May I Hold a Pig? May I Pet a Pig?

I have so much to tell you all in this blog, I am sorry I have taken so long to write...I will really have to work on that! The answer to the above question, asked by Abigail several times a day prior to the accident, is yes, you may! Remember, Abigail's favorite movie is Charlotte's Web. Last Thursday we met with some people from Make a Wish, and Abigail is going to receive a wish. Her child life specialist from Cincinnati Children's that visited the boys surprised us and contacted the agency on Abigail's behalf. After some consideration, we decided on a visit to a petting zoo, which will be ours for the day, where Abigail can hold and pet a pig and have pictures taken. I promise to post a few when it happens. We are aiming for spring, when pigs are born so they will be very small. They said that they could possibly help us get a pet pig, but I am not sure that is something I want to do...They are also going to get her a few more switch toys, which will be wonderful.

Thank you all for your contributions to the park bench for Abigail's birthday. We met with a handful of the park rangers and saw the tree, bench, and plaque on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was beautiful. It is right in the harbor area where her accident occurred. Jacob, the ranger responsible for finding Abigail and pulling her out of the water, was also able to join us, and there are some special pictures of just he and Abigail together. It was a very nice day.

I received my CNA registration card last week, and have applied to several jobs. Just glad to have the testing done and over with! I have applied to several hospitals, and will probably work for a staffing agency temporarily until I land a job with one of them.

Abigail continues to make progress, and it is always easier when we have the equipment that we need, and it is the right size! We have had a lot of breakthroughs lately, maybe Medicaid is in the holiday cheer? First, we received a bath seat, so Abigail can take tub baths instead of mostly bed baths. Second, some friends gave us a wheelchair that fits Abigail much better last Saturday, and then we got a call saying that Medicaid had approved the permanent wheelchair. So, hopefully in a month or less that one will arrive, and we can pass on this other chair that our friends so graciously offered to someone else who really needs it. Third, we had a fitting for a stander for Abigail, and hopefully that will be approved in the next couple of months. She continues to make progress in the reversing of her foot drop, her right foot is pretty much back to normal, but her left is still about 20 degrees lacking. I think we may do Botox again in about a month, and possibly have that corrected just in time for the stander.

Medically, we are still holding off on any more med weans, but working on the bolus feeds. It is best to change only one thing at a time so that if there is a problem, it is easy to determine what caused it. So far, we are at 120 mls per bolus, 4 times each day, with the remaining volume of her food being pumped in continuously overnight. Our goal is to reach a volume of 200 ml per bolus, which if everything goes well, will take about a month. Then we can not only get rid of the J tube and have a G tube only (which means that if the thing is accidentally removed I can replace it at home instead of making a trip to the emergency room), but we can also get rid of the feeding pump. This is a huge move toward normalcy, which I think helps healing, and also makes Abigail a lot more portable. You only have to bring out bottles of formula, not the pump and equipment that goes along with it. My only negative for making this decision is that we could possibly lose skilled nursing if BOTH of the following happen: 1-Her trache is removed and 2-She no longer needs the feeding pump. In spite of this, I still want to move towards what is best for Abigail. Please pray for success in both of these areas.

I mentioned in the previous blog that we had gotten some computer equipment for Abigail to read stories and play games on the computer. It is going great, and she loves it! So do the boys. While I am making dinner I get her set up and the boys on chairs to watch, and she clicks to turn pages while the boys encourage her by saying, "Click the button" or "Turn the page" or "More, more". If anyone has any computer stories on cds laying around that you no longer need or know of a cheap place to pick them up, please let me know! This is wonderful for Abigail to learn and for her to interact with the boys.

How about Christmas plans? We are making our first trip to Minnesota since the accident. We are leaving on December 27th and returning on the 2nd of January. Please pray a safe, fun, and uneventful time.

I want to leave you again with my strong peace and conviction that Abigail is going to continue to heal, and live to tell her story. Yes, I firmly believe that she will speak and have the presence of mind to use her story to bring others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. After all, isn't that the reason for the Christmas season? Please join me in petitioning God daily for this, he wants us to ask, and to remember that all good things come from him. I recently had a dream about Abigail, and I believe it was a vision possibly foreshadowing God's plan for her future. Only time will tell. I dreamt that she was a healthy beautiful self sufficient young women. I dreamt that she became a missionary in foreign lands, and that she ultimately gave her life to bring others to him. In my dream I was joyful. When I woke up, I had some processing to do, but why did her save her? For me and Richard, because we love her? Maybe. But how about because of an awesome plan that he had for her. The bible tells us to think of our money and possessions as things we are to be wise stewards of. We do not own them, for they are God's and he has just given them to us to watch over. How about our children? That is a tough thing to consider...