October: A Memorable Month and Birthday

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Oh. My. Goodness. What a month! It's certainly been challenging, but thankfully there were a few bright spots to help us through. At the very end of September, both Faith and I came down with colds. They would not go away! 

Faith was really stuffed up and seemed pretty miserable. I thought she might have a sinus infection, so I took her to the walk-in clinic. Although I didn't think we had COVID, I asked to be tested just to give me a peace of mind. 

They only had the nose swab available. I was nervous about it being traumatizing for Faith. As we waited for the nurse to come back in the examination room with the test, I prayed for Faith that she wouldn't have a tough time. I should have remembered to pray for myself! 

I told Faith I would go first so she would know what to expect. When they stuck the swab way up my nose, I nearly started crying. It gave me flashbacks to when the breathing tubes got pulled out of my nose following open heart surgery. It was sort of the same icky, awful feeling.

Next, it was Faith's turn. The nurse was fully expecting Faith to fight the swab going up her nose. She held Faith's hands while I held her head in place. The lab technician put the swab up Faith's first nostril and I counted to 10. The lab technician did the other nostril, and I counted to 10 again. 

She didn't try to fight it or anything. She was so brave and didn't even cry! I was very proud of her! I told everyone afterward that she had done better than me. 

My brave girl!

It took four days for the test results to come back, both of which were negative. Faith did have a sinus infection, so she began a round of antibiotics. It took her about six days of meds before finally feeling better. 

A couple of weeks after she was finally better, I had to take her in to get the Mic-key button for her feeding tube replaced. When we had tried to put in a new button at home, we found out it was defective. Thankfully we had a second one, but that one was defective as well! 

We ended up having to put her old one back in. Because of this, the skin around her stoma became very red and sore. When I took her to the surgeon, she told me it wasn't infected, but there was granulation tissue that was beginning to form. She replaced it without any problem and prescribed an ointment for her skin.

During all of this, I was busy trying to finish raising funds for our new van. I really wanted to raise enough so we could get it for Faith's birthday. Amazingly, we ended up raising about $25,000!!! I am also applying for funds to help cover the cost of the van. 

I will do a separate post about the van, but long story short, my brother Todd found one for us at Cummings Mobility and had it delivered to our front door 2 days before Faith's birthday!

Thanks to all the donations, "New Wheels for Faith" became a reality!

While preparing for the van delivery and Faith's birthday, I found out Bismarck was supposed to get our first major snowstorm. I was concerned the snow was going to deter our birthday plans. Thank goodness we only ended up getting about an inch of snow, but it did dip down to about 14 degrees F.

Even though the weather cooperated, the elevator in our building did not. Two days after I had taken Faith to get her button replaced, the elevator went out. Needless to say, I was pretty devastated. Without a working elevator we would not be able to get Faith downstairs to see her new van when it arrived. We also wouldn't be driving around to see her family and friends on her birthday. (A pandemic-friendly birthday plan I had come up with).

The van was still delivered, but instead of being able to get inside, Faith could only watch out the window when it arrived in the parking lot. We tried to make the best of things and had a tiny party in our apartment with cake and ice cream. For her birthday weekend, she did video chats and phone calls with some of her best friends and other family members. 

Happy 17th Birthday!

Faith with Grandma and Grandpa 



Faith's cousin and favorite dog even came to the party!
Faith's beautiful birthday flowers!

We went through the rest of the week with no elevator, and it is not supposed to be fixed until Monday or Tuesday. I have been in contact with our building manager and even the regional property manager. I think they are finally beginning to realize that we are in need of a new elevator! 

Despite some of the challenges and disappointments, my heart is filled with gratitude. I am so thankful for our van. I promise to do another blog post as soon as Faith is able to get downstairs and we go for a spin! I'm also thankful to the friends and family who have supported us during this challenging month and also for the many prayers. 

If nothing else, Faith's 17th birthday was definitely a very memorable one!

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