I came to know Christ a little over 11 years ago, and over those 11 years I have seen Him do some amazing things. I can't even start to begin to tell you the mountains He has moved. The first was when my daughter was born with two holes in her heart. I can remember the day crystal clear when the cardiologist, amazed himself, told us that the holes were no longer there. He has spoken to me through scripture when I was fed up and ready to give up, guiding me and showing me His selfless ways. I am ever so grateful that I stuck things out because He has done a great work in my marriage as a result. I experienced His peace and help during my time of need, when Parker broke his femur. He placed just the right people at just the right times in my path. I love to hear stories from others of the miracles he has done in their lives. And the following email is just that. We have a little girl named Caitlyn in our extended family that has been battling cancer on her spine. We have been praying on her behalf and this past Saturday, she underwent surgery to remove the tumor on her spine. They prepared the family for the worst and told them there could be nerve damage and that they might have to put metal in her back depending on how much of her spine they had to remove. The following is an email from Caitlyn's mom. It brought me to tears reading it. Tears of joy, tears of compassion, tears of love. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1
Hi everyone,
All I can say is "All the praise belongs to God!" This is a little long, but I feel compelled to share a few things with you all before I fill you in on how Caitlyn is doing now.
Caitlyn did very well going into surgery. We had prayed with her at home before we left and talked about how God was going to be the Doctor doing the surgery today and that He is so much bigger and more powerful than her bump and all doctors there. As I went into the OR with her, she began to get overwhelmed. I asked her, "Who is here today?" She said "God...and He is bigger than my bump" and then I reminded her that "God is the doctor today...remember that when you start to get scared!" Caitlyn visibly relaxed and did much better than the last surgery in breathing in the gas to go to sleep. I was able to hold her and speak into her ear the whole time until she was out. It was so much smoother than her last operation.
Caitlyn's surgery went extremely well. The surgeons said several times that it "couldn't have gone any better". When I responded, "well, Caitlyn had ALOT of people praying for her!" The surgeon responded, "well, we'd like to have their names and phone numbers, because whatever they did worked!" Thank you for your continued prayers on her behalf!
This was a long and technically difficult surgery- She had one joint/piece removed from each of her L3, L4 and L5 vertebrae on the right side of her spine, as well as a good chunk of her sacral bone (which wasn't initially a part of the plan). As far as they can tell, they were able to remove the whole tumor without removing any nerves and they think they got good margins. We will be waiting on pathology for confirmation of that. She also did not have any hardware installed and they were also able to have plastic surgery come down and take pictures and evaluate her, just in case she needs something in the future. The pediatric ortho surgeon told us that he wants to follow Caitlyn until she finishes growing.
I just have to share something else that I found miraculous. Apparently, Caitlyn had a benign birth defect in her sacral bone which cause a small hole. The surgeons were able to use that hole as a natural edge in removing the top part of the sacral bone in order to remove the tumor. It allowed them to lift the tumor up to see exactly where the nerves were so they could skirt over them. When they told me that, it immediately made me think of the verses from Psalms 139:12-14, "even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." It was a fresh reminder to me of who God is and that He knew about this even when Caitlyn was being formed in my womb. He alone can take something "bad"(defective) and make something good come out of it. The first thing Caitlyn asked when she woke up was, " Is my bump gone?" Later on that night, I was telling her how proud of her I was and I said to her "you know what makes you so brave?"...and I was going to tell her ... "because you did what you needed to even though it was scary", but before I could say that, Caitlyn replied back to me, "God, Mama...he is way more powerful than my bump!" How awesome is that!
Caitlyn did have morphine shot right into her spine, so she was pretty comfortable until about 2am. Unfortunately, she did vomit a couple of times and started to have a lot of pain. Her ortho doctor came by and said that she could move around to what she could tolerate for the day and they will try to get her up tomorrow (Sunday). She has been being shifted from one side to the other and it has been painful for her. She is experiencing some back spasms, which they are trying to control with meds. She is also on a continuous morphine drip as well as a PSA, which lets her dose herself as needed every 6 minutes. She's pretty puffy and swollen. Praises that she has been able to move both legs, feet and toes. She seems to be missing some sensation on her right foot, but it could be because of the swelling. She still has the drain in her back as well. She also has her port accessed, as well as an arterial line and another IV. Unfortunately, she spiked a fever this afternoon, which they are now treating with Tylenol. Overall, she has been a trooper, but it has been heartbreaking to see her in so much pain. She'll be in the PICU at least until tomorrow, if not Monday and then moved to another floor. Visitation at PICU is from 2pm-8pm, with a limit of only 2 people at a time. We would recommend that folks wait to see her until she is moved up to a regular floor.
Please continue to uplift her in your prayers, especially for pain management. She is anxious about the A line and IV, as well as the drain. Please pray that she won't become overly anxious when it comes time to remove them all. Also, please pray for the physical therapists as they work with her to advance her range of motion and as they try to get her sitting up. Also, please continue to pray for Carissa, that we, as parents, can support her as she needs as well.
God is good!
Blessings,
Jeanne
No comments:
Post a Comment