July 5, 2010 - Erik Enjoying Holden Beach!

Hello. Just a quick update from Holden Beach, NC! We began our family vacation last Thursday and so far all is going well. Erik, Margot, Brigitte, and Nick are all enjoying the beach. This year we are particularly thankful for the clean water as we remember the families impacted by the BP Gulf oil spill. We are enjoying more than ever seeing the pelicans swim, fly and dive freely and the beautiful sand and water. We continue to pray for those struggling with the oil spill and those working to stop the leak. Enjoy this video of Erik on the beach taken yesterday - July 4, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLnNCztXmao Love in Christ, Erik's Family

May 19, 2010 - Ramp for Erik and more . . .

Hello. It has been a while since our last post and during that time good things have been happening! Erik is doing well and continues to improve. He is back in school and we are observing positive improvements since his last HBOT treatment. Erik appears to be making and maintaining eye contact better than before. He also continues to improve on showing appropriate responses to things going on around him. For example, when leaving the house if you tell him goodbye it is likely that he will now turn in your direction. Before he may have responded like this 1 out of 5 times. This may seem like a small thing but this is a BIG change in him! We are also seeing improvement in the interactions between those who work with and are around Erik on a regular basis. For example, the kids are talking with him more. They have always been good at including Erik and interacting with him but lately (perhaps due to his more appropriate response) the time interacting has been extended. Hope this makes sense. Improvements we are seeing are somewhat hard to describe. You just have to experience it! We are so often amazed at how God can reach down and intervene . . . no matter how large the task may be! Our other news is that the wheelchair ramp being built by Apex Baptist Church for Erik is almost complete! This will be such a blessing for us and will make caring for Erik MUCH easier. Thank you so much for the team that has assembled on multiple occasions to volunteer time to see this happen. We could never adequately express our thanks! We also are pleased that Erik's new school schedule is working out. He is home on Tuesday and Friday to allow for additional therapy. We have also taken advantage of these "non-school" days to plan the multiple medical appointments Erik needs. We are still in need of a therapist for speech/feeding for Friday afternoons. Please lift a prayer that this need will soon be met. We hope you enjoy the photos of the ramp and thanks for all of the prayers and support you each continue to amaze us with. Love in Christ, Erik's Family

April 17, 2010 - We are home!

Hello Everyone! We are home! We arrived home Thursday evening and have been settling back into a routine. We cannot express adequate thanks for all that has been done for us - prayers, meals for the family, assistance with the kids, notes of encouragement, financial support, and more! It is SOOOOOOOOOO good to have our family all under the same roof again! The time passed quickly and Erik did really well. Interesting, we increased one of Erik's medications that typically makes him sleepy and even with this he appears more alert and engaged. As with the last round of treatment, some results are often seen during or right after treatment but also in the 3-6 months post treatment. We will keep a close eye out, note in any comments shared from Erik's therapists and teachers, and will share his progress with you. Erik will return to school on Monday (4/19) and he will have a different schedule. He will be home on Tuesdays and Fridays to allow him to receive much needed OT/Speech/feeding and PT services. With his current school schedule (on the bus at 8:15am and home at 4:30pm) we have not been successful finding therepists who can come that late in the day and weekends are not an option. Pray that this schedule will work well for Erik and those caring for and instructing him. The ramp for the house is not yet constructed. Team is still working to secure permits, etc. to get things coing. Hopefully it will be soon as until we have this it is a real challenge getting Erik out of the home because his temporary aluminum ramp we have broke. We know God will see us through this but lift us in prayer if this need comes to mind. Thanks again for all of the kindness and love you have shown us during this challenging time. Love in Christ, Erik's Family

April 5, 2010 - What a week!

Hello. Hope all of you are doing well. Last week was a week of "ups and downs" with many more "ups" than downs . . . thank God! Erik started the week with some seizure activity but it only lasted 2 days . . . prayer works! The rest of the week went well with treatment. We have settled into a nice routine. We had a nice surprise this week. We contacted Give Kids the World (where we stayed for our Make-A-Wish trip: http://www.gktw.org/corporateHeroes.asp?a=4&page=wdw) and Paramount Carowinds to see if we could get discount tickets to the park for a day when the family are all here. We are 20 minutes from the park and it seemed like a shame to not try to go. We asked about special rates for Make-A-Wish families and they gave us 7 free passes for the day! What a wonderful surprise! We did not expect that but ate breakfast and headed to the park. It just opened last weekend and local Spring Break is this coming week so it was not that crowded and we had a wonderful time! Glad we asked! We finished treatment #25 today to only 15 more to go! Time is really passing quickly. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Love in Christ, Erik's Family

March 26, 2010 - Working out the "kinks" . . .

