A sick lil boy

Last night, around 3am, I was tossing and turning in bed so I decided to get up and get a drink - even though I had a water bottle right next to my bed. Normally I don't get up, I just drink my water so I don't know why I decided to get up, but I did. I believe the Lord woke me up because the nurse stopped me in the hall and told me Dillon's fever was 104.3! She had given Tylenol an hour before when his fever was 102 but it went higher. I think it spiked higher because in an attempt to cool him down she had him in a diaper with cool cloths on his head and a fan blowing on him. I think it gave him a chill which would spike the fever even higher. So we removed the cloths and fan and waited a little bit. We also changed his CPAP mask to the one that does not have a "hat" to allow his head to cool down, but then his oxygen levels were struggling. So I had the nurse give an albuterol treatment and the vest and he calmed right down. He needed the vest to break up the junk in his lungs. I went back to sleep around 5am when his fever was down to 99.

The day was rough with Dillon, too. He only had a little bit of a fever around 1pm but he is still SO TIGHT! The only way to keep him calm is to hold him. If we don't hold him he gets so tight and his heart rate goes up. I sat on the sofa and held him till I could feel parts of my body any longer - but he did sleep some with the CPAP. Daddy ate dinner and then has been sitting on the sofa holding him all night with the CPAP on. The doctor did order a new nebulizer for him today too. Plus he has now had 3 doses of antibiotic. The doctor is warning me that even though his oxygen levels are good now, he isn't coughing the secretions up so when he does start to break them up he may not be able to maintain his oxygen levels.

We really need prayer that he will be able break up the secretions that are settled in his lungs and when that does happen that he will be able to handle his oxygen levels!! Thank you!

1 day - 5 appointments

5 appointments equals one LONG day!

Vision therapy 8:30-9:20am : Dillon was using his right eye for the fist time in a LONG time today. She is thinking that because of the scratch on the left eye his brain shut that one off and was using the other one. Which means we probably want to start patching so we can start to force the right eye to get stronger and then try to get them to work together.

Acupuncture 9:50-10:20am : Dillon had a few more points put in today because he has been sick. He actaully relaxed his muscles during it which was good, but then shortly after he was back to being as stiff as a board.

Ophthalmology 11:00-12:pm : Once we finally found the building we were good to go! (We had their old address since they haven't updated the internet!) Dillon was so tight and stiff I had to hold him on my lap the whole time! The doctor said his left eye has healed, however the right eye has scar tissue due to being dry. I just found out last week from one of my night nurses that they no longer had the order in the book to be giving the eye gel at night to keep his eyes wet during the night. I have NO idea how long ago that stopped, and it should NOT have stopped. People are failing to do their jobs and I am not happy about it since he now has scar tissue on his cornea. Someone in the office messed up and didn't put it on the next month sheet and then the nurses messed up because they are supposed to be checking the sheets every month to make sure they are right. Since there was never a DC order (discontinue) it should not have been ignored!

Pediatrician 12:50-2:00pm : Dr Gelman listened to Dillon and thinks we are catching a pneumonia at the beginning and started him on an antibiotic. I think he has been struggling with a stomach thing and the pneumonia must just be getting started. So back to see him in another week.

Obstetrician 2:30 - 3:45 : The baby's heart beat was about 147. I had some sugar in my urine, but once I told her about our day and that I have had some coffee and Wendy's for lunch etc she wasn't too worried. She just told me to eat less carbs before my next appointment in two weeks. The baby is measuring fine and everything seems good. The baby is head down now and at this point they would not expect it to move out of that position. I have gained 33 pounds!!! Ahhhh!!! With Dillon I gain 19 with Jay I gained 25, what is with the 33 pounds and still over a month to go!?!?!?! I know I know it is normal, but still.....means more to lose afterwards! :o(

Then we went to CVS to get Dillon's medicine and finally home. I don't know what has been going on with him. He is not acting like he normally does with pneumonia, he isn't acting like he does for a stomach bug, he is doing some strange stuff with being stiff. And when I say stiff I mean so stiff you can NOT make him bend; and if you do your strength will run aout before he gives up! I don't like when he is changing his behavior, I like when I can figure out exactly what is wrong and fix it. Please just pray for him to get better with this antibiotic. Thanks!

The best part of today was JayDonn - he was so well behaved! I don't remember having to talk to him at all really. He was so good for me! And it was such a long day. He ate 2 5 piece chicken nuggest from Wendy's for lunch, plus some french fries... he was a hungry little man on top of it all. Praise the Lord because I was stressed out enough with Dillon, I am so thankful Jay was well behaved!

