More setbacks...ugh

Thank you for your prayers over the last few days!  Surgery took almost 7 hours on Friday and even though part of this was because the right leg was more complicated than the left, her surgeon thought it went very well!  They removed the cast from her left leg and put a temporary knee immobilizer on it until we get the leg brace.  

However, as of tonight, we are still at the hospital.  Just when we thought everything was going smoothly...  Isn't that how it goes though?  Satan just loves to trip us up.  And, yes, sometimes I let him, ugh!  Especially when it seems each surgery has had it's own drama with it.  But, in the end, I know God is fighting these battles and He will win - I don't always see how, but I do know I have to be patient and TRUST Him...oh, so hard sometimes.

So, Saturday afternoon Amelia's cast around her chest (because it's another spica cast) grew very tight - we're still not sure what happened - but she was in a lot of pain, even on a bunch of pain meds.  It became unbearable, so they called in another orthopaedic surgeon right away and he went on to cut a circle out of the front middle, another triangle by her hip and slit open the side.  Thankfully, that stopped the pressure sore on her hip that was causing a lot of pain.  This also relieved enough pressure to get her through the night.

In the meantime, Amelia's hemoglobin dropped, she developed a high fever and she still was not eating or drinking from before surgery Thursday night.  But, the cast had been squeezing her belly so tight.

This morning the on-call surgeon came in to see her and ended up removing even more of the cast in 2 spots that were still digging into her skin.  He was also concerned that Amelia still wasn't taking in any nutrition or many fluids and still had a low hemoglobin.

Tomorrow morning, Dr. K - her own doctor - will come in to re-evaluate all of this.  And she finally started to eat tonight, so that's a great start!

Thank you for faithfully lifting Amelia up in prayer - we know it's what gets us through one day at a time!

Please pray that...

- Dr. K will make the best decision on what to do about this cast.  And, if it must stay on, that her skin would be protected from pressure sores or worse.

- she'll continue to eat more!

- her hemoglobin will increase!

- she won't fight taking her meds - she's convinced "it doesn't help!"  And, she has 6 of them that she needs to be taking right now.  

- that we can get her home!  :)

It's that time again...

This Friday Amelia will be having surgery on her right leg.  It's hard to think that we would have been getting the casts off of her legs around this time and have that behind us; it almost feels like we're back at square one.  But, we trust that this was in God's plan, which is comforting, and that it's the best scenario for Amelia, which is most important!  Even though disappointments can be hard to get past sometimes, God has reminded us not to stay there too long because He has given us  so many reasons to give thanks! 

The first couple weeks after her left leg repair were quite an adjustment, especially with the spica cast.  She was very uncomfortable complaining of something poking her in the cast and she cried in pain. We still don't know what caused it, but assuming it was some stitches from the incision.  There wasn't much we could do, so thankfully it didn't last more than a week.  Transporting her was a challenge, so we stayed in for the most part.  In order to buckle her in the car safely, it requires Amelia to lay down on the seat and be buckled in using a special harness.  Once we got used to it, we got out a few times.  She loved that!  And, since then, she has been doing great!  We brought her to church a few times too and that was so good for all of us.  The kids sang her favorite song, "The Lord's Army," this past Sunday during the children's sermon - that was a highlight!  

We made a visit to her preschool class last week

and she enjoyed it so much!  What a bonus to be able

to play with her best friend too!

We were finally able to visit Gigi.  We hadn't been able

to do that since Amelia's first surgery in January.  

Amelia and my grandma, at 101 years old, have a

sweet bond and I think this was good for the both of them!

To recap, her surgeon will be doing similar work on Amelia's right leg as he did on the left leg. This involves moving her (congenitally) dislocated knee caps, loosen and tighten different parts of that area to help correct the contractures and get her knee straight - while avoiding damage to the nerves, realigning bones below her knee and shortening her femur using a bigger plate and more screws this time so that it doesn't come apart like it did in the left leg.  While prepping for surgery, Dr. K plans to remove her left leg cast, get her fitted for a leg brace with her orthotist and then temporarily put that (left) leg in a knee immobilizer. 

With that, we covet your prayers again as we anticipate surgery on Friday...

* Pray there are no surprises or extra complications with the right leg!  Her right leg has always been more complicated, but Dr. K already knows what he's getting into after doing surgery on the left leg, so that helps!

