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Thanksgiving update from Reese’s aunt Laura:
I was able to tear myself away from work and life yesterday to spend a full day with Reese…and it recharged my soul like nothing else can. She had such a great day yesterday – was so full of life and full of herself. She had a great therapy session where she walked a great distance with just the balance support from Claire. She is so strong and gains strength each day. She had school with her tutor yesterday where she worked on math and in the afternoon she then joined in with her classmates via “Double” the ipad robot to participate in her 3rd grade class. It is so amazing to sit back and watch to see how incredible technology can truly be. When she is in class via Double, the world doesn’t exist – she totally tunes us all out and is truly sitting in class in Mercersburg. If y’all will recall, we had reported in early October that Reese would be having a major surgery in the coming weeks – that had to be postponed because Reese got the dreaded common cold which caused the surgery to be pushed back. Reese is over her cold now, and was well enough for a Halloween party and was able to be baptized by Pastor Alex from SC….and we finally have her surgery rescheduled. The first week of December will be the big week. This is a huge surgery that we have all waited over a year for. The first part of the surgery will held on 12/2 where she will be having her subclavian catheter replaced and that will be used for both dialysis and CO2 clearance. CO2 clearance is the lung support she will continue to need. The second and big part of the surgery will reconvene on Friday, 12/4 via an open heart/by-pass surgery where they will remove the R-VAD from her heart. This is a tedious surgery that we worry a lot about but her doctors tell us she is ready. As with any surgery of this type, we worry about bleeding and that will be a specific prayer we will request from many of you. Reese will stay in an induced sleep state for no more than several days to a week before she will be awake again and ready to move about to keep her recovering. This is a huge surgery that will get her so much closer to going home. She still has so much recovering to do – but we look back at all she had overcome and smile because we know “she’s got this”. We hope that sometime in 2016 she will be able to get back to her home in Mercersburg…for that is truly her only Christmas wish this year.
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A long overdue update on Mom…Mom has been doing just “fair” as of late. Her breathing has become more labored and she sounds very much like she did prior to her throat surgery on May 19th. After some testing and a few procedures, she will be having surgery again on 12/15 to help remove some scarring in her throat and remove more of her vocal cords to help open up her airways so she can more easily breath. We hope this time it will last longer for her and she can breathe easier and feel better. Mom’s back has also been bothering her a lot lately – so we hope she won’t have to have surgery on her back again –we hope she can overcome that pain and feel good again – it’s all any of us want is for our parents and kids to feel good.
As if December isn’t full enough with Reese’s surgeries and Mom’s surgery and with Christmas shopping, cooking, decorating and holiday activities, we have one more surgery planned. My rock and backbone through all of this has been my husband, Kevin – and since summer, he has been dealing with a lump on his neck. After a few doctors, lots of blood work, ultrasounds, MRI’s and finally a biopsy, he will be having surgery on 11/30 to have one of his parotid glands removed. Pathology will be done after the removal of the parotid to let us know exactly the cause of the swelling in that area. We all have faith that his results will be good news and we can turn our focus back to Reese and Mom – where he wants them.
So this Thanksgiving – reflect on all that you have to be thankful for. Many of our friends have had a rough year – but if you sit and think, there are so many good memories to reflect on and still so much before each of you to be thankful for. Thanksgiving is indeed a time to reflect on those things… That list for us is so long these days. We are so thankful for the recovery that Reese is making. We are so thankful for the journey God has put us all on…The new friends we have made because of that Memorial Day fire. There are days we all need reminders that we have so much to be thankful for – but today – we know. We have Reese who is 100% with us and is witty, so smart, so funny and so kind-hearted. I have my Mom who is one of the strongest women on Earth. A woman who loves her family, her cows and keeps pushing forward putting all others first. I have the most amazing sister, brother, dad, step-father and step-mother. I am fortunate enough to have a grandmother who is still with us in her mid-90’s and able to visit us in VA. I could go on and on with all that I am blessed with – but suffice it to say that our entire family feels so thankful this Thanksgiving season. We are truly blessed to have such tremendous and continuous support – and we thank God for that daily. Please don’t forget to get your prayers amped up for the first week in December. From our family to yours…we hope for a healthy, happy and blessed Thanksgiving for each of you.
