Hello All!
We hope this email finds you all doing well! Erik is keeping us busy lately. He is getting more fun with each passing day! We have had a few nurses working with us lately who have not worked with us for several weeks. Their comments are that Erik is more alert, stronger (he is standing straighter and holding steadier than in the past), and is making and holding better eye contact! PRAISE GOD!
As you know seizure medications are something we continue to manage for Erik. We have been successful eliminating Trileptal - the medication that has successfully controlled his seizures in the past but had the side effect of dangerously lowering his sodium. Because we have eliminated Tripetal and because the belief is that the Trileptal was causing this dip in his sodium level, we have began the process of lowering his supplemental sodium and so far so good! the fewer medications there are to administer until God completely restores Erik and frees him from the bondage of seizures, the better!
Erik has experienced a few minor breakthrough seizures but we continue to pray these away. I watched a movie recently where one of the actors said that when things get rough, this is a good sign that the Lord has you on the verge of a breakthrough! Just hearing this confirmed our thought about what is happening with Erik. We are working towards him becoming medication free!
Thanks always for your prayers for Erik and our family!
Love in Christ,
Keith, Wendy, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, Nick
Disney Photos! (click on photos to see larger photo slideshow)
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Monday - September 22, 2008 - Prayer is Working!
Hello Faithful Friends!
Just a quick note to let you know that our prayers are working! Erik has been seizure free since our last prayer request and we are relatively low on the medication that lowers his sodium but controls his seizure activity. PRAISE GOD! This is truly a "first" for Erik - that he is doing well with this medication so low!
We are continuing to lower his medications and do ask for your continued prayers as we work to adjust his medications.
We know that we are blessed to have so many prayer warriors in our lives and do thank God for you!
Love in Christ,
Keith, Wendy, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, Nick
Just a quick note to let you know that our prayers are working! Erik has been seizure free since our last prayer request and we are relatively low on the medication that lowers his sodium but controls his seizure activity. PRAISE GOD! This is truly a "first" for Erik - that he is doing well with this medication so low!
We are continuing to lower his medications and do ask for your continued prayers as we work to adjust his medications.
We know that we are blessed to have so many prayer warriors in our lives and do thank God for you!
Love in Christ,
Keith, Wendy, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, Nick
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Thursday - September 11, 2008 - Prayer Request
Hello Everyone.
We want to ask for your prayers for Erik and our family. He has been taking a medication that is very effective for controlling his seizures that we now have to stop. The problem with this medication is that it lowers his sodium level causing muscle tone and heart strain. We have tried to manage this but have found that even trying other medications has not been as effective as this medication. His seizure activity has been slowly increasing over the past few weeks. The decision was made on Tuesday to stop this medication and if needed add another at some point. Labs were drawn Tuesday so we are waiting for the results to know how to proceed.
As has happened in the past when we have begun to lower this medication, immediately Erik's seizure activity increased and . . . yesterday was not a good day. He was lethargic, and had significant seizure activity. Not a good day for us at all!
We are praying for the right medication to be identified for Erik. Our understanding is that the next class of medications have more serious side effects and our prayer has always been that we would not have to go to these. Our ultimate prayer remains for the seizures to dissipate completely!!!
Medication changes bring with them 4-6 months of challenges - specifically with seizure activity. That is the thing with seizures, because of the way the body processes the medications, it takes so much time to get the medications to a level that is effective and then while you are working on this, seizure activity generally increases.
Yesterday was a bad day but you know . . . that day is done and in the past! We know that God has something exciting waiting for us on the other side of the current challenge because the enemy is definitely working hard to deter us!!!
We will all have to continue to lift each other up in prayer!
Love in Christ,
Keith, Wendy, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, Nick
We want to ask for your prayers for Erik and our family. He has been taking a medication that is very effective for controlling his seizures that we now have to stop. The problem with this medication is that it lowers his sodium level causing muscle tone and heart strain. We have tried to manage this but have found that even trying other medications has not been as effective as this medication. His seizure activity has been slowly increasing over the past few weeks. The decision was made on Tuesday to stop this medication and if needed add another at some point. Labs were drawn Tuesday so we are waiting for the results to know how to proceed.
As has happened in the past when we have begun to lower this medication, immediately Erik's seizure activity increased and . . . yesterday was not a good day. He was lethargic, and had significant seizure activity. Not a good day for us at all!
