I have been such a naughty blogger! Really not even worthy of the title! I’m so sorry about that! Our life has been so unbelievably crazy since my last post. At this point, that I can hardly recall all that has gone on. But here are the highlights…….Cannon and I finally finished his Kindergarten year. We went to the circus! The boys and I ran in a race to support a friend with breast cancer. (Our picture was even in the paper.) We went on a 2 week fabulous vacation back East complete with lots of wonderful family, the best friends, incredible fun, delicious seafood, and gorgeous beaches. Cannon surfed the Atlantic with the pros of Surfers Healing. Mark and I renewed our vows on our 10th wedding anniversary. Townsend began his second year of Preschool.

Cannon and I began his 1st grade school year.

We ran the Beads of Courage 5K and Cannon served as the Honorary Race Director. Townsend began playing soccer and Mark is serving as the coach.

I prepared and delivered a couple of workshops on Autism at our State AWANA Convention. Oh and we got Townsend’s test results back (more on that in a sec). So, now do you understand my absence??!! 🙂 Forgive me!

I will be updating y’all on most of these adventures separately soon! No really! But here is a quick update on one of the more important issues surrounding our family. Townsend’s health…..

A few weeks ago, we met with Townsend’s neurologist for the final results of his 4 days in the hospital for Video EEG Monitoring. There is good news and not as good news. A specific area of his brain….the Parietal Lobe…. (which interestingly enough is also the same area of issue as on all of Cannon’s past EEG’s) is showing consistent and frequent abnormal electrical activity mostly during sleep. (But Cannon’s abnormality is believed to be because of his Autism. He has never had seizures. Only Townsend has.) With careful and exhaustive review of all of that data, he does NOT believe the current episodes are causing him harm. However, it puts him at a very decent risk of developing Epilepsy in the future. He even ventured a guess as to which type of epilepsy he thinks it could become. He called this type Rolandic Epilepsy. He told us what he hears from most parents of kiddos with this type. That they will enter their parents bedrooms at night while in the midst of one. Trying to talk but one side of their face just won’t work. Possibly looking “stroke-like.” And they may also be posturing their bodies in strange ways. He said the episode should end in a matter of minutes and they will be fine afterwards.  IF THIS IS WHAT ENDS UP HAPPENING……we will be grateful as it could be worse.  He could have Grand Mal Seizures!  But it’s all speculation at this point.  Nothing could change, this could happen, it COULD end up being worse.  Only God knows!

Some good news is that his MRI is normal.  So, the episodes are not being caused by something bigger and scary. The really good news is that because the doc feels his current episodes are benign (not harming him)….he does not need medication at this time. Which is totally amazing because seizure meds have all kinds of side effects and long term repercussions. Townsend is FOUR! We want to avoid this as long as we possibly can! Again, there is a very good chance that that could happen in the future. So, long story short….we wait, we watch, we take notes, we pray, trust God, and we’ll see what happens.

I am often asked how we do what we do. How we deal with all the bad news we have gotten over the last few years. The hospitalizations, hours upon hours of therapy, driving all over the place to take them to this doctor or that surgeon. The heartache, the meltdowns, the tears. Watching our kids in pain. Not knowing what the future looks like. And on and on and on. The answer I have to this question is simple. BY GOD’S GRACE! Because without it, I would be nothing. I would be able to handle nothing. I would have no hope. I also offer this beautiful song as another reason. Watch and see why. Grab some tissues first! Love y’all! More soon! No really! I mean it this time! 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9RZ4V34WhY&feature=youtu.be