A rough few months

Who ever said "No one said life would be easy?" - I'd like to hunt them down and give them a piece of my mind! Well, our lives have not been so easy lately...Adam's had a rough few months. Initially we thought we was going thru some orthopedic issues with his hips (which wasn't totally wrong) but also his seizure activity was through the roof! He officially went on homebound toward the end of November although he hadn't been to school since the end of October. He was just miserable at school...very uncomfortable and crying a lot. I decided we'd refocus and keep him home for awhile to intensify his therapy. Things got a little easier at first then over Thanksgiving break things went haywire! He stopped sleeping in his bed at night and was very restless and having tons of seizures. The Neurologist changed one of his meds and (knock on wood) the past week or so have been really good. It's been quite a few days now without a seizure (almost unheard of for Adam) and he's slept thru the night in his own bed the past three nights!! Yah! We can handle the issues Adam is going through but we need sleep! We have a consult appt. with a Neurosurgeon on January 20th to discuss a surgery to do a VNS (Vagus Nerve Stimulator) - this is sort of like a pacemaker only a wire wraps around the vagus nerve in the neck to deliver a preset electrical current. This has been found to help some kids with seizure activity...however for some it does not. We are finally at the point (unless this med change continues to work well) that we are willing to give it a try. So many difficult decisions...no clear answer...why can't life be easy??

We are looking forward to Christmas in the Lloyd house...since Dwayne works for UPS it's always nice when the holiday rush is a bit over and there are some days off work to look forward too. Emma's doing wonderfully...I just couldn't be more proud of her. I often times catch myself thinking when someone has a child and they have all these hopes and dreams for them...I see it all coming to pass in her...she's just amazing. Plus she's a great big sister to this special little boy...I only pray being Adam's sister will shape her in ways unimaginable - we can't protect her from the pain it sometimes brings and that breaks our heart but we can take the experiences and help her see the light that is always in them.

I am looking forward to 2010, hoping it's a little bit of an easier year for all of us. I recently started reflecting about the highlights of 2009 - you know those little moments we all have when you think...life doesn't get much better than this. Here are a few of my highlights:

1. Seeing Emma get a State A cut time for her first year of year around swimming (and not even knowing what it meant)
2. Seeing Israel and New Breed live with my husband in Indianapolis.
3. Seeing the sweet neighborhood kids share my Adam's 8th birthday, great party!
4. Sitting on the beach beside a little beach bar listening to a guy sing Jimmy Buffet while watching the sun sit over the ocean...priceless.

5. Adam getting approved for a new waiver program that brings with it financial resources to hire people to help us out...and more importantly to help him.
6. Watching Emma celebrate her 11th birthday with her girlfriends and a local restaurant...seeing them sitting by themselves thinking they were so big!
7. My 38th birthday - what a perfect and completely unexpected day!
8. Seeing how pround my husband was for the beautiful Pandora bracelet he surprised me with on my birthday.


I'm sure there were other moments of course but those were the ones that come to mind initially.

There is comfort in knowing that even though life is not always easy I know I don't walk it alone. We are lucky to have some pretty amazing family and friends...and a Lord God who never leaves us.