Pray for Meredith

It’s hard to sum up what this word means to me.  But it has become to me a heavy word and one that feels never-ending at times.   Meredith recovered from the encephalopathy, from the seizures and the coma.  She relearned how to walk and run, how to eat food and talk, how to write, how to go up and down stairs and how to dress herself.    And she’s spent the last 10 months working hard to recover finer skills — math skills, alphabetizing, conversational skills, balance, opening food packages, buttoning, remembering simple directions, self-control, etc. — and is STILL working hard on these.  We’re halfway through the year and she’s been to about 80 therapy sessions since January, (plus those done at school from contracted therapists, plus 3 hours of tutoring each week)!  The kid works hard with very little complaining.  

Last week Meredith stayed in Mississippi with Gigi and Papa for her very own vacation.  Laura Campbell had her own week there earlier in the month.  And this coming week both girls will be in Virginia with Josh’s parents for the week.  I’m so happy Mere is getting these breaks from therapies and tutoring.  She deserves them.  But we will have to buckle down when she gets back to stay on top of the math and other skills for the classroom.   Everything but the reading comes harder to her now. 

She just started a new medication for her ADHD symptoms (a result of her brain injury).  It’s a non-stimulant that is actually a hypertensive medication but is used for kids with ADHD and movement disorders.   We’re hoping this helps with her attention problems, her hyperactivity and impusivity, and her memory problems.  All of which need to improve for her to make it through school all day in the fall. 

We think there might be some permanent loss in the area of memory for Meredith.  That showed up in the last MRI which was done last August.  Her neurologist believes she may struggle with short term and long term memory problems from here out, but he hasn’t ordered another MRI, so I don’t think we know that for sure.  It could just be slower healing.   That’s my hope anyway.

She will be having another neuro-psych exam done in July.  She last had this done in September when she could barely sit still, couldn’t write legibly, and didn’t know the easiest of math facts.  I’m excited to have that doctor see just how far she’s come.  And hopefully we will gain some insight to help with her next year of school and what kinds of accomodations she needs and expectations and goals we should have.

This summer Meredith and I are outside a lot.  I will never forget her first time out in the sun after 5 weeks of being confined to the hospital.   Or her first time playing in grass again.  Our evenings in the back courtyard of the hospital after a hard day’s work in rehab.  I know that we have been brought out of a valley.  For now we are enjoying a “promised land” of sorts and it feels good.  It has made me more aware of others who are hurting now and who now need my prayers; and I’m thankful to be whole enough again to pray for others.   Recovery is indeed long and painful sometimes, whether it’s recovery from illness or loss of loved ones.   Thankfully we have a God who is with us always and who knows our heartaches; who suffered for us more than we could ever imagine.

“From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.” — Isaiah 64:4