Crazy Jay comments

Here is a dialog between JayDonn and I on the way home from church tonight:

Mommy: Are you going to kiss our baby?
Jay: Yes
Mommy: Is Dillon going to kiss our baby?
Jay: Yes, ummm no he is going to cough on the baby.
Mommy - after I stopped laughing: Should we help Dillon kiss the baby?
Jay: No, his mouth doesn't work.
Mommy: Should we help baby kiss Dillon?
Jay: Yes, on the cheek.

He is a crazy two year old!

It was so sweet this morning after Sunday school Jay told me right away about how Hannah cried and God gave her a baby boy. I asked what her baby's name is and he told me Samuel. He is learning - for all those who work with two year olds in church, they DO learn from you! I know it seems like they don't (I have taught in there before myself) but they really do absorb a lot!

Happy BIRTH day Moriah!

Happy BIRTH day Moriah!!!

So there is no misunderstanding - I am still pregnant!!! Moriah is my new little niece that was born this morning! Congratulations to my sister and brother in law! I wish I could be there to hold her!

Here she is with Mommy and her big brother

Daddy showing her to her brother and sister

Scratched Cornea

This morning we went to acupuncture with Dillon as we try to do every Monday morning. When Nurse Robin carried him in Jay made a comment that Dillon was crying. Huh? Dillon doesn't cry... Well he did have tears coming out of his left eye. Soon it was red and puffy and he was having a lot of seizures. The eye kept tearing and he was making the meanest faces I think I have ever seen Dillon make.

About an hour later, when his eye was STILL red, puffy, and tearing, and he was still making mean faces at us, we called the doctor to see what we should do. He didn't have an appointment until 5:15pm but did want to see him tonight. Dr Gelman put a orange dye in Dillon's eye and then used a UV light to look at it. Sure enough there is a (in my opinion) HUGE scratch below the pupil. I got to see it and couldn't believe how big it was. The orange dye turned green and the scratch was a big green area. I estimate it was about 3/8 of an inch long by about 1/8 inch high on the one side and was triangle shaped.

Best we can tell the nurse's hair must have done it, the Doctor said anything could have done it, including hair. Where she carries Dillon on her shoulder there is nothing to scratch it except her hair....Note to self and others who care for Dillon - watch out that your hair, jewelry, zippers, coats, etc are not in the way of his face when you carry him!

Dr. Gelman put him on a 7 day antibiotic eye drop and said we have to see an optho in 7 days. Whenever there is a scratch on the eye like this they must follow up with optho. I didn't like my last optho so Dr. Gelman gave me some names to call tomorrow and try to schedule with.

Poor little man! Of all the crazy things Jay does in a day I am surprised Dillon gets these kinds of injuries and not Jay! (Not that I am complaining that Jay has been safe and healthy.... just surprised.) Speaking of Jay - a funny thing he told me the other day I wanted to share with everyone. He was playing with a toy truck, horse and horse trailer. They had an accident and the horse got hurt so I asked him if the horse needed to go to the veterinarian and he said yes. I asked him if he wanted to be a veterinarian and he said, "Yes. I don't like lions, Daniel can take care of the lions. I don't like lions, they bite me and eat me. Daniel can take care of the lions." hahahahaha I am always amazed at how a two year old's brain works!

Chuck E Cheese

Our first time at Chuck E Cheese.... Jay LOVED it! He caught on very fast about the tokens and how they worked. He had a blast! The yellow car (see below) was his favorite riding toy and he loved to climb in the oberhead tunnels and come down the slide. I have a feeling we will be hearing about this for a long time! :o)

Dillon got very upset about something and would not calm down until we got him home. I am not sure if it was too loud, too over stimulating in another way, or if he knew it was a fun place, etc. He was trying to stand the whole time and then the whole time in the car on the way home. I wish I knew what was going on in his mind!

32 Weeks 4 days Baby #3 Pictures

The heart beat was 145-149 this time. (Last time when it was 160's I forgot I had an ice coffee right before I went with lunch.... that might have had something to do with the high heart rate! hahahaha)

I thought the baby is transverse (laying sideways) but the doctor could feel the head and said it is head down so that is good. I am not sure if it is flipping around and is transverse sometimes or not. But she said if there is any doubt they will do an ultrasound later on. Oh, when she squeezed on the baby's head the baby kicked her! :o) Fiesty little one!

Everything is going good with the pregnancy so far, just praying for a safe healthy delivery and a safe healthy baby in a few weeks!

Dillon's blood draw

I have been needing to get a bunch of blood drawn on Dillon for a while because of the diet he is on, but I had problems with the insurance letting me take him to CHOP instead of Quest. Truthfully I didn't stay on top of it because I dread taking him for blood work since he is such a hard stick.

