Untraceable Paths: She's Out: Take Two

Early Easter morning, four and a half years ago, life for our family changed forever. I awoke to the sound of an otherworldly noise and Tina’s body convulsing uncontrollably. That event began us onto a path where we would discover that Tina was suffering from late onset Epilepsy. That path would include long periods of Tina being home-bound and a non-stop roller-coaster of trying to figure out which medications would strike the best balance between controlling her seizures but also limit the debilitating side-effects of chronic fatigue and loss of focus – that effort has only been marginally successful.

On July 14th 2010, our path took another turn when Tina underwent a five week long surgical procedure where doctors at University Hospitals in Cleveland Ohio implanted multiple electrodes into her brain in the hope that this would allow them to locate the spot in her brain that is responsible for her seizures and then surgically remove that spot in an attempt to control her seizures without medication. Unfortunately after 3 surgical attempts to locating this seizure focus, the clock ran out and the risk of continuing this procedure became too great, so they removed all of the electrodes, and sent her home with very little to show for our 5 weeks in the hospital.

When we left Cleveland two summers ago we couldn't imagine that we would go back anytime soon. Those five weeks in the hospital were very disappointing for Tina and difficult for our kids. However, over the course of the last year and a half, Tina's seizures have become progressively more frequent, and medications have become progressively less effective at controlling her seizures. So, after consulting with Tina's neurologists, it is clear that we are in for yet another turn in the path of life.

We will once again be making the trip to University Hospitals in Cleveland, and on Wednesday January 11th, Tina will once again undergo the same procedure to implant electrodes in her brain to monitor seizure activity in the hope that they can determine the physical location of her seizures and surgically remove it.

This is not a path that we went looking for nor did we anticipate how sharply our lives would change literally over night when four and a half years ago these seizures began. There have been days when we have wondered as to why these things were happening and what God was up to in this. What we have learned is best summed up by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church at Rome where he said that the paths that God lays out for us are "beyond tracing out." We may not understand this path or where it’s leading us, but what we do know is that we would rather follow God’s untraceable path than to follow any path we could lay out for ourselves. This blog is our attempt to bring others along with us as we walk along God’s untraceable path.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

She's Out: Take Two

I just talked to the surgeon and Tina is already out and headed to recovery. He said it went very smooth and very quickly. Good job Dr. Miller. She will now be in recovery for several hours and then back up to the EMU. She'll have a CT scan at some point just to verify that everything is where it needs to be but It sounds like everything went very well.

I'll keep you posted as to how thing progress throughout the day.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: Praise the Lord for a smooth surgery. Praying for a speedy recovery.

Lois Schug; July 21, 2010 at 1:15 PM
Kathryn Jones said...: Relief!! Thank you, Jesus!; July 21, 2010 at 1:44 PM
Anonymous said...: We are praying and watching the blog, our thoughts are with you. Paul and Sally Wetters; July 21, 2010 at 1:56 PM
ruth said...: Matt, we will be praying for you and Tina during this long stay...Praise God so far!! He certainly is Mysterious but always good. We know He will give you both the determination and will to do whatever you need to at this time. Love to you both, Ken and Ruthie; July 21, 2010 at 3:05 PM
Aunt Marcia said...: So excited to hear all is well. Have been praying alot today for you both. Even came across a pt named Tina and stopped at work and prayed!! Interesting how God uses little reminders. God is good:o); July 21, 2010 at 9:06 PM