It has been a long time since I sat down to update this. It feels like home sitting behind this keyboard with so many hours spent doing this and it is hard at times to put everything out there and knowing that our hearts and lives are being read by all. This is a good thing too, because this is not our story as many of you have heard me say now, but this is God's story. He is writing through us daily and we just have bigger pages at times than some.
First I want to say that the past 6 months have been a roller coaster ride. Sometimes it doesn't seem real that this has all happened in the past 6 months. I think it is because it has been a life journey for us with the last leg of it only 6 months behind us. At the same time, all of our time up at U of M doesn't seem like it really happened. Only at times :-) I have had opportunity to see all that has happened while up there and lives that have been touched, people that have been met, and prayers that were sent up on Kasi's behalf and I stand amazed over and over again. She was truly touched by the hand of God many times and I look back on some of the blog posts and the pleas that were put out there and I see God's work done. Sometimes instant and sometimes over time, but always God's hand, God's time, and God's will. God's will at times during the process I wish would have been different, but not that I look back I can see how incredible His plan was/is for us and especially in Kasi's life. I praise Him for that!
On to our trip yesterday, since I could go on and on about the "stuff" of life that I have learned and reflected on. Who knows, it could be the next blog post, or it could even be at the end of this. Depends on how my hands hold up :-)
Yesterday we had a follow up appointment with Dr. Eliason, who is one of her vascular surgeons. We went there knowing that she was having some "issues" with her belly once again and she has been getting sleepy. Now her sleepiness could be from being 15 and trying to grow and do it on less sleep than really needed. I am trying to encourage more, but she has other plans for her last hour of the night! It could be this boy interest she has right now, in fact, I know it is! It is a good thing they are good kids. (Jake you made the blog)
Kasi went in for her normal routine tests and the results were great! Her blood flow to her lower body is looking really good. We are so excited about that!! She then started to explain these belly issues with him. He said it could be a couple of things. It could be that because she had such an assault happen to her belly that she has developed scar tissue, or it could be that they have kind of created irritable bowel syndrome. These both kind of make sense for the surgery, but don't really make sense because of when she gets the pain. The pain is extreme and only in the morning. Really early morning! It wakes her up at times around 4:00am and she has a med that she takes and it seems to go away. She doesn't get any kind of pain all day long. She is tired though, and it could be just from not sleeping well, going to bed later than she should, or it could be a sign of something else. We will wait on this belly pain for a month. If it doesn't get better then she will have to see a specialist up at UofM for this. She is also taking her blood sugar 1 and 2 hours after she eats to see if that has something to do with her sleepiness. This will happen for the next 6 months.
The last thing we talked about with the doctor was the fact that he heard a significant heart murmur. She has a slight heart murmur before, but now it has increased. There could be reasons for this that make sense, but because she is Kasi we will go in this coming week and just have her listened to. Our amazing nurse talked to us on the phone on the way home and we agree that this might just be because of better blood flow making the murmur louder. We will go with that and enjoy our weekend!
Of course the last of this post has to be about more U of M moments. This time when waiting and waiting to go into her appointment we were sitting by a "older" lady, my dad wouldn't appreciate that since she had to be about his age, and we started talking. (of course this is hard for you all to believe about me) Well, it came out that she had grand kids in GR and they were from Saginaw. We also then talking about health issues and I had to add the goodness of God. We got to share a little of Kasi's story and she too is a Christian woman and all I have to say is she left in tears (of joy) for the goodness done in Kasi's life, and she said she will be praying for Kasi and her life. How good is God to put us out in the waiting room for a LONG time, and turn it into a place where we could encourage them in their situation with the goodness of Him. That is what it is all about! Plus seeing our nurses cry when we walk down the hall because they are overwhelmed seeing us, yeah those are great moments! We have genuine love for all of them up there. They are part of our family!
As for prayer needs for Kasi. We have some once again, but we know God is faithful to take care of our every need so we rest in the fact that all of you will join with us in your prayers for her again!
Pray that Kasi's belly issues go away, her blood sugar remains normal, the heart murmur is nothing but a noise, and that she can be done going to the doctors all the time. Those are the requests for Kasi. You know I have put on here prayers for others before and once again I have someone for you to pray for. Dr. Stanley is the doctor that did Kasi's surgery. The one of only 4 who has any kind of knowledge of her case and the only one in America. Well, he had surgery this past week and he is still in the hospital. We will be sending up cards, but prayers are the most important thing we can give him. He has been prayed for before since his hands are the hands you all prayed for in the OR when Kasi had her surgery, now his whole body needs to recover. He is looking to retire and it would be great it he could do that is good health. Please join us in prayer for him. It is amazing that God put us at "just the right time" to have our surgery so he was able to do it, and now to show him where strength comes from. He was the doctor that was amazed at Kasi's strength and said she was the strongest patient he has had. We love Dr. Stanley, and we will hold him up!!!
I hope you all have an amazing day today! It looks like the weather is going to be amazing and we are very excited to say we are going to a concert tonight as guests of Bowen's dad. It will be a ton of fun!
God is amazing! He is still at work, in and through us! Looking forward to seeing what He is about to do!
Jodi
