What Does God Have To Do With Basketball?!

As a mom of 5 kids - 3 of them being active boys, I am always looking for ways to apply the gospel to their lives in a 'manly' kind of way.  The scriptures don't mention the word 'basketball,' or 'weight lifting' or 'March Madness.'  They DO use action words like 'fishing,' 'building,' and 'swords'... you know, words a tough guy can understand!  I'm always satisfied when they connect to something within the gospel they can apply to their lives. 

We had our church missionaries over for dinner a few months ago.  They always leave us with some sort of devotional or verse of scripture to think about, so one missionary read a few verses of scripture and the other missionary followed up with applying it to our lives.  The second missionary had connected well with our family, being a hunter and basketball player himself before he came into the mission field.  He applied the scripture by saying that Heavenly Father is like our coach.  He can see the court as a whole.  He can see what connections need to be made, who needs to go where, and what spots need filled.  He sees the big picture. 

My boys' ears perked up with the application to basketball.  And what this missionary shared with our family was inspired and timely. 

In the time since then, our family has participated in numerous basketball tournaments.  One exciting one was an extremely close game with the only team we hadn't beat all season.  It also happened to be the championship game!  As the clock wound down, the game ended in a tie, forcing it into overtime.  The crowd was obnoxiously loud with signs waving, screaming, and cheering. 

I looked to their coach, who was giving instructions to the players to set up on the court.   He was not in the same position as the player on the court with an opponent in his face, or the one scrambling to get out of a double team.  He saw the big picture.  He knew when and where the passes needed to be, the plays they needed to run, and the defense they would need to have to overcome the opponent.

What's more... From where I sat, I could see the coach's lips moving, but could not hear a single word he was saying while I was sitting in the crowd, most of who were on their feet cheering loudly.  My mom leaned over to me and asked, "Can they even hear what he's saying?!" 

Those boys had gone to practice in a quiet gym every day for the past 2 months, training their ears to hear what their coach had to say.  Spots in their brains had been reserved for the frequency of his voice's sound waves.  They had played in other close games and practiced tuning into his voice amidst the distractions and cheers.  When the time came for them to meet head on in the championship game, they were prepared. 

We also have times that we can practice listening to our coach - our Heavenly Father.  It may be in church, while we read our scriptures, when we find a quiet time to pray, as we turn the radio off when we drive, or think out loud.  Those are the times we train our ears and hearts to listen to what God has for us - what He needs us to do and where He needs us to be. 

Then we go into the crazy world of carpools and school or work and rushing to and from appointments.  Our ears and hearts can still be in tune for what He needs from us.  If we have practiced tuning in to Him in our quiet places, we can hear and understand our Heavenly Father (our coach) from the sidelines directing us. 

At one point in the championship game, the coach got very upset with a player that was out of position and because of it, they gave up a basket and the lead.  The coach was jumping around and yelling.  My mom leaned over to me again and said, "Is that really necessary?"  Being in positions like this myself in tight scoring games, I told her it was absolutely necessary that he let that boy know where he needed to be exactly when he needed him to be in a particular spot on the floor. 

While I don't picture Heavenly Father frantically jumping around, He does remind us when we are 'out of position.'  He has sent the Holy Ghost to help us decipher those times as a way to get us back on track to where we are supposed to be.  As my mom asked, "Is that really necessary?"  Absolutely!  He needs us!  AND... We are in the last days.  This is when it gets heated.  This is the 'overtime' before the Savior comes.  This is when He saves his best players to be on the floor when the going gets tough.  THIS is what it's all about!  This is what we practice and pray for, to be a part of - not to be sitting the bench for pete's sake! 

In the end (my son pointed out that the ending is the best part and I better not leave it out), our team came out on top... In overtime... By just 2 points... and also earned the Sportsmanship Award for the year.  Ask any of those boys if it was worth all the time, effort, and sacrifice and I know what their answer would be. 

4 Weeks and a Taste of Fancy Free!

If you missed the Thank You video for those that bought shirts...

 

 

 

We made it to the 4 week post-op mark!  So, what has surgery and 4 weeks in foot casts and a body brace brought us?  Let me tell you...

 

Morning stretches with BOTH arms - something she would rarely do before.  We know the left side of her brain is affected because that's what tells the right side of the body what to do.  I have been reading an amazing book called "The Brain That Changes Itself" and how to rewire the brain.  Let me say that again - REWIRE the brain!  Once thought to have a certain number of cells to learn with, Bryer is proof of brain plasticity - it can change!  This picture has "Wake Up and Be Different" written all over it, RIGHT?! 

 

 

Nothing better than giggle therapy of dropping toys on your brother's head!  Practice of opening and closing her hands on target - things we don't think of having to learn. 

