It seems like a lifetime ago we were welcoming you into the world and into our family. I don’t think any of us would have guessed what was in store for us for the next few months. In fact, a frequent observation that would come later is that we never expected Nicholas to be the easy one. After all, you made it to term and he didn’t and you were definitely larger than he was.
I can’t tell you how scary it was when we realized that something wasn’t quite right before you were a day old and you ended up in the intensive care ward…just like Nicholas. Or how about the joy when we brought you home when you were five days old just to have you return to the hospital a week later when the seizures started again in earnest? At that point, we had no idea that six weeks later you would be a unique case (with the largest focal cortical dysplasia that had been seen to that point) and becoming Dr Bruce’s youngest patient to undergo major brain surgery.
But what I can tell you is that the last four months have been a source of joy and hope to see you losing seizure medications and generally be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. You’ve got such beautiful eyes that it was a shame that the medications made you a zombie for much of the first half of your life.
But I see a beautiful boy now who is fighting with everything he’s got to make a good recovery from such a scary situation. Alexander, you’ve experienced more in your first six months than most people will ever experience in their whole life. I hope that in the years to come when it comes time to explain these last six months to you that you’ll find that in the midst of a very scary situation, there was something that was never lost and that was hope for a better future and our pride in your courage.
You’re such a beautiful boy and there have been more than a few miracles that have gotten you to this point. It’s hard to believe that it wasn’t very long ago that you we were sending you into the operating room and waiting anxiously for any sort of good news on the outcome. The last few months and your progress to date have been better than we probably could have hoped for and we are so thankful for that.
And we’re thankful for the fact that we weren’t alone with the hopes and prayers that came from everyone who knew about your situation. I’d like to think that they helped make a difference…don’t ever forget that you’re never alone, even when you think you are! There are people who you’ll never meet who have cared so much for you.
But for right now, you don’t have to worry about that. Just be the cute baby we know you are and we’ll walk this long road ahead of us… together!
Faith manages!
