A Note of Thanks and Continual Updates...

Thank you to those praying for Ally.
It is a great blessing to know
she is lifted up in fervent prayer.
Thank you so much.

"The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much."
~ James 5:16


UPDATE: Thursday, April 26...
It seems like such a while since I've updated
on the situation with Ally.
We have been treating Ally naturally
with some different B vitamins, vitamin C,
and adding particular foods to her diet
that help supress the thyroid.
She seemed to be doing pretty well...
until about a few days ago.
She started having 'flare ups'/'spells'
of great difficulty in breathing, dizziness,
and other increased symptoms.

Last night, we had to leave the church service
because her heart was racing (more than usual)
and it was causing her to hyperventilate
and go into a bit of a panic-type attack
(which can be contributed to the thyroid, too).
Her breathing was extremely difficult/painful
so I took her to the ER...
Four hours later,
she felt a tad bit better
and they couldn't really do anything
except recommend we take her prescribed medicine,
which I, very prayerfully,
had gotten filled earlier yesterday afternoon.
So with much prayer,
we have decided to begin her
on the prescribed medication.

I am confident that this is the Lord's will, for now,
and we will continue to seek natural remedies.
She sees the homeopathic 'doctor' next Friday
and she will also be getting
an uptake scan of her thyroid to check, again,
for Graves' Disease sometime next week.

I was encouraged by the ER doctor...
He mentioned that many young girls her age
tend to 'grow out' of this hyperthyroidism
and the homeopathic doctor,
that I spoke to on the phone,
said something very similar.

We are continuing to pray for healing
and that the Lord will guide me
and give me peace in the decision making.
Thank you, again, for all of your prayers.
They mean so much!



UPDATE: Sunday, April 1...
Tomorrow Ally and I are going back
to the specialist (3 hours away)
for her to get an EEG
and to see the endocrinologist
for the possibility of hyperthyroidism.
The younger ones will be remaining at home
with gramma and a friend of mine.
Thank you for your prayers tomorrow.
They are greatly appreciated.


Update: Thursday, February 8th...
All of Ally's lab work came back normal.
Tomorrow, the doctor will be making calls
to get her into see the neurologist.
We have a 'regular' doctor appointment next Friday.
Rejoicing that the labs came back okay.
Continuing to pray we will get 'to the bottom'
of this and that the Lord will guide.

Update: Monday, February 12th...
Friday afternoon, Ally had an MRI
and an x-ray done.
We are still awaiting those results.
We were told she will be getting another MRI
this week to test for something more specific.

Update: Thursday, February 15th...
Ally's MRI results from last Friday
came back normal.
We are awaiting an appointment
for her next MRI,
which test specifically for MS
(and, perhaps, more... I'm unsure, yet).
The referral for a pedriatric neurologist
has been approved and we are awaiting
an appointment for that, as well.

Update: Tuesday, February 20th...
Ally is still doing about the same,
though she has had an increase
in tingling in her feet/legs.
She will be having another MRI on Friday
that will be testing for MS and next week
we will be seeing the pediatric neurologist.

Update: Wednesday, February 28th...
Today we visited the pediatric neurologist.
I must admit that I was a bit unsure about him
and am consulting our regular doctor in regards to this.
Anyhow, he says that he doesn't really think
that her problems are necessarily neurological,
which is good. He did, however,
pull me aside and ask if she has been
under a lot of stress and wonders if
she has some anxiety issues.
Which, at face value, with her Dad leaving and all,
could appear to resemble some possible
smidgen of truth,
but she has suffered many of these symptoms
for quite a few years now.
They have just 'flared up' this past month.
They did do some additional blood work today
to test her B12 and folic acid
and we will be going back in two weeks
to do some nerve testing.
He also mentioned the possibility of
physical therapy and such.
I hope to hear from our regular doctor
within the next couple of days
to find out what he would like to do.
Thank you, again, so much for your continued prayers.

UPDATE: Sunday, March 25...
Tomorrow Ally has an appointment
with a neuromuscular disease doctor
at one of the state's university hospitals.
This will be a three hour drive (one way)
for the children and I.
Please pray for safe travel,
in addition for the appointment.
Thank you all so much.
I will update, again, as soon as I am able.

UPDATE: Tuesday, March 27...
The doctor (from our appointment yesterday)
called us this morning.
He said that one of Ally's hormone levels was elevated
and he believes she may have hyperthyroid.
He does not think this is necessarily the whole problem
but does feel it could be contributing
to some of her symptoms.
We are waiting for further blood test results.

He has also submitted her name to be admitted
to the hospital for a couple of days
so they can run further tests and such.
We should know more within the next few days.
In addition... Ally seemed to feel a bit better today
and was able to move around quite a bit more.
We were rejoicing in answer to prayer.
Thank you, again, so much for your
continued prayers, advice, and encouraging words.
They have been a tremendous blessing to all of us.

UPDATE: Wednesday, March 29...
WOW... That was fast...
On the way home from church this evening,
the hospital called my cell phone
and said that they had been waiting
for Ally to arrive all day!
I explained to her my surprise
and that we had been wondering
if they were going to be calling today
to let us know when Ally would be coming.
We had a nice little chuckle
over the miscommunication...
apparently someone somehow forgot to call us.
She spoke to another lady there
and said that they would be calling us tomorrow
to let us know when a bed was available.
So, if I understood her correctly,
we should be admitting Ally to the hospital
tomorrow for a couple of days of
observation, testing, etc...
We appreciate your prayers
for these next few days especially.
I'm not sure, at this time,
how we will approach this
(as the hospital is 3 hours away).
I'm not sure what we'll be doing
with the younger children, etc...
I'm praying the Lord will show me
what He'd have me to do in this area.

There was something that we found funny
that I wanted to share...
We have seen the Lord answering prayer a lot lately...
very specifically, too.
Well after I got off the phone with the nurse,
I said to Ally that I was suprised
they had called and gotten a bed for her so soon.
She smiled real big and said, "Not me."
I asked her, "How's that?"
She replied by telling me that she had prayed
the Lord would allow all of this
to happen very soon/quickly...
and He answered!
I looked at her, smiling too,
and said "That's great, honey...
but you could've given me a heads-up!"
We shared a giggle and rejoiced
that the Lord answered so quickly.
Thank you for your continued prayers.

UPDATE:
Thursday, March 29...
The doctor's office called this morning...
Instead of admitting Ally to the hospital,
they are taking a different route, for now.
We will be traveling there for an appointment on Monday
to get an EEG and to see the endocrinologist.

This works out better
with the situation with my lil' ones...
Also it's raining today
and I'm not fond of driving in the rain. ;o)
This also works out because we will not miss
Crucifixion Sunday at our church this Sunday. *Ü*
We are, again, praising the Lord
for His answers to much prayer.
Thank you, again, to all of you that are praying.
I can't express what a tremendous blessing it is
to know we're being lifting up in fervent prayer.

"The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much."
~ James 5:16