Proud Moments & Prayer Request (& Update)

I took this video the other day of Daniel reading a book from school. He started learning to read last year in Kindergarten and has greatly improved already in the few months of Grade 1. I thought you might enjoy hearing him read!

And of course, Becca has some of her "babies" in their stroller. She always takes good care of them. She has finally gotten to the stage where she likes to dress her babies rather than undress them! Yeah! No more naked babies!

On a more serious note, we have a prayer request. Daniel has a pediatrician appointment tomorrow, Friday. We orginally had an appointment with our family doctor but we had it changed so he could see our pediatrician.

Lately, Daniel has been having more "episodes" with his epilepsy. Because of the epilepsy, if Daniel stays up too late and gets overtired then about 10 minutes after being asleep he will wake up with tingly lips. He used to describe it as "sparkly". Usually rubbing his lips with a wet cloth takes the tingles away. Also, over the past number of months he has had a lot of saliva in his mouth along with the tingly lips. Now his speech is being affected. The last time he had tingly lips (a few nights ago), he came out of his room, went to the bathroom to rub his lips with a wet cloth then came out to see us. He tried telling us what was happening but we couldn't understand him. He had a lot of saliva and his words were all mumble jumble. By the look in his eyes we could tell that his brain thought everything was fine, that his mouth was speaking coherently. But that was not the case. We kept asking him to repeat himself to see if his speech would get better. Him having jumbled words has happened before but usually only lasts for one or two sentances. The other night it lasted quite a bit longer. His words did finally start to make sense, he laid down on the couch, snuggled up with Jeremy and was sound asleep in about five seconds! The whole thing was over, but our nerves were far from settled.

In the past when we have mentioned about these "episodes" to our family doctor and pediatrician they didn't seem to be overly concerned. But because the symptoms seem to be getting worse, we are hoping that tomorrow's appointment will answer some questions for us. One thing we are hoping for is that Daniel's medication dosage will be increased. In some ways, I hope that the doctor sends Daniel for tests because that would mean our concerns are valid. At the same time, I'm quite enjoying not being on the medical roller coaster!

Please pray that our concerns are "heard" by the doctor and that the answer is as simple as increasing Daniel's medication.

Update: Jeremy took Daniel to his appointment today (I would have had four kids with me if I had gone!). We are pleased with what the pediatrician said. He told Jeremy that, yes, these "episodes" Daniel has been having are seizures. We also found out that the type of epilepsy Daniel has is called Benign Rolandic Epilepsy of Childhood. That means he will most likely outgrow the epilepsy during puberty (Benign) and that his seizures are more likely to happen during times of sleep (Rolandic). I have just found a website that explains all about it. It feels good knowing that we have this information; information is a wonderful thing! In conclusion, our pediatrician has changed the way Daniel takes his medication. Now, instead of taking 10mg in the morning and 10mg in the evening, he will skip the morning and take the full 20mg before bed. If that doesn't work then the dosage will be upped. In the meantime, we'll be watching Daniel a little closer in case this new administration isn't effective. Thank you for your prayers. Feel free to continue praying!

Over the past few weeks our senses have been much more aware to what has been happening to Daniel. We were getting frustrated by it and felt totally helpless. One evening, Jeremy cried out to God and asked Him what we should do. God gently reminded Jeremy that we hadn't ever seriously prayed about Daniel being healed from this. So Jeremy spent time with God, praying that Daniel would be healed. After that, some nights were fine, others weren't. Then we decided to include Daniel in the praying. Now before bed Daniel prays that Jesus will help his lips to not get tingly. It is so sweet to hear his very simple prayer. But the cool thing is that on the nights that Daniel has prayed, he hasn't woken up with any symptoms! Now we know that praying isn't a magic formula (if you pray your request will be answered the way you want), but we really feel like God is honoring Daniel's simple prayers. This has also been an excellent way to teach our children about the different ways God answers prayer. For this reason alone I am thankful that we are on this journey. It doesn't always help to take away the frazzled nerves, but I'm thankful I can take my requests and concerns to God.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which trancends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."