Here to Stay

This week has, up to this point, been taken up with dealing full-time with Addie's health. Not my first choice in how to spend my week, but that's just how it goes.

We saw Addie's GI doctor on Monday for a check-up on the reflux situation. He confirmed what we already suspected, which is that Addie's reflux will probably not go away in time like we had all once hoped. To put it another way: She's not going to outgrow it. Surprisingly, this wasn't some huge dissapointing revelation, because like I'd said, we kinda had suspected this. Thankfully, Addie's dr has prepared us all along by giving us statistics instead of promises (as in, "98 percent of kids will outgrow this by a year"). So we have a kid that falls into those little leftover percentages, and we arent' surprised. Somehow, though it's hard to explain, that just fits who Addie is. She is NOT normal, but in the most fabulous ways!

The other reasons we aren't too bothered by this are:
#1- God has been with us, and promises to be with us, each step of this path. There will probably be many more times in the future of bad sleep, of a simple cold turning into a big deal, etc., but He got us through so much already, how can we doubt He will continue to give us the strength for each day?
#2- God is using this to improve Greg and I's character in some really important ways. For instance, I am not known to be the most patient person, so a long-term challenge is extra hard for me. But God has already taught me so much about patience through this, I can see the good in it! I needed it!
#3- God has a unique plan for our family, and if this is part of it, then it is GOOD. Why? Because God is good. His plans are good. His purposes for us are good. We can trust Him.
So we're just gonna keep chugging along, one bit at a time. Actually, we are going to give thanks for it, because God tells us to "Give thanks in all circumstances."

The future for Addie and reflux looks like this: we will try to wean her off the meds one more time, even though none of us (dr included) think it will work. But to be thorough, it's a good thing to do. To do this, we have to wait until she's "healthy", so we might be waiting until.... January? :)

Once we try the wean and it fails, we schedule an endoscopy, which is an out-patient procedure where they look down Addie's GI system, to check for damage to her esophogus, which can happen with long-term reflux. It shouldn't be a huge deal, but I'm not really looking forward to it. It involves Addie being knocked out, so it's not easy, but thankfully it's not a risky or scary procedure.

Now, after the doctor appointment on Monday, when we talked through all this, Addie came down with a rotten cold and only slept 3 hours that night. So Tuesday was spent trying to survive through the day (all of us) and get back into our wonderful bed as soon as possible! So far Wednesday is going nicely though, in case you're interested. I am so thankful that God didn't allow Addie to get sick before this! The last two weeks have been packed full of outside activities and commitments and things are finally quiet on the home front, so we actually have the time to be home and recover, and not ditch out on important stuff.

Whew! Didn't mean to be so wordy! Just thought I would catch you all up. Due to the cold and lack of good sleep, it may be awhile before the next post. Be patient with me! :)