God picked these siblings just for Bryer - and picked Bryer just for her siblings!

 

 

 

I caught this very sweet picture of Piper (in the pink hat) explaining to her friend what Cerebral Palsy is, how Bryer's brain works, and what the surgery has done for her.  I'm not gonna lie - to see her handle it with such grace, accurate information, and speak in a way that kids understand - man, it just melts my heart until it leaks out of my eyes! 

 

 

Sitting around in a brace and casts is not much fun - unless your brother builds you a pillow fort to play in! 

 

 

...Or if you get to do fun therapy like this!  It might be mistaken for fun, but there's actually a lot of vestibular input and proprioception going on here - training the body, brain, and inner ear to know where it's at in space and how to find balance in it. 

 

 

There won't be swimming for Bryer all summer, so Piper, Walker, and I made her this water pillow with plastic and packing tape.  We put floaty toys in it to play with so she could feel a little like she was swimming.   

 

 

More entertainment on the couch - "Guess That Voice" (or breathing, feeling hair, etc.) without seeing the face.   Again - check out the right hand reaching instead of the left.  Not a full time improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.  A-Mazing!

 More hammock play with concentration - and holding on with both hands, thumbs opposing, to get pulled to swing.  The hair can get a little out of control in the hammock!

 

4 of our 5 kids enjoyed the hammocks on this day.  They had to use teamwork to get everyone swinging without anyone letting go - no matter the position they were in! 

Finally, the big day arrived!  28 days post op means the casts can come off and we get a peek at those new feet!  Our other kids might have been just as excited as we were - it's like Christmas unwrapping a new present! 

 

Real quick first, here's a before shot in the hotel the night before surgery.  Pointy ballerina toes that were so tight I could not get them to a 90 degree angle no matter how hard I tried.  I couldn't even bend them with her legs straight - I'd have to bend her knee, and then bend at her ankle, but even that wasn't much. 

 

 

And Ta-Da!  Let me introduce you to her new cast-free feet!  At rest, they look like this, but we can get them beyond 90 degrees with her feet flat on the floor!  Toe stretching is in her future to keep those tootsies extended too! 

 

 It's amazing to me that these little pokes in the back of her leg could have that huge of an effect.  I love the phrase "least evasive."

She has had a few muscle spasms, especially right after they took her casts off.   A Costco run after the doctor is not the most convenient place for painful spasms, but Walker was such a good help to climb in the cart and keep her feet flexed for her while we finished our shopping.  As the doctor has requested, she'll wear her casts (or we can take them off and keep her feet at 90 degrees) until her new braces come in next week.  It will help keep the spasms down and keep her feet flexed in the position we need them. 

 

While she was fitted for her foot braces (afo's) we also had some adjustments made to her body brace (see the red mark on her leg?!).  She got about 10 minutes without any casts and brace!  Her body feels so loose and wobbly - like a baby learning to sit and learn to train those muscles in a whole new way.  She did put both hands down in front of her and then pushed through both arms to sit up tall - another new skill she couldn't do before since her arms were tight and her legs wanted to stick straight out together and make the rest of her body go into pencil-mode.  If she wanted to sit up before, we'd have to cross her legs into a tight criss-cross applesauce for her to find her balance. 

 

 

Now to put the brace and casts back on.  :-)   

This little girl simply amazes me! 

 

By the request of blog readers, I am going to try to get back on my Sunday posts - whether that's updates on Bryer or other thoughts and stories that move through my brain. 

Check back next Sunday! 

 

Wake Up and Be Different!

I feel like I should apologize, but snuggling and getting Bryer back to her happy self (and kindergarten graduation, the end of school, and a birthday in our family) has taken priority.  Sorry I've been hogging it all and soaking it up myself! 

 

Bryer is 2 weeks post-op today, so here's the update of our 'Wake Up and Be Different' inspiration... 

 

I was so hoping she wouldn't be awake yet in recovery when they came to get me to see her after her surgery.  I wanted one more picture of her sleeping before she woke up different.  Here she is in all her sweetness - complete with Barbie (thank you Joanne)! 

 

 Her eyes fluttered a little, so they called that good enough and wheeled her to her own PICU room.  Seeing her little body in such a big hospital bed brought back some sad memories, but this time I knew it was going to be good - no, great! 

 

Who wants to wake up to a red light in their face?  (Or nurses taking vitals and poking at her?)  Note to all my nurse friends - I am sure that you don't do this to your patients!  Right?!  I am sure that you use their toe, which is so much easier for movement, isn't a light in the face all night, and does just as good of job.  (Of course, maybe I'm wrong and it just had to be on the finger of her good hand and no other place would do.) 

 

 

After a good few hours post-surgery, she finally (kind of) woke up.  I was so happy to be the one in her face for her to see when her eyelids finally lifted!  Good morning beautiful girl!   