*Pray that her hemoglobin will be at normal levels going into surgery - we know there will again be considerable blood loss with the extent of this surgery, but praying she will come out on top of it all and not require a blood transfusion.  Her levels were very critical after the first surgery, and she felt miserable, so not having to go through that again would be a great answer to prayer!  When she had her blood drawn a few weeks ago, her hemoglobin was rising, but still not within normal range.  We have kept up the different supplements to increase that, so we hope and pray that will work!  

* Pray that God would prepare Amelia and all those that will be part of her surgery from pre-op to post-op.  Pray that everything will fall into place and the results will be successful!

* Pray that God would also prepare Nels and I for whatever lies ahead and for Elsie and Sam as we have another adjustment in our daily routines.  

We can not begin to express our gratitude for how much God is taking care of us through so many of you!  From simply "How is Amelia doing?" or "We're praying for her/your family" to the very generous gifts...every one of these acts of thoughtfulness and great kindness have a special place in my heart and will never be forgotten!  We can truly say, "...my cup overflows!" (Psalm 23:5)

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  Luke 6:38

"I will sing the Lord’s praise, for He has been good to me."  Psalm 13:6

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!"  Ephesians 3:20-21

A different outcome...

Well, some disappointing news today.  Surgery on Amelia's right leg did not go as planned.  When her surgeon removed the cast from her left leg that she had surgery on 5 weeks ago, he noticed that something wasn't right.  An xray showed the plates in her femur moved and the screws were coming out.  We're not sure of the cause for this, but her bones were not healing as expected at this point, but Amelia has had trouble healing at times for minor things because of her Loeys Dietz Syndrome.  So, Dr K decided to just focus on repairing the left leg today.  There is now a double plate and 6 screws instead of 4 to hopefully prevent this from happening again.

In 4 weeks we'll reevaluate, do an xray and if the the left leg is doing well, we'll schedule surgery on the right leg.

To make sure this doesn't happen again, Dr. K put Amelia in a spica cast - her left leg is casted and the cast then extends up around her chest to her arm pits to keep that leg from moving at all. 

One of the first things Amelia said after waking up in recovery was that the "wrong" leg was casted, she was so disappointed.  She is still trying to figure out why and is asking a lot of questions and of course, just wants to go home.

As I contemplate this tonight...I am thinking about all of you.  Our only hope is found in our Savior, Jesus Christ, and when you pray to Him on our behalf, we know He is listening and cares about every single detail.  Thank you for blessing us in this way!  We truly appreciate your prayers!  At this point, these are some of our specific prayer requests...

Please pray that healing goes well this time so we can move ahead with surgery on the right leg.  In the meantime, pray that God would give Amelia's doctor guidance and wisdom in making the best decisions for her.  He was surprised and very disappointed with this setback.

Pray for Amelia, that she will be able to accept her situation and thrive when she's just too young to understand why.

Pray for us as a family as we adjust to yet another casting hurdle; it's been a lot for Elsie and Sam to go though over the last 4 years.  Pray that we would have patience, understanding and kindness with each other when we're feeling discouraged.

Thank God that He is in control and nothing surprises Him.  We can trust He cares deeply about Amelia and will bring everything together in HIS time.

Our pastor saw Amelia before surgery and reminded us that "we are precious in His sight"...do not fear because we are His and He is always with us (Isaiah 43).

Time for round 2....

Tomorrow Amelia will be having surgery on her right leg.  She had blood drawn a couple times since the last surgery and the most recent report showed a lot of improvement in her hemoglobin, so her blood management team gave the go-ahead for surgery #2.  The plan is to approach it similar to the left leg, but her right leg is more complicated and has always been more stubborn, so please pray with us again for a successful surgery!  They will also remove the cast from her left leg (in surgery) and her orthotist  will be in there to fit her for a KFO (Knee Foot Orthosis).  This is a leg brace that is like her AFOs (Ankle Foot Orthosis) that she has always worn, but will extend above the knee.  

Elsie had a birthday party last weekend

and Amelia wanted to try out the

"photo booth" too.

I always feel guilty that I am not good at keeping you up to date on Amelia's progress and I apologize for that.  But, I am happy to report that she has been doing really well the last couple weeks.  The first few weeks were tough, especially at night.  And she fought her pain meds at home just as much as she did in the hospital, so that was always a struggle.  Although, for the most part, her days were pretty good.  She would have periods of being very uncomfortable or painful at times, but it went much better than I expected.  Of course, she learned how to scoot around and get where she wanted to.  Then, the second week in, she came down with a high fever.  Assuming it was influenza, like what her older brother had the week before, we treated it as such.  But, she started vomiting a lot and Sam never did.  So, we called her surgeon in the morning and they had to see her to rule out an infection.  They removed part of the cast and the incision looked good - so thankful!!  They replaced that part of the cast and we went home with 2 different colors now.  :) 

Now we face round 2.  I'm more confident than I was before surgery #1, but yet more nervous knowing how difficult the left leg was and now with the more complicated leg...I'm not ready to go through it again, but at the same time, I'm ready to get it done!  She told me tonight that she will have surgery tomorrow, "but I do NOT want surgery ever again."  Unfortunately, this won't be the last, but we won't worry about that now.  

