom during the school day for a few hours periodically if we wanted to do this. This would be great! They said we would be able to bring him in for story or play time which we think will be good to introduce him to them and them to him. We will see how it all works out! We have also celebrated life and earthly loss in the past few weeks. 3 (almost 4!) year old Nathan Naas and his family came into our lives during our extended hospital stay at Duke last Summer. Nathan went to be with our Lord the last week of May after a long, strong battle with a brain tumor. This has been an experience and inspiring journey for our family. We feel loss but we also know that Nathan and his family touched so many through their faith during the past year in a way that would otherwise not have been possible. Please pray for Nathan's family as they look ahead to what God now has in store for them. They have a website: http://www.peanutbutterpizza.com/NEN; User Id: Nathan Reader; password: Nathan. We also celebrated Erik and Nick's 5th birthday this week. WOW - time has flown by! We enjoyed a pirate party at the park and Nick was thrilled. Erik seemed to enjoy the commotion of family and friends and was interested in the gifts as well. Nick told us that "he was tired of being 4!" Erik has a new walker that we are introducing him to that we think is going to really allow him to advance. He can rest in it or choose to extend his legs to support his weight - when HE wants to. This is great! It is good to see him in the walker because he looks so big and he holds his head so well and he is eye level with the other kids which is great for all! Well, that is the update for now. Once again, thanks to all of you for your continued prayers and support. Please continue to pray for Erik and our family as we pray him to a full recovery and complete restoration! Love in Christ, Erik's Family

May 30, 2007 - A little scare...

Hello everyone! Last Thursday (5/24) was a little scary for us. We checked on Erik because he was sleeping longer than usual and found him in a seizure. We have only "found him in a seizure" one other time and that was the day he seized all day so this was scary for us. He also was flushed which caused concern about a possible medication reaction. His emergency medication was given and things settled only to start again an hour later. Another dose of his emergency medication was given as well as the only other medication we have to settle seizure activity and then we took off to Duke. The fact that things picked back up after the initial dose as well as the second dose of his emergency medication was concerning because generally one dose not only settles seizure activity but also knocks him out for a day or 2 - literally. The seizure activity continued and was different than in the past - left side opposed to right side was impacted and the movements were large and with his extremities. They were successful in ruling out things like infection, low sodium, etc. but could not determine a definitive cause. He has not gained weight and we have not reduced any medications either - both can contribute to seizure activity. He is doing fine now but we are keeping a close eye on him. Simply - cause of seizure-activity unknown. The EEG team did not arrive in the ED until we had been there roughly for an hour by which time Erik was simply a heavily medicated, sleepy little boy. We really wanted to see what part of the brain was potentially contributing since the left side was reacting so we were disappointed not to be able to determine this through the EEG. Anyway, the timing of this is interesting as we find ourselves in the position of making some important decisions about how Erik spends his days. Is he stable enough for a classroom setting both physically and medically? Would the advantages of being in a classroom setting outweigh the risks of exposure to illness and potential over stimulation? Would he be able to continue to receive aggressive therapy like he is now? We have been spending quite a bit of time contemplating and praying about this in the past few weeks. Perhaps this seizure activity (a day before our meeting with the school system) was a sign from God that our concerns are founded and that a little more time with his current regimen would benefit Erik. We will see. Since the medication has worn off, Erik appears to be doing fine. His smiles appear to be larger and more purposeful too. He even appears to anticipate when we start to tickle him or talk with him which is great to see. We really appreciate the prayers that you lift up for Erik. Please continue to help us pray him to full recovery, pray the seizures away, and that we will make the right decisions for Erik! Love in Christ, Erik's Family

May 18, 2007 - Making Changes...

Hello All! We are doing well these days. the latest update is that we have learned that the doctors believe one of Erik's medications is causing his low sodium. This is disappointing in that the medication they are suspecting is the one that has proven to best control his seizures. So . . . what this means is that we will begin the process of taking him off of one and putting him on another. The new one is interesting to think about in that it is similar to the one we will be taking him off of without the sodium side effect BUT if there are side effects, they can be life threatening. This will necessitate us keeping a closer eye on him for any symptoms of a potential problem such as a rash until we reach therapeutic levels. If he develops any type of rash we have been instructed to get him to a doctor ASAP. We are proceeding with the goal of an effective medication change with no side effects and would like to ask that you pray with us for this to be the change we have been waiting for to control his sodium and seizures. The introduction of this medication will take ~2 months. He has been content these days with an increased appetite and interest in things going on around him. It is such a blessing to see him interacting with his siblings and caretakers and demanding their attention! Yeah for Erik! We pray that everyone will enjoy the beautiful weekend ahead! Love in Christ, Erik's Family

April 17, 2007 - Erik's laughter...

