This blog post is part of a series that I began for telling our story. You can read the first post here.

Previous post

From this point forward, I’m going to be sharing the text of posts as they were written at the time. Some will come from this blog; others, from our CaringBridge site. I may from time to time write my own reflections after re-reading, but mostly I will just be sharing words as they were written. So much of this journey for me is revisiting what happened, and realizing just how difficult the journey was for us. And now, seeing how far we’ve come since that time.

You may notice a request from me at the end of the day, for encouragement through songs. I posted it on Facebook on April 23, and was overwhelmed by the amazing response I received. Some of the songs were ones I knew; others became new favorites. Thank you to everyone who shared music with us during a time when we struggled to hear God’s voice – He spoke through you!

From CaringBridge on April 23, written by my sister:

Samantha is still fighting strong.  The doctors said her vitals are still okay.  One positive thing they said this morning is that her color is better which is a sign that the antibiotics are working to rid her body of this horrible infection. Praise the Lord for that!

Now we wait for the neuro-team to meet and decide where to go from here.  One step will be to slowly turn down the ventilator to see how she tolerates breathing on her own.  When this will begin we still don’t know.

Please pray for wisdom and guidance for the doctors and medical team that is caring for Samantha.  Pray that her head will be healed, healthy and whole once again.  Please pray for strength for each day and that she is able to begin breathing on her own again.

Please pray for Stephanie and Travis.  Pray for mercy for them and for peace.  Please pray that the Holy Spirit envelops them and holds them so that they can feel God’s presence.  Pray also for wisdom and guidance for them as parents to work with the medical team to help their precious litte Samantha.

We are so thankful to so many lifting up prayers, I will do my best to keep updating any new information so that prayers can be specific as we approach God’s throne of grace.

Samantha’s vitals were a little shaky this morning but they adjusted her ventilator and suctioned out the tubes which seemed to help a lot. They did another EEG around noon so the results of that should be back soon, and I will update as soon as that comes in.

Our parents (Mike and Wanda Gruhn) are here now.

If you sign up you can click a button to get automatic e-mail updates when new entries are posted here.

Thank you for the continued prayers for Samantha and her family.

Samantha’s EEG looked the same as yesterday so they are changing her antisuizure medication to fenobarbitol. This is much stronger and will probably further sedate her. The other frustrating thing is that her blood pressure was dropping really low again so they are doing another blood transfusion. Also her arterial line is starting to feather. They also have been doing many cultures and they found that she has a UTI, this is very puzzling and now has them wondering if she may has immunodeficancy, so they are doing more testing for that. She is still septic and acidotic. These are all struggles. BUT she has opened her eyes quite a few times today. She’s been responding to mommy and daddy’s voices and responding to stimulations of diaper changes and a bath. She also was doing some tracking with her eyes while awake and even got the hiccups today.

We ask that you continue to join us as we approach God’s throne of grace with petitions, requests and pleas for this precious child of God and her family. The doctors have said that this will be a journey with steps forward and back. We pray that the steps forward far exceed any steps back. Pray for peace and for wisdom and strength. Thank you for your continued prayers!!!!!

As of tonight things are still the same.  She was awake for awhile (prior to starting the new medication) which was so sweet to see.  Otherwise she is still stable, please continue to lift her up to God’s throne of grace.  

Also, please take some time to consider this request – hymns, songs, psalms.  Thank you!

“I have a request for all of you praying out there. Could youu post either on my wall or caring bridge the words to songs that fit our situation?” ~Stephanie

Next post coming tomorrow.