Friday, March 8, 2013

Day 16, 17, 18: Winnipeg

March 5-7


On February 23rd I received a message from Dan’s mother that really put my faith to the test.  In it she revealed to me something that happened to her in the prayer room at the International House of Prayer.  She had asked God to speak to her as she opened her Bible… her prayer was not for Him to speak to her about anything in particular, but just to speak to her.  As she opened her Bible she felt the Holy Spirit telling her to pay very close attention to the first verse that she saw.  It was 2 Kings 4:36-37 “Then Elisha summoned Gehazi, ‘call the child’s mother!’ he said.  And when she came in, Elisha said, ‘here take your child!’  She fell at his feet overwhelmed with gratitude.  Then she picked up her son and carried him downstairs.”  Dan’s mother reminded me that when Elisha first arrived, the child was dead… and Elisha after praying to God, through the power of God, brought the child back to life.  She then went on to prophesy and state that she believed that I would pick up Eliana from the hospital and carry her home.

This is exactly what happened.

Everything has been a blur since Tuesday morning when we got the word that we would be discharged and sent home. Yes, sent home and not to a hospital in Winnipeg. It is hard to believe that three days have flown by so fast; discharge orders, prescriptions to be filled, packing, and all the logistics of getting our little girl home have consumed us.

We are so thankful to be home, now we have to learn to live without the crutch of the hospital.

Tuesday was spent running; running from one appointment to another with Ellie to ensure that we were both physically and mentally prepared for what was to come. Like everything else on this journey it was a bit overwhelming, but in the forefront of our minds we knew that this meant Ellie was doing better and her condition would be manageable at home.

The flurry of activity left us little time to update anyone other than family on Tuesday.

We arrived home very late Tuesday night and were greeted thankfully by Dan's mother and Manfred. Dan was a wreck for most of the flight, he just could not sit still, and every noise that Ellie made the more anxious he got. Thankfully Ellie slept through most of it.

Getting home was a profound reminder to both of us of what we have all gone through over the past few weeks. Walking into Ellie's room made us very emotional. However, it felt like there was only a small window of time to get things ready for Ellie's next feeding and her next round of drugs so we pulled ourselves together and went into "business" mode. Ellie's drug regime is made up of four different medications taken at specific time intervals throughout the day. So we spent much of the night/morning trying to get settled and develop a workable schedule for our next few days. Three am comes fast when you are running on pure adrenalin.

To say that we slept lightly would be an understatement.

Wednesday would be the start of our new life together. Thankfully the nurses in Edmonton had Ellie well-conditioned to a strict schedule of feeding and medicine taking. So she was quite content with everything as long as we kept to this schedule. Dan on the other hand was really struggling with the build up of guilt he was feeling for not being here when this ordeal began. For most of the day he did not sit down, instead he tried to clean every surface in the entire house and make things as comfortable as possible for Ellie and I. With the exception of Dan feverishly cleaning it was a very low key day. My sister and family stopped by to drop off some much need groceries and to introduce Dan to his new niece Eden. It was a great to see them and the joy in their face when they got to see Ellie laugh and giggle.

Sleeping Wednesday was better than the previous night but not by much. Ellie was experiencing pretty bad gas, which normally is not a big deal, only we are both so sensitive now to the slightest deviation from her “normal” that we both begin to freak out a bit. Logic tells us that this will eventually subside, hopefully soon for everyone’s sake.

In anticipation of Dan going back to work on Friday we tried to treat Thursday as a typical work morning. We worked well as a team feeding her and getting her morning medicine ready but by 8:30 I was completely exhausted. Dan graciously suggested I take a much needed nap and he would spend the morning with Ellie. It felt like he is finally starting to relax and act a bit more like himself.  



 The rest of the day was spent organizing space for Ellie’s medicine, moving her crib closer to our room, at least temporally until we both relax a bit, and trying to get done all the domestic things we need to in a typical day. It was trying at times while we assessed what our daily priorities should be, domestically speaking, and what in fact we actually had time for. One thing that we have not had to worry about thus far is food. Our families, church family, and friends have been incredibly generous with dropping off homemade meals. We easily have enough dinners to last us into next week while we fully acclimate to our new lifestyle. Thank you everyone for this amazing blessing.

Tomorrow will be the real test of everything as Dan goes back to work and we have our first Winnipeg Doctors appointment. This will give us a good indication of how we are doing with Ellie’s feeding and medicine dispensing, we hope.

Our two main goals for the foreseeable future are; continued weight gain for Ellie and for us to relax and not treat our little girl like she is in a bubble.

We apologize for the delay in this update and thank everyone for their continued support.

8 comments:

  1. Praying for an easy adjustment for you guys. So thankful you are HOME! Love you all.

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  2. Rejoicing with you!

    We will continue to pray!

    Your friends at Valley

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  3. Welcome home! So happy to hear Ellie is doing well! Have a wonderful weekend, hope today was a good day back for you Dan! See you Monday :)

    Karen

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  4. It is so wonderful to know you are home. You will find your groove soon enough and things will sort themselves out around the house. Just be sure to take time to relax and celebrate the wonderful things.

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  5. Praise God! Good to know that you are at home with your beautiful girl, to HIM alone I return all the glory and honor, Yes! He is worthy of our praise! Have a nice lovely family together, the Lord will perfect everything concerning Ellie and the whole world will celeberate with your family in Jesus name. Congratulation ounce again

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  6. Praise the Lord! God is so good. Just so happy the you, your husband and wee baby. Have been praying since Arlene Elendiuk asked us to pray.

    Bev McNeill

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  7. So happy to hear you are home. We think of you everyday and are sending love across the world to you, Dan and Eliana! xox
    Lorrie, Zaid, Sara & Amelie Mohsen

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  8. What an amazing testimony to God's love and faithfulness! It's amazing how He works. I was busy doing an internet search on my twelve year old daughter, Eliana, to make sure she is safe while on the internet, when your little Ellie's story popped up. Our Eliana's have the same birthday!!!! :) [My Eliana was born 11/27/2000 at 1:03am.] You and your family will be in my prayers. Hugs!!!
    Heidi Bailey

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