Hello All - Well, Easter Sunday (4/8) Erik had a seizure that required his emergency medication. This made him fairly unresponsive through Tuesday. When he started coming around on Wednesday, we received a gift. Yes it happened. Last Wednesday (4/11/07) Erik was full of laughter! It was amazing to hear! He has "chuckled" a time or 2 over the past year or so but he has not laughed like that since Sunday - April 24th 2005. We remembered this day when he laughed last week. That date was a Sunday and we actually thought about taking him to church because he was doing so well. Little did we know that the next day he would have a seizure that would last all day. The laughter he had on Wednesday lasted several seconds each time and was a full, "belly" laugh. It was AWESOME to hear! He laughed when we said "boo", when we tickled him, and when we were laughing. Smiles were countless. It was a great day. Thursday he was doing fine and smiling but no laughter. Friday through today, he has smiled some but no more laughter. Please pray for the laughter to return and sustain! This gift of laughter is just what we needed as a reminder that God is with us. It was like a promise from God letting us know that Erik is healing and that he is still full of laughter. We know the days when Erik will once again laugh all day long are quickly coming. This "taste" of what we know God has coming was WONDERFUL! When you read this, laugh a good laugh (at least once) for Erik! Thanks for lifting us up! Erik's Family Psalm 30:4 (The Message) 4-5 All you saints! Sing your hearts out to God! Thank him to his face! He gets angry once in a while, but across a lifetime there is only love. The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter.

April 3, 2007 - Things are going well here...

Hello All! Things are going well for us here in Apex, NC! Erik has been stable and lots of fun these days. He contracted a stomach bug last week which was somewhat challenging. He is much more interactive on a daily basis and appears to be responding positively to therapy. He received treatment for his right elbow/wrist/thumb last Thursday (to relax the tone) and we are already noticing increased relaxation and use. This is great to see and the effects should last 3-4 months! During this time we will increase his therapy in these areas in an effort to strengthen and lengthen the muscles which should decrease tone and increase use of the targeted muscles. This is all good! His sodium remains low therefore we are adding a nephrologist to our team. We are excited about this since we have had concerns with his electrolyte balance for some time now. This balance is essential and needs to be stable particularly for Erik as he continues to make progress. Please keep this in your prayers that we will be able to stabilize his sodium/potassium levels in the NEAR future! Love in Christ and HAPPY EASTER! Erik's Family

March 19, 2007 - Prayer is working...

Hello All! Want to provide you with an update on Erik. He is doing great these days! His seizures appear to have been under control for the past 2-3 weeks. This is such an answered prayer! We continue to pray for continues stability and thank God for taking care of this for Erik! The other really good news we have to share is that he appears to be getting stronger every day. One hurdle that Erik needs to overcome is gaining strength in his neck and back. This will help with the feeding issues, with helping him gain independence, and will help him with overall progress. Lately, he has been really showing us that he has better head control and that he can move and hold his neck in various positions for extended periods of time which is VERY exciting to see! Slowly he is being restored! The main obstacle we are working through now is with nursing. We have yet to stabilize a schedule on a weekly basis. This means that we have different nurses coming and going and we think Erik would do better with consistent nursing care. Please pray that his weekly schedule will stabilize and that God will send the right nurses for him. So far, all of the nurses we have had have been great so we cannot and are not complaining! It would just be good to know who was coming and going on a weekly basis instead of having to work through it weekly. Thanks for everything . . . Erik's Family

February 23, 2007 - This week is over...

Hello Everyone! The week started out rough . . . but as always the good Lord pulled us through and it is ending on a great note! Sunday Erik had a seizure that his emergency medication stopped but then 45 minutes later it started again. We had him transported to Duke for evaluation and observation. It appears that he just needed a medication adjustment. It was a valuable experience for us because as long as he is growing and changing (healing), until he is fully restored, periodically we will need to adjust his medications. The remainder of the week has been really good for Erik. He has been very happy and smiling quite a bit. He has eaten well and appears to be increasingly more aware of things going on around him. We heard a song this week that has helped carry us through - Third Day's - Cry Out to Jesus. Below is a part of the lyrics that keep playing over and over again in my head: "There is hope for the helpless Rest for the weary Love for the broken heart There is grace and forgiveness Mercy and healing He'll meet you wherever you are" Never hesitate to "cry out to Jesus" in times of need. He expects us to rely on Him and we need to make our needs and wants known. Our family and friends continue to ask for complete restoration and healing for Erik and firmly believe that this is in Erik's future. Remember that God knows where you are and He will meet you wherever you are. Thanks for all of the continued prayers and support. Enjoy the weekend . . . wherever you may be! Erik's Family

February 14, 2007 - All is well

Good Morning and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all! Things are looking up for us in the Medlin household! Erik is recovering from his pneumonia and we believe we have his sodium imbalance stable. YEAH! We will continue to monitor this and hopefully, if all is well and remains stable, we can have the broviac removed soon. We are still working on a regular nursing schedule but have been really lucky to have great nurses with the new agency so far. Erik is also doing well with his therapy and seems to complain less and less. He also is progressively making better eye contact and is interested in keeping busy! He complains when he gets bored so he is keeping all of us on our toes! Erik has a follow-up MRI this Friday. We want to just look at everything with our new neurosurgeon to ensure all is stable since the infection was cleared. Pray for positive results! The rest of us are slowly recovering from the viruses, ear infections, etc. that have plagued us for the past month. We do hope you each have a great Valentine's Day! Love in Christ, Erik's Family

January 29, 2007 - Hanging on...

