remember the wonders He has performed.

“Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.
Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.
Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.
Exalt in his holy name;
rejoice, you who worship the Lord.
Search for the Lord and for his strength;
continually seek him.
Remember the wonders he has performed,
his miracles, and the rulings he has given.. “

Psalm 105:1-5

what a week! there was a crazy amount of anxiety, worry, fear, strength, thankfulness, dread, appreciation, joy, and relief–an emotional roller coaster for sure. but through it all, jon and i were amazed and awed at the “wonders He performed.” the way we tangibly saw, felt, and recognized the Lord’s providence through all of Hazel’s diagnosis and surgery was so comforting to us both. we’ve said from the beginning that whatever the outcome, we trust that God has a plan and future for our baby girl and that we will give Him all of the Glory. today, i want to do just that.

let’s remember all the ways God went before us and showed up in miraculous ways:

1. Her very young diagnosis and early MRI: because she was under the age of 3 months when her seizures started and because she had an MRI at 2 months old, they neurologists said that her images showed up much clearer than if we would’ve taken them even a month later (the brain is developing and changing so much between the ages of 3 months and 2 years old).

2. Our past relationship with Dr. Myseros (quite possibly the best neurosurgeon in the area): Brother’s surgery for craniosynostosis led us to the highly-respected and sought after neurosurgeon who also knows our family and took Hazel’s case because we already had a good relationship and trust with him. He was, for sure, a blessing from the Lord.

3. Her EEG’s and MRI’s confirmed that the seizures were coming from one focalized spot–making her a surgery candidate: some children with cortical dysplasia cannot be pinpointed to one spot and therefore, are not good candidates for Hazel’s surgery. there are much more dramatic surgeries that can be done, but we are thankful, that at least for now, she didn’t have to do those more invasive options.

4. Her in-surgery neurologist was the Head of Neurology: there was always planned to be a neurologist in with the surgeon during the resection, but we knew it would be whoever was “on call” that day. God worked it out that Hazel had the best of the best and he really helped Dr. Myseros be able to find all of the abnormal brain tissue even though there were unplanned complications with finding the spot.

5. The computerized navigation system in surgery didn’t line up: though this seemed like a huge complication at first (Dr. Myseros almost had to stop the surgery), we look back at it now as a possible blessing because without the use of the wire probe, they very well could’ve missed much of the abnormal, seizury tissue that they weren’t aware of until they were forced to try something other than they had planned.

6. The stroke: no one wants to hear that their baby had a stroke, but if there could be a positive about it, the surgeon said it is very likely that if there happened to be any seizury tissue left behind, the stroke (lack of blood flow to brain cells which causes the cells to die) killed it. the goal was to get rid of the seizures, so as long as the stroke didn’t leave long-term effects, we are ok with it.

7. The miraculously quick arm recovery: the stroke did leave some noticeable weakness on the right side of Hazel’s body, particularly in her arm for the first couple of days, postop. even so, she has made remarkable strides in less than a week and is using her arm/hand in nearly exact ability as before the surgery and even before any therapy!

before the surgery, Hazel always slept with her arms behind her head. in the hospital, it was sad to see her only putting the left hand behind her head, yet the night we got home (thursday), we laid her down and this is what we found when we went in to check on her!

8. The miraculously quick overall recovery: i really can’t believe that a doctor can cut out a fairly large section of brain and the patient can be without pain meds a few days later, and even out and about at church less than a week later. she continues to do well and is a very happy baby!

9. The outpouring of love from our church, friends, and family: what a blessing everyone had been to our family with all of the meals, notes, texts, gifts, and messages! thank you so so much!

10. Getting back an even happier baby than we had before (can’t believe that is even possible): we are SO thankful that our sweet baby and her lovely personality are unchanged and we so thankful that Hazel is part of our family!

are we completely out of the woods on the seizures? no, and the doctors say that up to 2 months post op any seizures that may occur could be related to the surgery itself and may not reflect whether or not it truly “worked.” for now, we wait in thankfulness that the Lord has brought us through this season and look expectantly forward to what He has for our futures.

cue the onslaught of “after” photos–

she’s been doing this crazy flip-your-tongue-over thing and basically, she’s a genius.

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