Untraceable Paths: She's In: Take Four

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, August 11, 2010

She's In: Take Four

Four weeks ago today Tina and I came to University Hospitals, Tina had her first surgery, and we started this whole journey of trying to find a treatment for her epilepsy. It seemed somewhat surreal this morning that this is the fourth time we've done this and that Tina and I haven't left this building in a month. It was almost funny that I was greeted my name as I approached the desk at the surgical waiting area this morning.

Tina stayed up until about 3:35am this morning and no, she didn't have any seizures. Truthfully, as the clock ticked by, and even when they started to administer anti-seizure meds in preparation for surgery, Tina felt more a sense of relief than disappointment. The realization that we are finally going to be done with this and going home was very encouraging to her. Unfortunately the nurse came in at 5:15 and said that surgery had called and were on the way. I'm not sure Tina actually fell asleep before she had to wake back up and have all the surface electrodes taken off.

Tina was finally taken into surgery at about 8:30 this morning and they will be pulling all of her electrodes out and putting her skull back in place. They expect the surgery to last about 2 hours at the most. Please pray for her safety and for skill for Dr. Miller.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Matt & Tina...holding you both up in prayer...following you through this journey with prayer and lots of love!!!

Kelly Griffin; August 11, 2010 at 9:18 AM
Kathryn Jones said...: Praying and looking forward to you coming home.

Kathryn; August 11, 2010 at 9:32 AM
Nathan Kline said...: Matt and Tina,

I have been following your journey through your blog and I am so impressed at your faith. It has been an encouragement to me as I deal with the "wait and see what the Lord will do" process in my life as well right now. You may never know how many lives you have touched through this whole ordeal. Keep the faith, trust God. He will bring you through anything He has brought you to.

Also praying this morning for Tina.

Nathan Kline; August 11, 2010 at 10:21 AM

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