I Never Imagined…

Ava would be as GOOD as she is today ;)

Hello Ava followers. I can’t thank you enough for your love and support. We have so many supporters. We have had 2930 people view our carepage site. (www.carepages.com page name : avahelmick ) Our supporters on CP alone have left 5911 messages. On Ava’s blog she has had 76554 hits since October 08. Wow we feel So blessed. Thank you for your comments and notes of encouragements. If you ever want to contact me directly my email address is mycdhlife@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you!

SO good news today. Brian and I took Ava to University of Iowa Children’s Hospital for her follow up appointment with her surgeon. She had a CT scan to check her diaphragm and internal organs. She was such a big girl. I was so impressed at how well she did. It brought tears to my eyes that she WAS growing up and she was not my little baby anymore and things didn’t scare her as much as they did before. I am very honest with her and explain how things will feel. If they will hurt I tell her it will hurt and then what is going to happen. We expected her to get IV contrast for the test but instead they allowed us to give her the contrast through her g tube. They also did an enema. She took it like a champ and did everything I asked her to do. She was such a brave and strong girl today.

 

 

Her NP and her surgeon was so impressed at how she looked. They are thrilled with her progress. Doctor Shilyanski told us that what he saw from her CT scan that things looked really good. The CT scans will be looked over in detail by their Pediatric radiology and he will get back to us if they find anything that looks out of place. Dr. S discussed lowering Ava’s night time feeds. We heard something that made our heart REJOICE and PRAISE GOD…. “Soon we will think about removing Ava’s g tube.” We do know that right now our goal is to keep her weight going up and we also know that things could change but to hear these words today were…. well all part of this Miracle we call our daughter.

We let Ava play on the playground after her test was finished and before her appointment. For many, many days we looked down on this same playground almost 2 years ago and throughout her countless hospital surgeries and stays, and never imagined THIS day and this time we could watch her so happy and so full of life. I said a prayer out loud as I looked up toward the 7th floor PICU window. God has His hand safely around her and I am in awe of his Power.

The top floor was Ava’s PICU room.

  

We also walked and took a few pictures near the waterfalls. I didn’t even realize this was there. It was extremely peaceful.

Ava and Mommy

Ava and Daddy

So we watch Ava and are excited to see God’s Blessings upon us. If you have a child or someone you love struggling and perhaps near death PLEASE have Hope and Faith that life can turn it all around. It is AMAZING to see her and know that this all could have turned out very differently. I am humbled by His Goodness and Grace.

“Thank you Lord for allowing Ava to be in our lives and teaching us how to lift our hearts in the bad times and the good times. We continue to pray for her health and her strength. We are honored that you sent her to us and that you entrusted her in our arms. We will do all we can to keep her safe and happy. We love you and honor you in all we do!”

~Terri