Translate This Page To: Spanish German French Italian Portuguese Norwegian Brought to you From FreeTranslation.com Give a gift in honor of this child. Current Page Page 1 Page 2 Bethany P. Bethany's Guestbook        Bethany's Photo Album UPDATE: 11-8-08 Sorry for not updating sooner. Bethany is home and doing some better now. She didn't have any seizures that we know of while at the hospital for the video eeg, but did have a grand mal seizure Monday at home. It has taken her all week to get back to normal, but today she is feeling pretty good. We will go back to the doctor in two weeks to find out what changes have occured since the last eeg was done. Thank you for the prayers and stopping by to check on her. She is still having a lot of up and down days. So, we do appreciate all the support. I will update more later on. God Bless Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 10-30-08 just have a second for a quick update. We are at childrens hospital. bethany is having a video eeg done due to increased seizures even with all the new meds. she is still on homebound & struggling just to get by. the new meds make it very hard for her concentrate & her teacher is giving her huge amounts of work to do, sometimes 18 assignments to do in 24 hours, which is completely impossible for her. gregg still has not found a new job. we are thankful for unemployment right now. please keep our whole family in your prayers. we are going through one of thw most difficult times we have ever faced both with bethanys health and financially. my hope comes from my Savior Jesus Christ for without Him all would be gone. I will continue to stand on tbhe promises He has given our family. thank u for the love & support. you truly mean the world to iur family. God Bless Michelle (bethanys mom) UPDATE: 9-21-08 Yesterday was the last increase of Bethany's medicine. She is really looking forward to being adjusted to the medicine and being able to function normally again, without being like a zombie most of the time. She had a very rough day today, being that she is up to 2,000 mgs of the Keppra now, and has came to that amount over the last 4 weeks. Her homebound is approved and set up, but we have not met her teacher yet, or found out when they will be doing homebound whether during the day or after school. She has her books and I have been trying to give her work to do as she is able, but she still is not able to concentrate very much. We are very thankful that this will not be a permanent thing, that she will eventually become adjusted to this medicine. She is also getting a bad cold. she is very achy, coughing, stuffy nose, just feeling rotten. She went to her Meme's this morning for a couple of days to get her out of the house and get her mind off everything. I have good news and bad. I'll start with the good. Our friend found us a camera yesterday!!!!! We could not afford to pay what they cost, so I've had a friend looking for one at a pawn shop. He found one for $39 and it was such a good deal. And Olympus 5.1 megapixel with a 5x sport zoom. It also has a small video on it, just a little time, but it also videos sound. So, I was like a kid in a candy store to get it. I've done without a camera for over a year and have missed so many pictures, so many memories. SO, hopefully, I'll be able to post more pictures so you can see the changes in Bethany. I have one picture I'm posting tonight. It's Bethany with Mark Damon which she calls her Bubby. He lives with us right now. He is her youth pastor at our church and a very good friend to her. I will get some better pictures posted real soon. She left this morning before I had time to really get any pictures of her. I also have a new picture of Moses & Miriam to post as well. They are growing SO much. We do get to see them a lot. They call us Grandma & Grandpa & Bethany Sissy. It's funny because their with their new family, their Mom & Dad are older than us. LOL! And finally, I do have a BIG prayer request. Gregg was laid off today, and on the form, it says a permanent layoff. Gregg has been there for over 6 years. It's a lumber company/building supply house, so because of the economy, they just don't have the work. 5 guys were laid off today. So..... that we REALLY need prayers. Thank God we were able to get our insurance changed at the beginning of Sept or we would be without insurance as well as no income. Gregg has no prospects or even ideas of any place to try and apply. There is just not a lot of work in Knoxville. And we have the highest gas in the US right now. I'm not sure what it was today, but it was $5.50 for regular over the weekend. BUT, I'm trusting God with everything in our lives. We would really appreciate your prayers for our family, for quick employment,for Bethany's mind to become clear again quickly, for her seizures to stop, and for her cold to leave quickly. We love you all and appreciate each one of you!!! Love, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 9-15-08 Thank you so much for all the prayers, emails, and messages. Our family has been so touched by the outpouring of love and kindness we have felt especially since this last outbreak of sickness. I have an additional prayer need today for Bethany, and it is again going deep into our personal life. However, I trust that those of you that visit here do care about our personal life, and Bethany's heart, and truly want to pray for her needs. Bethany had to begin a new dosage of medicine last night. She is now up to 1500 mgs of Keppra in addition to 200mgs of Zonigran. Of oourse she has other meds she takes, they just don't have the sedative effects of the seizure meds. Today is really a rough day for Bethany and tonight is going to be even worse. She is so sedated today, not feeling well at all. We also have to go to a funeral tonight. We lost such an important friend to Bethany on Monday, and tonight we will attend his funeral. Our dear friend Jim passed away after a bout with Cancer on Monday. he was 66 and such an influence in our families life, especially Bethany. When we first went to the church we are at now, he and his dear wife just adopted Bethany and our family under their wing, and really showed us love. Ms. Wilma, his wife died a couple of years ago, and since that time, Bethany has gotten even closer to Jim. She is determined to go to the funeral tonight, whether she feels like it or not. So, please pray for her to have courage and strength tonight, as well as an open mind and