One Year Out

 The Magic 8 Ball is Cruel...But God is Good! 

I saw Little S in the corner of the thrift store one day, crying. 

When I asked her why, here is what she said. 

"I asked the 8 Ball if the pain in my legs would ever go away, and it said, "Don't Count On It." 

This isn't the first time she has wished on a clock or asked an 8 Ball. It's every time. 

The Magic 8 Ball is cruel, but God is So Good! 

I had to remind her of this. I had to remind her how far she has come and how much healing God has provided. And how even if he didn't, we are to be thankful in all things. Rejoice in Him...always. 

That's hard for an 8 year old to hear. 

But she has come so far. The other day, she even got sick. 

I never thought I would rejoice over a stomach bug, but hear me out. 

When Sara first got sick, it was little things here and there. Headaches. Joint pain. Then it progressed into leg pain and eventually a point where she couldn't walk for days. She dropped things constantly. She HURT. The GI doctor told us to give gluten back, and suddenly the flare ups were even worse. (We didn't see it at the time.) After the PCP forced her into each specialist and they found nothing, we saw the functional doctor. He has put her on natural anti inflammatories, helped pinpoint her diet sensitivities, cleaned up her gut, and put her on some things to settle her immune system against allergens. 

I started noticing small things, like her not complaining about daily stomachs pain, as well as big things like no nightly flare ups. Then she started noticing things like her eczema clearing up for the first time in her life. I almost cried when she walked up me, said, "Do you hear this?" Sniffed. And there was nothing to hear. Her nose was clear. She wasn't coughing. For the first time in a long time. 

We are months out from this day. She occasionally has some bad days if she eats gluten on accident. (This has  only happened three times. Once at a party and once with a family member.) She went on vacation with no flares. That was a big deal. Then she got sick last weekend with a stomach bug and I just rejoiced. Since she had serum sickness in Fall on 2023, she has not been ABLE to get sick. The rest of the family has had flu, stomach virus, and some kind of respiratory virus. She just flares up for days fighting it off and never gets sick. When she got sick and fought it off with a small fever in a normal amount of time, I knew we had won. 

It's been a battle. Little S is relentlessly stubborn. We went through a season of not wanting to go to the chiropractor because it was "another doctor." We made it through. Now we see the chiropractor once a month and functional twice a year. In fact, before she used to hide. Now she talk to the chiropractor without taking a breath. We went through a season of learning how to take supplements and fighting me every single evening that she had to. We made it through. Now I put all of her stuff in organizers and she grabs her own each day. And we went through a season on tears about the food. It's hard to watch your friends eat brownies and candies and such. Now when I consider making an exception (because it hurts to see my baby sad), she says, "No thank you. It's not worth the pain." She brings her own snacks and foods with a smile on her face, knowing that she is thankful to have what she has and that it won't hurt her. (But I won't lie, I know there is a part of her that wishes she could eat just one of those things and not be laid up in bed for a day.)

She has fought a good fight, and is winning. Might she regress? Maybe, but we will keep fighting. The thing the doctor said didn't exist. The things they said they couldn't do anything about. The pain we thought she would always have....she is healing. 

All that lingers is some low level leg and arm pain. "Don't Count On It." Well, my God is good. He created medicine for our bodies and foods that heal. I will rejoice in Him...Always.