We are praying for the right medication to be identified for Erik. Our understanding is that the next class of medications have more serious side effects and our prayer has always been that we would not have to go to these. Our ultimate prayer remains for the seizures to dissipate completely!!!
Medication changes bring with them 4-6 months of challenges - specifically with seizure activity. That is the thing with seizures, because of the way the body processes the medications, it takes so much time to get the medications to a level that is effective and then while you are working on this, seizure activity generally increases.
Yesterday was a bad day but you know . . . that day is done and in the past! We know that God has something exciting waiting for us on the other side of the current challenge because the enemy is definitely working hard to deter us!!!
We will all have to continue to lift each other up in prayer!
Love in Christ,
Keith, Wendy, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, Nick
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Wednesday - August 27, 2008 - Lots going on . . .
Hello Everyone!
Well . . . the title of this post says it all . . . we have lots going on! The biggest thing going on for Erik is that he started school this week! He attends Cedar Fork Elementary and so far so good. There are 8 students in his class and he is doing his best to keep up with everyone. He has a nurse who attends school with him (Mrs. J) and they seem to be getting into a routing quite easily. Transportation picks them both up in the morning and brings them home. The first 2 weeks he is going 1/2 days and then it will be full days after that.
His teachers and therapists are getting to know him now and he seems to be responding positively to all. This is such a relief for us all!
Erik has been struggling with seizure activity lately and as such he had an MRI on Friday - August 22. All went well and we have not heard from the doctors that anything has changed which we are interpreting as good news. We have a follow-up in September. We have adjusted his medications and ask that you continue to pray for complete healing from these seizures.
Erik does continue to strengthen his muscles - especially his back muscles. We can actually support his hip these days and he will stand straight. He still moves his head around some but can stand with his head steady for longer periods than he has in the past. Our prayer is for him to be able to first sit up on his own followed quickly by standing and walking.
We know this is a short note but we did want to let everyone know how things are going.
Take care,
Keith, Wendy, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, and Nick
Well . . . the title of this post says it all . . . we have lots going on! The biggest thing going on for Erik is that he started school this week! He attends Cedar Fork Elementary and so far so good. There are 8 students in his class and he is doing his best to keep up with everyone. He has a nurse who attends school with him (Mrs. J) and they seem to be getting into a routing quite easily. Transportation picks them both up in the morning and brings them home. The first 2 weeks he is going 1/2 days and then it will be full days after that.
His teachers and therapists are getting to know him now and he seems to be responding positively to all. This is such a relief for us all!
Erik has been struggling with seizure activity lately and as such he had an MRI on Friday - August 22. All went well and we have not heard from the doctors that anything has changed which we are interpreting as good news. We have a follow-up in September. We have adjusted his medications and ask that you continue to pray for complete healing from these seizures.
Erik does continue to strengthen his muscles - especially his back muscles. We can actually support his hip these days and he will stand straight. He still moves his head around some but can stand with his head steady for longer periods than he has in the past. Our prayer is for him to be able to first sit up on his own followed quickly by standing and walking.
We know this is a short note but we did want to let everyone know how things are going.
Take care,
Keith, Wendy, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, and Nick
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Saturday - July 12, 2008 - Disney Photos!
Hello Everyone!
We do hope everyone is well. We have been busy with various transitions: Margot starts highschool and Erik starts "out of the house" school in August, Brigitte and Nick started 5th and 1st grade this week, Margot and Mom went to Chicago on a missions trip, Monkey Joe's continues to do well, and Margot will be going to a Youth Leadership Conference with the church the week of July 21st. All of these activities have or are keeping us busy making arrangements and preparing.
We have successfully posted photos from our Disney trip for you to enjoy!!! We also changed the layout of the website. If you click on the photos, it will take you to a website that will allow you to see the photos larger and you can see the captions we added. Make-A-Wish was wonderful to make this happen for our family! We still cannot believe all that they did for us!
Erik continues to make progress and we ask for your continued prayer support as we work to make the transition from in-home school to attending school at Cedar Fork Elementary. We believe he is medically stable enough to take full advantage of what the school system has to offer - this is a miracle in itself! Praise God!!!
Erik continues to have "break through" periods of seizure activity which we believe may be the result of his continuing to grow. He had a pretty serious seizure on Tuesday so we continue today to work through the effects of the medication today. Hopefully tomorrow her will be doing much better and will be back to himself! Please continue to pray for the medications to control his seizure activity until the Lord completely frees him of this condition!
