The A-Team

It wasn’t pretty but I completed my second full 26.2 mile marathon today. I can now assuredly tell you that I run marathonS. I badly bruised the ball of my right foot back in September and for the most part it healed but recovery required that I cut back substantially the last few weeks. Between that and the freezing rain today made for a race that was less than desired.

Oh well. At a certain point I decided that I could get bent out of shape about it and drop out, or just be thankful that I am blessed to able to run (regardless of speed today) and plant a smile on my face, make the best of it and finish no matter what.

I am very glad I opted for the latter.

In running, just like in life, there are good days and not so good days. The difference in the outcome is how we decide to deal with the days as we live them. For me there’s always next time, and at some point I will have a great day on marathon day. Really, I’ve had 2 years of good races so to finally have one not so good day is, in my opinion, a blessing statistically speaking.

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

We are officially drawing the proverbial “line in the sand.” We will have 1 final procedure for Abilene on Friday and should none of these tests prove anything, we are no longer going to pursue this “mystery” illness. Abilene is doing great and actually showing improvement! We are so blessed to have such a sweet and happy little girl. She is in no stress and we see no reason to continue to subject her or us to any more tests. We love her so much and we already feel robbed of some of her infancy that we do not wish to continue. It has been one crazy ride but we are officially done. We are leaving this (whatever it is) in God’s hands. He is the great Healer – what more could we do?

Abilene’s heart has been cleared. It is not the cause and/or contributing to her symptoms even though the Cardiologist would like to followup on her ASD when she is a year old. Fine.

Her CT scan showed collapse of her posterior lungs but it is far improved from her original CT scan. She may be outgrowing this? The pulmonologist is just as puzzled as we are. She is glad that Abilene is doing better but curious as to why her lungs look the way they do. So, we agreed to have her airway more closely examined via a scope on Friday. She will be sedated once again and submitted to this exam in the OR at Riley. Should this final test give us an actual diagnosis, then we will move forward with that. Otherwise, she is just a happy, sweet little girl who is growing and beating all the odds – so we will leave this alone.

Prayers for her continued healing would be greatly appreciated. It has been a trying time for all of us. I believe God has been leading us to this point for a reason…time to let go and give it to Him completely. Even in my daily devotional last night (just minutes after Aaron and I had this discussion) it talked about “doing the best you can but giving your kids to God.” It doesn’t get much clearer than that! I heard God’s voice and now I am trying to obey.

Sorry for my lack of posts…life is…well, crazy to put it lightly. I have many things I wish to put on here for you all to read and understand where we have been over the past couple months. It has been an interesting road but I am tired and ready to SLOW DOWN.

– Be still and know that I am God. ~Psalm 46:10

Do you ever get the feeling that something just isn’t quite right? You know, that nagging, unable to put to words kind of feeling? Well Aaron and I have both been experiencing this feeling when it comes to Abilene’s condition and treatment. We have been pushed down this road of lung issues. We have been told it is DEFINITELY something in the lung tissue (since all of the other obvious things were negative). We have been told lung biopsy is the ONLY option left.

However…

Aaron and I just cannot consent to a lung biopsy. We have been having such a difficult and tormented time dealing with this. It isn’t so much that we don’t want her to have the procedure (which we don’t) but more or less that we don’t feel that is the right course of action. We aren’t doctors but something is telling us NOT to do it. That “something” I firmly believe is God speaking to us both. We have such a strong sense of wrong when it comes to signing the paperwork and even at her last appointment, she was BETTER! God healed her long enough for the doctor to see it and STOP proceeding with the lung biopsy.

We did ask for another echocardiogram to be done as we saw a “hole” in her heart on the last one and we want to see if that is healing. We were told that ASDs are very common and typically close on their own. Well, the test was done and I was able to read the report at her CT scan. Turns out her ASD is worse than originally seen and she is now showing signs of shunting (left to right) which is when the blood “leaks” back the other way. This isn’t necessarily life-threatening but it is cause for concern. After coming away from the CT scan (which she did great!), I decided to do more research on ASDs. Turns out that in some cases, infants do not tolerate these ASDs well especially when shunting is present and will show signs of TACHYPNEA and RETRACTIONS! Gee, that is EXACTLY what Abilene is suffering from! I think I may be on to something here. Now, in defense of the pulmonologist, many of the babies who suffer from untolerated ASDs typically do not thrive or meet milestones. This is NOT the case with Abilene. She is growing and advancing as she should (except for tummy time strengthening but that’s not all her fault). We will be seeing the pulomonologist on Thursday and we will discuss the results of her tests and determine a course of action. We are requesting consultation with Cardiology before we go any further down the road of lung biopsy.

In summary, please pray for wisdom for us and the doctors and that we will get to the bottom of this quickly so she can be treated (if needed) and live a full and unrestricted life! We love her so much and we just want her to be whole:)

I know this blog has been tumbleweeds lately but we have been crazy (to put it lightly). I made a promise though (to myself) that I would get her 3 month post up today!

So, little Miss Abilene is 3 months old today! She is so sweet and by far the best baby I have had (stage for stage). We are in a great groove although I think she sleeps a bit more than I am comfortable with but who am I to complain? Her smile will melt your heart and she is just a jabberbox! She loves to coo at you and “talk” with you. She also has a favorite toy, Mr. Froggy. Man, she goes NUTS over him! Abilene is definitely a flirt. I have to keep my eye on her. She adores her daddy and brothers. She likes me but she is definitely different with them. I am just the milk maiden. The boys and daddy are barrels of fun! We are working on tummy time and that has been a bit tough since she absolutely HATES it plus she sometimes struggles for air and that makes me a bit apprehensive. Other than that we are totally on par for her milestones! At last weigh in and measurement which was just last Thursday, she weighed in at 13 pounds 9.6 ounces. She measured 23 1/2 inches. Her head was a ginormous 17 inches! Whew! This little lady is still tiny even though she is a big girl. She has been in 3-6 month clothing for quite some time now and even stretches into some 6-9 month clothing:) She is our joy and it is amazing to be her mommy! Here she is!

All 3 of my sweet babies.

Abilene’s first jeep ride

Don’t mess with the do!

All ready for bed. Goodnight!

To be brief, the A-Team is back home. Details will follow in days to come, but for now let us say the FAA and Air Traffic Control are…

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Here she is!!

This was SO cute! I loved the note Aunt Connie included! Thank you so much for the adorable outfits!!!

Miss Abilene at 6 weeks!

Saddest picture ever! This is her all wrapped up for her sleep study of which she only slept 35% of the 3 hours. Poor little baby. It broke my heart to see her like this.

Notice the hair. It was STUCK like this! The “glue” they used for all the leads from her sleep study did a number on her do. I made sure we washed up in the room:)

This was a favorite spot for the boys when they came to visit us at Riley. It was great to escape from the testing and just go play with my boys.

Now that my computer is up and running and I have gotten us pretty well settled here in OKC, I will be getting more posts up! Thanks for waiting!

Yeah! We are released! We are going home!!!!