A Little Angel

I just wanted to share my sister's account of what she went through last weekend. Some of you know that my 5 year old niece had emergency brain surgery on Friday. She is doing wonderfully now. As you can imagine, my sister and my brother-in-law were completely terrified but through their faith in God, they were given a peace and a comort that no one else could give them. We are all so thankful that our prayers were answered and Avery's health was restored.

"Most of you know what has been going on with our five year old Avery for the last few days but for those of you who don't, I will start at the beginning. We believe this is a miracle story and I will place scriptures throughout as they spoke to us during each step of the way (heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words will not perish or pass away. Mark 13:31) A little over a week ago, Avery began having headaches periodically throughout the day. She would complain about it, then play for a while, complain about it, then eat dinner, complain about it, then get dressed for school. There are a lot of us with sinus issues right now in this season so we thought it was probably sinus headaches. I spoke with the nurse at her pediatric clinic on Wednesday and she agreed with me that this is likely what it was and if it got worse to bring her in. On Thursday morning, about 3:30, she woke us up complaining because it hurt so bad, then she threw up. About 7 a.m. she did the same thing again. She looked at us and said "Am I gonna be ok? Does your head hurt too?" That sent chills over us. An uneasiness was stirring in us by this point and we knew that she had to see the doctor as soon as possible. I dropped Everett off at preschool, picked up a friend, and went to the 11:00 a.m. appointment as scheduled. As I was driving to the appointment, I was praying and deep down in my gut I knew that a tidal wave was coming. I felt for sure like the next morning would hold a new perspective for me and boy did it ever! When the pediatrician examined her, she had no neurological symptoms just pain in her head. Dr. Saksena said that we could schedule an MRI for Monday or do the CT scan today, when I said what does your gut tell you, she said "we are going to do the scan today". At 3:00 p.m. Avery and I walked in that imaging center, never to be the same again. Nervously, I laid her on the table and I guess just because I work in health care, I was very intent on watching the person in the control room's face. And there it was through the glass, the look I was dreading. He called over another worker and they were pointing at the screen and discussing it with a distressed look on their face. They smiled at me through the glass, but there was no masking that look on their face. The taller one walked in the room and cheerfully placed Avery in the chair, when he turned his back to her he said "it's abnormal, you can't go home". I was dying inside and there was my child staring at my face from behind him. I said with a big grin, " OK! I'm just gonna hang with Avery! (fake smile, fake smile) The pediatrician got on the phone with me and said " now you are gonna drive to the ER at Cook Children's hospital and watch her, if she acts funny or stops breathing call 911". WHAT???ARE YOU KIDDING ME? IS THIS FOR REAL? my soul was screaming inside!!! Wes was on his way, so we met in the ER. On the way, I was praying quietly crying out to God and asking for peace. I felt his presence but my mind was so scrambled. Quickly we were put in a room and put in line for the MRI. The doctor said they couldn't tell by the CT scan if it was a tumor, cancer, a bleed, just anything was fair game. "God is faithful, God is faithful, God is faithful was the chant in my head" But I was devastated, knocked down, shaken and Wes was just a complete mess to the point he could hardly speak. The first MRI attempt failed because the meds they gave Avery made her upset instead of sleepy so we went back to ER room number 1. That's where the tide shifted. My dear friends Nancy, Carin, and Vicki showed up. They walked through the long hallway and to the eye it looked like women walking down a hallway but with spiritual eyes, it was warriors preparing for battle, soldiers of God taking their posts, unshakable, unmoved by the enemy. In the room, we began to pray, God, like a flood, came upon us. Faith was building, angelic help was all around, we cried to God to heal our daughter, make her whole with nothing missing, nothing broken. ( But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement of our peace and well-being was upon Him, and with the stripes that wounded Him we are healed and made whole. Isaiah 53:5 ) A strength was there that wasn't felt before when my friends left us. They had arranged for the Anesthesiologist to completely sedate her for the MRI but when we got up there she was sleeping so peacefully that he said it was worth a try to do it without sedation. She never even flinched. About an hour later they were wheeling her to the ICU and we waited......not consumed by fear just waited. (Fear not there is nothing to fear for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My victorious right hand of rightness and justice. Isaiah 41:10) About 1:30 a.m. the surgeon had looked at the MRI from home and decided that we would do surgery in the morning. From what they could tell it was not a tumor but a cavernous malformation that had bled multiple times. It had probably been there since birth. They were not able to confirm how many but multiple to me means quite a few! ( May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob set you up on high and defend you. Send you help form the sanctuary and support, refresh, and strengthen you from Zion. Psalm 20:1-2) I sent out messages to as many people as I had numbers for to ask for fervent prayer for our baby. I immediately started getting more and more responses. One friend said as she would pray she saw rainbows for God's promises, another said she could see angels all around. Also, my friend Michelle was updating my fb as much as possible. I could see the posts from Wes's phone. The way was being prepared for the next day and Wes, Avery, and I just had to walk through. (For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Then you will call upon Me and you will come and pray to ME and I will hear and heed you. Jeremiah 29: 11-12) Avery was having quite a bit of pain through this time, but peace fell over us, God's peace that only he can give, we were calm and collected and ready for what was about to happen. About 9:00 a.m. they took us to the surgical area, we met with the surgeon again and he did something not many doctors will do. He prayed with us, laid his hand on my daughter's head and prayed for her specifically, then prayed for his own hands to be used by God during the surgery. Avery had to call her little brother before going back and she did cry and say that she was scared. I assured her that Daddy and I were not scared and asked her if she knew why. Through her tears she whispered " Because God is always with us". ( No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will not fail you or forsake you. Joshua 1:5) They did a craniotomy and removed the mass which was about the size of a cherry tomato. They made about a 3-4 inch incision on the left side of her head and he never shaved one hair (another testimony to how amazing the surgeon was and how he,like God,cared about the details). We waited in the waiting area and honestly were fairly relaxed. The exact friends that we needed at that moment showed up and gave us the support that we needed. Of course, there were many tears, but never a desperate or hopeless thought. About 10:20 they called to say the surgeon was getting started and thought it would be 1-2 hours but within 40 minutes he was standing in the waiting room with a perfect report of how things went. By 1:30 she was eating popsicles and pudding. The next 24 hours she was agitated and not really totally acting like herself but the healing process was going flawlessly. My family and dear friends arrived, again the perfect combination of support because God covered all our needs to perfection. ( And my God will liberally supply your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Phillippians 4:19) We left ICU the next day and were discharged home the next day. We actually had to tell her to not run when she was in the hallway of the hospital and when she got out of the car at home. If we had taken Avery to the doctor before she started vomiting then they never would have ordered the CT scan. According to the doctors, most people find out that this malformation exists because they die, have stroke-like symptoms or multiple seizures. Avery only had a headache. She had multiple bleeds but this was the time for the problem to be fixed. For the week of Halloween she chose to be an angel and has been drawing angels constantly for the last two weeks. Remember the rainbows earlier well when we got home today she had a stack of homemade cards from children and almost every one had rainbows on the card. Just detail after detail of how God works and how Jesus heals us. ( When he reached the house and went in, the blind men came to Him, and Jesus said to them. Do you believe that I am able to do this? They said to Him, Yes, Lord. Then He touched their eyes , saying, According to your faith and trust and reliance on the power invested in Me be it done to you. Matthew 9:28-29) This is part of our testimony here on this earth and it could be anyone's testimony......pass it on. (And they have overcome him by the means of the blood and the Lamb and the word of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death. Revelation 12:11)"