admin mod. please change title to reflect update?
All, would you ping your lists for continued prayers for Carrie’s healing & the concern;s mary lists .. any help /ideas you can offer here are most welcome, I am sure!...dolly
Hi All. I just received this update from Carrie’s mom Mary. For some reason I cannot sign up/into the site. Mary has done a lot of mailings etc so I can.Computers are frustrating!
@@@
Hello,
This is a letter requesting prayer for Caroline. I wrote one yesterday, and then somehow it disappeared before I could send it. Technology is wonderful, yet frustrating! (and…I’ve re-read this letter a couple of times-I like yesterday’s version better! Sorry about that!!)
We have had some things come up with Carrie in the last couple of weeks, and we simply need prayer. You’ll see a sanitized version of events on the Care Page.
1. Den and I need wisdom and understanding in many areas: what are the right questions to ask? Who should we contact and who should we forget about (in the area of medical professionals)? What decisions should we make concerning modifications to our home? Where do we turn? We need discernment.
2. The doctors and other caregivers: that they would have great knowledge and make wise decisions concerning her. That they will give us the right answers. We are also praying for men and women of faith and conviction to be involved in her care.
3. For Carrie, of course. The things that have come up recently would not be a problem if she weren’t immobile and unable to communicate. We are praying for God to heal her brain in a miraculous way. Everything she needs is right there, but it needs to be re-connected and restored. Nothing is too difficult for God.
We are praying that we see a breakthrough in the area of awareness, communication, purposeful movement, etc.
So here are the specific physical problems she has been having:
1. She developed shingles last week. This is a viral skin rash that is painful, and difficult to treat.
2. She is bleeding from both ear drums. Two doctors thought that she had a ruptured ear drum, but the ear specialist said it did not look that way to him. At any rate, it is painful for her, and we don’t know the cause.
3. The skull piece that was reinstalled in May has begun to deteriorate. Her skull is sinking in and the brackets that held it in place have moved. We see the neurosurgeons tomorrow, but the question is, why did this happen and what can be done about it? Is this causing more pressure which leads to the ear bleeding?
This development is the most discouraging, since it will mean more surgery.
4. Her feet and ankles have begun to turn in more than ever. We have been working on them diligently for 6 months (since we’ve been home) and haven’t seen much progress at all. She may have to have orthopedic surgery to lengthen the tendons. Our family doctor tells us that Carrie is a unique patient and no doctors in Muskegon have experience with someone in her condition, so who can help her?
5. She has had several instances of what we call “flushing episodes”, one of which landed us in the emergency room. She suddenly turned bright red from head to toe, like a very bad sunburn. She has had 3 or 4 more times doing this, to a lesser degree, but still troublesome since no one knows what is going on. She sometimes puffs up in an area, too.
So as you might imagine, we are frustrated and troubled. We have spent more than a few sleepless nights. Den woke up in the middle of the night and read the book of Luke and cried out to God. Two scriptures stuck with him:
Luke 11: 5-10 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;
“and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’?
“I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
And also:
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
Luke 18:1-8 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”
Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find persistent faith on the earth?”
So we will keep approaching the throne of grace on Carrie’s behalf, interceding for her and asking God to heal her. We are asking for God’s mercy to help us in our time of need. Like the passage says, we ought always to pray and not lose heart.
Psalm 25 says To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul, in you I trust. O my God, do not let me be put to shame nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame. The Lord confides in those who fear Him, He makes His covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare.
We are utterly helpless without God. We have no hope without God.
Jer. 33:3 says Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
This is what we are asking you to agree with us in prayer about. We are praying God’s Word that Caroline is healed and that God will answer us if we continue to call out to Him.
Please feel free to email us back with anything you believe God is showing you. That is what the Body of Christ is for. We welcome your insights. Also feel free to share this letter.
One doctor told me I was challenging those in the medical community to be smarter, since this is new territory for them. I feel that we need to be smarter spiritually, too.
There is a song that goes like this:
“Don’t grow weary in doing well, don’t surrender in the fight, keep on storming the gates of hell, keep on doing what you know is right.”
I sing that to myself from time to time, also:
“Whose report will you believe? We shall believe the report of the Lord….”
Yes, we will believe the report of the Lord. God is the one who will decide the outcome, and I firmly believe that God’s will for Caroline is that she be restored to complete health and wholeness. So we will keep pounding on the door of heaven!
With much love and gratitude,
Mary
prayer bump
prayer bump
Oh Lord rain your mercy and blessings down on this family. Send earthly angels to help and comfort them.
Prayers up before church this morning.
Prayers for Carrie & her family ~Pandora~
I keep Carrie in my daily prayers.
Joining with you all in prayer.
I am so happy to see this post and that this thread is still going. I have continued to pray for Carrie and was wondering how she was doing. All life has a purpose and I will continue to pray for Carrie and her family and her caregivers. Grand Rapids is not that far away from Muskegon and we have excellent heath services here. Depending on Carrie’s age, maybe DeVos children’s hospital, I know they treat teens too. God bless!
Prayers.
Continued prayers.
AMEN! AMEN!
PRAYERS.
prayers up
More prayers on the way...
God please heal this child.
Thank you so much, Dolly, for posting this. I so often think of and pray for dear Carrie. Once we lost Gretchen, I feared we’d hear no further. oh, how I miss Gretchen. I wish we were hearing different, better news about Carrie, but am pleased that she is back to the FR prayer threads.
It sounds like it’s time to get Carrie to a major university hospital. IIRC, they are in MI. Have they gone to Ann Arbor? I would assume the University of Michigan hospital has doctors with the expertise they seek. Or, they might consider Mayo or Johns Hopkins. They could ask their doctors who recognize that this case is beyond their own expertise where and who the best in the country are in this relatively narrow field of medicine. In every field of medicine there seems to be a ‘go to’ hospital or doctor. I’ve seen docs at Johns Hopkins refer a patient to a specific doctor/department at Duke or UVA Finding the right docs is critical rignt now. That is in no way a negative reflection on the current docs, just on the general good fortune of people in their area not to have experienced what Carrie has.
Prayers for Carrie and her family continue.
Thank you for keeping me on the ping list, I will certainly pray.The perseverance and love her family has shown will bring them a heavenly reward.