E-Stim

We recently heard about a product for children with nerve damage from another mom of a spina-bifida baby. It's called E-Stim and works much like an EKG except the electrodes are hooked up to the legs instead of the chest. The E-Stim then sends electrical currents down the legs to stimulate damaged nerves which in turn stimulate muscles with poor tone. We can put our hands on Abby's legs and feel the muscles contracting. This week Abby was hooked up to E-Stim for the third time during her physical therapy and so far is making drastic improvements in her muscle tone as well as movement in her left leg. Abby has been walking using only the bottom part of her braces and walker and we are thrilled! But using this device can be quite tricky since the therapist has to determine the degree of current to use without causing too much discomfort. Abby does cry and fret most of her appointment and we're not sure if it's because she is in a little bit of pain or if she is just fussing about yet another new procedure. It's the most heart-wrenching part of being the parent and making the hard calls....do you let your child be uncomfortable for the present time so she has the best quality of life later, or do you give her the highest level of comfort and hope she isn't disappointed later that you didn't do more? Last week her appointment was so emotional that I felt drained for several days after it was over. Of course the instant her E-Stim was unhooked, she was all smiles like nothing had happened...the little stinker! She always manages to bounce back from whatever she faces with a smile, so we are very thankful to have a beautiful daughter with an excellent spirit. She makes it all worthwhile!



Abby was so happy her Daddy was able to come to her appointment yesterday

Here is a close-up of what her legs look like when hooked up to the E-Stim

And of course Mama was here to cheer Abby on too

Last week Abby visited her Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw and managed to wrangle a tractor ride out of her Paw-Paw. You should hear Abby's southern drawl when she says "Paw"...so cute!

Giving my "Paw" some much-deserved sugar for my tractor ride

Abby is eating up all this attention on her off day

Lookin' pretty for the camera

It's about time to go home for my nap, everybody!

New Baby Doll

Sierra, a little girl Abby met at horse therapy, was so sweet to bless her with a "special needs" Cabbage Patch Doll. She comes equipped with braces on both feet (just like Abby) and a set of walking canes. It won't be long until Abby will be using walking canes instead of a walker. Thank you, Sierra, for blessing Abby with a baby doll that she can relate to. We had never seen one quite like it before:0)



Our baby is growing up so fast. She is starting to look like a little girl.

...and she is so curious and loves to touch everything around her. She loves to stroke the baby doll's hair and take the bow out.

Celebrating One Year Together

This week we celebrated our 1st year with our precious daughter Abby. It has been an amazing adventure with every kind of emotion you can imagine. We have seen our God be faithful and sustain us through some difficult surgeries but through it all Abby has been a trooper. We were told that Abby would never walk, and by the Grace of God and a lot of hard work and determination on Abby's part she is now walking with the help of braces and a walker. Praise Jesus for all that He has done!
Abby has brought so much joy and laughter and sheer energy to our lives and we are forever grateful to have her as our daughter. Jawanna and I often wonder what we did before we got Abby... who knows, but we love our life and the family that God has blessed us with.

We will always remember September 1st 2008, the "Forever Day" we got Abby. We love you Abby and treasure you.

Daddy and Mama

I have prepared a video of our lives with Abby over the past year. I hope you enjoy.

Who Knew a Cast Could be a Fashion Statement?

Abby has done quite well since her surgery. In fact, she hasn't complained at all! But we had noticed several days ago that her toes looked just a tiny bit further back in the cast than they had right after surgery and thought it was due to the swelling going down. Then Wednesday night there was a noticable difference in placement of about 1/2 inch and we knew something was wrong. We called the surgery nurse and were told to bring Abby in Thursday morning to have her cast removed. Had we known just how serious this was, we would have insisted it be removed Wednesday night. We cringed when we saw how horrible her little heel looked and felt heartbroken that Abby must have been in pain for several days while this was happening. But what's done is done and we're praying for a speedy recovery so she can wear her new braces when they come in. She was supposed to have the cast on for 3 weeks and yesterday was only day 9 but the doctor opted to leave it off because of the pressure wound. We have already called the orthotist and had a special brace ordered that has a "bubble" where the heel area is located to protect it and will be picking it up today. The great thing is that since the cast was removed, Abby has been moving her foot and leg a lot more than normal! It's almost as if the surgery triggered something in her nerves and now she has more feeling than before. We can tickle her foot and she will kick her whole leg and prior to surgery she may not even realize we were touching her foot. It's really amazing and gives us hope that our many many prayers for Abby's full recovery are being heard by our Heavenly Father.






Ready for church and all dolled up in a pretty pink cast and a "China dress" that matches it perfectly! Yes, I can maintain my girly-girliness even in a cast, people!




The pressure wound looked better even a couple of hours after being out of the cast and free from the pressure. It was actually black when the cast first came off and scared us quite badly. We are thankful we caught it in time before any major damage was done. Abby's orthopedic surgeon said he had never seen this happen before, and he's been doing these surgeries for many years. You can see her surgery scar right above the pressure wound. It's less than an inch long but the surgery definitely has made a difference! Abby's foot is much straighter than before.





Yes, the medical team really writes "yes" on the limb receiving surgery! Abby already had the beginning stages of a pressure wound on the top of her foot too.

It's Over!

Today has been an eventful but great day. Abby got up this morning in a great mood, which made it even harder for us to drag her off for another surgery. But as always, she plowed right through a tough day and came out all smiles. She couldn't have anything to eat or drink after midnight last night, but did recognize StarBucks (her special treat when she works extra hard at physical therapy) when we passed by this morning and said, "Yummmmm....Yummmmmm." Talk about tearing your heart out! This child of ours definitely knows how to do it! But other than that she never even asked for food or drink, so we were thankful for that.

