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