Happy Day

Today is a good day. I haven't felt like posting anything for a few days because I've just felt burdened and was trying to follow the adage, "if you don't anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." That's not to say that good things haven't happened in the last few days...it was just how I was feeling inside, a little tired, a little weary and sad for my Lizzie.

Lizzie's shunt seems to be working properly...we had another CT scan today and it looks okay. She still has the fluid on the right side of the brain and they're hoping it will eventually drain to avoid more surgeries.

The good news is that we were told today that we can probably be released in the next 5-6 days...that made us breathe us huge sigh of relief. We are going to be able to do all of her therapy on an outpatient basis and she will probably just have weekly checkups and CT scans for awhile just to make sure the fluid is not building up again.

The thing we are a little freaked out about is all of her medicines she will have to take. They are still trying to figure out the correct dosages and teach us what to do at home. We are going to have to be very disciplined about the timing of all her meds...before this I could barely remember to give my kids antibiotics for ear infections every day, so this will be interesting for our family.

She will be on meds to control her thyroid, cortisol for stress, DDAVP to help regulate fluid output and sodium in her body and human growth hormones to help her grow. It is so funny when the endocrinologists talk to me about her medicines...they go into chemistry terms and I can feel myself zoning away into my happy place - seriously, chemistry, measurements and all that make me want to curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb - which is why I pursued a degree that had absolutely nothing to do with numbers and things like that. It is going to be quite the education for us, but we are just excited to get her home and get her better.

Lizzie is becoming more alert and her short term memory is getting a little better...she is remembering a few things I told her 3 days ago which is a good sign. We find ourselves engaging in a little potty talk just to see her smile and giggle - it's really pretty funny that potty words are the main way we can get her to laugh.

We have been thinking about the blessings we have received through this experience and I think the major one is that for the most part we have been able to be happy and positive. We have been so scared at times and grieved heavily, but we have also been able to still see how we were being blessed. I consider this a tender mercy from the Lord since at times my response to trials or stress is to see the glass half empty. We have been richly blessed - we have been able to see and hear from friends we haven't seen for a long time, we have been able to feel just how much we are loved and supported, we have been able to be strong when we needed to be strong and we have drawn closer together as a family. Life truly is good.