We do hope you enjoy the photos!
Love in Christ,
Keith, Wendy, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, Nick
We do hope everyone is well. We have been busy with various transitions: Margot starts highschool and Erik starts "out of the house" school in August, Brigitte and Nick started 5th and 1st grade this week, Margot and Mom went to Chicago on a missions trip, Monkey Joe's continues to do well, and Margot will be going to a Youth Leadership Conference with the church the week of July 21st. All of these activities have or are keeping us busy making arrangements and preparing.
We have successfully posted photos from our Disney trip for you to enjoy!!! We also changed the layout of the website. If you click on the photos, it will take you to a website that will allow you to see the photos larger and you can see the captions we added. Make-A-Wish was wonderful to make this happen for our family! We still cannot believe all that they did for us!
Erik continues to make progress and we ask for your continued prayer support as we work to make the transition from in-home school to attending school at Cedar Fork Elementary. We believe he is medically stable enough to take full advantage of what the school system has to offer - this is a miracle in itself! Praise God!!!
Erik continues to have "break through" periods of seizure activity which we believe may be the result of his continuing to grow. He had a pretty serious seizure on Tuesday so we continue today to work through the effects of the medication today. Hopefully tomorrow her will be doing much better and will be back to himself! Please continue to pray for the medications to control his seizure activity until the Lord completely frees him of this condition!
We do hope you enjoy the photos!
Love in Christ,
Keith, Wendy, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, Nick
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Wednesday - May 6, 2008 All of our prayers were answered!!!!
Hello Everyone!
WOW!!!! We are just so excited to share our story with family and friends! Our Make-A-Wish trip to Orlando / Disney was truly AMAZING for us all!!! We realize that we will never be able to have another time together like this one because it was just perfect!!!!
Some of the unexpected WONDERFUL surprises for us were:
-- Make-A-Wish truly took care of everything we needed or could have anticipated!
-- Give Kids The World was awesome and unbelieveably accommodating and kid focused.
-- Give Kids The World staff waited on us hand and foot.
-- The Make-A-Wish financial support was more than adequate for meeting our needs.
-- Give Kids The World delivered an amazing bag of age appropriate goodies (movies, toys, snacks, etc.) - EVERY DAY! The kids really looked forward to this each morning!
-- Characters at the Magic Kingdom appeared to "seek us out" which the kids thought was great!
-- We actually did not have to "ask" for things - the pin from Give Kids The World and the Make-A-Wish hat for Erik were recognized and highly honored. We were able to walk right up to characters for autographs and photos, walk right up to rides and even ride them twice if we wanted to!
-- Parking and stroller rentals were taken care of which saved us quite a bit of money.
-- The giving continues for us even now. Give Kids The World has arranged for us to have free admission at Global theme parks for the next year! This will encourage and motivate us to continue to venture out with the entire family.
As for Mr. Erik . . . he was a trooper! He had absolutely NO SEIZURE activity the entire time we were away! This is unbelievable and completly God's answer to our prayers for this because he has been having 2-3 spells of some type weekly. Also, he hung with us all day long without any napping and was still ready to go at 10:30 at night! He LOVED it!
Erik's favorite thing was the trains we encountered. We have been told multiple times that because of the brain damage he has sustained over the years he would not be able to grasp cause and effect relationships. Each time we witness him showing that he has this ability (recognizing family members, expressing protest when he knows we are laying him down for bed, etc.) we know that this is a gift to us from God. He got to the point on the trip that when he heard the train coming (not the whistle - just the train sound) he would start vocalizing and smiling. He knew what was coming! He also loved the fireworks which we were uncertain of what his reaction would be!
Thanks for all of the prayers you each offered up for us prior to and while we were on our trip. It was truly a trip we will never forget and the kids REALLY deserved the wonderful treatment they received after the challenging journey we have had with Erik's health. It was an irreplaceable and un-re-creatable gift for Keith and me to see the smiles on the kids faces as they were catered to and we could never have imagined it would be like this!
Thanks again and we hope you will continue to partner with us as we pray Erik to complete restoration!
We plan to post photos from our trip for you to see soon . . .
