Food for Thought

I have just been reading about the judge's decision today to keep the feeding tube out of Terri Schiavo. My heart is breaking. I remember four years ago when our son, Isaac, was so little and so sick, and a doctor asked us to consider letting "nature take its course", by pulling his tubes and his oxygen, and letting him die. I now look at my healthy, strong four-year-old son, and I think...Thank You, God. Thank You for having everything in your control. Teach us that You don't need our help to do ANYTHING. Certainly, my son is autistic, and there might be those who think that we would have been better off to let him die...but GIVE ME A BREAK! Isaac has so much to offer the world, and the decision was NEVER ours to make! Read this article, please....and continue to pray for Terri Schiavo.

The Christian Underground http://www.christian-underground.com/ READ IT - LEARN FROM IT - PRAY OVER IT - SHARE IT---Culture of death stalks Terri Schiavo (March 22, 2005; J.D. Mullane) In a video, Terri Schiavo appears pale, puffy and fragile. Her mother, Mary Schindler, faces Terri, back to the camera from a three-quarter shot. Mrs. Schindler lifts her left hand to caress Terri's face. Terri smiles. But this can't be, for we have been told that Terri Schiavo is hopelessly brain damaged and in a "persistent vegetative state" or, as one doctor who recommended starving her to death put it, in "wakeful oblivion." Another video. It shows Terri grimacing and turning away when a doctor places a cotton swab in her mouth. Who knew that someone in a persistent vegetative state could feel discomfort enough to react as anyone might when a swab is shoved in your face? Terri seems wakeful, but not oblivious. Another video. Terri's eyes follow a Mylar balloon as it is moved over her, back and forth. Huh. A profoundly brain-damaged woman who appears to have the ability to concentrate. Oh, it's probably just a reflex. More video. Terri laughs. Terri moans. Terri tries to speak. (Yesterday the Internet was ablaze with a 2004 audiotape of Terri attempting to speak to her father.) Laughter? Moaning? Speech? From someone whose brain forever spins somewhere near Jupiter? Of course, who am I to question the wise men of medicine who actually examined Terri? These doctors gave their opinions to a Florida state judge, who used them to rule that "persistently vegetative" Terri should die by starvation. Among the doctors the judge relied on is Ronald Cranford, a neurologist who has taught at the University of Minnesota's Center for Biomedical Ethics. I'm sure it's just a slip among us in the media, but it hasn't been widely reported that Cranford has long advocated starving the brain damaged, especially those suffering from Alzheimer's. He even wrote an op-ed piece in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about it." In Europe," he wrote, "feeding tubes are rarely seen in nursing homes. Once a patient is so severely brain damaged that only artificial nutrition can sustain life, many doctors and families ask, 'What's the point?' " The point, doctor, is that brain-damaged people can improve, and the videotapes of Terri Schiavo are evidence. I had a cousin who suffered an aneurysm and lay comatose for weeks. Several doctors examined him and said there was nothing more to do. Compassion dictated that life support be turned off. But one doctor had an unscientific hunch that my cousin would recover. Several weeks later, my cousin was talking. Today, you'd never know that he had nearly been a victim of medically induced "compassion." What stalked my cousin, and what's stalking Terri Schiavo, is what Pope John Paul II calls the "culture of death." That is putting to death someone who is medically helpless in the name of compassion or for the sake of our own convenience. It's becoming normalized. Just last Sunday, The New York Times, quoting "experts," reported that inducing death by withholding food and fluids "can lead to a gentle death" - as if none of us have seen the horrific images of Dachau and Bergen-Belsen. If Terri Schiavo dies, she won't be the first victim the culture of death has claimed. She'll merely be the most famous among millions who've been silently terminated because it was decided that their life was more trouble than it was worth.

Can I also suggest to everyone that you plan ahead? Have a will made up...have a living will made up. Let your loved ones know LEGALLY what your desires are. I know I have a lot of room to talk, but Russ and I are working on it. Now that we have another baby on the way (have I written about that yet?), it seems all the more important!

God bless Terri, and if it comes down to it, Lord, take her away in PEACE and comfort. Don't let her suffer, as it seems her husband wants her to.

More later...

November 16th is not that far away...