She came out with pink casts with only her little piggies sticking out.  (No polish allowed in the Operating Room - they have to be able to test her color and oxygen.)

 

The first 24 hours was REEEEALLY rough.  Anyone else have pains with their Wake Up and Be Different goals?  Bryer was really feeling it!     

 

This is the pesky little 'Q Ball,' that was supposed to be administering pain meds through a catheter in her hip, straight to the most painful site. 

 

After her screaming in pain - and nearly 24 hour post op, I started checking out the Q Ball for myself.  It didn't seem to be getting any smaller, but the nurses assured me that they've never had a problem with them in the 5 years they've been using them.  I decided to take it up with the doctor.  Seeing Bryer in so much pain was unbearable.  Jason even had to leave for a bit, it was too much for him to watch. 

 

It turns out that mother's intuition is right - the meds were not being administered via this contraption.  After they figured out a combo of other pain meds, she started to feel like Waking Up Different was worth it.  (Hopefully by this point in May you are also feeling like your goal is worth it!) 

 

Heavenly Father knew we needed to feel Him close by, in real life, something very tangible.  By this point I was thinking, "What have I put my sweet little girl through?!"  God sent real, live angels with dinner for the first 3 nights - the most critical nights that we needed to be right in Bryer's room with her.  

 

I was especially touched by the wives of these med students that are already sacrificing so much, but are willing to do whatever they can to help ease this process for us.  It helped that they were followers of the blog, so I felt like they were old friends that understood what we have been through to get to this point.  More evidence that God hears us, knows us, and will send help, even when we don't know that what we need is a hot meal to get us through the next night.   

By day 3, Bryer was up for listening to music - a perfect sign that our little girl was pulling through the hard part!  Here she's listening to one of her favorite people sing on a CD of preschool songs - her speech therapist, Amber.  Amber's voice was a lifesaver when it was so painful to move Bryer around, but she was getting so bored laying in bed.  The famous and wonderful Dr. Yngve (in blue) was a good sport to pose for a picture with her, along with Dr. Carmichael, the resident doctor (in red). 

By the 3rd day, she was happy, on minimal pain meds, and we made a trip to the hospital toy room! 

While we played, she reached out with her left arm to put a ball onto a track.  She reached out her left arm further than she ever has before - and then jerked it back, immediately realizing that she did something that felt different.  It didn't take the same amount of effort to reach as far as she did!   

 

More exciting positions - unless I have her sitting on my lap (pre surgery) with her legs flopped out to the side, her legs like to squeeze together. 

To see her feet so far apart is a miracle to me all by itself!

The staff and med students from the hospital were amazing!

After some minor worry on my part that the outfits I had tried so hard to find, wouldn't fit over her bulky brace, Jason went dress shopping so we could say our good-byes.  Here's her limited wardrobe for the next few months. 

2 more days in a hotel until she was clear to fly... And more tricks while we hung out in Houston!  She can fold her arms!  Before surgery, her arms were too tight to reach very far across her body.  Lots of good brain connections are made when she crosses midline, so we're excited for her to have arms that can relax! 

 

 

One of the funniest new tricks is that she is moving her right arm around more now - and that she finds it stuck in her hair now.  She tells us, "Uh-OH!  Hair!"  Simple miracles really, like getting your right hand stuck.  Who knew that could be so exciting?! 

 Finally the flight home... Which was an adventure all by itself! 

 What I really needed a picture of was Bryer in full brace and casts, riding on my lap in the wheelchair, with Jason, our 6' 7" escort flying us through the airports with wind blowing through our hair, trying to make the next flight.  A few times I thought for sure the footplates on the wheelchair were going to cram some lady's ankles as he screeched to slow down, and then speed around her.  We made it though, with Bryer and I laughing the whole way and Jason broke a sweat by the end. 

 

 

Since we've been home....

 

We've gotten creative with making her brain work to learn her new body.  Since we can only deal with her arms for right now, we're trying some new things to help her become more aware of her right side.  With it being loose, now we can make it work without it tightening up so fast.  It used to be that the harder she concentrated, the tighter her right hand and arm got. 

 

I have been putting an oven mitt on her left hand every day.  We started with 30 minutes and are up to 45 minutes now.  At first she didn't like it at all, but now even when the timer beeps and she knows it's time to take it off, she wants to leave it on.  She has learned to turn pages of her board books, reach out to touch objects, and do some beginning actions to songs with her right hand! 

 

 One night the kids were having a movie night and I caught her with her right hand in the bowl of popcorn!  Another night, she had tipped over in her brace on the couch, and used her right arm to prop herself up so she didn't go completely over!  All simple steps, but things that will lead to essential brain connections, and all things she didn't do with her right side before! 

