End the streak with two

Thursday morning, March 9 Melanie woke up seeming fine. Momtuition told me to feel her forehead and then take her temperature. It was around 101. Long story short, she'd been exposed to strep at home and school, so I took her to the clinic right away. Eventually learned her strep tests were negative, but.... Just after getting home from the clinic, she'd quickly gone downhill. Before I could get ibuprofen in her, she had a seizure. So her streak ended at 378 days.
She wound up missing a little more than three days of school. I brought her back a little late on Tuesday, and when we walked into the room, her aide was so excited, and her teacher stopped their lesson and said, "look who's here!" All the kids were so excited to have her back. Mom walked back out of the building with a warm heart and a smile on my face.

Melanie got sick again over the weekend at dad's. As I sat in church this morning, right after pastor prayed for the many physical ailments in the church, I got a text that Melanie just had a seizure. Looks like a new illness, because she had been healthy all last week since Tuesday.

Please pray for her, of course that she would become healthy quickly and have no more seizures. Also, I've had two kids home sick quite a bit this month, which takes a huge hit to my income. I can't always reschedule the lessons I have to cancel, so our already tight budget is getting pretty squeezed right now. I know God always provides, in my experience even sometimes rather mysteriously. But it's still a stressor and a need we need to bring before the Lord in prayer.

ONE YEAR of Seizure Freedom!

This is the first time in Melanie's 8+ years she has been seizure-free for an entire year! That's almost unheard of in the world of Dravet. So what's the secret? God's smiling providence. I'm just so thankful that we've had this lengthy period of fantastic health and growth. We've had lots of changes in the past few years, moving homes and schools twice since late 2014. And now a new family, since Mommy got married in July. James and Melanie have gained three teenage step-siblings, a step-dad, two dogs and three acres. And dad got married in 2015.
This year, she is in second grade at an amazing school, where she has awesome teachers. She had great teachers last year too, but the combination of brain health, low med doses, happy and stable home, and the perfect school situation for her has caused her to shoot beyond anything I ever expected! She reads a new book every day, has about 50 sight words, is taking spelling tests, knows her calendar, can tell time, do basic math, write all letters and numbers on her own, sound out words...
And she is the funniest, silliest, happiest little goof-ball. Always singing and dancing and wiggling. She makes everyone fall in love with her. Earlier this week I took her to a clinic for a strep test, and when the doctor lifted her shirt to listen to her heart, she said, "Do you see the fish in my bellay buttawn?" He told her she could come back and visit him anytime...

Mommy made purple frosted butterfly cookies for Melanie to bring to school today, so her friends and teachers got to celebrate with her. Thanks for rejoicing with us! All glory to God!!