Love in Christ,
Wendy, Keith, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, Nick
WOW!!!! We are just so excited to share our story with family and friends! Our Make-A-Wish trip to Orlando / Disney was truly AMAZING for us all!!! We realize that we will never be able to have another time together like this one because it was just perfect!!!!
Some of the unexpected WONDERFUL surprises for us were:
-- Make-A-Wish truly took care of everything we needed or could have anticipated!
-- Give Kids The World was awesome and unbelieveably accommodating and kid focused.
-- Give Kids The World staff waited on us hand and foot.
-- The Make-A-Wish financial support was more than adequate for meeting our needs.
-- Give Kids The World delivered an amazing bag of age appropriate goodies (movies, toys, snacks, etc.) - EVERY DAY! The kids really looked forward to this each morning!
-- Characters at the Magic Kingdom appeared to "seek us out" which the kids thought was great!
-- We actually did not have to "ask" for things - the pin from Give Kids The World and the Make-A-Wish hat for Erik were recognized and highly honored. We were able to walk right up to characters for autographs and photos, walk right up to rides and even ride them twice if we wanted to!
-- Parking and stroller rentals were taken care of which saved us quite a bit of money.
-- The giving continues for us even now. Give Kids The World has arranged for us to have free admission at Global theme parks for the next year! This will encourage and motivate us to continue to venture out with the entire family.
As for Mr. Erik . . . he was a trooper! He had absolutely NO SEIZURE activity the entire time we were away! This is unbelievable and completly God's answer to our prayers for this because he has been having 2-3 spells of some type weekly. Also, he hung with us all day long without any napping and was still ready to go at 10:30 at night! He LOVED it!
Erik's favorite thing was the trains we encountered. We have been told multiple times that because of the brain damage he has sustained over the years he would not be able to grasp cause and effect relationships. Each time we witness him showing that he has this ability (recognizing family members, expressing protest when he knows we are laying him down for bed, etc.) we know that this is a gift to us from God. He got to the point on the trip that when he heard the train coming (not the whistle - just the train sound) he would start vocalizing and smiling. He knew what was coming! He also loved the fireworks which we were uncertain of what his reaction would be!
Thanks for all of the prayers you each offered up for us prior to and while we were on our trip. It was truly a trip we will never forget and the kids REALLY deserved the wonderful treatment they received after the challenging journey we have had with Erik's health. It was an irreplaceable and un-re-creatable gift for Keith and me to see the smiles on the kids faces as they were catered to and we could never have imagined it would be like this!
Thanks again and we hope you will continue to partner with us as we pray Erik to complete restoration!
We plan to post photos from our trip for you to see soon . . .
Love in Christ,
Wendy, Keith, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, Nick
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
4/22/2008 Prayers for our Make-A-Wish Trip to DISNEY!!!
Hello Everyone!
Just a quick note to ask that you lift us in prayer because the time has arrived for our Make-A-Wish trip to Disney! We are all very excited because we leave on Sunday - April 27th and return on Saturday - May 3rd. When this wish was granted, Erik definitely was in no shape to have fun on such a trip. Our prayers have been answered and we now know that he is ready to experience it all!
We are preparing for the trip but at the same time the enemy is trying to deter us. Erik's seizure activity has picked up despite medication increases but we know that this is what our family needs and we are continuing to prepare. Please pray for the seizures to cease and that Erik will have no more seizure activity starting now!
Do keep us in your prayers because it is quite an undertaking to pull it all together!
We will be staying at Give Kids The World which is a place designed and only open to wish kids.
Love to all . . .
Keith, Wendy, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, Nick
Just a quick note to ask that you lift us in prayer because the time has arrived for our Make-A-Wish trip to Disney! We are all very excited because we leave on Sunday - April 27th and return on Saturday - May 3rd. When this wish was granted, Erik definitely was in no shape to have fun on such a trip. Our prayers have been answered and we now know that he is ready to experience it all!
We are preparing for the trip but at the same time the enemy is trying to deter us. Erik's seizure activity has picked up despite medication increases but we know that this is what our family needs and we are continuing to prepare. Please pray for the seizures to cease and that Erik will have no more seizure activity starting now!
Do keep us in your prayers because it is quite an undertaking to pull it all together!
We will be staying at Give Kids The World which is a place designed and only open to wish kids.
Love to all . . .
Keith, Wendy, Margot, Brigitte, Erik, Nick
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
