Dear friends and family,

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.

Praise the lord Maddie has continued to be seizure free since last Friday even as we took away the stronger two anti-seizure medications (last dose was last Sunday). She is just on one anti-seizure medication now (which is one they said we’d probably go home on even before she had any seizures). They’ve also removed her oxygen cannulas so she’s breathing on her own on room air. She’s also at full feeds (through an nasogastric tube) and they’ve started to compress feeds (instead of continuous feeding) so now she’s fed over 1/2 hour, has a 3 1/2 hour break, then fed again. This is to stimulate hunger and try to increase her wakefulness. The speech therapist has been checking in every so often to see whether Maddie is awake enough to try and start some feeds through her mouth. It’s important that she’s able to protect her airway before we try so it’s not dangerous.

From a neurological standpoint, Maddie has made slow improvements, but at least in the right direction. She’s still not awake, but we’ve continued to see more spontaneous movements in her arms/legs. Although her left eyelid opens and the pupil is reactive to light, it’s still not tracking (following things to show she can see them). Her right eyelid has also not opened since she had seizures (open then most likely due to the sedating medicines).

Bill has been spending time during the day at the hospital, but otherwise going home at night so Abby still has some sense of normalcy. Unfortunately, Abby also got sick yesterday (strep was going around daycare) so please pray for her and Bill’s health these next few days.  Jen and Maddie’s sudden return to the hospital has caused her to have some separation anxiety, which usually turns into her being a bit more clingy to Bill.  She’s been asking to sleep in our bed, which usually means Bill ends up on the floor.

We also ask for continued prayers for patience, wisdom, and peace for our family during Maddie’s recovery.

Thank you again.