Hello Everyone! This week has passed quickly! We arrived Saturday afternoon and settled into the apartment which is nice for us and an 8-10 minute walk for treatment. Local friends from our home town met us here and brought a glider and a single bed for us to use with Erik which has worked out perfectly! Monday morning we met with the doctor at 8am and awaited our initial treatment scheduled for 9am. Part of the process is to check the pressure the VNS implant Erik has to understand the pressure range that is safe. Well . . . who knew that the versions before and after Erik's versions had been tested but Erik's model had not! This required that we delay treatment until we understood the safe level. We returned to the center at 2pm and they had reached he sales rep/manufacturer and we were ready to go. We were happy that the center offered to stay late and allow us to return at 6 for a second treatment so we would not get off schedule. Whew! Erik also continued to have seizures and actually had 2 on Tuesday/Wednesday. We made a medication change and yesterday he remained seizure free and so far so good for today. Please continue to keep us in your prayers that the seizures will not return . . . EVER!!!!! We have several local nurses who are filling in open shifts for us on the schedule which has been nice. So far they are good with Erik and are jumping into the routine well. Lots of other little "bumps" along the way this week but we are comfortable settling into a workable routine now which is welcomed! We have felt lifted in prayer this week and are most thankful for safe travel and for Erik's stability! We Please continue to keep us in your prayers and we look forward to sharing Erik's progress with you. Love in Christ, Erik's Family

March 18, 2010 - Packing and praying . . .

Hello Everyone. First . . . the yardsale was a wonderful success! Friends from our Life Group at church gave their time, talent, personal belongings, and gave up sleep to make this happen for us! The money raised will go towards housing, treatment and expenses incurred while Erik is receiving treatment. More than the money raised, this was a time for fellowship and sharing Erik's story with the community. Thanks so much! In addition to this financial support, we received additional gifts through Erik's benevolence fund through Northwest Community Church. This is an anonymous venue so we would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who contributed through this fund. This financial support will definitely help to reduce our stress during this challenging time and will allow us to focus on what really matters - Erik and his treatments. Mom is taking Friday off to pack and get ready for the trip. Many of you will be bringing over meals, have sent meal gift cards, and are helping out with the coordination of activities and care of the children while we are away. We thank you each for this. A month sounds like a long time but we know that this time will pass quickly. We have been offered a glider rocker and a single bed for Erik for use while we are receiving treatment. A local church and friends from high school are helping us out with this. Amazing how God works all things out! Erik has experienced 2 minor breakthrough seizures this week. The enemy just won't stop! Please pray for things to settle in this area and for him to be able to receive treatment with no intervention for seizures required. Pray for safe travel for our family this weekend and we will update you next week on Erik's progress. Love in Christ, Erik's Family

March 4, 2010 - Praying and planning . . .

Hello all! Well . . . the title of this email says it all! We have experienced ups and downs but we continue to push through it all! Your prayers, words of encouragement, and general support are lifting us up! Erik is doing well. He had had a fever off and on since last weekend (this is really rare for him!) and started coughing last Saturday as well. We took him to the doctor on Tuesday and they put him on an antibiotic which we pray will rid him of this illness! Of course with him having a cold like this, his seizure activity has increased. We are hoping this is just because of the illness and fever so pray that this will resolve once he is feeling better. We took Erik this week for his annual vision and hearing screenings and all is well. We need this for a meeting we have next week with the school. We are also attempting to change his school schedule to 3 days per week to allow for additional physical, speech, and occupational therapies during the week. We have been trying for over a year to get services at home but since he leaves in the morning at 8:15 and does not get home until 4:30, it has not worked out that anyone has been available. Pray the school will approve this request and that the right therapists will be secured. We are still praying for God to provide for us financially for this trip. He is answering! Our Sunday School class has offered to organize and host a multi-family yard sale and use the money made to help us pay for treatment/housing for our upcoming trip! Many people have asked how they can help us out so for those of you who are local and want to come by to contribute items for the yard sale or shop, the details are below. This is right near Apex Middle so spread the word! If you want to bring items by to Doug and Kathy's home the evening before the sale, this will be fine. The plan is to get rid of everything by the end of the yard sale so please only bring items that you do not want back! Thanks again for helping pray us through this time and we remain committed to placing our trust and faith in God to get us through it all! Love in Christ, Erik's Family 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (New Living Translation) So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. Yard Sale Details: March 13th 6:30am until ~noon 200 S. Mason Street Apex, NC General contributions can be sent to: NWCC Benevolence Fund For: Erik Medlin 7712 Carpenter Fire Station Road Cary, North Carolina 27519 END.