The Smile Is Coming Back!!

Stronger Every Day

Haley is getting a bit stronger every day. She is walking around the house with her walker and even though sometimes her legs give out, and she gets tired, she is able to go where she wants. She has not fainted once since the surgery. Her headache is still there, but it is manageable with the medication that she is on.

This evening her older brother Ryan came to visit along with his dog, Cosby. She was able to walk to the corner, which is only one house away, but it was just great to see her walking. Our neighbors came out of their house and were so pleased to see her walking. After the walk, she was exhausted, so she and Ryan sat on the edge of the porch and talked. So sweet. Of course, I snapped a picture.

Zipper Dee Do Dah

I took a good picture of Haley's incision tonight, so I thought I would post it here. I have taken several photos of her incision, but most were emailed to a doctor or two, and they were definitely not appropriate for this blog (infection is something no one but medical professionals want to see--trust me!) As you may remember from an earlier blog, people who have had this surgery refer to themselves as "Zipper Heads" because the scar looks like a zipper. So here it is:

Pretty impressive, huh?

In keeping with the "zipper" theme, I have a bunch of zipper bracelets in many different colors. I thought it would be nice to make them available for folks to wear in honor of Haley. I have been wearing a few for some time and I use them as a reminder to pray for Haley whenever I feel it on my wrist. If you want one and can give a few bucks for it, we will use the money toward the hospital bills. Here is a picture of my wrist with three of them on.

If you're interested, just let me know. If you're local I can just get it to you. If you live out of the area, I can mail it to you.

Thanks for your continued support. Today marks four weeks since her surgery. Wow. I can hardly believe it. I will continue to update this blog because so many have been so faithful to pray and so many want to know what's going on.

We feel so blessed to have gotten this surgery for Haley. We know that it is only the grace of God that led us to this particular diagnosis and doctor. We also recognize that God used many of you along the way. We had financial help even getting to see Dr. Henderson, as well as help with the expenses involved with getting to Maryland and back. We absolutely could not have done it alone. As I read the Face book page of others who suffer with the same (or similar) conditions, I see that many are trying desperately to get to one of the two or three doctors in the country who know how to operate on these type of patients. It breaks my heart to know that many people are having to have bake sales and auctions to raise funds to get across the country to have the same chance of a solution that Haley has had. We are so, so blessed. So we may have to raise funds to pay for the hospital  bill, but that's a much better position to be in. Our daughter has already had her surgery. She is already beginning the process of healing. That makes anything we have to do feel like a small task in comparison!

Thanks for walking this road with us. We are so grateful!