The Pendulum is in Motion

Here we are again. Writing an update of the medical happenings in the Stone home. You know, someday we hope that we won’t have to write these updates. Someday maybe this blog will be filled with posts of redone furniture or fun new recipes, maybe lessons we are teaching the kids. Not today my friends. Not today.

Today we invite you into our new journey with Moses. For the past month, we have been in survival mode, just trying to make it to bedtime. Why? You ask. What is going on? A month ago, something very strange started happening with Moses and it lasted for eight days! Moses stopped eating and stopped using the bathroom. At first, we didn’t really know what to think of this. My first reaction as an ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) momma was, this might be a sensory issue or a behavior. But, I quickly dismissed that thought and chose to believe my sane momma instinct. Something was wrong, very wrong. We would try to give him anything to eat, all his favorites and he wouldn’t touch a thing. For this kid to not want to eat a Larabar, Chipotle, or ice cream, we knew. He started losing weight and for being a tall lanky kid, it made him look even more malnourished. Then, I really started to worry about the fact that he wasn’t using the bathroom. Could his body be shutting down?! Does he have an obstruction? Is he going to become septic? Why is this happening? Am I losing my child? So, mama bear came out and I demanded that his GI specialist order some tests. Something was wrong and they needed to figure it out. Well, we got some answers with a simple x-ray. He had an ileus. A what? Temporary paralysis of a portion of the GI tract. So, give him a laxative you say. No, it’s paralyzed. Try feeding him all fruits and veggies you say. No, it’s not going to help. Try giving him an enema you say. No, he is paralyzed! The switch is turned off and everything is just sitting there no matter how much I change or pump into him.

So, we waited. We waited because this thing is supposed to resolve itself. It took a couple of days after we got the x-ray results, but things started to move again. Why did they resolve? We believe it was the healing power of God because it started to function again right after our elders prayed over him. God healed our son?! Wait, we get to experience this healing again? Yep, it happened several years ago with my thyroid. And yes, I just got a check up and the nodules are still gone. Why us? Was it because we had great faith? No. Trust me friends that we waver in faith. No. It was because we have a great God who every once in a while reminds us all that He is about the business of making sad things come untrue, of healing the broken, of binding up the sick, of restoring this world.  He is delighting to show the world that it will not always be this way. We are so unworthy to be the recipients of His healing but we are so grateful that He chose to touch Moses's digestive tract that day! We know that not everyone gets a taste of that in this life. We know that many people will have to wait for that restoration a lot longer, and maybe even after they have passed away. There are pieces of us that are still waiting with you. We still wait for the day that we will get to have a full conversation with our son. Or play a game of soccer. Or make a meal without having to worry about food sensitivities. Or maybe that redemption will be more me seeing the joy of opening up all the cabinets. Or the joy of looking through every page in a book without reading it. Or the miracle of every grain of sand. I have a feeling that it is going to be even better than I hope for! We groan, we wait, we long for that day to come soon. Man, I am glad that Jesus rose from the dead! Him defeating the worst enemy, death, ensures that for us. He killed the worst thing that could ever happen to us, complete separation from all good, all love, all life…in other words, Him.

Brokenness then restoration. Paralysis then function. Times of sickness and times of health. Tears then rejoicing. Fear then trust. These are some of the cycles that we live in.  It’s a constant pendulum. Balance doesn’t happen this side of heaven my friends. We will never find that perfect stillness until we see Jesus face to face. So, we live in this pendulum of life, constantly moving from one sickness to another, one emotion to another, one truth to another, one joy to another.

Back to Moses…I get side tracked in my own mind…We now enter a phase of testing to see why this has happened. We suspect it has been happening for a while. This episode was just the longest and the most dangerous. Lots of tests. The first of which is tomorrow. He will have a upper endoscopy to check for ulcers tomorrow. If that comes back negative, we move onto motility studies. This my friends, is more scary because it will take us out of the state for a short period of time. Motility refers to the function of the intestinal tract. Is it all working as it should? We shall see.

Pray for our little man to retain his happy, sweet disposition through this all. Change is not easy for him. New environments are not easy for him. New touches are not easy for him. Fortunately, new people is not a problem! He loves him some people!! Pray for wisdom from the doctors to order the right tests. Pray for money to fund trips, energy to cook meals, wisdom to pour into our other kids, carelessness about the things that don’t matter as much. Wisdom to know what those things are. Pray most of God’s glory, His weight on our lives, to be displayed to everyone He takes us on this journey with our little dude. Pray that people will see the hope that we have. Pray that we would be wise to know when to be weak and when to be strong.