What a weekend....and what a morning today. You see, on Saturday, I realized that I was VERY late...you all know what I mean. I told Russ, and of course, we were both cautious considering our past history. I mean, our second "probable" miscarriage was only two months ago. We bought an EPT Sunday, and that night, it came out positive even before the allotted two minutes was up! On Monday, I went for a blood test, the results came in this morning from Promedica lab...I am VERY pregnant (5 weeks along).

I am very happy, and yet a little sad. This is our final baby, so I want to savor every moment....I love it when I begin to feel those "butterfly moves"... Russ, on the other hand, is scared to death. You see, the hormonal number indicating pregnancy for me was quite high. The nurse said that this could mean that I'm farther along than we think (that is possible, but after some feeling around, she said she doubts that). It could also indicate possible multiples on the way! So Russ says he won't relax until he sees the first ultrasound!

Can you believe....three children for me, and I'll be 42 in June. What a woman.....or what an idiot! No, seriously, I love my kids with everything I have, and I can't wait to hold one more in my arms!

Later...

"Make Our Efforts Successful"

Everyone is starting to feel healthy in this house. I guess I'm the remaining sickie....I still have a slightly sore throat, and a major sinus infection. I'm getting some rest (with two toddlers, just how much rest can a woman get????), I'm taking my vitamins, I'm sleeping with a vaporizer.....I just hope I'll be 100% soon. Someone told me the other day that most people are being affected by this crud that is going around for three to four weeks at a time! That's way too long for me. I think the best thing for us would be warm, fresh, springtime air; opening our windows, and doing some spring cleaning......ah, yes, that would be terrific. But, alas, we are currently receiving 1-3 inches of snow, with another inch or two expected tomorrow. Temperatures for the next week are expected in the 20's and 30's. Spring, where are you? It's been almost six weeks since that blasted groundhog saw his shadow!!! I'm ready to do some yard work, too!

Can't wait to have pictures of our current church drama to post. Isaac and Emma are in it with me this year....maybe next year (especially with his new job at the mission) Daddy will join us as well. tonight was our first full dress rehearsal. Isaac did great! He even tried to sing along a few times! Em was another story altogether! At one point, I lost hold of her, and she took off across stage, right into the middle of a scene where our Mary Magdalene was dancing, and presenting her alabaster box to Jesus......What a stitch! Our friend Crockett, who is Jesus, grabbed her eventually, and she stood on his lap, bouncing and clapping! What a show-off.....I wouldn't have any idea where she would have gotten that trait!!!!! :)

I've got a scripture I want to share with you all. My prayer is that someone sees this scripture, and the following prayer that we, as parents of an autistic son, prayed just yesterday. It held so much meaning for us. We think we should pray it EVERYDAY!

"Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives. Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good. Let us see your miracles again; let our children see Your glory at work. And may the Lord our God show us His approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!" (Psalm 90:14-17, New Living Translation).

Dear Lord,
Thank You for this beautiful passage out of Psalm 90! Thank You that it brings a hope that we will sing for joy to the end of our lives. Thank You that we can ask You for gladness in proportion to our former misery and that we can ask You to replace the evil years with good. Lord, according to this Psalm, we do pray that we would truly see Your miracles again, and that we would see them in Isaac's life. Let us, and let our children see Your glory at work day after day, beginning today! And, dear Lord, make our efforts truly successful. Show us what to do and where to go to get all the help we need for Isaac and his special needs, so that he would be successful as well.
I pray, Father, that You would expose anything that is oppressing us in our lives and causing every promise in this Psalm to not be fulfilled, and that You would begin to break the power of that oppression so that we truly will sing for joy to the end of our lives!
In Jesus' name...Amen.

I can't think of any better way to end this posting. Pray this with the Ewing family, won't you? Pray it for us, pray it for your own lives! This is definitely a scripture that I will hold to my heart forever, memorizing it, and placing it deep within my mind! PTL...

More soon...

HELP!!! I'm stuck in a sick house!