clear thoughts. You can view his obituary at http://www.legacy.com/knoxnews/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=117211860 We have a meeting in the morning at 8am to get her homebound teacher assigned and finally get it started. They have already approved it through the school system, and her school administration has already said she HAS to go on it. Tomorrow is just a meeting to finalize everything. I'm real curious to see if high school homebound is different that what we have experienced before. Bethany is still down, and fighting to keep an attitude of going on. Her guitar has been her dearest friend in the last few weeks. She wrote the most beautiful song last night. It is SO clearly GOD working through her to be able to write this, and even play. She is unable to keep her concentration straight on most anything else, even conversations. I would like to share the words of this song to you. The song is titled What To Do I look up in the sky I saw a face I thought I would never see again That said to me I love you my daughter You will speak of my Word in all of your days And you will live in my Kingdom forever I was so speechless I didn't say a word i was so overwhelmed with joy I didn't say a word When He was dine, I fell to my knees I didn't say a word I wept like a baby, but I didn't say a word He laid His hand on my shoulder And then I spoke a word and I said to Him Thank you so much for everything You've done for dying on that cross in Calvary For shedding Your blood for me And then You spoke a word And He said to me it's time for you to grow up, it's time for you to grow up and preach my word down the street I didn't speak a word He said to me years down the road when I finally get to heaven When he said to me WELCOME my dear adn faithful servant I was so speechless I didn't say a word I was so overwhelmed with joy I didn't say a word He laid His hand on my shoulder And he said to me You've already grown up You've already grown up And you're my child. Thank you so much for all your kindness and prayers. We love you all so much and appreciate you more than you will ever know. God Bless! Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 8-28-08 I'm writing this morning to ask for prayers for my daughter, Bethany. She is not doing well at all. She has began to have seizures pretty bad again. It started last week when she had a seizure at school on Friday and I had to go and pick her up. I called the doctor and he increased her zonigran to 300mgs (from 200mgs) She took the increase and had a couple of very very mild starting seizures over the weekend, nothing major at all. She was real tired from the incrase in medication. She went to school on Monday, never thinking about anything else. About 10:00 I got a call from her teacher who had bethany outside in the hall seizuring. She blacked out 2 times while seizuring at school with the teacher there with her. I went to pick her up. They had to have her in a wheel chair, she was unable to walk or do anything by herself after the seizure. I immediately called the dr he said the medicine increase had probably not taken effect real good yet, to just watch her. She was extremely out of it the whole day after this seizure on monday. Very out of it. On Monday night, she asked me to sleep with her, (which is VERY unusual) said she felt a big seizure coming on. I did sleep with her and at 5:45am she had a grandmal seizure. Thank God I was laying there with her. she was completely out of it all day. She only got up for 2 hours all day yesterday. The doctor called and has increased her medicine. He has added Keppra startingwith 500 and going up to 2,000 millgrams over the next two weeks. I am taking her out of school for the next week to allow her to get adjusted to the new meds without having to go to school while she is so out of it due to new meds. She is REALLY frustrated. She wants to be able to go to highschool so badly. Her doctor believes the stress of going to school is playing havock on her body.She is trying so hard..... We have got to get these new seizures unter control. it damages her brain so much to have seizures like this over and over every day. PLEASE keep her in your prayers. Please tell everyone you know to pray for her. Please list her on every prayer list you know of. You have my permission to give out her name, URL, and our address for mail if someone wants to send her a card. I am asking for each person who reads this or hears of her to please pray and pass it on. If you have a second to leave her a message that would b great. i have a laptop at home from my work now so she does have computer access each day now & can read her guestbook everyday. Thank you in advance for the prayers. You have always been so great to support her, and I know this time wont be ne different. PS. I hope to have a new picture loading of her this week. God Bless Michelle (Bethany's Mom) chellie_37806@yahoo.com UPDATE: 8-8-08 So sorry for the delay in updates.We've had so much going on over rhis summer. Bethany had to have her seizure meds increased. She had quite a bir of seizures in June.Seems like they have leveled off again since the increase. She had a couple Sunday morning that scared us but nothing came of it. She has began having different kinds of seizure activity as she gets older. Still praying ande believing she will outgrow them. She is going to give school a shot this year again. She'll be a freshman this year. she begins school on monday. she is nervous and excided vall at the same time. 3m going to try to get a new picture of her on here for u to see her. I don't have a camera right now. but do have one on my cell phone. ill update more when I have computer access again. thank you for ur contined support prsyers. we appreciate it so much love michelle (bethanys mom) UPDATE: 8-04-08 Just wanted to update real quickly for you. I'm so sorry it's been real crazy at our house. Bethany began seizuring pretty regularly for several weeks. Thank God she is doing better now. Her neurologist increase her seizure meds and she is doing so much better now. THank you for the birthday wishes, cards and gifts for Bethany. She had a wonderful 14th birthday. She is so blessed to have so many wonderful caringbridge friends and family as is our whole family. We love you all very much. She is behind on thank you notes because of the increased seizure activity, but please know she was so blessed and touched by each wish. She will get them