Being thankful for the little blessings

Thanksgiving brought family fun, food and the cutting of a Christmas tree! That is my favorite tradition (and you can tell from the picture), and it was nice to do it with my family. Mike and I traveled to MI where there were 25 relatives gathered together to eat and hang out. It was a good time! My family had flown into Columbus and they traveled back to Cincy with us Saturday. We drove through a light display Saturday, church and relaxin Sunday and chopped and decorated the tree Monday. It was so nice to have my family around. There is a sense of relief when someone else I love and trust is around when Mike is seizing a lot - sometimes I feel lonely in his care, but it has forced me to rely more on the Lord which is a lesson I learn again and again. Thursday through Sunday were rough for Mike. He had nights where he was seizing 7 times - every hour or half hour. He's also punching his head when he seizes which adds injury to insult as he lives with a headache pretty much 24/7. When I'm with him, I put my hands between his head and fists to soften the blow, but there are many times I am not with him as he often sleeps elsewhere so as not to keep me awake. He also has been losing his ability to speak after seizure activity which is so frustrating for him. He has also had some partial complex seizures (it's seizure activity that causes one to zone out for a few minutes) which are new. My parents, who are very familiar with seizures (Ben had a few over the weekend as well) suggested we increase one of the seizure meds and decrease the one that had been increased a week prior. This seemed to break the cycle of seizures (this can happen - the brain gets used to seizing and continues until there is an intense intervention). I'm happy to say his seizures have gone from 7 a night to 1 - 3. A good improvement! I've noticed his hand tremors have decreased a bit with the decrease of seizure activity.

Mike has an appointment with a homeopathic doctor Tuesday afternoon. We're interested to hear what he has to offer. Also, Mike is undergoing neuron testing to see how the brain is firing (not exactly sure what that will tell us).

It's been a challenging couple weeks. Mike's seizure activity takes a toll on his body, our emotions and general life routine. We've bowed out of many commitments and don't make many plans as we can't be too sure how Mike will be feeling. Last blog update I shared with you that I felt the Lord had been talking to me about being thankful. As Mike was seizing last weekend while in MI, I looked up on my aunt's wall, and she has a plaque that reads. "Give thanks for small blessings". So as Mike lay there seizing, I gave thanks for all the blessings in my life . . . . and there are so many. . . . so very many.

We have a few prayer requests:
sleep is coveted right now - Mike is tired from seizures, and I am tired from work and when we sleep together, seizures interrupt my sleep as well. Prayer for sleep is appreciated.

Work has been particularly overwhelming for me lately. I just found out there is an opportunity to move to a different position next year. This would be an AMAZING move for me. It's a job that would bring stress relief and be something that I would love. I find that I'm battling hope that I could move to that position as life has been such an uphill climb - life has been hard for so long, I don't know that I should hope for it to get better. I'd appreciate wisdom for how to discuss this option with my principal and a sense of hope that things could get better in one area of life.

We would also love prayer for the appointment on Tuesday. I'm very interested in what the doctor will say.

Lastly, prayer that Mike's body stay safe during seizure activity would be appreciated.

Whew! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are celebrating the King's arrival. This time of year always instills excitement in me!