I can't thank you enough for all the prayers and thoughtfulness during this time!  I love to read all the emails, messages and texts - they're so encouraging and the thoughtfulness alone means so much to me - even when I'm not good at responding to those either.  :(     

I would also like to thank those who have brought us meals since Amelia's surgery.  That is such a huge blessing to our family and helps us out so much!  We have received so much support in other ways too and it means more than you will ever know!  Amelia has also loved all the cards and thoughtful gifts too!  I said it before, but to know that she means that much to others - I can't really even express how that touches my heart.  Our dear friends from church gave us a gift before Amelia's last surgery and part of it was a devotional by Joni Eareckson Tada called "Pearls of Great Price."  It couldn't have come at a more perfect time.  Especially with the recent loss of my dad too.  The devotion on February 12 was called, "A Soft Heart."  It seems to capture how important this encouragement from friends and family is when you're on the receiving end.  

"Focus on suffering is a dead end.  Rationalizations and justifications do nothing but harden our hearts, making things worse.  However, softness of heart comes when we encourage one another in our suffering - spreading truth, imparting hope, bearing the burden, sharing the load, praying alongside, and offering a comfortable shoulder to cry on."  

"For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you."  Isaiah 41:13

Thank you for continuing to lift Amelia and our family up in prayer!  Of course, we pray that everything will go well tomorrow with the surgery, but this wears on our family as a whole too.  Please pray for understanding, peace and love for each other as we jump another hurdle together.      

Update post surgery...

I know a lot of you have been waiting for an update; so sorry for the delay!  Amelia's surgery went well!  Praise the Lord!! However, her doctor only did the left leg because it did end up being very complicated - he said it was about as difficult as it could get, but he was ready for it!  Her stats, including her blood pressure remained stable, so prayers answered there!  She had a lot of nausea and vomitting after surgery until about mid morning today.  She also started with a lot of pain in post-op already saying her cast hurt :( and he even put an epidural in to numb that area, and it's still in.  But, she still has quite a bit of pain, so they added some more pain meds, so hopefully that will help!  She's just very uncomfortable.  No smiles today.  :(  She just begs us to take her home.

Amelia also lost a lot of blood during surgery and that's not helping anything either.  They started iron supplements through IV last night and added some orally this morning, but her hemoglobin kept dropping down to a 5 (normal is 13-14).  So, she is now getting a blood transfusion and we have already seen her perk up a bit.

Her heart is stable yet, but the cardiologist will continue to follow up on her here to make sure some of her abnormal stats are due to the blood loss.  Her cardiologist is through U of M, so we see the one here.  But, he's friends with Amelia's cardiologist so that's an answer to prayer!

Thank you for your continued prayers!!  We all appreciate them!

A dear friend texted me this verse this morning and our pastor read it before Amelia's surgery yesterday.  It was also read at her baptism 3 days after we thought we were going to lose her....God has been faithful!  I needed to be reminded of that!   "Hear my cry, Oh God, listen to my prayer: from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy."  Psalm 61:1-3.

Fast forward to January 9, 2018....

Hello!  It's been a while!  Thankfully, I can say our Amazing Amelia has been thriving in many ways.  Her personality just shines!  She has been walking with special braces on her legs with and without her walker - which is amazing!  She's so determined!  She started swimming a lot this past summer, which she really enjoyed!  She also started a dance class doing "creative movement" and that has been a joy to see.  Elsie went with her to make sure she could be a part of the routines as much as possible - it's very sweet.  She also started preschool this past fall and loves that too!  Her teachers are wonderful and help her in any way they can. She is a very happy little girl and for that we are so grateful! 

"As for you, you meant evil against me,

but God meant it for good..." 

Genesis 50:20

"His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor His delight in the legs of a man; The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in his unfailing love."