out soon. She has went tospend the week with her MeMe this week. She has a pool and Bethany has been anxiously awaiting the pool to open. Shehas been in every day this week she has said. Yes, Ms. Pam, we have already had our VBS this year, and it was great. We did something differnt than the normal this year. We did one called Walk it Out it is by Abington Press. It was a multicultural study with hiphop Christian music. A lot of dancing and praising God. The kids loved it. We had a hiphop artist come in on Sat at the end of theweek, and he did an amazingjob.His name is AltarEgo and he is out of Nashville. His heart belongs to God and that's why he plays music. We did have a wonderful time. Please keep our family in your prayers. Bethany is going to try to start in high school next year and is praying she will be able to attend. It is an exciting time for her, yet she knows if she is not able to attend high school things will be considerably challeging for the plans she now has for her future. We love you all so much. Thanks again for everything. I'm trying to borrow a camera from someone so I can get a new pic up of Bethany. Love & Prayers, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 6-2-08 Just a very quick update to let you know what's going on. Bethany has had a couple of seizures this week. Please pray for her. Elboy is healing nicely. Will update again early next week. Thank you for your continued prayers! Love, Michelle (bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 3-8-08 Just a quick update to let you know what's going on. It's been a rough month at our house flu wise. I don't know how it is where you live, but we have been bombarded here in TN by the flu. Everyone you talk to has had it and most people twice. We are just passing it around at our house. Bethany and Gregg both currently have it. Both for the 2nd time. I have been lucky thus far this time, and have been trying to stay away from both of them so that one of us can stay well to be able to take care of the other two. Bethany is doing well otherwise. She is getting a little irritated staying on the Celiac diet, but who could blame her???!! Have you ever looked at the labels to see what all has wheat in it??? It is a huge number..... But no seizure activity, pain is still somewhat under control. If we could get the immune system on board, we would be great. Sure wish Ms. Pam or Devin could send some snow our way. We have had a dusting once, but missed it every other time. It has hit all around us. They are calling for a dusting tomorrow, so we just sit and hope for it, but usually don't get it. God is still so good to us and we are so blessed! Thanks so stopping by to visit Bethany and for the prayers!! God Bless! Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 2-7-08 Seems like everytime I start to write in here now I'm apologizing for lack of updates. I'm really sorry. I know many of you stop by to see if we have one, and I really hope this will not discourage you from stopping by to see Bethany. She does get to visit her site at either my mothers or my sisters, which is usually 3 times a week, so she is still getting the messages. Thank you for those of you who are faithful to visit her in my the midst of my unfaithfulness. I am so busy now, I just don't have time while I'm working, and since we do not have internet at home, it just doesn't get done. Bethany is currently doing good, and NOT SICK, praise God!!! The weather of course is havic on her body, but as long as she is cold/flu less in the winter, we are really doing good. Gregg and I both had the flu last week. I got it first, and he continued with it by the end of the week. We had Bethany stay with my mother so we couldn't infect her. She is doing good in homebound school, missing her friends so much, and really beginning to realize what she is missing by not attending school. A lot of social things, friends, dances, etc. She does go to church every week that she is not sick and has a lot of wonderful friends there. She was so pleased to have several Valentines cards in the mail yesterday. Thank you so much to those of you that send mail to her. And thank you Ms. Lu for what was probably the most beautiful birthday card I have ever received. It was so beautiful. We will be attending Ash Wednesday services tonight, and I"m really excited to do so. We did not celebrate Ash Wednesday/Lent until about 4 years ago when we moved to the Methodist Church we attend now. It is such a beautiful service. Bethany was really excited to be attending. She has been taking guitar lessons for about 4 months now, and absolutely LOVES it. She has written 3 songs and has actually gotten up and played a song she wrote at Church on our New Year's Service. That was a HUGE deal for her, as she is usually bashful in the adult church service. We have a great young man from our church that drives up and gives them to her every other Monday night. She loves him so much, he is one of her youth leaders and very close to him. Her guitar broke before Christmas and he lent her his guitar, and it meant so much to her. Our pastor, and 3 of our church members,(which are dear friends to us) went on a mission trip to Haiti last month, and we will get to hear all about it on Sunday. Bethany is really excited to see the pictures of the trip. Thanks again to everyone who stops by to visit and prays for Bethany. We will update again as soon as possible. God Bless! Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 1-7-08 So sorry for the lack of updates. We are hoping to get a phone line put in soon so we can have internet at home again. It's been an eventful month, but I'll try to catch you up as much as I can in the short amount of internet time I have. Bethany did begin back on homebound as is doing well school wise this year. Seems that since she has began the glutenfree diet she is able to concentrate a little more than before. Its been a very "sick" time at our house, passing things back and forth. Bethany it seems has been sick for the whole month of Dec. and part of Nov. & Jan. She has been doing wonderfully with her "illness" help though. No seizure activity, at least nothing big enough to talk about, and her arthritis pain has been doing better as well. Plaquenil has really helped the pain. It was a gradual process, we never really noticed a "bam, I'm better" it was just like "Hey, I'm not hurting as much anymore". Her stomach is doing much better since she is gluten free now. It