Answered Prayers

Post #2 English January 31, 2008

We continue to be amazed at our sister's progress in healing. Many changes have taken place.

She has seen an opthamologist who declined to prescribe glasses because of the strong possibility of further spontaneous adjustments in her vision in the near future. This was good news. Adriana has since reported improved vision. Her two eyes are not perfectly coordinated but she is not seeing in triplicate anymore or even double. This has allowed her to do many things that were too wearying before.

By the Lord's mercy and grace she does still speak Romanian fluently, and still speaks quite well in English, her second language. She has lost most names of people as well as many other nouns in both languages but her greatest losses are in English. This makes sense because she aquired English later in her life and the neural pathways in her brain would not be as well-traveled as the ones pertaining to Romanian. She is working to regain vocabulary in both languages.

She will see a Romanian speech therapist next week who will evaluate her condition and recommend a course of treatment. We do not yet have a confirmed diagnosis but a doctor brother in the states has suggested that she probably has expressive aphasia, a language disorder. Please pray that she will connect with the best therapist to meet her needs and help restore her abilities and her confidence.

A sister from Tacoma Washington wrote recently to share some of her experience of recovery after undergoing three brain surgeries in three years. Although her initial diagnosis was very different from Adriana's, some parts of the process she has experienced overlap. Her words of encouragement and insight have been very helpful.

It is hard work for anyone to regain confidence in a physical part that has "failed." The brain of course is the coordinating organ for the whole body and in a real sense, for our psychological and social life as well. Failure of this organ leaves a person wondering if they can trust their own thoughts and decisions. Even what they know or can remember about daily living could be in doubt. The mundane actions and routines of daily life, once automatic and even unconscious can no longer be taken for granted. This is a mysterious dilemma which most of us do not experience because our abilities in this area have never been compromised so traumatically. A person emerging from such a shock must feel himself or herself to be in an "alternate universe." Not only must physical healing take place in the brain, but rebuilding of all the processes that have been affected by damage to the brain. It seems that such a condition is typical for many patients "re-entering" the world after brain surgery.

Only two weeks out of the hospital our sister needs a lot of rest physically. Her sleep patterns have been very disrupted, but she is beginning to move twoard a regulated schedule of waking and sleeping, as well as eating. According to some sources this regulation process can take many weeks to become stabilized.

Adriana has been courageous in trying new things which may seem impossible, however simple and ordinary they may be to others (and once were to her.) We are all learning how to help her without overstepping the boundaries of what she can actually do at any given time. Her sense of humor is a wonderful asset in this situation.

Fear of the unknown would be a huge factor for anyone in a situation such as hers. She does not know how long it will take to restore or "reset" all the mental processes that have seemingly disappeared overnight. No one can guarantee that they will be restored. She and we must simply proceed in faith, and of that we have a bountiful source of supply. We have the deep assurance that she will eventually function according to her former capacity or something very near it. We ask for your continued prayer that her recovery would be rapid, and that we all would gain more Christ in the process. We pray especially that our sister would be encouraged and not bothered by anxiety or harrassing fears, but that she would be in peace, taking each day for itself and enjoying the grace and the progress therein.

We also ask your prayer for her family, especially her parents, that they would also be kept in peace and rest through the Lord's supplyof all-sufficient grace.

We are thankful for so many members of the Body of Christ who have coordinated together over the past weeks in numerous ways to support our sister's physical, psychological and spiritual well-being since her initial physical collapse at the young people's camp.

Some saints in Timisoara