It has been a whirlwind for Ana Karen and her family… its hard to believe that two weeks ago was when she stumbled and fell for the first time… its been 13 days since she has been paralyzed from the neck down… and 10 days since she has been in the hospital diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome… Several tests later, it was narrowed down to a variant of Guillain Barre Syndrome, called AMAN (Acute motor axonal neuropathy)… There were a couple days where Ana Karen hung in the balances between life and death… a respirator allowing her to breathe… and live…
She started on high doses of immunoglobulin (very expensive) for 5 days… The doctor gave the good news that the virus seemed to have peaked… but he was careful not to offer any hope of a quick recovery… When a bed opened up in Intensive Care, the doctor asked the family to find a air mattress to help Ana Karen to be more comfortable and not get bed sores… When I asked him if we could buy a used mattress he said that we should buy one for Ana Karen… because she was going to need it for a very long time… It made me a little sad and scared to think of Ana´s future…
On Sunday the family made about 200 plates of food to raise money for Ana Karen´s medical expenses… There was no one to be with Ana for her noon visiting hour so Gabriel phone me and asked if I could go… Ana Karen was awake… happy… but could not move from the neck down… The tubes in her mouth made it really difficult to understand what she was trying to say… I FINALLY understood… she wanted me to move her… lift and bend her arms… lift and bend her legs… rub them, massage them… You see, even though Ana Karen was completely paralyzed, she still can feel everything…
It was a very special time with Ana Karen… singing, praying, talking about “the Good Shepherd” who holds the hurt and weak sheep close to His heart… and telling her about Rita, my mom´s friend who had Guillien Barre, who in her year recovery, kept her tennis shoes beside her bed… a reminder that one day she would use them again…
That afternoon we received the exciting news that Ana Karen had begun to move her right shoulder!!!! On Monday morning, she was moving both shoulders!!!!
She had her tracheotomy… and lost a bit of ground on Monday afternoon… but on Tuesday Gabriel saw her move her thumbs a little bit!!!!!
…and today at noon, when Sandra, our volunteer who is a physiotherapist, went in to massage Ana Karen, she told us that Ana Karen had started to move her toes a little bit…
This afternoon we got news from Sandra that Ana Karen had moved her hips!!!!
Can anyone say, “Miracle?”
What I have been saying to the girls at El Jordan is that I have been praying for a miracle… that Ana Karen would recover in a way that the doctors and everyone around her will say that it had to be God… and I explained to the girls that I want that miracle, not just for Ana Karen and her family… I want that miracle for THEM! …so they can SEE with their own eyes that all of the Bible lessons we have at El Jordan, all of the names of God we have studied this year, aren´t just talk!!! God is REAL!!!! He lives and there is no doubt about it!!!
So… we keep on praying…. excited and amazed at these movements that Ana Karen can make… and looking forward to seeing what God will do next…
Pray for Gabriel (Ana Karen´s husband) as he hasn’t been working in order to take Leyla to the hospital every day… to visit and look for Ana Karen’s medicine… and to spend time at home with his kids… He and his mom are waking up early every morning to read the Bible and pray…
Pray for Brenda (Ana Karen´s mom) who is the one who has been at the hospital day and night. (Here you have to have a family member waiting outside of emergency or intensive care 24 hours a day to buy any prescriptions the doctor´s might give… or pay for any tests that need to be done…) She is tired… hasn’t been able to work for the last two weeks… and is also 6 months pregnant (!!!)…
Pray for Matias and Leyla who are missing their mom… …for Matias in Grade 2… and Leyla who needs to go to the hospital 6 days a week for a treatment…
Pray for provision for the two families… and also for all the medical expenses that there is and will be, with Ana Karen…
Thank the Lord for all the unexpected advances in Ana Karen´s movement!!! …and also thank the Lord for Sandra, our volunteer who is helping out so much with physiotherapy…
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Yesterday, Alejandra, one of our new students this year, “experienced God”… She is a single mom… who has been working so hard to recuperate the custody of her two kids since Social Services took them away when she was selling candies at an intersection (with her kids)…
On Monday Alejandra came to her Bible Study at El Jordan… one week overdue… with some contractions happening… That night she went all by herself to a municipal hospital… where they refused to take care of her… and sent her to a medical post… She got to the medical post at about midnight… and they didn’t want her either… They wanted her to go to the hospital… and even asked “Why don’t you go to a private clinic?” The doctor checked her over… told her she had lots of time, to go home and come back at 4 or 5…
Alejandra asked to please be able to stay… and they pointed her to some chairs outside…
Later, a nurse came and said she could lay down on a bed…
The contractions came closer together and were harder to bear… The doctor came over and told her not to yell… She wanted to hold onto someone´s hand… and grabbed the doctor´s arm… He shook off her hands and walked off… telling her it wasn’t time yet…
Alejandra, all alone at four in the morning, cried out to God… “God, you are my Doctor… You take care of me!! Help my baby be born!!”
She put her hands up near her head, as if she was grasping a hold of God´s hands… She turned over on her side in her bed… and felt something “down there” slide out… and there was her baby!!!! Born right there on her bed… God the Doctor… took care of her!!! (Jehovah Rafa… God our Healer…)
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That is our amazing, wonderful, merciful God…
Please continue to pray with us!!!!! …and we will keep you updated…
Because HE IS!
From Corina… for all of us at El Jordan…