We finally got everything together and went Wednesday to the CHOP in King of Prussia. We gave him about 70ml (a little more than 2 ounces) extra water before we went - hoping to pump up the veins. The ladies there were great, but they could only get one vein and out of that vein they got literally 4 drops of blood and it clotted before they left the room! Dillon's veins have a lot of scar tissue they said which makes them even hard to get, and his blood seems to flow so slowly that it won't fill the syringes.

So - Thursday we took him to CHOP main campus. But this time in the 16 hours leading up to it I gave him a little more than 600ml extra water! This is 20 ounces and is almost doubling his normal daily fluid intake! I also took a bath basin with us and sat his feet and one hand in the basins with very warm water for about an hour. Yes, Robin thought I was crazy, and probably every other person there thought the same. However, you could really see his veins better! When all the paperwork was squared away we went back for the blood. The first lady stuck his hand and got about 3ml from it. While she was working on his hand another lady came over and stuck his foot and was getting it to flow great. They ended up getting all the rest of the blood they needed (enough for about 9 vials) from his foot.

Dillon did not like the experience! As soon as they put the heating packs on his hands on Thursday he started fighting and getting mad. I am pretty sure he remembered what they did the day before and knew what was coming. But my little man was brave and did great! I started to feel a little funny after it was almost done and took some deep breaths to calm down. I was worried they weren't going to get it and have to keep sticking him!

Then we walked to find Daddy, who is working at a building a couple blocks away from CHOP, and had lunch with him. It was the first time Robin and I had ever ate from a street vendor in Philly. I thought it was pretty good! It sure helps a long day at CHOP to get to have lunch with my sweet husby!

Then I had to go around CHOP and schedule a few things and try to get the two departments talking that need to coordinate the surgery for Dillon in August. Ortho is looking at Aug 6, hopefully a urology doctor will be able to participate that day as well.

Then it was a long ride home. It took a little over 1.5 hours even though we left at 3:20. Needless to say, I was exhausted yesterday evening, but thankful the blood work is done!

When you can't trace His hand...

"When you can't trace His hand, trust His heart".

I can't trace His hand more than I can usually. I guess that is the point of faith. Dillon's ortho called me on Thursday. He said after looking at the X-ray with Dillon's legs pointed in the position he needed them in, he can see the surgery we were planning won't work. He has to do the boney surgery I told you all about in a previous post. It is where they will cut his leg bone apart, re angle the bone, use screws and plates to put it back together, as well as cut the tendon. He has to do this because Dillon's bone has been misangled by his muscle tone. The doctor told me that he is only treating symptoms, that the cause is his brain and there is nothing we can do about that. At least he is honest with me!

The doctor wants to do both legs at once because the right legs is not normal either and it will need to be done eventually. The only good news to this is that he won't need the cast afterwards because the plates act as the cast to keep everything in place.

However, the bad news is the doctor said he will need this done again. If Dillon were 10 years old his legs would be mostly done growing, but since he is only 3 his legs will keep growing and will grow the way the brain wants them to not the way the doctor wants them to. This is a very common issues in children with CP like Dillon, however he is young to be needing this drastic of surgery. I think the Doctor said they normally don't need this until 7 to 8 years old.

I couldn't get Dillon off his fish oil in time for surgery next week. He has to be off of it for 2 weeks and they only told me the day before he had to be off. If I just remove it he will have a lot of seizures, I have to have the neuro team make adjustments to the diet. Therefore we will be putting it off. The doctor said this is perfectly fine - that he would plan to do it in August or September with no consequence to Dillon. However, we cannot wait years to do it or his hip will get arthritis.

The doctor is also going to coordinate with urology to fix Dillon's double hernia and undecended testicles all at the same time, so that is good. The hips will take 1.5 hours each, the hernia about 45 minutes so all together he will be undergoing about 5 hours of surgery probably in August or September. And of course they will be sending him to the PICU to recover.

"When you can't trace His hand, trust His heart"

Pre-Op for Hip surgery

We had our pre-op for hip surgery today. The doctor normally likes to read the X-ray while the family is still in the anesthesia appointment, but he wasn't able to be in today so he will call me Monday with how the X-ray compares to the last one. The pre-op appointment went like they all do... nothing too exciting. They will reserve him a bed on the PICU for after the surgery. I have to call his neuro tomorrow and figure out how we will adjust the diet because he is not allowed his fish oil for 2 weeks before surgery. I believe fish oil thins the blood so he can't have it, but without it his diet loses a lot of fat and will cause more seizures.

