Micheala turns 4!

With all that has been going on with Micheala, we added a birthday party to the mix. On April 19th, Micheala turned 4 years old. We had her party on the 20th, with Grandparents, neighbors and aunt Joni and Uncle Chris. Micheala set the land speed record for opening her gifts, so we didn't get many pictures. It's amazing how fast she has grown. Thank you to everyone that came.

Micheala verses the MRI

Friday was the day that was weighing heavy on Heather and my hearts for quite sometime now. We had many concerns and unanswered questions regarding the health of Micheala and the results of her surgery from last August. As many of you know, Heather and I grew concerned with Micheala about 2 months ago when she was display some odd behavior. She was wetting her pants in the middle of the day, having alarms at night, staring off into space and at times was acting "out of character". So after meeting with our pediatrician and making calls into our surgeon, we had set up an EEG and an MRI to get an idea of what may be causing these symptoms.

The EEG was done at St. Luke's in Cedar Rapids> The EEG was done to rule out any concern that Micheala may be having some seizures. Thankfully her EEG was good and there were no indications of any types of seizures, so that left us with the MRI.

Friday we traveled down to Iowa City, where my cousin Lani was to perform the MRI. Initially we were told not to feed Micheala due to her having to be sedated for the MRI. Lani approached us moments before the MRI about trying it without sedation. This required Micheala to lay still in the MRI tube for 15 minutes. After some convincing, we talked Micheala into doing it. So our brave little girl, scared and unsure of what was going on, laid on the table, put on the headphones and entered the tube for her MRI. Heather and I were able to stay and comfort her by holding her hands and basically just being in plain sight. She eventually got comfortable and made it through the MRI with flying colors. I am simply amazed by the strength that Micheala has by doing something that she was scared to do and by trusting Heather and I when we said, "We'll be with you all the way and we promise it will not hurt".

Next we met with the surgeon, who reviewed the MRI results and indicated to Heather and I that Micheala is fine. He explained that the initial surgery would show us instant changes, but it is a progressive recovery. The area in which Micheala had surgery will continue to shrink, but we will still see some episodes along the way. He tells us that we should only be concerned when the area stops shrinking, which will be measured with an MRI every six months. So, long story short, she is doing well and things are going as planned.

Thank you to everyone who has though and prayed for Micheala throughout this journey of hers. I have to believe that it is all of your strength that makes her brave enough to go through all of her tests and treatments. If anyone has questions about Micheala, please feel free to call either Heather or myself.