1 Year Since Emmalin's Corpus Callosotomy

One year ago today, Jarrad and I had one of the HARDEST days of our life!  It was on May 2nd, 2012 that Emmalin had her Corpus Callosoty (brain surgery) to try to help with seizure control.  Between the length of the surgery and ALL of the risks that were involved with it, I would have to say that not only was it the hardest day, but it was also the longest and scariest day I've ever had in my life!  Of course Emmalin did great through it (as she always seems to do), but I can honestly say that we NEVER expected this past year to be as "eventful" as it turned out to be!  To say the least, this past year has been a really hard one!! If I am going to be completely honest I would have to say that in some ways this past year has really seemed like it has been the length of 10 years.  Emmalin has had some highs and A LOT of lows.  Saying that, of course I ALWAYS know that it could have been SO much worse, but what I was meaning was out of Emmalin's 4.5 years of being on this Earth, this has BY FAR been her hardest!

Most of the major things that have happened in the past year:
~Emmalin had her Corpus Callosotomy Surgery
~About a month later her incision got infected and Emmalin was in the hospital an additional 6 days (plus send home with a PICC line for antibiotics - she was on atleast 2 different antibiotics for a little over a month).
~In August because Emmalin was having SUCH difficulties swallowing (she was aspirating foods), Emmalin officially had to COMPLETELY stop eating by mouth.
~Throughout the next couple of months Emmalin had numerous ear infections.
~In November Emmalin was admitted back in the St. Louis Children's Hospital for another 24 hour EEG because we (me, Jarrad, and Dr. Weisenberg) had decided Emmalin was at the point that she needed to have the Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) placed to also help with seizure control because she was still having SO many seizures.
~We also found out that Emmalin was going to need ear tubes to be placed because she was getting SO many ear infections.
~Emmalin was sick on and off from Thanksgiving on and her VNS surgery ended up having to be rescheduled 3 times before she was well enough to have the surgery.
~New Years Day Emmalin was diagnosed with pneumonia for the first time (right lung only).
~Emmain FINALLY had her VNS surgery on January 23rd.  
~The beginning of March Emmalin we thought her neck incision from her VNS surgery got infected and so we made an emergency trip to the St. Louis Children's Hospital.  While we were there, Emmalin had to be given oxygen for the first time because she had a virus and got distressed breathing (so was in the hospital for 3 days)
~ April 25th Emmalin had Strabismus surgery to try to have her eyes realigned and she also got her ear tubes placed (finally)

As I was saying, you could DEFINITELY say that this has been a big year for Emmalin!  And although we are incredibly grateful that things were not worse than they were (because we realize they could ALWAYS be worse).  As you read above, Emmalin's year didn't really start out on the best note on January 1st because that's when we found out she had pneumonia.  So I am going to start a "new year" now, 1 year after Emmalin's brain surgery.  We are REALLY  hoping this next year will be less "eventful".  We plan on pushing forward with therapies and doing everything we can to help Emmalin make great strides in the right direction not only strength wise but also cognitively.

                                                                  God is Good!
                                                       

Emmalin resting peacefully :)