is a "challenge" to say the least, but she is a trooper on the diet. It is still her immune system that fails her. A lot. And we are hopeful that the plaquenil will begin to work for her immune system as it has for her pain. She is having a really bad flare right now. Can't put her clothes on by herself, can't do much of anything. She has bronchitis as well. So, she doesn't feel well at all right now, but she is improving. We had a wonderful Christmas, Bethany did feel real well on Christmas. I on the other hand had a rough time. I had heart problems on the 23rd, and landed me in the hospital under cardiac watch, stress test, high blood sugar, etc. Our best present was that I was able to leave the hospital on Christmas Eve. We were so very thankful. I have to go to a cardiac specialist on the 9th to see how bad my heart is, but for now, my heart is doing better. Thank you so much for all the prayers, even in my lack of updates. It means a lot to have all of you there for us. I'll try to get some pictures up soon. Keep Bethany in your prayers. I do worry about her emotional state a lot. She is just sick SO much. She misses school SO much, and is really getting to the age of wanting to be with her friends. We pray for a blessed New Year for each of you!!! God Bless!! Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 11-24-07 Just a quick update to ask for prayers for Bethany. she is yet again sick, and is really getting down in the dumps. I had to go and sign her up on homebound school instruction again, and she is so upset about it. She hasn't really been out of bed for over 3 weeks, if she has been, it's not been for long. Please keep her in your prayers and ask all your friends to pray for her too. We had the conversation at school about high school and what will have to happen next year. The thoughts of Bethany not getting to have her high school years really bums me out. I always thought when she began to get sick she would grow out of it, she will grow out of it, and she's not yet. I do trust that God is in control, and so much bigger than any sickness, and there lies my trust. Love you all, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 11-16-07 Every time I go to update I Realize it's been almost one month exactly since the last update. I'm really sorry to keep you all in the dark. We are praying that very soon we will have a home phone again with internet access at home. Bethany is still not doing well right now. She is having constant pain in her stomach. Today is the 1st day she's been out of bed all week. She had a good weekend, but BAD week. She will be beginning homebound again, well on an as needed basis right now. We go to sign paperwork on Tuesday. She has missed so much and is really sad about this. But, it's what we have to do now. She is TRYING to get adjusted to the new celiac diet, which is pretty hard. But, we're making it. Moses and Miriam are now living with another wonderful family that are only a few miles down the road from us. It has been a terribly heartbreaking time for our whole family, but one that has been unavoidable. I guess my heart is more broken than anyone else, however, I have to be the glue to hold everyone together. Bethany is still very upset over the situation as well, but we are just trusting God for the best for the children. We are ALL looking forward to a New Year, and a new fresh start. We are praying for health and happiness more than anything this next year. Please do stop by and say Hi to Bethany if you can, or drop her a postcard or card in the mail. She really feels alone right now. Thank you for your never ending love, kindness and prayers. they are so much more than words could ever express. Thank you again, and we love you all!!! God Bless! Michelle (Bethany's mom) UPDATE: 10-19-07 Just a quick update while I can at work. Bethany has still been real sick. She is having bad stomach pains. She was able to go to school to day, Praise God! However, we went to her GI Monday, and they told us she has tested positive for the Celiac gene, and they have put her on a gluten free diet. She had to go back yesterday with pain that just makes her cry, and they told us she may have to have her galbladder taken out. She has a hydra scan on Monday, and then we will go back after that to find out for sure. This poor child has had a horrible week. Her little boyfriend I mentioned earlier broke up with her this week, the same day she found out she has yet another disease. Then two days later, she finds out she may have to have her gallbladder removed at 13 yrs old. And the boy broke up with her because he is in high school, and he never gets to see her, because she never gets to go to school, or when they make plans to do something, she is sick. Can you imagine how that must make her feel. She didn't cry or anything. She was fine on the outside. I was the one who cried that night, just thinking about how she must feel. She is just on the verge of having to go back on homebound, and she is trying to cope with everything now. God has continued to build her up though and help her to take her thoughts captive when those depressions thoughts come on. Please lift her up this week in prayer. She could really use some cheering up. We love you all very much. God Bless! Michelle (Bethany's Mom) PS I'll try to put some new pictures up of Bethany and the kids in the next week. I have to try to do this at work when no one is around LOL!!! UPDATE: 10-10-07 I am so sorry that we are not able to keep you updated more right now. I feel so awful to come on here and see the update so old, it's like I keep you hanging and I sure don't mean to do that. Hopefully we will have internet access again real soon. Bethany is doing ok this week. She was really sick last week and had to miss several days of school again. I guess the steroids have put her immune system even lower than normal, and the plaquenil doesn't help either. They have briefly started mentioning homebound again, and Bethany gets SO upset, but I'm afraid it won't be much longer until we have no choice. She has missed SOO much school, way more than what she has been. I will hopefully be able to update some pictures again soon. Thank you for the cards, and Mrs. Pam , Bethany LOVED the Halloween necklace. And for those who have sent things to the kids too, we appreciate ALL of you more than you will EVER KNOW!!!! We appreciate each one of you so much. I'll update again soon. Love & Prayers, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 