 This week we had to go to have her brace altered a little bit.  It was the first time she'd been out of it since surgery.  I couldn't believe how floppy she felt!  Her legs feel like jell-o.  The re-set button has been pushed, and she's ready to train her brain with some new connections!  (Jugging fish oil for brain food, using essential oils, and taking magnesium for muscles)

 

Through it all, I have been so touched to hear how you all are doing with your Wake Up and Be Different Goals too!  We have loved the phone calls, texts,visitors, thoughts, and prayers.  I will try to stay more on top of the blog as she progresses. 

 

She will get her pink casts off in 2 weeks and be fitted for afo's (foot braces) and can start putting some weight through her feet.  That part may be hard with her hips set so wide with her brace.  The brace will stay on 24/7 until Aug.  We are getting good practice with wet washcloths to be sure she's not the stinky kid!  :-) 

 

One more thing... I'm looking for those of you with pictures in your Wake Up and Be Different shirts - or those of you that set a goal, I'd love a picture of you in action, working your goal.  I'm putting together something for this coming week!  If you haven't already,  email your picture to krissih98@gmail.com or share them on The Briar Effect Facebook page, or tag me in them if we are already friends. 

Bryer's Surgery

Like any good challenge, God has prepared us for this one.  The plans I had prepared for this week were not the same ones God had prepared.  (yet again) Someday maybe I'll be in tune enough with Him.  Or maybe He just needs me to move my feet so that He can tweak my plans as needed.  

(A big thanks to my mom and friends for holding down the fort while we take care of Bryer!)

We had hoped to fly out of the nearest airport, but of course that would be way too easy.  Instead, we got to drive a little bit and start our trip off officially with a family that has been such a huge support for us.  These kids are amazing - contributing their own money from their piggy banks to help Bryer.  They showed me their poster and their family goals to Wake Up and Be Different.  As I write with tears in my eyes, I wonder how I ever thought that flying out of the closest airport was 'easier' than seeing these faces as we start our journey.  They couldn't wait to see the infamous Bryer in real life, in their house!  I'm so glad Heavenly Father knows what we need before we do.  If we stop worrying about our best laid plans being changed, then our eyes are open to so many tender mercies.  

I worried that her ears would bother her on the plane, but in true Bryer style, she giggled through the take off and landings.

Of course music is essential during this journey!  

What a way to ride! They had to duck under all the signs at the airport.  

We made it to the Dortches for our first night in Texas.  We were blessed to be friends of theirs while we were going to school as poor college students and served together at church.  They were ready with a chef-made meal, a house full of family, and a wonderful spirit.  Bryer waited until the last hours to make good friends with Joanne - after she gave her a Barbie.  (She has hardly put it down since.)  Thank you Dortches for your wonderful hospitality!  

Bryer's first offical meeting with Dr. Yngve!  She got her last look at the brace she will wear for 3 months.  We thought maybe she would have to wear it during daytime hours and sleep in a seperate wedge, but Dr. Yngve broke the news to us that this is a 24 hour a day brace for 3 straight months.  (I'm starting to think that August 13 should be the Wake Up and Be Different day since that's when she will really feel what her new body is like!)  

We swam for about 2 hours, soaking it all in before she wakes up in a brace for 3 months.  No swimming this summer for Miss B!  

Pre-op check ups and paperwork... followed by lots of waiting (and more singing and dancing).

This angel brought us lunch and arranged dinners for the next 2 nights while we are in the hospital!  I'm amazed by the tender mercies God has had in store for us.  The distance from Idaho to Texas is no bounds for God's hand.  Chandra is a friend of my cousin Blake.  Chandra's husband is going to med school here and has done rounds with Bryer's doctor!  

This is the song that has become Bryer's favorite this past week, and she listened to it over and over this morning.  

She's prepped and ready to go.  

Treatment plan: lengthening in her heel chords, lengthening and alcohol blocks in her groin, and an osteotomy to build up her hip bone around the hip socket.  The doctor decided this morning to also add alcohol blocks to her elbows to help with range of motion.  She'll have to learn that she can reach farther without pain now.  

The Texas humidity has been good for our curls.  

Thank you for all your prayers, thoughts, pictures, goals, and love.  Before the doctor left us, I shook his hand and told him he had a whole lot of people praying for him today.  

Ready to Wake Up and Be Different!  

Update:  The doctor just came to tell us that everything went really well.  It was only about 4 hours instead of 5 1/2.  He said he just loved to see her little feet go right into perfect flat position into the casts she will wear for 4 weeks.  (Check out the 2nd picture above with her ballarina toes.)  We're headed back to see her as soon as they give us the go-ahead.  Thank you for your prayers during this next step of recovery.  We feel very blessed to have you with us for support!