Tests, procedures and surgeries....

The long awaited date has finally arrived. With each passing day this date that has loomed in my mind. A date that would mark our lives coming to a screeching halt, yet only for a season.

Today is simply a test, not a test of the emergency broadcasting system that will only beep on your screen for seconds, but an MRI. Maggie will have a series of MRI screenings today, for which she will be put under anesthesia. Apart from the initial wheeling away from mom, she should sail through them just fine. These scans are necessary for the next steps in moving her toward healing. The MRI will take a closer look to see what areas of her brain are effected; causing spasticity in her lower limbs. The doctors expect they will find her to be a good candidate for a fairly evasive procedure that would produce a much better gait pattern for Maggie allowing even greater independence for her future.

Tomorrow Haddie will have her first of 3 procedures that will take place over the course of the next 4 months. She will have what is called a tongue flap procedure. (Skip the rest of this paragraph if you are the least bit squeamish.) The doctor will cut a portion of the tongue, partially filleting it, and attach the top layer of the tongue to the roof of her mouth. This will, in essence, serve as a patch for the fistulas, or holes, in the roof of her mouth. Needing the blood flow to heal properly, the tongue will remain attached to the roof of her mouth for 3 weeks. I understand this is probably TMI for most, but seriously, the girl needs some prayer! She will be on a liquid diet that will be fed by way of a syringe. Fun times! When those 3 weeks have quickly passed, Haddie's tongue will be loosed and a cosmetic procedure will be done on her nose.

  

Just 5 days following that procedure for Haddie, I will leave with Maggie to have procedures done on her legs and feet. Basically, the goal of those procedures will be to straighten and reconstruct bones. She will be in casts, with a bar connecting her legs for 4 weeks. Maggie will not bear any weight on her legs during that time. She will gradually begin to weight bear on week 5 after surgery, but limited. Around week 7 casts will be removed, and we trust God will allow for her to move independently, yet slow.

All procedures will wrap up June 21st with Haddie's bone graft. That will be a process of taking bone marrow from her hip and inserting it into the palette so she will no longer have holes, but bone!

Is it not so amazing the wisdom God has lavished on man to bring about healing? I am blown away by methods and techniques in the medical world, and it leaves me praising a great God who gives ALL wisdom!

These sweet girls of mine have a heavy 4 months ahead of them, and we need an army of people who will pray. I intend to keep the blog updated so you can lift up specific requests.

If God chooses to use these procedures to work greater physical healing in these beauties of mine, then praise Him! If He chooses to bring miraculous healing that requires no further interventions or procedures, praise Him! He has proven Himself trustworthy in the choosing department and my trust in Him runs deep!

Specifically pray for peace over the girls. They are most anxious about leaving mommy before they go to sleep before their procedures. They are well equipped with new stuffed animal friends and blankets, but they are fairly rattled inside about that moment in particular.

Today Maggie's procedure begins at 8:00.

Thank you for coming along with us, and carrying us to the Father!