9-29-07 Just wanted to update on Bethany for a minute. She is having a horrible flare up right now. She woke up in the middle of the night thinking she was paralized because she was unable to move she hurt so much on Tuesday night. She has been on steriods for 2 days and is finally able to move. She is still in an extreme amount of pain and feels horrible. And of course, the steroids are causing her to be on an emotional roller coaster. Please pray for our whole family right now. I will update as soon as I can. Love you all, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 9-17-07 Just wanted to quickly update and let you know how things are going. Bethany had a grand mal, first one in 4 years. She was completely out of it for the remaining of the day. That night, she fell out of bed 3 times, and had 2 more seizures in the night. The next morning, she woke up feeling bad, but tried to go to school and began throwing up. Bethany has not thrown up since she was 5 years old. We called the dr and he told us to bring her to the er immediately. I was very frustrated while I was there. They just said she had a stomach bug, but she wasn't sick. They didn't test anything on her, OR call her doctor. We went home and rested. The doctor had increased her meds the day b4, so we have just been watching her to make sure the increase worked, and it has so far since then. She goes back to the neuro on the 25th, and I'm hoping he does more tests again to see if something different is going on in her head. Thank you for the prayers and please continue to pray for our whole family. I will update again when I can. God Bless, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 9-13-07 This is LeAnn for Michelle. Michelle is right now taking Bethany to the ER at her Doctor's order. Bethany had a grandma seizure. She's been vomiting and having migraines. This just isn't her in the last few months. They really need your prayers and thoughts. Also they do not have internet access and if you need any info or updates contract me at angel4God352000@yahoo.com. Please pray Bethany had been doing really great and was enjoyin' going to school and making new friends and just being able to go. Please pray that the Lord healing be upon Bethany and Michelle. God Bless... Prayers and Hugs, LeAnn UPDATE: 9-7-07 Wanted to update real quick and ask for prayers for Bethany... She is really sick right now. Running high fever, cold symptoms etc. Took her to dr today and he said she was really sick. She has to be out of school all week. It is more than just being sick, but discouraging for her wandering what the rest of the school year is going to be like. Keep our whole family in your prayers right now. We are definately going through some very difficult times right now. Don't know if I've ever been through such pain before, emotionally. Will update on that later. I want to be sure of some things before I update about it. It's a shame you have to watch for people who do not have our best interest but you do, and I don't want to mention a few things for a little bit. Just please pray for our family..... Love you all so much, and please let Bethany know your thinking of her. She does go to my sisters house and check email, so she does see the messages. Will update again soon. Love, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 8-17-07 Here it is again, around a month since the last update. It has turned out to be that amount of time between the last few updates, and I'm sorry. Bethany started school last week and is SO happy. She has really been going to bed early, and trying so hard to take care of herself to be able to stay in. We have had to get some extra accomidations to make things easier on her, but only small things. She is having a lot of trouble with her knees giving out and her falling, but no seizures, thank God. She doesn't know hardly anyone, and is really having to step outside her comfort box to try and talk to new people, but she is doing it. Please pray for her to make some new friends, some GOOD friends. Being on homebound so much has really made it difficult for her to interact with new people. She is SOO in love.... She's so funny. 2 months ago she was laughing at her friends at church talking about being in love, and now she is gaga over this boy. He is a really nice boy, and comes from a great family. His mom actually babysits my 2 kids, so it works out great. It is So good to see her happy right now. Are things perfect, no.. Are things tolerable, yes, and I will definately take that anyday..... I on the other hand have not been well. I had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital about 3 weeks ago with a blood sugar of 1109. Yep, 1109. I was in intensive care for almost a week and my family was told I would probably not make it the first 2 nights I was there. I am doing ok now, trying to get readjusted to everything. I have to check my bloodsugars about 20 times a day now, and they are still fluxuating real bad. I died, and the Holy Spirit raised me back up and told me I wasn't done here yet. So, I'm still here living for God everyday!!! We are just very thankful for what God had done for our family, and what He continues to do everyday.... We are thankful for all of you as well. Your prayers, cards and notes mean so much. we hope our finances will allow us to have a phone and internet access soon so that we can update more. You can always reach me at chellie_37806@yahoo.com if you need me. We love you all very much. Keep Bethany in your thoughts and prayers! Living for Him, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 6-5-07 Sorry for lack of updates. I had kidney stones in both kidneys last week, and it was not a pretty site..... I finally heard from the doctor today about Bethany's video EEG. It did come back abnormal. He has put Bethany on Zonegran and she will go back to the dr on July 9th. She has had somewhere around 10 seizures in the last few weeks without anything. The nurse did not go into detail about how much abnormal or how frequent the seizures were, she just said he definately wanted her back on medication again, that she was definately having seizure activity. Bethany only had symptoms of one for sure and then woke up and felt she had had one in her sleep, but nothing definate. I can't believe she is going to be 13 years old tomorrow. Seems like just yesterday she was a little baby. She is inviting a few friends over for cake and then