Updates from facebook...

Well, life is back to normal...BUSY! On Friday, Apr 9 I said I would update "tomorrow" and tomorrow has become a few weeks later. It is so hard to try to find time to blog. Maddie is doing great although she wants to be held all the time and I don't mind!! With that said, I am learning to do a lot of things with one hand but not blogging! It just takes to long to type with one hand!

The purpose of this post is to transfer all the updates that Brent sent out on facebook to my blog so I have a record of them. So if you read those updates you may not want to read any further! :)

Friday, Apr 9...

Well, I stayed with Maddie last night and we had a pretty good night. She slept for a good amount of the night just waking up every now and then. She was getting frustrated because she really wanted to be on her side to sleep, but she wasn't quite far enough over and every time she relaxed to fall asleep, her arm would fall back to her side and she would jump when her arm fell. Then she would cry out, I would get up and put her paci back in and then she would do it again. Finally, one of the nurses help me put a roll behind her back that gave her just enough support on her side to let her sleep.
Last night, one of the nurses turned off Maddie's oxygen and she has been doing great without it. Her oxygen has remained in the mid to high 90s (and even 100%) some. This is great progress.
Also, last night, Maddie took some formula. She took close to 3 ozs. Everyone has heard the saying, 'drive it like you stole it.' I have a new one for the way Maddie took her formula last night -- "Drink it like you stole it." She took that first 2 oz. bottle like she was running the last lap of the Daytona 500. (shout out to all my NASCAR buddies out there. Of course I should have probably said Talladega instead for my AL family and friends!!).
The drainage out of her test tube has been much slower and is showing positive signs.
She still has her cough, but it has not gotten worse. It may be a little better but not much.
Overall, she continues to improve. As Maddie and I woke up this morning, I could see that she was so much closer to the way she was before her surgery. She was giving me some great big smiles. She completely melted my heart with those big smiles. If she could talk right now, she could have asked for anything in the world and I would have said a great big resounding YES.
This whole ordeal has really made me think a lot lately. It certainly has put a lot of things in perspective and has really helped in my walk with Christ. I don't know what I would do if I did not have Him to lean on and trust. On one of the first days after Maddie's surgery, I was begging for God to let me take her pain for her so that she would not have to face it. I was pleading with Him. As I sat back, I thought about Christ dying on the Cross for our sins and taking our punishment and God allowing His Son to die on the Cross for our sins. It really made me think about how Christ is begging with us and pleading with us to repent of our sins and put our faith in Him and accept the free Gift that He has given us. While I was unable to take Maddie's pain for her, Christ was able to take our punishment / pain because of who He is and because He was sinless. This is something that each of us must receive individually. It has nothing to do with us being good people, trying to keep some commandments, helping others, etc. It only has to do with us repenting of our sins and putting our faith in Christ and what He did on the Cross for us.
We appreciate all of the prayers and support on Maddie's behalf, but our prayer is that out of all of this that Christ be glorified and everything that we have been through points to Christ. If there is someone reading these updates and following these that has not repented of their sins and put their faith in Christ, our prayer is that this group, these messages, the prayers of others on the group will make you think about where you would spend eternity and would make you think about what you would say if you were to stand before God and He were to ask you "Why should I let you in to My Heaven." Would you answer something related to how good of a person you have been, the things you have done, the people you helped out, etc., etc. and base it on your own works? Or would you be able to point to Jesus' life and what He did for you and how He died on the Cross for your sin and has already taken your punishment and that you have repented of your sin and put your faith in Him?
If you would not be able to point to Christ and what He did, the Bible says that you will face your punishment and that you will be cast in Hell. If there is someone out there that would like to talk further about this, please message me or Kim and let us know. We would love to walk through scripture with you and show specific passages in the Bible that speak about Christ and what He has done for us and how we can have that personal relationship with Him.
Thank you again for all of your prayers and all of the encouraging words that we have received. We are truly blessed and honored to be surrounded and supported by so many that care for us and have lifted prayers on behalf of Maddie and ourselves.
In Christ,
Brent


Sat. Apr 10...

We have had a great day! Maddie continues to improve!
We just hung out in our room today and Maddie just wanted to play while she was awake.
She is eating great. Please pray she keeps eating. If she keeps eating the way she is, and the fluid continues to drain we can go home. We have heard we may be able to go home Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. I am ready to go home but I want to stay until they are sure she is good to go! I don't want to come back!!

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support! We are so thankful for you!

Have a blessed night!



Sun. Apr. 11...

Just wanted to give an update to everyone since there hasn't been too many updates lately. It's a good thing that we haven't been able to give too many updates lately. That means things are getting somewhat back to normal (busy) and that Maddie is feeling a lot better and doing a lot better so we have much less "sit around" time at the hospital. Maddie is still in the hospital and Kim has been staying with her. Maddie has all tubes out except for one IV that they are keeping in just in case they need it sometime before we leave the hospital plus they are still administering one of her meds through itl. All other medicine has been oral. She has started having some poopy diapers after surgery. Even though the surgery didn't really do anything to her system in that area, the medicines do have an affect and the doctors like to see the poopy diapers before leaving.
The other big praise is the fluid on her lungs appears to have gotten better. The left side drained when they put the chest tube in. Apparently, the right side has drained as well!!!! One of the ICU doctors that we had earlier in the week came by the floor to check on us today and he said that he heard through the grapevine that Maddie's right side fluid was gone. That means that we are much closer to leaving the hospital.
Maddie is really getting back to her normal personality from prior to surgery. We are getting lots of smiles and a few laughs and she is moving all around just like normal. Her color is really good, her oxygen saturation remains high. Additionally, her heart rate and rhythm have also been very good.
Please just continue to pray for Maddie's body to continue healing. Also, pray for her to be in a state where the doctors feel comfortable letting us bring her home. We are ready to be home with our little girl.

Thanks again for your continued prayers for Maddie and her recovery.


Monday, Apr.12...

Just a quick update to let everyone know that Maddie came home from the hospital today!!!! Glad to have everyone back home. Thanks for your prayers and continued prayer for her recovery. We will update more at a later time. Going outside to play with the kids!!!!!!!!!

God is good!!

Wednesday, Apr. 21...

I know that we haven't updated in a while, but it is because things are back to normal around here....BUSY! Maddie is doing really well. Her incisions and pokes and such are all healing up quite nicely. We'll have to get a current pic on her for everyone just to give you an idea of how well it is healing up. She is as active as she was before surgery. All of her bruising and such is now gone as well. We are so thankful for God's healing hand on her life. Our prayer is for continued recovery and for one day for God to heal her spiritually through repentance and faith in Christ. Thanks again for all of your prayers and the encouraging words.