Forcing Ourselves to Make November a Month of Thanksgiving

So I thought I would give my thoughts on the month that is considered the month of "Thanksgiving".  Last November was anything but!

Many know Emmy's history.  She broke her arm in April, immediately starting having migraines and intense vomiting, July 15th had a seizure, which an MRI showed us that she had encephalitis, then started relapsing once we made it home in August.  We were transferred to Portsmouth Naval, where the pediatric neurologist had no idea how to handle a case of relapsing encephalitis, so Emmy went over a month and a half of hell before we transferred back to CHKD.  Once we were back to CHKD in November, Emmy had a TERRIBLE relapse on Veteran's Day, where the lesion in her basal ganglia doubled from a dime size to a quarter.  This caused the right side of her face to lose all muscle control, along with her right arm and right leg.  To top everything off, after Randy picked up the kids from a friend, they got home and Everett found Emmy's beloved cat Bellows dead.  Oh, the pain our entire family was feeling that day was unbearable.  Then, three days later, some motion came back to her face (PRAISE THE LORD), but the next night on November 14th, she was up all night throwing up like she was relapsing again.  The MRI showed that nothing was worse, but they did steroids anyway.  ALL THE WHILE, she was undergoing plasmapheresis (and later chemotherapy) and the Red Cross had her height and weight wrong, so they were taking out way too much blood to prime the machine with, so 4 out of 5 sessions, she would almost lose consciousness, even once having one of her eyes dilate while the other stayed small.  OH, that month was hell.  I have no idea how we made it through.  Everyday was stressful, painful and full of tears.  I would sit on the hard couch/bed every night and cry out to God.

So fast forward a year.  We know that each seizure has been on a date where something happened the year before.  These past two seizures were around the time she had a headache/throw-up episode, which I believe was when the 2 new lesions formed in her brain.  So we have some big days ahead of us, which I have already been praying over for the past month.

BUT have I ever mentioned how FEARFULLY and  WONDERFULLY God created our bodies?  I have done research upon research, read books on the brain (which I would have never done before) and have asked guidance from parents who have been there and done that.  I already knew seizures can actually be very healing... Well,  I just happened to call Emmy's chiropractor the other day to pay a monthly bill, and the chiropractor asked how Emmy was doing.  I told her about the seizures and she proceeded to give me a great explanation on seizures and the body.  As I have already learned, our emotions (good and bad) are stored in our bodies, in different organs, based on frequency (all energy, including thoughts and emotions have a frequency).  And to heal negative thoughts/emotions, you have to pull up those old thoughts/emotions and deal with them, which is a whole big process (we taught about it last month in an essential oils emotions class).  Amazingly, the chiropractor proceeded to tell me how our Central Nervous System does the same thing to trauma.  It will store the pain and turn that area off until it is ready to deal with it and heal; usually HAPPENING ON AN ANNIVERSARY!!!  It will pull up those areas that were hurt/damaged/traumatized and begin the healing process.  The healing process in brains is usually with a seizure!  So as I HATE seizures, I have to remind myself that God created them as a source of healing to our brains.  Seizures bring extra blood, oxygen and glucose to the brain which is ESSENTIAL in the healing process, even causing healing to be faster.

So as I sit here everyday and wonder why Emmy is NOT as strong as she was in September, Not as mobile, Not as talkative and Not as calm, I keep reminding myself that her body is most likely reliving some trauma, emotionally and physically.  I continue to PRAY that those past two seizures were enough to heal that area and true healing can begin and that extra burden of stress can be lifted (it is nothing but stress watching a child who has had seizures).  We did wean her off that new seizure medicine because it caused her eyes to click (which has to be the worse thing to look at ever) and made her look like a drugged-up mess.  I also am praying that these days of November are not something to be feared, but something to be THANKFUL for.  Emmy is still here with us!  She can communicate and remembers everything.  Maybe we have a really long road ahead of us, but God is still God and He is always in control.  He has never left us nor forsaken us and I believe that He will work ALL THINGS (the good, bad and ugly) together for GOOD.  God will be glorified through Emmy's testimony, whatever that ends up being!  

 Emmy working on the treadmill at her last PT session!  I praise God everyday that she can smile through it all!!!