to go see a movie this weekend. If you have a second, send her a message in her guestbook for her BD tomorrow. She was really upset about having to go back on the medicine today. I appreciate those of you who continue to follow Bethany, even when I've not been able to update about her. We do have our internet back on and I also have internet access at work now, so hopefully I will get to update more. With 2 small children and a sick child, I NEVER have time to do anything. I know all mother's feel that way, but I think it's worse for me because I haven't had the other 2 from birth, just right in the middle of the 2's and 3's. They are a true blessing and we love them so, but it is really a lot of work. I'll try to post an update picture soon. Love you all, and God Bless You Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 6-1-07 Just a quick update before I begin getting packed. Bethany is still not feeling well. She has been in bed most of the morning with aches/coughing/stomach junk. Please pray they will find something to fix all of these things. We will be at Children's Tomorrow through Friday. Don't know a room number or anything. We appreciate you all so much!!! Will update when I can. Love & Prayers, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 5-3-07 Just a quick update before I begin getting packed. Bethany is still not feeling well. She has been in bed most of the morning with aches/coughing/stomach junk. Please pray they will find something to fix all of these things. We will be at Children's Tomorrow through Friday. Don't know a room number or anything. We appreciate you all so much!!! Will update when I can. Love & Prayers, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 4-27-07 I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I've updated. Time has sure flew by. Bethany is sick right now, feeling better than she was. She woke up real sick on Monday. She has had to miss the last 2 weeks of guitar lessons and she hates missing so much. The kids are doing good. We went to court 2 weeks ago and were awarded custody of them, so we have a huge family overnight now. We are truly blessed. Bethany loves having a younger brother and sister to play with. Except for the crying and that really gets on her nerves. LOL!!! We'v been through some of the most trying weeks of our lives, but God has brought us through and made us stronger. Bethany goes in next Thursday and Friday for the 24 hour EEG. Please pray they find something that they can fix. I want so much for her to be well. Bethany's friends Annette and JC lost their grandfather this week, LeAnn Mooneyham's Dad. I know it's been a really hard week for them. We love you all so much. We miss sending messages to our friends and hope we will have a regular computer access real soon. Love you all! I will update again when I can. Especially b4 testing. God Bless You all, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) Please remember Bethany in your prayers!!! UPDATE: 4-13-07 Just wanted to update you real quick. We've been without internet service again, and I wanted to update while I can. Bethany will be admitted into the hospital on May 3rd to stay overnight for a 24 hour EEG. Her neuro is really wanting to get a good look at her brain to see why she is having so many seizures. She is taking guitar lessons now and is really doing well with it. She seems to have a real passion for playing which I am VERY happy about!! Things have been truly hectic and frustrating but we are blessed. I can talk more about things after tomorrow. If you have emailed me, I'm so sorry if I've not written back. I'm also sorry to all of our caringbridge buddies I have not visited your sites. We hope to have our internet up and running full time real soon. Please keep our whole family in your prayers. Bethany is getting restless not being able to be outside playing all the time now that is is so beautiful here. She just doesn't feel good too much of the time. Will update again as soon as I can. Thank you all so much for the messages, prayers, letters, etc. We love you all very much!!! Love, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 3-28-07 I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING!!! We have not had computer access for several weeks. Bethany is doing ok. Really enjoying this beautiful weather we have been having. She had a 15 minute seizure last week and it was really the scarest I have been with her health. Probably even more scared than the very first seizure. She had me hold her and pray for her the entire time. She goes to the neurologist on April 3rd I believe, the first part of April, so HOPEFULLY we will get some answers on what's going on. Stomach still bothering her but not nearly as much as before. She still has bad episodes, but not to the point of crying as she was before. Lupus/Arthritis is doing ok. She has been 3 days now without being sick so we are really praising God!!!! She is going to Camp with church this weekend. Of course, I'm going with her so she will be comfortable in case of any problems. It will do her good to get away from everything at home and just away from dealing with sickness!!! Gregg is back at his old job. The hours were just way too much. We were never at home or seeing Bethany or the kids. Missing the money terribly, or so terribly, but family is way more important. Especially with the family that we have!!! We still have the children. Every day is a new challenge right now, but we are making by the grace of God!! I have missed being on here with you and talking with you. Hopefully our internet is back on now for good. Thank you for always supporting and praying for Bethany. I am so thankful for each of you!!! Bethany sends her love. We'll try to get some new pictures up soon. The kids mom and dad are gone now. So, it's just us again. But, that's ok, God is in control!!!!!! Bethany misses Cody terribly, and feels very sad to not know where he is or how he is. She feels that her "bubby" has gotten married and forgot about him. Unfortuneately, he's relapsed and forgotten about her, not because he has a wife. Please keep him and our whole family in your prayers!!! Grateful for each day God has given us!!! Still praising His name!! Love, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 3-7-07 Just a quick update asking for prayers for Bethany. Her stomach is bothering her a lot. She was up all night last night and has been up hurting all morning today. She says it is hurting all the way through to her back. She was just at the GI doc on Thursday of last week and he added a couple of medicines. It is just not helping. She is really in a great deal of pain, and continues to be that way. We go in at 2:35pm this afternoon. Please pray that they will find an answer. I'll update you all soon on everything else. We appreciate each one of you and love you all very much!! God Bless! Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 2-26-07 Sorry for lack of updates. Don't have time to do anything it seems anymore. Bethany is still sick all the time. She has been sick for several weeks in a row. Stomach problems again real bad. Seeing GI doc on Tuesday. She doesn't feel like doing much of nothing anymore. She loves her new family here though, not being the only child anymore is good for her. So sorry we haven't updated or emailed in the last few weeks. I promise to do better. i've been praying for all of you and thinking of you!!! Here is a picture of our new family. It's pretty blury, but you get the idea..... Love you all so much. Please sign Bethany's guestbook and continue to pray for her. She really needs a lot of prayers right now. UPDATE: 2-15-07 I'm so sorry that I have not updated in almost 2 weeks and left so many questions hanging. I have really tried to not talk about what all's been going on until things settle down and I knew for sure what was happening. Let me just answer your questions first and then I will talk about news and Bethany. Gregg did get a new job and we did have to go to Nashville for him to train, but we are back in Knoxville where we are going to stay. We had to go to Nashville for training. I am helping Gregg work. I am actually working for free but together it works out fine. I'm going in to work with him until he gets trained and we get the business going well, and then I will just come in a couple of days a week to help where needed. The more I come in, the more work gets done, which in turn works out for more money for Gregg.We are managing and running a mortgage company in Knoxville. But, we can do any kind of loans( purchase and refinances) in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida. I have really been enjoying working. It's been really good for me to get out of the house some and think about something other than Bethany or myself being sick all the time. Yes, my birthday really was a couple of weeks ago on February 6th. I turned the very old 38 years old!! Now, on to Bethany and then to new news that we have....(looks like it will be a long update!!) Bethany is doing somewhat better. She has not been seizuring much lately, maybe one or twice a week, but no horrible seizures, just mild ones with not a lot of recovery time She's not been hurting nearly as bad and that's great especially in this cold weather. It is REALLY REALLY COLD HERE TODAY! But the Lupus is still compromising her immune system greatly. She has been sick with this virus/sinus/coughing thing for almost 3 months. She gets better for a day or two, and then right bsck so sick, and SO tired. She just wears out so easily, and doesn't feel like doing very much. She is ok though, and things could be SO MUCH WORK. She went to the opthamologist/eye specialist, and the plaquanel had already began to effect her eyes just a very small amount. The way they test to see if the medicine is effecting you is through color blindness testing. Bethany's been tested for color blindness many times, and has NEVER had any problems. When she went on the 12th to this doctor, she missed 4 points on the color blindness chart, and that is showing her eyesight is beginning to be affected by the medicine. So, she goes back in 4 months and we will see how it is then. If she has a lot of changes, they will have to back off the medicine. I do believe it is finally beginning to help just a little. It takes SO long to get into your system.Her eyes were a substancial amount worse. The doctor told us not that much worse, but when the lady was filling the prescription for the glasses she said her stigmatism was a lot worse. She told us that Bethany was legally blind without her glasses. This whole illness thing, antiinflamatory problems were whats caused all these problems with her eyes. 2 weeks before she got sick (at 6 years old when all this started) we had her eyes tested at school and they were 20/20. 2 weeks later, after her complaining so much we took her back for another exam, and they were 20/80. She was almost completely blind then. And over the last 6 years they have gotten progressively worse. In the beginning they did get somewhat better, like down to 20/65 or 70 instead of 80, but that's about it. It did upset her last night when she her the eyeglass girl say that she was legally blind without her glasses. She didn't realize they were so bad. She will be going to the neurologist sometime this month too. Thanks so much for all the prayers concerning her health. Got some interesting information for you about our family right now. Some of you may have heard me talk about Cody before. Cody was the young guy that has lived with us off and on for the last two or threeyears. He has no family he can be around right now, and has called me and Gregg mom and dad for years. We just took him under our wing and really helped take care of him and help him make good choices. He recenly went into a drug rehab program at the Mission for an addiction to marijuana. On Halloween in fact was the date he went in, so he was there almost 4 months. He decdides a week ago that he had met the girl of his dreams, and left rehab so that he could go and get married to her. He has done really well to stay clean and sober. The young lady Melissa and her two children were also staying at the mission but not for drugs, but because they did not have anywhere to live. They were in a resident program there that provided housing for them. So, they both left last weekend and have been living in a week to week motel. They both have gotten a job (not making much of course, but are both working) With 2 children (they are ages 2 and 3) making $6 an hour and having to pay on a weekly hotel room there was no way to make it work. So....... tonight Cody and Melissas got married on Valentines Day..... and Gregg, Bethany, and myself have a couple of additions to our family. Both children will be staying here with us until Melissa and Cody are able to at least get out of the hotel, get jobs making enough to suppport the children, and