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