Psalm 147:10-11

In the last post, Amelia was in the process of having both legs casted in an attempt to straighten her knees.  That did not go well at all.  Because of the position of Amelia's feet and knees, she could not tolerate the casts because sores had formed on her heels.  With Loeys Dietz Syndrome, the skin is thinner, so these sores took a very long time to heal - the effects of them are still visible (over 2 years later).  So, for that reason, another try at casting was out of the question. 

Since then Amelia has been wearing her AFOs (Ankle foot orthosis) and special braces made for her legs.  The braces for her legs are similar to what the casts did, but it was up to us to slowly stretch her knees with a ratchet on the side.  We could now take them off for baths or swimming - huge bonus!!

We call this the "Mia Bobber." 

Amelia's sweet Uncle Mitch made this for her!

As you can tell, she loves it!

Amelia still wears these braces, but only for about 3-4 hours at a time.  Then they become very uncomfortable for her.  However, she also wears them at night too along with braces on her feet (Ponsettis).  But, when she's not weight bearing (because she's laying down), they don't bother her as much.  In the end, conventional treatment to straighten her knees has not been working and her orthopaedic surgeon made the decision to do surgery, which was last resort because of the risks involved.  Surgery was always going to be necessary to move her dislocated knee caps, which formed way off to the outside of her knees, but this surgery will include much more.  The risky part is loosening and tightening those parts in the back of her knee just right (while also avoiding nerves) to assist in getting her knees straight.  The bones below her knees are twisted, so those will have to be realigned.  Then everything above her knee has to be adjusted as well.  Her surgeon doesn't even know everything he will have to do until he gets in there, which could include the shortening of some bones.  Because this surgery is so involved, he will only be operating on one leg at a time.  The first surgery will be this Friday and the second one is scheduled for 2 weeks later.  She'll be casted following both surgeries for about 8 weeks.

So, going into this Friday, we have a few specific prayer requests.  Please know we covet your prayers and do not take them for granted! 

- There's a chance if everything goes very well, her surgeon might be able to do both legs at the same time; not likely, but possible!

- That Amelia's pain will be manageable...

- The incision will be big, so there could be a lot of blood loss which means a blood transfusion might be necessary, but hopefully not...

- That she'll tolerate the casts and that her skin will be able to handle it...

- Amelia has a serious heart condition (aortic root dilation/aneurysm) and in addition to that, there was a concern about her blood pressure dipping really low during anesthesia for an MRI she had in November in preparation for this surgery. Please pray that her blood pressure stays manageable and her heart condition stable...

- That the surgery will be a great success and she'll be able to walk!  Without her leg braces would be a huge bonus!  Amelia has her heart set on that. :)

February, 2017

On December 9, we lost one of Amelia's most valuable supporters, my dad and Amelia's papa.  Our last prayer request would be that you would keep Amelia, and our family, in your prayers as we grieve his loss and at the same time face this surgery for Amelia.  We are so happy for him knowing he is finally at Home with his Heavenly Father, but we miss him so much - especially his love and support!  My dad was also disabled and had braces as a child, major surgeries and pain in his legs (even until the end), so him and Amelia had a very special connection and I already miss his ability to relate and understand, unlike many of us.  But, Amelia knows he is in heaven and confidently says "he can do anything now!" - and that's what's most important to her!  Her papa would be proud of her - an inspiration she is and has always been to us! 

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank many who have been so supportive throughout the last 4 years and especially lately in light of Amelia's surgery.  Our families and friends have been with us through this journey and continue to hold us up!  Many have already surprised us with special gifts or offered support in different ways.  None of it goes unnoticed and it means more to us than you will ever know!  

We are also thankful for our church family who has always supported us in many different ways!  We are so grateful that Amelia means so much to them!  Another family that is important to us is our school family.  They have provided and cared for Amelia in many ways as well.  Last night, some very special friends, that are also teachers at the kid's school, put together a prayer covering for Amelia and our family.  It was beautiful and such an honor to be a part of.  Thankful for a community of believers in Christ at church and school that know the power of prayer! 

Through all this love and support, I can feel God holding us up saying, "See Julie, I got this!  If only you just trust Me!  'I am making all things new!' (Revelation 21:5)"  Pray that we would trust and rest in the assurance of His faithfulness! 

My mom gave me this flip calendar many years ago and I still treasure it.

My Father's words for the 12th day of January are perfect.

Songs are a great source of encouragement to me and these are just a few, of the many I love, that I have been listening to lately - listen to the words and I hope they encourage you too today! 

Be Still My Soul - Kari Jobe

Miracle - Unspoken

Find You Here - Ellie Holcomb