"Facing the Giants"
Good Morning,
We went to see the fabulous movie, "Facing the Giants" on Saturday night with all our girls. It is a wonderful movie with many opportunities to share/apply your faith. One point in the movie was a parable in the bible of how there were two farmers that prayed for rain during a drought but only one farmer received rain. Who do you think was blessed by the Lord. (The one who prepared his field)
It has been quite a while since we have updated all of you and we have continued to follow Shelby's progress. Her back has done GREAT and we have moved onto finding out about doing 'soft-tissue releases' on her legs. We traveled to San Diego a few weeks ago to see Hank Chambers and received so valuable information. He also has trained a doctor in Corpus (can you even believe that, my hometown) He said that we should have gone all the way to her pelvis with the rods because her two last vertebrae will fail in the future. She may be 30 years old but they would fail. Boy, you can just see my response to that!! We decided not to go to her pelvis because we wanted to preserve her ability to rotate at her hips and be able to reach things. Also, we discussed several options with her legs and this would mean many surgeries with possibly a small benefit. If we just did the 'soft-tissue' and not the bone surgery, we would gain some time and range in her legs. This would mean releasing her hip-flexors, adductors, and hamstrings. We would follow with serial casting which would mean wearing casts on her legs for a week at a time to stretch the muscles for about 6 weeks. They would also use BoTox in the muscle belly in the operating room to help with the range and reduce the amount of muscle spasms over time. We also have received information from Dr. Leiland Albright about managing her tone. This would mean implanting a Baclofen pump in her abdomen. Dr. Albright is the doctor that is on the forfront in this areana and he referred us to a doctor in Dallas for more information. If we still had questions about it, Dr.Albright would be glad to see us. We have not considered doing the Baclofen pump because Shelby is still so tiny and weighs only 70 pounds, and the pump is about the size of a hockey puck. Also, we are not sure that this would not increase her incidence of seizures. (Only a few things to consider, ha) Also, the battery in the pump has to be replaced about every 5 years, and the FDA only allows a complete replacement including the catheter in her spine. The pump would need to be refilled about every 3 weeks and that would be done in Houston. The greatest benefit of the pump is that it is temporary. If if doesn't work, you can remove the hardware but the increased muscle tone would return. Our biggest concern about her increased muscle tone is that we must preserve the health of her hips, and all those muscles pull on the femurs which go into the hip sockets. We do not want to risk the possibility that she will dislocate her hips.
We will keep you posted and hope and pray that you will continue to keep Shelby and us in your prayers. We pray that we will make the right decisions and that Shelby will only benefit from those decisions. Also, Mike and I have 3 very close friends that are dealing with the trials of Breast Cancer at this time, Brenda, Deirdre, and Jonesa. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and PLEASE keep P.U.S.H. ing. (Pray Until Something Happens)
All our Love,
Kim and Crew
P.S. I am adding an update to this morning's post. I did not make it clear about Shelby's rods. No, they can not go in at this time. They would only go in and stabilize the last two vertebrae once they start causing problems. We are scheduled to see Dr. Dale Swift in Dallas at Children's on November 6. This will be a consult about the Baclofen pump. We are still working on an appointment in Corpus Christi to see Dr. Chris Comstock to do the muscle releases. It takes of whole group of professionals to make this plan work! Thank heavens for their talents and knowledge. Also, Taylor and Kendall are doing great and High School is fabulous. (After some wrangling with Shelby) Kendall is in the 4th grade and taller than her teacher. Her team this year is super and she is having a blast. I forgot to mention that while we were in San Diego, Shelby got to go to Sea World. She had an awesome day. Mike took us to the Hotel Del Coronado for Brunch and we enjoyed the Pacific before our return flight home. Our pilot on the return flight ended up being from Montgomery and his son is in a few of Taylor's classes. He really surprised Shelby at school a few days later when we all put it together. It is really a small world and your light must shine for all to see.
Have a Blessed Day!!
posted by Kim Newhouse @ 9:30 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
WOW Kim! Your plate is still so full...lol... So Glad to hear Shelby is doing so well. Gosh you are always on top of everything, your such a great mom, wife and friend. I have soo much to tell you about Hayleigh but will have to call you sometime. I never want to bother you cause I know you stay so busy but I enjoy talking with you so much. You have been a great help in my life and some things that go on with Hayleigh. I will continue to pray for all of us and most of all for our ANGELS,,,,Hayleigh and Shelby. They go through so much and we never know if the decisions we make today are the right ones for them tomorrow but we try right???:)
Thanks for the updates and I will call you sometime. Give my love and prayers to your family and friends who are also going through some tuff times. Cancer is an awful disease and I pray GOD gives them the strength and courage to face their challenges.
Have a great day.
All my love,
Jeri-Lynne
Kim,
Thank you for the update on Shelby. Once again, bless your heart and her courage. I read recently about Buridan's donkey and wanted to share just in case you are not familiar. When faced with two equally appealing bales of hay, Buridan's donkey could not choose and eventually starved trying to decide. Moral is that when faced with two equally appealing (or unapealing) choices, we should choose one and move on. Our choice is just as right as the other one left behind becuase we exercised our option. Make a choice and never look back. There is only second-guessing and "I-wonder-ifs" back there and that is not healthy.
Love to you and your family.
John Burton
So gld to see your latest update...You are all in our prayers and thoughts and we had ben wondering how things were going lately with one and all. We are now living once again in Texas! We moved back late summer. Heather and I are in the Austin area and Kevin is working out of the Houston Chevron office for a project in Nigeria. But we decided to build on our retirement property a few years early rather than buy in Houston again. So far it was the right thing to do. We are finding the small but growing small congrgation exciting here in Bastrop and they are moving to a larger building and larger space but no large fund raiser...lots of hands on by the congrgation. Heather has found some nice christian frinds at the High school and her classes and grade are all great. She sang the star spangled banner with her choir on tv Friday night at the Big Football game. So if you are ever in the area, come on over. We will be in our new house by Christmas!
Love and Prayers
Kevin, Monica, Brittany and Heather Nance -Romans 8:37-39
Thanks for the update. Miss you guys. Hope you can come visit before Thaksgiving, but I know this doctor visit trips are very important. This year is flying. Was in Target last week and there were Christmas decorations up. YIKES!
Last week I helped clean a friends house that has CP. As I wiped and grease and dirt I blessed God to be able to do such a thing for myself and others. Shelby is blessed to have the awesome care and love that she has. Hope you guys can come to Lakeway for Christmas.
Love, Aunt Dana
Hello Sweet Distant Family-
Just wanted to let you know I'm interested and do read your updates.
Perhaps it will be this coming summer that I'll make it to the Houston area.
Proud to be related to you,
Edna in Memphis
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