However, I think we will still end up putting off the surgery until after the baby is born so that the stretches we are doing, the chiropractor and the acupuncturist can have a few months to see if they can help his body without surgery. Especially since this is a surgery the doctor told me will have to be done multiple times. The doctor had told me there was no rush in getting it done, so if there is a hope to help him without surgery/casting Josiah and I feel we must give it a chance! (If we dely the surgery I do not have to have this appointment again, they will just call me to go over any changes - so by going now even though we will probably put it off for a few months I did not waste anyone's time.)

Dillon's leg has made improvements from what i can see. He now allows us to stretch him as much as we can without his heart rate going up, him fighting us, or meeting resistance. He allows us to put him into a froggy position on his belly and he will keep it for up to an hour. And his nurse said last night he had his left knee bent and the ankle on top of the right leg. All these are improvements from a few weeks ago!!! So I am really praying that these improvements mean the hip is moving back into place! PLEASE continue to pray that this will be the case! Dillon and I thank you for your prayers! :o)

Funny Jay Quotes

My mom told me I haven't been telling her Jay's funny quotes, so I thought I would write them down so I have them for him to read one day too...

1. This morning while getting ready for church I had my hot rollers on my bed. Jay was sitting on my bed watching me and informs me "Those are for Grandmas!" I guess it has been a while since I used them to curl my hair so he only remembers seeing his Grandma use them!

2. Thursday night Jay felt the baby kick him for the first time. I have tried before but he is too impatient. His eyes got very big when he really did feel the baby. Then Friday at the doctor's office he felt it again. He has tried a few more times and he usually puts his hand on my belly for a second and then says "He kicked me!" and I will tell him no he didn't, but Jay insists he did kick Jay. I don't think he gets that I can feel when it happens too! Jay is calling the baby "he" or "boy" sometimes now. I kept telling him that baby might be a girl or it might be a boy, and I think he is finally understanding that we don't know what it is. (Well MOST of us don't know what it is!) But the funny quote that goes with this one is something he has been saying for weeks now... He will just walk up to me and tell me this.... I don't know why! "I don't break the baby's head, I kiss the baby?" And I say yes kiss the baby so he does. I don't know WHERE he got the "I don't break the baby's head" from though! But I am glad he knows he shouldn't do that!

3. Often when he is sitting on the potty he says "I don't pee on Mommy! I don't poop on Mommy! I pee in the potty." Another one I am glad he knows! But not sure why we have to talk about it.... boys!

4. If I have something hot in my hand he tells me "Don't burn Jay's head!" Like I would burn his head!

5. Daddy was in the bathroom with him cutting his hair and I went up to see how it was going. Jay told me "Ummm, you go out and Daddy cut my hair!" Thanks a lot little man... you do realize I am the one who makes your food right? heehee

6. When he is on the potty now he tells us to go out so he can poop. He is only 2.5 years old!

7. Jay loves to "wipe my kisses off" as a game. Sometimes he will even wipe my kisses off of Dillon and Daddy too! I thought I would have at least a few more years before he wiped my kisses off!

Can't think of any more right now... hope you smiled as you read these. And I can't wait to one day tease Jay about all the crazy things he said.

Surprises!

We had several appointments today. Dillon's doctor said his lungs sound GREAT! So that is awesome. He said Dillon shouldn't even look at anyone sick still though. We also had acupuncture today, went shopping, and went out to lunch.

Another appointment today was my OB appointment. They said my blood sugar levels came back perfectly normal - Praise the Lord! With JayDonn I was borderline diabetic so I was worried this time. But when I tested myself I was actually low. So I am very thankful the numbers were good. My iron levels came back so good the doctor told me they are better than her levels! More awesome news. My blood pressure is good. With Dillon I gained 19 pounds, with JayDonn I gained 25 pounds, and with this one I have already gained 24! But my pre-pregnancy weight was much lower this time than with the other two.

I told the doctor that when I have the next ultrasound I would like to do something. She told me I wouldn't have another ultrasound unless necessary. I told her I was hoping to find out the gender and have them write it down in an envelope so I could give it to Josiah. So she let us wait and quick did an ultrasound. The baby was SO active though. Even the doctor said we have a very very wiggly baby. The baby wouldn't go into a good position for more than a second or two but she wrote down what she is 80% sure the baby is. And no, Robin and I did NOT look!

When Josiah got home I gave him the envelope and told him what I did. (He had no idea I wanted to do this for him) He took the envelope upstairs and came back saying it had scribbles on it not words. I guessed they must have done the symbol for male or female so I showed him the symbols and he said it was still messy and hard to understand - but he does know what the doctor wrote! This is so much fun! I love that he knows, but I don't and no one else does!