What a week we've had in this house! The kids have been so very sick, and I'm practically at the end of my rope. It all began last Thursday when Emma's temperature skyrocketed, and she began screaming (about 6:00 p.m.). Russ and I (along with a seemingly healthy big brother Isaac) took her to the emergency room at our local hospital, and they were quick to diagnose her...double ear infections (some of the worse they have seen in a 14-month-old)! She was given these "miracle" ear drops that took away the pain (they have something similar to lidocaine in them), and a big ten day course of ampicillin. We took her home, and she slept okay through the night. I had to get up two or three times to administer more of the drops, and once she got some ibuprofen for the fever. By Friday morning, she was already on the way to recovery. Actually, she's still on her way, just not 100% yet. On Friday morning, Isaac started acting LOUSY! He was supposed to go in for a routine CT check of his shunt that afternoon, and I postponed it for a week. But in the mid-afternoon, we had to rush him into our pediatrician. Unfortunately, our regular doctor was already gone for the day, and his partner was there....she is NOT my favorite. We have butted heads several times, and she always ends up being the WRONG one. FORTUNATELY, the physician's assistant, Marjean, was there, and she's fantastic. They immediately checked Isaac's ears, and said the left one was a little "dull" looking, but not really infected. HOWEVER, he tested positive for strep. He is deathly allergic to penicillin, ampicillin, and the entire "cillin" family, so this "doctor", and I use the word with intense caution stood there in front of my husband, and argued with Marjean about what drug to put Isaac on. Marjean then mentioned that there was a possibility that Isaac's shunt was failing (wouldn't you know it?)....Dr. Thomas (yes, I'll publish her name....I really don't care if she reads this, and gets upset...she needs to know that she has once again messed up!) stated, "Well, I don't know how to check those!" She proceeded to press on the bulb at the top of his head, which is the connector where the shunt enters the skull and goes into the area surrounding the brain where the fluid is. Russ tried to tell her that the bulb is ALWAYS hard, and but she said, "Oh, this is hard....I'll bet it's failing. Oh, well, take him home, and if he gets worse, rush him to Toledo Hospital." Can you believe her gall? Marjean tried to apologize to Russ, and he simply took Isaac to the car, and came home to get Emma and me. We went to the wonderful new ER at The Toledo Hospital, and then immediately sent him to CT. All in all, everything came back fine, but the doctor (Dr. Isak....great name, huh?) said his case of strep was pretty bad. We ended up with a prescription for an antibiotic, and lots of good advice, and we came home. We have been in a battle with Isaac, high temperatures, pain, stomach cramps, not eating, forcing liquids, etc. for the past five days!!!! Yes, five days. I haven't even showered since Sunday....no time. But today, Isaac seemed to worsen....more temperature spikes, and he began to have trouble breathing. I immediately gave him another aerosol treatment (we began his "as needed" treatments up again Sunday). He got a little better, but still he wasn't great. We called in, and Marjean asked us to bring him in for a blood work-up. They were worried about a viral infection. Well, that test came back negative, but his strep test this time also came back negative. They checked his left ear again, and now it is infected. They gave him an injection (poor baby) of a stronger antibiotic, hoping that maybe this would give his health the kick in the butt it needs. They also checked him for Influenza and RSV. Strangely enough, some friends of ours were at the hospital at the same time, admitting their little girl (same age as Emma) because she has RSV. Obviously, there are a lot of germs floating around the church nursery and classrooms!!! I will tell the childrens pastor, and the preschool director about it....they may have to have a MAJOR cleaning of the rooms. Anyway, we'll know the results of those tests early tomorrow morning. One of the nurses (a good friend) will give us a call with them, and to check on Isaac. Marjean says she is also going to call to check on him when she comes in at noon. I love her. She should go ahead and be a doctor...more folks would listen to her. She reminds me of my mom...she is a nurse who REALLY knows her stuff.

I am so tired, though. Emma is back to running around, runny nose and all. Her ears seem clear, but her nose is still full of (sorry, folks) green stuff. She is cutting three molars, too....that's not helping the situation. Isaac was eating popsicles, bananas, and drinking Dr. Pepper before he went to sleep. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day....

I miss my mom so much when it comes to times like these. She was our family's doctor/nurse all rolled up into one, and it always seemed like she knew what to do. She was so good at that. She should have been a doctor. You know, actually, she would have been a great physician's assistant. They just didn't have that position available in her day. I miss you, Momma...

More later...