Monday, December 6, 2010

A Fresh Perspective

Elizabeth is home from the hospital.  She is stronger than she has been in a while.  The work she did while on the physical rehab floor was amazing.  Her endurance increased as well as her strength and her pain levels decreased.  I think the hospitalization was a success.

However, one of the reasons we wanted her in the hospital is so that we could get all of her doctors to discuss the falling issue.  Not all of the doctors were in the meeting, specifically her regular doctor, who called the meeting together; her neurosurgeon and her spine surgeon. 

All of the other doctors said that she looked great, to which we agreed.  They also said that they did not think her falling was due to the POTS (the heart issue).  We also agreed that her POTS is being controlled with medicine.  No falls occurred while she was in the hospital so they had no idea why she was falling.

The absence of the key doctors not withstanding, they had no theories, but even more important, no ideas on how to keep her safe.  In fact, they suggested that she walks more places and more often.  Is it just me, or does this sound crazy.  The only places we have really let her walk are the YMCA, where she has fallen at least once and had to leave in a life squad; our house, where she has suffered concussions, torn hips and other damage; church where she has left in a life squad and they bought a backboard just for her and some friends houses where she has left in a life squad.  Do you see a pattern? Oh, by the way, the reason she was restricted is based on their advice.

I asked, so if she falls in a store, what am I supposed to do?  Just let her lie there a couple of hours so she can put all of her joints back into place?  Honestly, I don't think these doctors understand real life.  In theory, letting her walk more places sounds good, but in reality, it is crazy.

So... as a family we had to decide what to do on a daily basis.  Our decision was to not live in fear.  We cannot live our life fearful of the next time she falls.  Fear is the opposite of faith.  Fear puts us in prison and that is kind of what Elizabeth's life has been like for almost a year.  We are going to let her walk more and go more places.  We are going to do it safely and with supervision, but ultimately we have no choice.

We are not, however, going to give up trying to find out why she is falling.  I think some of the recent falls can be attributed to her POTS and we will do everything in our power to keep her medication and water levels correct so she does not fall, but we need to know more about the instability.

She will go to a neurologist soon to check her brain stem.   I do not think they will find any abnormalities, but it was suggested that this be done.  We will also check in with her spinal surgeon in February.  Hopefully this will give us enough time to rule all other possibilities out and make an informed decision.  Despite what the doctors think, I do not want her to have the C1-C2 fusion.  To me, the surgery would be of last resort.

All of these thoughts were going through our family as we brought her home last week.  We were sad, frustrated and a little angry about the meeting.  We were all discussing it when Erica said, "Elizabeth is home!  Our whole family is in the same house.  I cannot stop praising God!"  When things look bleak, a fresh perspective is sometimes all you need!

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