Good Morning to all! It has been a while since we sent out a note but it has been a busy time for us! Our household has been fighting off "stuff" for the past 2 weeks. We hope that we are nearing the end of it all! We are now dealing with all of the "secondary" things resulting from the viruses that have apparently been introduced to our home. Last week Nick started an antibiotic for an ear infecition and Erik started an antibiotic for pneumonia. Up until this point, Erik had been doing well - little to no seizure activity and eating sleeping, etc. well. This has set us back but we will continue to keep moving in the right direction. He did have a seizure yesterday that necessitated us giving him his emergency medication. This was scary because we have not seen that since the summer. We hope that this was an isolated occurrance just because he is not feeling well and that this lowered his seizure threshhold. Pray with us that this is the case and that we will see no more of this! We will keep plugging ahead. The bible verse that has been recurring over the past few weeks continuing to motivate us in the right direction is: "But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." 2 Chronicles 15:7 NIV So often we meet parents and caregivers of "special" people like Erik who have given up. We personally have been through some tough times over the past couple of years but God has not given up on Erik or us and continues to bless us. Sometimes we have to be patient and look for his "relief" and it comes in many forms but it ALWAYS comes. Someone passed the following along it is helpful to remember it from time to time when we think God is not answering a prayer request. They said something to the effect that God has one of three responses to all requests: 1) Yes. 2) Not now. 3) I have something better in mind. Thanks to whoever passed this along because it has come in handy several times. Just wanted to share this with all of you because we all should remember this. We definantly have seen God - in His time - do all three. It still amazes us that the doctors were able to remove the AVM. We prayed and prayed, and prayed, and prayed for 6 months or so asking God why Erik's AVM couldn't be like so many others that were such that they could be surgically removed. After a time (about 6 months) we stoped praying about this knowing that God knew our request and knowing that we should start praying for other things. Who knew that 18 months later we would be standing in a hospital on CA listening to a wonderful surgeon tell us that he wanted to take the AVM out. How awesome! We never expected to hear those words! Please pray for quick relief and recovery for those in our household who are not feeling well. Also know that we pray for you daily and thank God for your encouragement and support. Love in Christ, Erik's Family

January 10, 2007 - Erik is home...

Erik is home. We are not convinced that we have solved the problem but we are going to stop the new medication that could be contributing to the problem. Also, his sodium was low so we are adding an endocrinologist to our team to see if we can uncover the cause of this as well. We have been concerned about low sodium for a while now and are ready to fogure this out. Low sodium could also be contributing to Erik's current problems. Thanks for all of the prayers and emails. We could not make it without all of you . . Love in Christ, Erik's Family

January 9, 2007 - Pray for answers...

Hello All! Just a quick note asking for prayers for Erik. For the past week or so he has been irritable, not interested in eating, his belly has been distended (bloated), and he has seemed uncomfortable. We have taken some time to rule out digestive things as well as regular "bad days" but today decided to take him to our pediatrician. We ended up going in for an x-ray where it showed that his bowels are not functioning properly causing the bloating and discomfort. They basically are operating slower than they should. In many cases, this is thought to generally occur immediately following surgery. Since Erik did not have surgery in the past few days, we are thinking this may be happening as a side effect to his medications. We did add a medication in November so we think this may be the cause. He is being admitted to Duke for treatment and observation. Basically we will use this time to keep him monitored, hydrated, and comfortable while we try to determine the cause of all of this. Please keep him and our family in your prayers . . . Love in Christ, Erik's Family

January 3, 2007 - Pray for nothing...

Seriously . . . pray that they will find nothing! Erik had a post surgery/infection follow-up doctor's appointment yesterday that went well. They said he looks great. One thing that we are going to follow-up on is that he has some small bumps around the incision sight near the base of his neck which we are praying is just scar tissue or glands. We will be following up with his doctors to check these out before they remove his central line. So . . . please pray that these will turn out to be "nothing" to worry about! We ask that you help us pray these away. We also would like to take a moment to thank God for something material He provided over the Christmas season. On more than one occasion, we were surprised to open our front door to find Christmas gifts for our family from "Santa". How exciting this was for our children! What we prepared for - which was a Christmas full of the true meaning and celebration of the season with a splash of "commercial gifts - ended up being more than we ever could have done alone. Our season included a trip to a friends church for a beautiful Christmas program, time in downtown Apex including a horse-drawn carriage ride, a beautiful first Christmas service with our newly formed church, as well as extra packages and gifts we could not have purchased for our family. THANKS to all of our anonymous "Santas"!!!!!!!!!! This may sound like a "broken record", but we really do give thank for all of your prayers and support. We know that God has brought us together so we can together enjoy witnessing his power through the healing of Erik! On another note . . . Love in Christ, Erik's Family