…except that Mikie is doing great.  I haven’t felt a need to post lately because he has just been doing so good with no setbacks.  He has had just a few seizures but they are so few and far between and so very light and short that they aren’t hardly worth mentioning.  I’m sure he might be having a few more that we just aren’t seeing, but we think we stay close enough to Mikie to see most of what goes on.  I’ve stayed with him for whole nights just to see if there is something happening while we are sleeping and he certainly hasn’t had anything happen that would wake me up, and I’m a pretty light sleeper.  His heart monitor went off the other night and I thought the house was on fire or something!  It just slipped off his finger and since the monitor was close by it was very loud.  We usually put it in the hallway outside our bedroom door so we can hear it above the fan.  We are leaving it off more often now because he just doesn’t really need it.  It has brought me much peace of mind though, as one of my past fears has been of getting up in the morning and being fearful that I might find that Mikie has passed in his sleep.  That can’t happen with the monitor, just as soon as his heart would stop I would know it.  Sometimes Mikie gets so relaxed that his heart rate drops below fifty and sets off the alarm.  I usually just give him a light tap or shake and he takes a big breath and it goes back up to the 70’s.

We also have not had to use the Lopressor as much as before.  When he was taking the Depakote he would also need the Lopressor to slow his heart and took it at least twice a day.  He might get a does once every day or two now.  I want to talk to the doc about cutting him back on the Klonopin.  From what I read, the long term effects of Klonopin are not known and it seems that changing medications might be something we should consider.  Maybe having a prescription of Adavan on hand would be good in case the seizures start back up again.

We were able to go as a family and worship at First Presbyterian Church downtown Sunday night.  They have a fellowship dinner afterwards and we have always enjoyed that.  We had not been there since before November because of Mikie’s stay in the hospital and it seemed good to get back.  They made us feel very welcome and at home and a lot of people acted sincerely interested in Mikie.  In the past he could hardly sit through a worship service without getting a little congested and would cough very loudly and clear his throat in a not so pleasant manner.  Not so this time, he was very calm the whole time.

It was good to see Pastor Wilkes and for him to see Mikie.  The last time he saw Mikie he came to the hospital and prayed with us and at that time you would have thought it was time for last rites, as Mikie was very sick and probably appeared to most people to be close to death.  I’m sure Craig was pleased to see how well Mikie had recovered!

I am continually amazed at how God works in the lives of his people.  A non-believer might wonder how we could call God good after just going through this ordeal.  Sometimes we just don’t know why he allows us to suffer and we might not find the answer this side of heaven.  At other times though he might just give us a peek at what is going on.  This may sound nutty, but I think it might be reasonable to believe that the reason Mikie is not experiencing the seizures that he used to endure on a regular basis is because of what he just went through.  Dr. Mauldin suggested that Mikie might have suffered a stroke because of his droopy right eye and frozen left arm.  Remember, Mikie experienced at times in the hospital heart rates over 200 and temps at 105-106.  I still think it is possible that the very part of Mikie’s brain that was causing the seizures may have been damaged during these ordeals.  I have read that an extreme measure to stop seizures was to actually remove part of the brain.  Don’t you suppose that God knows this too?  Wouldn’t it be just like God to do something like this? And to top it off, Mikie is regaining control over his left arm and his right eye no longer droops. 

God is good.