Sunday, Dec 6th

Dear family and friends,
It's been a while since I have posted. I have been letting Tina do most of it since she sees Micah more than I do. We had a fairly good, but long weekend. As you know by now Micah has been through a surgical procedure to install a pump in his body to administer medication. Let me give you a brief run -through as to why we are at this stage. Micah has been at Ranken-Jordan (rehab facility) for over 60 days now. During this time he has gone from the initial stage of being still and unresponsive to his current state of alertness and and movement of head, legs, arms, mouth and tongue. Every small increment has come with tremendous effort. This has involved several hours of therapy each day, playtime and interactions with the family each day and medication and of course lots of prayer and love.
So far all the medication Micah has been receiving has been administered generally - they are oral and go through his feeding tube. This means that he receives large amounts of medication which eventually trickle down to affect the parts that need it. The response time to the medication varies with each one. Some take effect within 30 mins and some over several hours and then there is a cumulative effect over a period of days. So you can see that it can be a slow process. He has basically maximized the potential of all the current medication. The surgery was done to administer a medication that is more aggressive and is at the end of the line as far as medications go. We did not want to cross this line as it meant a long term and more permanent resolution. But we are here. The surgery involved installing a pump under his abdominal skin on the right side. A tiny catheter is run subcutaneously from the pump to the small of the back. Here it is inserted into the cavity in the spinal column and run up to the neck (all inside the spinal cavity). The pump itself is round in shape, about 3 inches in diameter and just over 1/2 inch thick. It is like a small hockey puck. It has 6 months worth of a medication called Baclofen in it. It is programmed with a computer (using wi-fi) to administer very small doses directly to the spine. Different doses at different times of the day. This will have an immediate effect on his nerves. They will be tweaking his dose over the next few days to arrive at the right amount. Too much will make him too loose and floppy and too little will be ineffective. All the medication is given with the intent of getting his body loose enough to a point so that he can progress in his therapy. He has some big hurdles to cross, the main one right now being his ability to swallow normally. Anyway that's the clinical side of things (from a non-clinical person albeit!)
We are doing fairly well by the grace of God. We know that the healing and restructuring of his brain is solely in God's hands. Tina and I are both pretty sure that Micah can comprehend everything we are saying! It's a matter of communicating - both from his brain to his body and his brain to us! It has been particularly rough for me as it is hard to leave not only Micah but the rest of my family each week. I am discovering that the well of tears has no bottom! BUT! God's grace is proving sufficient for us. This matter of finding out the sufficiency of God's grace can only be discovered one way - through trials! Everything I have said about what I believe, even the smallest thing, is being put to the test. Do not utter idle words about what you believe and don't believe. Every thing you say will be put to the fire. So my dear ones, let me encourage you to keep your words few and your actions greater as you work out your walk with the Lord!
Finally, we continue to be grateful recipients of so many of your prayers, love and service. May the Lord, Jehovah Jireh be your provision too.
Grace and Peace to you in Jesus.
Thomas