And no - he is NOT going to tell! :o)

I love surprises, don't you?!

Hip Spica Casts

I wanted to show everyone what the cast is like that Dillon will have to be in for four weeks - if God doesn't heal his hip before surgery. These are the hip spica casts, we don't know for sure yet if Dillon's will be the bilateral or the one and one-half spica:

I also included some pictures of other kids wearing the hip spica cast that I found on the Internet. Dillon was scheduled for another X-ray at his pre-op appointment on March 11 that I didn't know about until this week. Which means, if God heals the hip before then, they will clearly see if on the X-ray..... so after seeing these pictures.... will you PLEASE PRAY FOR A MIRACLE! That Dillon's hip would be back in place by the March 11 X-ray! Thank you!

I know God can heal his hip, I just don't know if it is God's plan to heal it or not. Maybe there is some reason we have to go through with the surgery and cast.... but I am still praying that if there be any way within His will that He will heal Dillon's hip so he won't have to go through that.

Thank you for your prayers and for passing on this prayer request to others so that we all can go before God on Dillon's behalf.

25 Weeks Baby #3

I am 25 weeks 1 day with our sweet Baby Kuenzi #3!

I love you Baby!

Hahaha this one makes me look HUGE!

I can't wait to meet this sweet Baby - well yes I can - at least for 12 more weeks or so...

He/She is getting stronger everyday! I can no feel the little heels and fists as he/she kicks me!

Mommy and Baby!

I am 25 weeks 1 day with Sweet Baby Kuenzi #3!

JayDonn's Bible verse

JayDonn and Dillon were given this lion to color and glue onto the paper so I added a Bible verse about a lion and within 3 days Jay had it memorized. 1 Peter 5:8

Click here to see the video of JayDonn saying his Bible verse!!

Good job Jay!

Pics of Blizzard!

Blizzard of 2010!







Click here to see the video of Josiah snow blowing in this blizzard!

Philly broke it's all time record for snow fall in one year!

Rejoice in the Lord

Tonight in church we sang this song, and it was something I needed to hear.

Rejoice in the Lord by Ron Hamilton

God never moves without purpose or plan
When trying His servent and molding a man.
Give thanks to the LORD though your testing seems long;
In darkness He giveth a song.

I could not see through the shadow ahead;
So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead.
I bowed to the will of the Master that day;
Then peace came and tears fled away.

Now I can see testing comes from above;
God strengthens His children and purges in love.
My Father knows best, and I trust in His care;
Through purging more fruit I will bear.

O Rejoice in the LORD
He makes no mistakes,
He knoweth the end of each path that I take,
For when I am tried
And purified,
I shall come forth as gold.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road...

This post was started on Friday Feb 5, but it took several days to finish it so I am just posting it now on Friday Feb 12.:



Dillon's doctor said that Dillon is "On the yellow brick road, but a long way from the Emerald City. He is just stopping to pick up the scare crow." (Gotta love Doctor Gelman!)





Translation: He is doing better but he is still not healthy. His lungs still don't sound too good from the RSV and pneumonia he had. Doctor Gelman wants us to keep both boys home from church this weekend as he is afraid of one of them coming in contact with someone who is sick. Dillon's lungs are not strong enough to handle another sickness right now without another "hotel" (hospital) stay. Doctor Gelman wants to see Dillon again on Monday to check his lungs and see if he is ready to start using less albuterol and atrovent.





Dillon's surgery was moved to March 26 because they want him as the first surgery of the day (they cannot keep him without food for too long on this diet). However, the child that was already scheduled for the 19th also needs to be the first surgery so we will be scheduled for the 26.





Dillon's acupuncturist worked on him on Friday. She put some needles in his lower back, hips, and down his legs. She also gave him a massage and taught us how to massage his legs and lower back. She wants us to have everyone in the house do a 30 minute massage on him each day. We are going to have to try hard to get this done - everyday! I was able to massage him for almost an hour tonight on Friday and off and on all day Saturday so that is a good start. We got about 13 inches of snow so the boys and I were in all day anyways.





I feel very discouraged with it all though. I don't know if discouraged is the right word, I feel like my hands are tied, like I am fighting a losing battle. Despite all our daily work with Dillon - the patterning, the masking, the 5 therapist I have in my home every week sicne he was born, the stander, the chair, the AFO's, trying to change his positions, keeping him moving all day instead of just laying in bed, keeping him as active as possible, etc - his muscles are still so tight it dislocated his hip! Even if we are able to avoid surgery in March - the timer is ticking away till the next time it will happen. I don't know how I can avoid this for life... it is impossible! Eventually Dillon WILL have to have these surgeries, casting, and braces. I think I would have to spend more time than I have everyday just massaging his legs to try to avoid it - and will it even work? Now I understand why parents do the surgeries, what choice do we have?





