This is the beginning of my SDR Journal - a virtual way to let you into our lives over the next year as our family embarks on the hardest yet most rewarding path! A place to process emotional highs and lows, somewhere you can learn more about the Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) spinal surgery through our eyes/pictures and lives, a place to communicate our needs for anyone desiring to partner with our family through prayers, finances, meals, babysitters, etc., and also something for Levi to look back on when he can understand what on EARTH went down!
After the 3-5 hour surgery that will take place probably in late January or early February, he will be on complete bed rest for 3 days so his spine can heal. He will have a catheter, he will be in a lot of pain, and he will probably be very confused. The body he went to sleep with will be gone and he will have to learn, almost from scratch, how to use his newly functioning legs. He will live at the inpatient rehab facility for 6-8 weeks and we will stay with him as much as possible while we trade shifts. It will be intense, it will be stressful, it will be heartbreaking at times. But it will also be the beginning of the rest of his life with more mobility and it will be a major step forward in his Fight to Take Flight.
The road ahead for Levi will change dramatically over the next year and much of the future is unbeknownst to him. I want him to have these writings to reflect on later in life, so he can truly understand the depth of courage, strength, resilience and determination that resides in his character as a result of who God made him to be as he walked the road God asked him to walk. I pray that as he reads these journals one day he can see himself through our eyes for the amazing child that he was.
The child who kept climbing, no matter what.
The child who smiled through the pain.
The child who won rooms over wherever he went.
The child who fought. And fought. And fought.
The child who conquered whatever was set before him - and after seeing all that he accomplished my prayer is that he would thank God for the opportunities afforded to him, the life he has to look forward to, and the community that rallied around him when it mattered the most. That he would turn to praise. That he would be a mere reflection of the pure joy possible through his Maker.
I do hope that you follow us on this journey!! I will end this post the same way I began - reminding you just how GRATEFUL we are for your love!!
