11/10/2009 Reflections from a Mother's Heart We’re just coming to the end of a stunning autumn in the Northwest. The spectacular fall colors revive and refresh the spirit. But just as each season brings fresh hope, there are also new challenges. After living in the Puget Sound for 33 years, I have still not been able to embrace the winter gray days with their almost nonstop rain. BUT . . . I absolutely love the year-round green! Our life for the past last six years, as we’ve dealt with Seth’s accident, seems to have been in seasons as well. In 2003, in a matter of seconds, we went from living the life we’d known and anticipated, to having our world turned upside down. We experienced eight grueling weeks of daily life-and-death crises in the ICU in both Riverside and Seattle, with a number of emergencies that could have ended Seth’s life. The next season lasted 22 months, when Seth was transferred to a long term care center. It was almost surrealistic sitting in a nursing home amidst elderly and physically or mentally incapacitated patients with our strapping son who was supposed to be in an apartment at Cal Baptist University at that time and enjoying his senior year of college. Because the neurologist indicated that the part of his brain that was injured was the responding part, and he might understand much of what was happening around him, we purposed to be at his side 10-12 hours a day to offset likely feelings of abandonment. There were many small crises during this period, and often I arrived for a 12-hour shift and just sat in the car for a few minutes, wondering how I could spend one more day surrounded by tragedy. A frequent prayer was, “Lord, give me the grace to live with sadness, grief and loss today and yet to radiate Your joy.” After a 725-day marathon and putting 66,000 miles on the car, we were anxious to enter the next season, that of having Seth at home. But I was very naive about Seth’s home care. I had envisioned that, after a full nights sleep, I’d be up and dressed at the crack of dawn with hair and makeup done. Then I’d sit by Seth’s bed with my notebook open, jotting down thoughts from all the great Christian morning radio speakers. Perhaps I’d even have my sewing machine next to his bed so I could do some quilting while I had one-way chats with him! What do the young people say?- NOT! The reality was that for the next four years we invested 10-12 hours every day in his care and therapy. Besides what we did for him personally, we were joined by over 50 rotating volunteers who provided over 3½ years of often daily patterning therapy (That meant the doorbell rang well over 4000 times as people graciously came to invest in Seth’s life!). We also transported Seth to the hospital for 150 sessions of occupational, physical or speech therapy. By the end of four years, we concluded that he had come as far as he could with this daily schedule, and so that whirlwind season ended the last of August. Last month, as I was finally anticipating a quieter week, we awoke at 4:30 one morning as Seth was in the throes of a grand mal seizure that continued off and on for almost two hours. It was later determined that his anti-seizure medicine was not being totally absorbed into his system. He was hospitalized for 3½ days and, besides coming home with a MRSA infection (which we are still dealing with), it was also determined that he had walking pneumonia. Despite this setback it has otherwise been a welcome slower season, even though caring for someone who is 100% dependant will always be labor-intensive. Actually he has smiled more often lately, in response to his Dad’s unending supply of one-liners. Also, he is getting some movement in his left shoulder and arm, much like what began to happen four years ago on his right side. He has also had some very successful sessions using his thumb on the augmented communication computer switch program that was designed for him. So, we continue to persevere. In October, I was privileged to give three talks for a ladies’ conference at our former church, which I titled STRENGTH FOR LIFE’S STRUGGLES. When asked beforehand if he was praying for me, Seth emphatically blinked his eyes a number of times! Oh, how I delight in those prayers! Hopefully, in the next month, we will be able to make a copy of the conference available to anyone interested. We’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, may God be glorified through our lives because He is worthy of our worship.