The last paragraph is written from a human stand point. We have no other choice, these surgeries are inevitable... without God. However, we know the one who CAN win this battle, who CAN fix his hip problems. Question is - do I have faith? James 5:14-16 "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."





I want to study this passage part by part. I have heard many different explanations of this verse that try to make it so that it doesn't mean what it reads. So I want to go part by part and examine what it says.





"Is any sick among you?" James was written to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. It was written to Christians who were not in just one church, but to the Christians all over. If the rest of the book of James applies to us as Christians today, then so does this verse. I don't believe we can say the book of James is for us - except James 5:14-16. Dillon is not a Jew, nor is he a "Christian" (due to his age and mental understanding it is not possible for him to have placed his trust in Christ alone.) However, he is apart of our family and Josiah and I have placed our trust in Christ and are God's children. He also belongs to God as God covers the babies who are not able to understand what He did on the cross.





"let him call for the elders of the church;" The term elder could refer to the members of the Sanhedrin - except that the Bible makes it clear that it is talking about the church. The members of the Sanhedrin would not have been in the church. Therefore it has to be talking about the Pastors, deacons, teachers, etc in the church. The men who were the Shepherds of the church.





"and let them pray over him," The word pray is used 306 times in this tense. Christ commands us to pray over and over again. Why would he command us to pray? Because it works! Mark 11:24 says "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Matthew 17:20 says " And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, If ye have the faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Luke 17: 6 says " And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you." Prayer works!





"anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:" The oil here would be probably be olive oil. Olive oil is seen throughout the Old Testament as a offering to the Lord. It used used on the alters with the sacrifices to God. Olive oil was poured on the head of the man God wanted to appoint. It seems to be a symbol of one being set apart by God to do His work. It was commanded to the Jews in Exodus to be "an holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations." Oil is associated with worship through out the whole Old testament as well. Olive oil was used to set apart the tabernacle and the things that were in it as being holy and for God. Olive oil was used in the cleansing process for when people sinned against God. The oil was used in the lamps to keep them burning as well. In Mark the Bible talks about the disciples using oil to anoint and heal the sick.



"And the prayer of faith shall save the sick," Prayer and faith are often found together in the Bible. In the verses already used, we see that only by faith is our prayer effective. We can move mountains - if we only have faith. Faith is the core, the essence of everything. James 1:5-7 says that if a man wants wisdom he needs to ask - but he needs to ask with faith. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord." If we are going to anoint a sick person with oil and pray for God to heal that person - we must have faith that God will heal. James tells us that if we waver in our faith God will not give us what we are asking for. I believe this is the main reason so many people want to excuse this passage away. They don't have the faith to believe that God will heal someone. Do I have enough faith? No I don't. I need God to help me. Mark 9:17-29 is about a father who asked the disciples to remove a demon from his son. But the disciples were unable to. So the father asks Jesus. Verses 23-24 say "Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord I believe; help thou mine unbelief." I think this father is saying that he wants to believe and does believe to the best he can, but is asking Jesus to help him if he has any doubts so that he can more fully believe. Jesus then granted this father's request and cast the demon out of his child.



If you stop and think about it - do you, do I, have the faith to pray and believe that God will heal Dillon's hips? It is hard, but I believe through fasting, prayer, and asking God to help our unbelief we can have the faith to go to God and ask him to heal Dillon.



"And the Lord shall raise him up;" Whenever we see God heal a person in the Bible it is immediate. I believe if God heals the person it will be known right away so that the full glory can go to God and God alone for what He has done. He will raise the person right then. Remember the lame men that were healed, they were always told to stand up and walk - right then. If the healing didn't come right away then the healing could be attributed to any number of other things. When God performs a miracle, I believe He does it so that He gets the glory for it. Another thing I notice in this phrase is also in the last phrase... the would "shall". Webster's dictionary says the word shall is a command, used to express what is mandatory, used to express what is inevitable, etc. There is no "wiggle room" in this word. It says if you pray in faith it WILL happen. The only variable here is if we will do our part. God will fulfill His promise if we do what we are told to do.



