We could use your help tonight. Please join us in praying for Ava. She is having some extreme nerve pain.
Typically, Ava does not have pain that interferes with her daily living. However, yesterday I noticed she was chewing on her unaffected hand some. I would describe it kinda like a teething toddler trying to cope. Today, I noticed she had chewed her nails down and then switched mouthing her affected hand.
Photo courtesy of Ava’s aunt, Tae, with Main Street Kids.
Lots of Sunday afternoons, we will take her swimming to our YMCA pool. It is an incredibly nice place and we often even have the whole pool to ourselves. As I was helping her in the locker room when we arrived, it occurred to me that all these things could be nerve pain. She hasn’t experienced jolting nerve reconnections for months, so I think that is why it took me a while to piece it together.
Since her surgery 3 years ago, she will have certain stretches where she feels the nerve reconnections happening. When it first started in her upper arm 4 or 5 months after surgery, it was like somebody was shocking her shoulder and she was trying to jump away from it or shake it off. It has happened since then every now and then, usually lasting for a few days or a week.
However, this pain today is the most INTENSE yet. The pool (perhaps because of its conductivity?) intensified it. Made for a quick swim for all of us. At home, she writhed on the couch bicycling her legs, holding her arm behind her back. The particular area of pain is in her palm. She couldn’t eat supper and is in bed sleeping now. It took Joe a very long time to calm her down, and he is a pro.
So, two things: pray for her comfort. Also, we PRAISE God because this is ironically such wonderful, wonderful news! New connections. Ava has essentially no hand function at this point but the team at Cincinnati Children’s insist that this healing after surgery takes 4 years and that the hand is last. It is hard not to give up hope but this pain is encouraging that perhaps more healing is happening!!! So we praise God even in the midst of pain and ask you to pray for our sweet little 7-year-old.
soshemarriedafarmer 