Walking With Grace

Wow. I can’t believe it’s already been two months. A lot can happen in two months…in a day…in an hour. It’s hard to know where to begin, trying to write about everything that’s happened in the past 62 days. It’s also hard trying to face the mountain of uncertainty ahead of us. But one thing remains constant: God’s sovereignty, grace, and love.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons^, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1)

Honestly I can only thank God for where Grace is at now. She has been through SO much but God has been with her every step of the way, and will never leave her nor forsake her. These days I am back at work and school, and Grace’s mom is still staying with us and helping Grace go to therapy at Kaiser Riverside. Grace has a few more weeks before she’ll be cleared to put weight on her legs, which will initiate the next stage of her recovery: relearning how to stand, then walk. This will be a process, not an event…but life is a process, isn’t it? 🙂

Please pray for Grace that God will continue to heal her body and give her peace, joy, and strength. Please pray for our parents and siblings that God will help us all stay focused on Him. Please pray for me that God will help me rely on Him, and that He will give me strength and wisdom to balance care giving, school, and work.

We are so immensely grateful for all your support. Your prayers mean so much to us, and your love and care have encouraged us in times when we really needed encouragement! And your material donations through the GoFundMe have been such a strong testament to God’s provision and care for us. Thank you.

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
    who daily bears our burdens.” (Psalm 68:19)

Last night was my 2 week anniversary of being back at home, so I wanted to share some pictures of my favorite parts of the last two weeks..

One of our first nights having dinner together in our new apartment….it’s been beyond a blessing living in the same place with my husband again :). We realize he hasn’t written you all in a while….right now he is pretty exhausted from taking care of me at home AND returning to his regular jobs, but he’ll be back soon!

This is my beautiful sister…so thankful that she lives and goes to school right across the street from our apartment…I’ve also lost track of how many times she’s done my nails during recovery..

And here’s me and my Mom ! At this point in our journey I can’t be by myself, much less get dressed, get food, take care of our home, or drive at all. Since Ivan’s gone back to work, she’s graciously staying with us until I am able to function more on my own. I’m so thankful for the sacrifice she and Dad are making to help us,  since my Dad can only come visit occasionally on a weekend (they live about 7 hours away). In this picture, she’s taking me home from a therapy appointment.

And now, a little humor for you today…

It is quite a production getting me to and from therapy every time. I actually rolled through the entire Kaiser building like this on Tuesday. It’s only awkward if you make it..And yes, I’m wearing Christmas pajamas.

Back before I was transferred to Casa Colina for three weeks of therapy, a G tube (feeding tube) was placed in my stomach because I was not able to pass swallow tests to be considered safe to eat on my own…By God’s grace, I did pass a swallow test and was approved to eat on my first day in the rehab hospital! (I was dying just for the feeling of food and water in my mouth) For the record, this was four days after the G tube was placed, and I was still recovering from the surgery.

And so the G Tube saga began:

Pretty shortly after I started rehab, I began having significant pain at the stomach site, and my doctors and nurses discovered that the surgeon had implanted a pediatric-sized tube!?   (This seemed ridiculous to me and everyone else since I’m 23)….and once I started  eating real food and gaining back some of the weight I had lost, the small tube began cutting into my belly on the outside. And now the sad part of the story: Stomach tubes must be left in the stomach for 5-6 weeks until it is safe to remove them 😦 😦 😦

So, during the past five weeks I can easily say that most of my recovery pain was due not to my accident injuries but to the G tube….in fact it was so painful that at one point even morphine didn’t work! The site also developed an infection and at least four pressure sores, and Ivan had to be trained on wound care before I could be discharged home. (For the record, he’s my favorite nurse!!)

This week we finished my antibiotics, but the infection was still there, and the pressure sores were getting worse. Today, we realized it was exactly five weeks since the tube had been implanted, and Ivan and my mom started making calls to see if the surgeon could take it out….

Only to be referred into an endlessly circular phone tree, which finally ended with:

‘If you think it’s still infected, you should just take her to the ER.”

“Can they take the tube out?”

“They can, but they probably won’t since she should see her surgeon for that.”

“Well, then find us someone who can take it out today!” (It is the day before the weekend, and we were worried it would keep getting worse.)

At which point they gave me an appointment with my original surgeon….which was all we had wanted in the first place……(as someone who majored in health administration, this was both frustrating and embarrassing to watch, just saying.)

So the short story is, the tube is out, and though the tummy is a little sore, I am in less pain than I’ve been in during the past five weeks. God is very good!

And a huge thank you to Ivan and my  mom, who have cared for me and advocated for me through this experience!

Welcome, everyone!  We can’t express how much all of your love, prayers, encouragement and support have blessed us as we continue learning to walk and thrive in a path we never saw coming.

Grace: Waking up from the coma in the hospital and learning about the accident and what had happened to me was a process that is a story in itself, but somewhere in that time my family told me that Ivan had been using Facebook to share our journey and ask for prayer. By the time I was well enough to read the updates, I was amazed to realize that there were hundreds of comments, and that Ivan’s updates were being shared by churches and people around the world.

The amount of love we have been showered with by all of you during this journey has both humbled and encouraged us more than we can describe, and we created this blog as a way to thank you for your support, and to invite you to keep walking with us as we continue to journey through my recovery, and as we begin to discover what the new “normal” is that God has planned for us. We hope you will keep walking with us in this journey, and we are thankful for the grace of God that makes it possible for all of us to keep walking in our relationships with Him.