Saturday, February 10, TCC called us to let us know that Philip had tested positive for Influenza A. From the moment I heard that, I started to ask the Lord to strengthen us for his homegoing. I thought for sure this was what He would use to take him home. There have been a record number of flu deaths this year in many places. This flu has killed people a lot stronger than Philip so I began to prepare myself. But, that was not what the Lord had for Philip. He worked so obviously in every aspect of the situation, even from Friday, February 9. His doctor came in to see him on that Friday morning and said he just knew Philip wasn’t feeling well even though he didn’t really have any flu symptoms, maybe a little extra congestion (which for Philip happens often). He ordered the flu swab which came back negative. He didn’t settle for that, but ordered a viral panel of bloodwork. This came back positive for influenza A, thus they called us. He began Tamiflu on Saturday night, really before anyone would have even known he had the flu. I believe the Lord showed his doctor. He never really ran a high fever. He had a couple of days of increased congestion but they increased his meds to tackle that and his pulmonary treatments. By Thursday, February 15, he was pretty much back to his normal without even any signs of a secondary pneumonia. A MIRACLE! He sailed through the flu in his condition which means that God still wants Philip here on this earth to fulfill some part of His purpose. Every instance like this builds my faith in my God!! He can work in people, circumstances, etc. even for a little boy who can’t respond--to work out His Own will. He can work in the same way in my life…if I let Him! If I could only be as surrendered as Philip. Lord, please teach us to trust You!
Joyanna had a regular check-up with her PCP on Wednesday, February 14. It was a pretty normal visit. He was able to evaluate her labs and everything looked pretty good as far as blood levels go. We asked him about some wrist splints for her because her hands are drawing closed now. Those were ordered just this week. She’ll wear them to bed each night to help stretch those forearm muscles to allow her fingers to relax.
I went with some ladies from Heartland Baptist Bible College on the weekend of February 16-17 to watch some babies at a marriage retreat in Branson, MO. That was a fun trip but a lot of hard work, too. Fifteen of us ladies had 31 babies, mostly 9 months and younger. Phew! We had a good time. I love to get the opportunity to connect with the Heartland ladies. That same weekend, my cousin Levi and his wife, Christian and their kids came to OKC to visit with us. It came at a good time because Ben had Monday off so we were able to take their kids and ours to play together at a local gym. We enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship and sharing things about raising kids. They headed home that Monday evening.
Tuesday, February 20, we started our annual few days of ice and winter weather. That made some changed plans for Joyanna’s infusion on the next day. It didn’t end up being too bad on Tuesday so our roads were fine on Wednesday morning but another round of freezing rain was starting that afternoon. They asked us to come in early to get done as soon as we could. The clinics that day closed around noon so folks could get home off the roads before the worst. A few nurses stayed with us and a couple of other patients who had long infusions. We finished around 2 pm and sure enough, the roads were already pretty bad. The offices at HBBC had closed as well so Ben came up to get us home. I don’t consider myself a winter weather driver but I’m not as fearful in general anymore (Praise to the Lord!). I ended up driving the van and following Ben in the car and we made it home fine. Thursday morning, everything was cancelled and Ben didn’t have to be in to work until noon. We had a nice slow morning with a great breakfast together. (Ben usually makes breakfast if he is home in the morning.) It did warm up that day so our once-annual days of winter weather were over. I’m not upset. I think I live in Oklahoma for a reason. HA HA!
That week we didn’t get over to see Philip as much as normal but he was doing just fine. I’m glad we were able to call up and check on him. We’ve had a few other events here and there in the last few days but mostly we have returned to nice steady days. Joyanna has not missed a day of school since she returned in January. She has been very healthy. Praise the Lord! Ethan has been sick a couple of times but they have passed mostly without incident, and no one else has gotten sick.
Joyanna is still fairly strong. But it seems now she has too much tone in different parts of her body. Her right shoulder is pulling forward causing her to hunch over and lean to the left. This also causes her right hand to be doing some kind of involuntary movement where it pushes into her left hand repeatedly. We’re not sure about these changes. We decided just yesterday with her therapist that we would discontinue her feeding therapy. She is not really interested in eating and is not doing well with it. So we are content to let that go. She will continue all the rest of her therapies right now. She is almost completely off one of her seizure meds. Tomorrow is her last little dose. We do not see any significant changes either way so that is a good thing. If we were to see seizures return, obviously we would have to stop decreasing. We will give this change some time and then we may be able to continue weaning off another medication.
That brings us to today. Joyanna went to school. I took Ethan to play with his cousin, Jay and went to see Philip for a while. He was doing well today—awake but resting pretty well. It was such a pretty day today that when we returned to our house, Ethan and I walked down to the park to play until Joyanna’s bus came home. Ben’s sister and family are coming over tonight so Ethan gets to play with Jay again this evening.
Thanks for praying for us! God is so good! He always shows us that He is still near, still working. I honestly can’t wait to see what He will accomplish next.
God Can Do Anything
God can do anything, anything, anything
God can do anything but fail
He can save, He can cleanse
He can keep, and He will
God can do anything but fail
Chorus:
He's the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end
He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul
God can do anything, anything, anything
God can do anything but fail