"and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." This is another part that is used to say that the Bible doesn't really say what it seems to say. This verse says IF he hath sinned. This verse does NOT say this is only for those who are sick because of their sin, as I have been taught by some. We learn in 1 Peter 3:7 that is husband and wife are at odds our prayers are hindered. Proverbs 28:9 tells us that if we refuse to hear the law our prayers "shall be abomination." Mark 11:26 says "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." Psalm 66:18 says "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:" There are several things in the Bible that will hinder our prayers being answered. So before we can go to God in faith and ask him to heal, we must have clean hearts before God. Of course, we have all sinned, so I don't think this verse is saying it can only be done if the person is perfect. But we must each make sure that we are pure before the Lord and that if there is any known sin in our life that it is confessed and forsaken before entering into this process. The verse is telling us that if we do confess sins that may be hindering our prayers - God will forgive us so we can have pure hearts and have our prayer heard.



"Confess your faults one to another," This goes along with the verse above, Mark 11:26. Matthew 18:15 says " Moreover if they brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained they brother." Matthew 5:23-24 says, "Therefore if thou bring they gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to they brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Over and over again we are told to have nothing between us and a brother in Christ before we can worship God.



"and pray one for another," How many times do we read of Paul telling a church that he is praying for them? That his prayers don't stop, that they are always in his prayers? Many times. Paul understood the power of prayer and therefore prayed for his fellow believers often. John 17:15 is Jesus praying for Christians, not that we would be removed from the world, but that we would withstand the evil in the world. 2 Corinthians 13:7 is saying he is praying that he fellow Christians would do no evil. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, we are fighting the same fight. We should be praying for each other. We should be praying for strength, wisdom, a pure heart, etc for our brothers. We should have hard feelings or disagreements with our fellow Christians that keep us from being able to pray for them. If I want my brothers to pray for me, am I being faithful in praying for them?



"that ye may be healed." The word "that" is a conditional word. This will happen if that has happened. If we want to experience healing we need to be praying for our brothers in Christ and have confessed our sins. The word "healed" means to be cured, to be made whole. It means a miracle! When doctors have no cure, only temporary fixes and God heals - it is complete!



"The effectual fervent prayer" The word effectual is similar to effective. Fervent means marked by great intensity of feeling, zealous. So our prayer for healing is to be effective and of great passion to us, something we care about greatly, something we are zealous about. If I don't care about the person asking for healing, I would not be good to pray for them because God wants to see us pour our hearts out before Him!



"of a righteous man" The elders who are called to anoint with oil need to be righteous men. They must be men who are keeping the commands of God, innocent, guiltless, whose way of thinking, feeling, and living is to have his will fully conformed to the will of God.



"availeth much." Availeth means to be strong, to have power, to have strength to overcome. The prayers of righteous men are powerful, they have the strength to overcome anything. They have the strength to overcome what the doctors have said, the have the power to change a medical condition!



Going through all this leads me to the only conclusion I can come to if I read the Bible and take it literally. If we gather righteous men of our church and in FAITH ask God to heal Dillon's hip - he will! Do I believe it though? Do I have faith to believe that God can move a hip back into socket and keep it from coming out again? Do I have faith to believe that even though the doctors have stated Dillon will need several surgeries, that God can change all that? I don't know... it is HARD. It is easy to answer yes, but to really examine my heart and see if I believe is hard. But I know I can be like the father of the child with a demon and ask God to help my unbelief! If I (we) can trust God to hold our eternity secure in His hands, to not falter on His promise of eternal life with Him, why can we not trust Him to fulfill His promise for physical healing here on this earth? Why is it easier to trust for something "obscure" than it is for something concrete? If I am trusting His promise that believing His blood was payment for my sin, and that His Resurrection conquered sin and death... then can I not trust His promise that if we pray with faith He will heal?

Ortho Appointment

Do I want to start with facts or emotion? I've been able to hold my emotions together so far, but I know it won't last, so I will write the facts first I guess...

Ortho said that the right hip is fine. The position of the legs in the X-rays were not very good which made the right one look out (but it isn't) and made the left one look worse than it is (but it IS out). The doctor looked back at an upper GI X-ray from 2008 and saw that at that point the hips were both in place. I really believe it has only been out the last couple of months when were were hearing a clicking sound with patterning so that is a good thing.

It is hard to sum up everything that was talked about - but basically surgery is scheduled for March 19. Planning to be there at least 48 hours - that is IF Dillon handles the surgery well. They have to go in and cut a tendon in the leg to loosen that muscle and inject a dye into the joint to see if the socket is able to hold the hip ball. If it is able to; between the cut tendon and the fact that he will be under anesthesia they are hoping to pop the hip back into place. If they cannot because the socket is too shallow they will then have to go in and clean out the socket and then put it into place. Changing the 30 minute surgery into 3 hours and changing the number of future surgeries that he will require. No matter which they do, however, he is facing more surgeries in the coming years. The less they have to do now the better for him. If they have to clean the socket out this time - then the next surgery will probably be a bony surgery where they will actually cut the leg, re-angle the bone and use pins and screws to hold it in place. However, if this is done before the age of 10-12 it WILL fail and he will have to go through it again. If we can mange to delay the bony surgery until at least 12 years of age it probably will not fail and he may not need it again. The reason for this is if he is still young his bone is going to "correct" itself and grow back the way it wants to, which will be straight instead of at the angle they want it at.

