Blessed

Sophie Kate started Vital Stim therapy this week. This is the therapy that we had been trying to get SK into since last fall. We will go 3 days a week for 6 weeks...yes, you heard me right...3 days a week downtown at Children's for 6 weeks. It is a concentrated intensive type of therapy, each session lasts for one hour. They are providing electrical stimulation to the muscles involved with chewing and swallowing, kinda of like an electrical stim machine that is used to rehab injured knees. The muscles of the cheeks and throat are contracted in an effort to strengthen everything around there so that we can improve her swallow.

We have only been two times so far but she did really well this past Wednesday. She swallowed around 10-15 times which is a lot of work for her. The therapy is done by a speech therapist who also works to stimulate SK's cheeks, mouth, lips and tongue in order to get her ready for eating again. If you are interested in reading more about Vitalstim therapy visit www.vitalstim.com.

This journey with our girl has been an up and down roller coaster of feelings and emotions and once again I find myself allowing the hope to come back in and it is a scary thing. I had made myself ok with SK being 100% tube fed, I have convinced myself that this is just the way it is going to be. Then I saw her swallowing so well the other day and actually closing her lips around the spoon to get the ice chips into her mouth and my tears fell once again.

She is growing, she is healthy, she is not just living she is thriving and if it were not for the gtube, well then, we would not even have our girl with us. Still, the hope is growing in my heart and head again...is it possible? Will she be able to eat orally again? Will she really be on the gtube for the rest of her life? All these questions, all this uncertainty...it's scary...it can be painful to hope again. We are in such a good place with SK right now. I don't want to do anything to upset the good thing we have going, but how can I not do everything possible for her?

I want to give her every opportunity, so we will go down another new path. I don't know where it will lead us, I don't know what the outcome will be, but we will be blessed and we are blessed no matter what the outcome is. The perspective that I have tried to keep from the beginning (and believe me it hasn't come easy) is that my faith and my hope is not in therapies, doctors, medicines or tests. My faith and my hope is in the One True God, Jehovah! Therefore, no matter what comes our way, we will cling to our hope in Jesus Christ and that kind of hope cannot be taken away from us by difficult diagnoses or negative test results. Hallelujah!

As Good Friday approaches we are keenly aware (as we should always be) that the battle has already been fought and won. The price for our sin has been paid, through the death of Jesus on the cross and by accepting Christ as our Savior we have been guaranteed life eternal with our Creator in heaven. There is nothing on earth that can take that away from us and based on that alone we have been shown that we are loved beyond words and that we are blessed beyond measure.

Isaiah 53:5 "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."

Hope you all have a wonderful and worshipful Resurrection weekend!