3 Years Home!

Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

It is a joyous night in our house as we celebrate the 3rd anniversary of when Lucy came home from the hospital.  What a remarkable little girl we have.  It's been a wonderful 3 years, but especially uplifting in the past 12 months as Lucy recovered from having her feeding tube removed, made great strides in her overall eating and started preschool!

I am humbled at the plan GOD has laid out for our family and how we have been able to witness His blessings and healing in Lucy's life.

Meanwhile...Lucy's latest MRI was traumatic for her (as you can expect!).  They do a "Quick-Brain" MRI to evaluate her shunt performance, which required Lucy to be in the MRI "tunnel" for 10 or so minutes while they took a series of pictures.  She was NOT a fan!  If you've ever been in an MRI machine you know that it is tiny, bright and loud.  Lucy was strapped down with a blanket tightly around her arms and mid section and she had a strap around her head keeping that still.  I was able to be in the room with her and hold her legs/tummy and sing at the top of my lungs to TRY to keep her calm.  She did quite a bit of moving and wanted to be ALL DONE, but in the end, they got the pictures that she needed, so that's a relief!!  She even played "MRI" at home that night and put her teddy bear in a makeshift tunnel and role-played...it was pretty cute in a sad sort of way. :)

The results were very positive.  Her shunt appears to be doing its job and her brain, although still not "normal" looking (it never will be), is healthy and clearly functioning very well.  Her neurologist is happy to report that unless there are issues, she doesn't need another MRI for 2 years - YAY!  (Maybe she will have forgotten about this one by then?)  Lucy impressed him with her ability to read "Medtronic" on one of the tools in his office...since I work there she sees that word a lot. HAHA!!

Thanks to all for your continued interest and support in Lucy's journey.  She is such an amazing kiddo!  Here are a few pics of what we've been up to this fall:

Celebrating sweet cousin Dawson's first birthday, you know in our costumes, next to a turtle!

Ready for hockey season (this is what happens when mom gets busy at work and daddy takes Lucy to Target!)

Playing in the leaves!!

Hydrocephalus Walk

Ready to Walk!!

We had the wonderful opportunity to participate in Minnesota Chapter of the Hydrocephalus Association walk at the Mall of America a few weeks ago.  Some of my family joined us there and we got matching shirts for the occasion!  Actually, we had this whole thing planned for LAST year but it happened over the weekend that Lucy was so sick, right after she got her feeding tube out and right before she was in the hospital getting it put back in.  So, we boxed up the shirts and packed them away until this year!

What a great event!  We had a houseful of people the night before the event (and 2 dogs!), but managed to get all 9 of us up and out of the house before 7 am!  We got to meet some fun characters, had brunch all together and then Jason and I took Lucy to Nickelodeon Universe for some rides.

Carousel Ride with Daddy!

Meeting Dora the Explorer!

We are so grateful for these types of organizations that help raise money and awareness for hydrocephalus, arguably an underfunded condition that affects millions!  If you would like donate in support of this, please visit our fundraising page at http://hawalk.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1129998&supid=386062722 to donate online.

It has been 3 years since Lucy had her shunt implanted and I really feel like that surgery of all of hers, is the one that changed her life...she got healthier, more alert and all around BETTER after that surgery.

Surgery Day - 3 years ago!

This week, we go to her neurosurgeon for a brain MRI and followup to make sure her shunt is still doing its job.  Prayers for wisdom for the doctors, comfort for Lucy (she'll be awake for the MRI :() and overall continued health for Lucy is always appreciated!

We'll keep you updated on the results.

Highlight of Lucy's Day? Meeting Elsa and Anna from Frozen (perhaps the highlight of her first three years of life, actually)