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.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Early Surgery

As of 9:00pm (Tuesday) there have not been any seizures. Tina is doing her best to exhaust herself and try to trigger something. We got up Sunday morning about 8:00am, stayed up all Sunday night and Monday morning, and then after Tina took a 1 hour nap on Tuesday morning she stayed up the rest of Tuesday and dozed a couple of hours in front of the TV last night. She took about a 1 hour nap this morning and is still going. She is now under doctors orders to stay up until 3:00am tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow they're going to get her up at 4:30am to scrub down for surgery and then will give her anti-seizure meds at 5:00am in preparation for her surgery at 8:00am. The nuro-surgeon came through this afternoon and feels very strongly that Tina needs to get the electrodes out very soon because at this point the risk of bone infection goes up exponentially.

Right now the surgery she is scheduled for is to remove the electrodes from her brain and replace the skull. If she has a seizure before surgery they may postpone it and actually do the surgery were they remove (resect) part of her brain to treat her seizures, but it all depends on her having a seizure yet tonight.

We are feeling very at ease tonight. We are praying for a seizure but feel at peace with the possibility that it may not happen. Please continue to pray for Tina - both that she might still have a seizure tonight but also that her fourth surgery in as many weeks would go smoothly and that she would have a speedy recovery so we can get out of here and get home.

Thanks so much for waking through this process with us by reading this blog and offering your insights, encouragement and your prayers.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

We're praying for all of you. Take care and God Bless.

August 10, 2010 at 9:19 PM
Aunt Marcia said...

Asking God for ONE good seizure. Loving you both:o)

August 10, 2010 at 9:27 PM
Michelle Jackson said...

Wishing you a speedy recovery. At least you were able to give a few reads in the beginning that could possibly be used in the future. Lots of Love & Hugs!!!

August 11, 2010 at 8:51 AM
Anonymous said...

Love you both!! Praying for peace and God's will be done. Aunt Barb

August 11, 2010 at 10:02 AM
Amy Cobb said...

We have asked the LORD for your complete healing without surgery. Here are the lyrics of my favorite song that we claim in Jesus' name for YOU:
You hold my every moment.
You calm my raging seas.
You walk with me through fire
and heal all my disease.
I trust in you. Lord, I trust in you.
I believe you're my healer.
I believe you are all I need.
I believe you're my portion.
I believe you're more than enough for me...
Jesus you're all I need.
nothing is impossible for you.
nothing is impossible.
nothing is impossible for you.
You hold my world in your hands.

i'm thankful to read that you are still trusting Jesus even though things aren't going as you had hoped.

we are holding you in prayer!

August 12, 2010 at 11:49 AM

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