We had a 2 hour wait at the clinic before her surgery started at 9am and the medical team decided to put her to sleep before starting IV, etc. The heel cord surgery took only about 20 minutes but then she still had to be casted for new braces on both legs and then have her left leg casted for post-surgery reasons. Her cast ended up being only up to her knee, not all the way to her hip area like we thought. The whole procedure took about an hour. When we were called back into recovery, Abby was crying so pitifully and one of the nurses was in the holding area cradleing her like a little baby and loving on her. It took a little while for us to get her calmed down but soon she fell asleep and was fine.

Abby had no nausea or vomiting, a welcome change from her surgeries in Birmingham, and was discharged a little before 12 pm. Once home she was able to eat a little bit and went down for a good nap. She woke up acting like nothing had even happened to her today...all smiles and playing. She ate some watermelon and udon noodles for supper. We took her for about a 20 minute walk around the neighborhood and even sat in the floor and played with her for a long time. Michael blew some bubbles and she had a blast chasing them around. She even felt good enough to aggravate poor Smitty! ha ha

To all of you who invested time praying over this day and Abby's surgery, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We could feel the strength of your prayers and the evidence of God answering them is in the outcome. We've posted a few pics below to show just how great our Abby did.



Just getting home, all relaxed and showing off my new pink cast. Of course it had to be pink since I'm such a girly-girl!

After my nap Dady blew bubbles for me and I had so much fun chasing them.

Where did it go?!

Wow! They're everywhere!

Who knew a surgery day could be this much fun?

Let's do that some more, Daddy!

Is it gonna bite me?

Bursting a bubble that's sitting on the floor. See how long my hair is getting? My Mommy wishes she had my pretty eyelashes.

Yet Another Surgery....

Well, here we are again, facing another surgery with our sweet baby. A lot has been going on this year that we haven't posted on our blog...we try to stay positive even when the circumstances aren't :0) But things seem to be smoothing out, so we thought we might share a little of our lives with you.

We have been trying to get this surgery scheduled for 2 months now and have encountered problems. Slowly but surely we are learning to lean more and more on our Heavenly Father and trust that He is ultimately in control. On May 6th, Abby was seen by a pediatric orthopaedic doctor, Dr. Dempsey, who told us that she would need heel cord lengthening surgery on her left foot. It was not something we really wanted to hear, but it's obvious just by looking at her foot that something is wrong. Her entire foot is "curled up" including her little toes. This poses a huge problem with her braces because if she ever curls her toes underneath while her foot is in the brace, her heel pops up and her foot is no longer down in the brace like it's supposed to be. Now, factor in the doctor telling us that Abby needs to be in her braces 8 hours a day. Big problem! We did ask if physical therapy would correct her foot over time, but babies that come into the world with a birth defect are only correctable with surgery.

Abby had a bad case of pneumonia and a severe urinary tract infection in April (ended up in the ER) and a lighter case in June. Then in July we took her back for a check-up as she had been running a low-grade fever almost every day since April. Again, she was diagnosed with pneumonia and her pending surgery was cancelled. And then......great news. The pediatrician called back last Wednesday and said a specialist had reviewed all of Abby's chest x-rays and she did not currently have pneumonia (although she definitely had it in April). A network of blood vessels in her right lung appear to be pneumonia on her x-rays. The blood vessels are harmless and it's normal for some babies to have this. She is probably running the fever due to teething since all of her labwork came back normal. So again, surgery was rescheduled for this coming Tuesday, July 21st, at 7am.

After the surgery is complete, and while Abby is under anesthesia, an orthotist will come in and cast both of her legs for new braces that will fit much better. Then her left leg will be in a cast for 2 weeks up to her hip and then for 1 more week just below her knee. During that time she cannot get her cast wet at all, which means no bath for 3 weeks. Now folks, that may not sound like the end of the world to you, but to a 2 year old who absolutely loves her bath every day, it is :0) Since Abby is still so small, we normally bathe her in the kitchen sink. But lately we wanted her to venture out and really enjoy her bath time until surgery, so we moved her to the big tub and added lots of fun toys. Of course she loves it! (See pictures).

But here's how good our God is: one of my friends put a post on Facebook about her little boy being able to go to youth camp and still swim in the pool even with a broken arm. So I emailed her and found out about a cast cover that is 100%waterproof and you can shower, swim, and bathe even with a cast on! We have one ordered for Abby and hopefully it will get here in time. You know, God knew our baby needed her special time that she enjoys so much in the bath tub. If anyone out there thinks God doesn't care about the little things in your life, HE DOES! And maybe He chooses not to change or fix your circumstances, but just look around and you'll see that He is there with you and He cares.

We aren't crazy about our precious Abby going through another surgery (her fourth one) but we know this is best for her in the longrun. We cherish your prayers and encouragement and consider it an honor that you would continue to remember our sweet Abby and our family in your prayers.



Rub-A-Dub-Dub, Abby's in the tub!





You should hear her say "dub dub dub"...she's really
loving the tub thing!





Everybody should have a rubber duckie!

Oh, So Proud to be an American!

Then....and Now




Abby at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China. She's proudly wearing her red, white and blue dress as we finalize our documentation. Now she will be a U.S. Citizen when we step off the plane back home!

.....and 10 months later as we celebrate Abby's first 4th of July

(we were so glad the dress still fit her!)