Please pray for Sierra. She is acting like she is getting sick. She is grumpy, spitting up, and feels a bit warm. Please pray that God would restore her health and that this sickness would not prevent us from going to China on Monday.
In other news, the news station did another story on Sierra last night. Here is the link. www.tinyurl.com/sierrasstory
Lord willing, we will be flying to China in one week! We are VERY excited. We would appreciate everyone's prayers.
I don't know what was up with Sierra the past week. She was vomiting every single day, at least once a day. I was able to keep enough liquids in her that she did not get dehydrated. We did not end up going to the doctor. Yesterday was the first day in 8 days that she did not vomit. YAY! She did not have a fever or anything. My own personal theory is that she was dealing with some after effects of her hospital stay. She was given so many drugs and antibiotics that it wouldn't surprise me if she had an ulcer or something. We've been giving her lots of probiotics to help replace the ones that were wiped out by the antibiotics.
Our Visas arrived yesterday!!!!!! Now we are pretty much all set to go to China! We have been making lists, checking them twice (more than twice actually), buying things, and figuring out how we are going to pack it all. We are very excited about the trip!
The next few months are going to be so busy! We are going to be doing three different things that should all work together to achieve the maximum effectiveness of all of them. I feel like we are going to be doing a triathlong of treatments. :-)
Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Treatments
Lord willing, we will be leaving on April 6 for China. We are VERY excited about going and looking forward to what the results might be. To be quite honest, we may see no results or we may see dramatic results. We are really praying that she may gain some vision. Here is a quote from Kirshner on some of the improvements that others have seen.
86% of CP kids of all ages under 18 get some type of improvement. Results can vary greatly depending on the childs level of function prior to treatment. I never like to compare the kids because as we know they are all very unique.
One can however make some general statements about the types of improvements that are often reported such as;
Increased ability to motor plan, improved vision, increased cognition, speech, swallow, eating, increased social interaction, smiling, laughing, kissing (one of my favs) and so on.
Vasodialation with Dr. Hammesfahr
We have proven, documented results treating the patients others have given up on. Dr. Hammesfahr is a board certified neurologist who has pioneered a major new therapy for treating neurological conditions such as stroke, brain injury, autism, cerebral palsy, migraine, and others. His technique, awarded a patent for its innovative approach, helps to improve blood flow into damaged or poorly functioning areas of the brain. Damage or narrowing of blood vessels is seen in a large number of chronic neurological diseases. Medicare and others have reviewed and found his technique to be effective and successful in helping those others were unable to help, even years after their injuries. Thousands of patients from all over the globe have been treated successfully over the past 20 years. We have documented success of their recovery and some of their stories are included in this website. We are bringing families together and rebuilding lives...one patient at a time.
After having her out of state Grandma here for over a month Sierra got spoiled by having both of her grandmothers to cuddle her, talk to her, and love on her.
We are VERY grateful that Jason's mom could come out while Sierra was in the hospital. She helped out so much and was such a blessing! We considered kidnapping her and not taking her back to the airport. :-) The ladies from church told her that she was just going back long enough to pack her bags and get her husband, and then she was moving here. =)
Sierra is doing fairly well. The hospital stay really gave her a set back though. Being paralyzed for so long and being made to lay on her back made her lose the muscle strength that she used to have. She has been wanting to hold her head way back instead of up. We have to fight her to keep it in the right position.
We ended up finding a good chiropractor here in Temple. We do miss the nice folks in Austin, but her new chiropractor is very good and so sweet! It only takes 10-15 minutes to get there as opposed to 1 hr 15 min! We are loving all the extra time!
Just wanted to give a HUGE THANK YOU to Steve and Gina Daramee, 3 Days Lost, El Chico and everyone who came out! It was a great fundraiser! In addition to the great food and music, a nice amount of money was raised for Sierra.
Thank you all! We thank the Lord for you!
...is a fighter. She is such a determined little girl. She has to work extra hard at things but that doesn't stop her.
...has beautiful curly hair. We aren't quite sure when it started curling. When she was 4 or 5 months old it was straight. In the past month we have had two people ask us if her hair is naturally curly. :-)
...has comments from people at stores saying that she is beautiful and looks like a porcelain doll.
....favorite things to eat are fruits.
....appetite is almost double what it was before we went in the hospital.
....is very picky about who gives her a bottle, only Mama will do.
....will pretend to fall asleep if she is being fed something she doesn't like.
....loves being spun around. This is the only way we can get a smile out of her.
....has a miniature horse but needs to ride him more often.
....has beautiful blue eyes (her mommy and daddy don't have blue eyes!)
....will let out a long sigh if she was complaining and you finally figured out what she wanted.
....has the cutest sneezes ever!
....has painted toenails.
.....has earrings.
.....is getting her first tooth in.
.....likes having Pancho lay on her feet.
.....likes having Buck rest his big head on her.
.....tolerates having her face "cleaned" by Shylah. She usually makes a face though. :-)
.....loves taking bathes.
.....has touched many lives.
.....has strengthened, mended, and restored relationships (God has used her to really strengthen our marriage. It wasn't bad or weak before but it is much stronger now.)
....has been a witness for the Lord to many people.
....is our precious daughter that we love so much!
Sierra has been doing really well. She still is not back up to speed yet, but she is getting there. We realize that it will take time for her recovery. She was a very sick little girl. One of her doctors said that she suprised a lot of the doctors and nurses.
On the positive side, while in the hospital and since she has been home, Sierra has been having pretty regular bowel movements on her own. Before, we were having to give her supossitories every day.
She has also gained quite the appetite. She is eating a lot more food and drinking a lot more milk than before.
On Friday we took her to the chiropractor in Austin for a last visit. They have been wonderful in working with her. We appreciate all that they have done for her! Unfortunately we are going to have to find something closer. The six hours of drive time every week to get there (about 1.5 hours each way twice a week) is getting to be too much. We are also trying to cut back on money in every area possible so that is an area where we can save on gas. Please pray that we will find a good chiropractor locally.
On Thursday, February 26, 2009 there will be a fundraiser for Sierra at El Chico's in Waco. If 100 people eat there after 5 pm on that day tell their waitress that they are there for Sierra, she will get 10% of the nights take. Kids 12 and under eat for $0.99!
Our friends from 3 Days Lost will be taking the stage at 7 pm.
Come on out and join us!
It is so good to be home from the hospital! Through the whole incident, God reminded us once again how frail life is and how blessed we are to have Sierra. We are so grateful that He decided to let us keep her. She is truly our miracle baby.
Sierra is still a bit weak but she is getting stronger. Her muscles became pretty tight from laying there for two weeks with no movement. Her muscle tone is improving now that she can move again. Poor baby has nasty bruises from the a-line and IVs. I feel like crying everytime I see them :-(.
My MIL came while Sierra was in the hospital and she is going to be here another two weeks. I wish we could just keep her though! :-) She has been a great help. She is helping us declutter and get organized so that keeping the house clean will be easier.
