Untraceable Paths: She's Out... Finally

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, January 11, 2012

She's Out... Finally

The surgeon just came out and let me know that Tina is out and she's doing good. It took a while longer than I thought, but the surgeon indicated that everything went as planned. He did end up removing some hardware from the previous surgery while he was under the hood so that took some extra time. She'll get a CT scan to make sure the grid of electrodes were placed exactly where they need to be and then she'll head up to the EMU.

I'll post more later.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: still praying! now to get down to business, Tina and have those seizures! xoxo Dad and mom L; January 11, 2012 at 3:19 PM
Dan & Hope said...: Thanking the Lord for His hand in this step! Praying for His timing (and that it will be speedy!); January 11, 2012 at 3:33 PM
Christa said...: It was killing me! I waited in front of my computer all day at school. I kept refreshing your page, but nothing! lol Glad everything went well! We love you both! ;); January 11, 2012 at 4:27 PM
linusvpelt said...: WHAT! they left stuff in there from the previous surgery? So glad to hear everything went well. Bring on the Deja Vu - have to tell you about my scary this morning - maybe I should be checked out as well. Love you and btw I look better bald than you -grow some hair will ya.; January 11, 2012 at 4:55 PM
Denise54 said...: Praying for successful results very soon! God bless; January 11, 2012 at 5:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Logan, IA is praying. Don't know what they will say when I ask for prayers for seizures. Aunt Barb; January 12, 2012 at 1:30 PM