After the surgery on March 19 - he will have to be in a half body cast for 4 weeks. The cast will go from just below his feeding tube in his stomach down both his legs - which will be in Y position. The left leg will either go to his ankle or possibly to his toes. If they don't need to cut the tendon on the right leg (they will inject the dye in it just to be sure while they are in there) then the right leg may only have to go to the knee, or it might go to the ankle as well. They will try to be able to get him in a oversized car seat, but sometimes they have to take the child home in an ambulance and bring them back in an ambulance 4 weeks later to cut it off because they just don't fit in a car seat. So if that is the case he would be stuck in the house for 4 weeks. They will see about getting us a reclined wheelchair that he would fit in for this time period so we can take him out.

So, why is it dislocated? It is a very common problem with children with Cerebral palsy because their muscles are so tight it is actually pulling the hip out of place. Dillon is on the young side to have it out already which shows the severity of his CP and it also means that he will have more surgeries in his future.

They said there is no rush to get this surgery done, but I believe this hip has only been out for a few months, so I don't want to wait and chance the socket filling in and requiring the more extensive surgery. Plus, if it needs to be done in the near future, I would rather get it done and over with and have the casts off before the baby comes in May. Once the baby is here - it will change things so much and make it just that much harder to deal with surgery and care for him while in the casts.

I am praying for a miracle, though. I still believe God can allow this to be fixed without surgery. I am going to talk to my acupuncturist and see if she can loosen the muscles in his leg/hip area. I know she can do it in his arms and lower legs, so why not the hip? Then I am going to call chiropractors and see if the muscles is loose if they think the can move the hip back in without surgery. Please pray with me that God would allow this method to work - it would be so much better for Dillon! Then we could do braces and stretches to hopefully prevent the surgeries. Please pray with me that this might work! Otherwise it is surgery in a month, 4 weeks of lower body cast, and more hip surgeries in the future.

I was telling Robin today, that no matter what way God has us go, this is not in vain. God wouldn't allow him to go through this for no reason. There must be someone we can help because of what we will go through. I don't know who or why, but there has to be a reason for this...

Home Sweet Home!

We were able to bring Dillon home today! Thank you for all your prayers for him and for us. I don't know how I survived the first few days with so little sleep other than by your prayers for me! God gave me the strength I needed to stay alert each day even when I should have been dead on my feet!

The attending doctor walked in to listen to him today and said she heard wheezing - oh no! I was thinking "No you don't! Really! Just let me suction him!" But she turned him over and it was cleared out so we were free to come home. He has one more full day of antibiotics and is on 2 inhalers instead of his nebulizer.

They said he is past the worse of the RSV and should be getting better from here. The Pulm doctor said the RSV shots won't really help Dillon because all they do is lessen the effects a little, but in someone like Dillon he would still end up in the hospital. Good to know that even he thinks I shouldn't get it for Dillon.

The ICS thing I asked you to pray about - the Pulm doctor said how it works is next time Dillon has to be admitted tell them I want to talk to the ICS doctors and to get a hold of him to find out the details of why and all the info. He will then help us get into that program, but it is something I have to wait until we are there to do so the doctors on that team can get to know him while he is there. My doctor didn't see any reason why he shouldn't be able to go this route, though.

I am praying for some miracles... I would like to see Dillon beat his last record of 10 months with no antibiotics or hospitalizations! And I am praying that God would work a true miracle and fix his hips so he won't be in pain, won't be hindered in his ability to move, and won't have to face surgery in a few years! Both of these would be miracles - but so was no antibiotics or hospitalizations for 10 months, so was the fund raising for China, so was the trip to China going off without any problems, so is Dillon's life! Will you join me in praying for these things?

Tomorrow we are back to CHOP for the ortho appointment. I have had a lot of not so helpful people from Ortho so far, but the doctor we are seeing tomorrow is a hip specialist so hopefully he will answer some of my questions. Like are both hips dislocated or just one, can he stand in his new stander, if so should he have a lift under that leg, what positions would be hurting him, what do we do about it, can we do patterning, what do we do about the fact that he isn't using his one leg anymore, etc., etc.!