themselves, and things are just easier all around. They neither one have any family they can go around. Cody has called us Mom and DAd for years, so now, we are a Mammaw and Pappaw to two beautiful children.They have agreed to let us temporarily have the children and provide what they need for them until they can get back on their feet, get moved into a permanent home, and be able to provide for the children's basic needs. In two weeks of knowing these children, we have fell in love with them like we have known them since their birth. Even Bethany is crazy about them, wanting to do everything for them and with them. Usually she is very standoffish around children but not these two. I truly feel it has been God working in our lives from day one. It gives the children a very stable, happy home to live in, and it gives Cody & Melissa a very good chance at making a start, a good start, without having to take care of the children both financially and physically. They had almost both lost their job on Wed. because they didnt have a baby sister last minute. We helped with that, and that's when we realize how hard it was for them. I called one day care today, and they want $185 for two kids for one week. I can't afford to pay that. But we are so happy that in the last month God has placed us in the position to be able to help with these kids. Most of you know 6 weeks ago we weren't in a position to even barely take care of Bethany. God has truly blessed us and we want be able to help others are well. Those of you that are prayers warriors and intercessors, please pray about this situation. The only thing I truly worry about is getting atached to these children, like really attached like I am now, and something happen and Cody and Melissa get into a bad fight or bad situation and then she take the kids back. And that would be good for no one. But, I feel God was completely in this, and so that means trusting Him with this completely as well. Can you imagine how much our lives have changed in the last month???? Gregg has a new career, I'm trying to work for the firsttime in 20 years (even without pay, it's still JUST like being an employee. I actually get no sick days or leave options until Gregg is completely trained on all new programs, etc. so I HAVE to be in the office every day as part of Gregg's contract. AND we have 2 additional children in our family. And all this in ONE month!!!! Bethany is really excited and loves them both so much. She has always wanted to not be an only child. So again, please keep us in your prayers, that we hold it together, that the job situations continues to be prosperous especially financially, that I am able to do all this working. You all know my health is not good either. But I actually do feel better than i have in years. Thanks for all the happy mail, prayers and all the friends we have through our caringbridge connection. YOU are our family and love you all very much. Happy Valentines Day! God Bless! Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 2-3-07 Things seem to have slowed down for the moment thank God! Bethany still isn't feeling good, but nothing bad is going on so I'm going to accept it and be happy. We've been in Nashville all week. Got home late yesterday evening. Gregg has took a new job and has been training for it this week. We are really excited about the new job opportunity. Please pray it all works out well. Thank you for supporting Bethany, praying for her and loving her so much. Please sign her guestbook and let her know you have been by! Will update more later on. Love, Michelle UPDATE: 1-28-07 Please pray for Bethany. She had an episode I believe it was Wednesday night. She yelled for me around 1am, panicked crying saying that her remote was floating through the air. She was hysterical. I told her she was probably dreaming and it just seemed really real, but she insisted that she was not asleep. She was sitting up in her bed watching tv, she hadn't been able to sleep. I brought her into my room to lay down with me and her dad and she began to seizure after that. The seizure was a normal seizure, or as normal as they can be. When I went to get her up on Thursday morning, she was very hard to wake up. She woke up and rode in the car to her MeMe's, but she went right back to sleep as soon as she got in the car. She woke up long enough to get out of the car, went back to bed there and did not get up until almost 2:00pm. She has not been normal since then. She has been very tired, draggy, sleepy. Everytime she sits down to do anything she is asleep in just a few minutes. She has had another couple of mild seizures since then. She went to youth last night at church, and seemed to enjoy herself, but she was NOT her normal playful self. And she requested prayer for herself, which is something she normally never does. She requests prayer for all of our caringbridge friends and our family, but never herself. She is really worried that she is loosing her mind.(her words not mine) She is worried that she is going to begin hallucinating every time she seizures now. I spoke to the dr's office and they did assure me that it was a normal side effect that goes along with some seizures. She goes back to her neurologist on Feb. 7th. I'm sure he is going to do another CT and EEG because she is having things happen that have never happened to her before. Lupus can cause seizures in some cases. Her case of lupus seems to be getting worse and worse and it IS possible that the Lupus is causing her seizures. That would mean if we get the Lupus under control the seizures would be undercontrol as well. She fell again today walking down the hall. Her leg just gave out and she fell pretty hard today. She is happy tonight. We are in Nashville for the weekend and she LOVES coming to our friends house here. It is really good to see her seem happy for a change. The past week has been really horrible. On another note, I could use prayers as well. I had to go to the doctor yesterday and they did a routine EKG and it came back bad. Not sure of the details yet. I'm going to my family doctor on Wednesday to have it repeated and then if needed, she is sending me to a cardiologist. I've had diabetes for 22 years, I guess that is why it worries me. Also, please pray for Megan.She is Caitlin's sister. She is in NICU right now and a very very sick little girl. You can read the journal on Caitlin's site to find out updated details.Please pray for this sweet little child. Please sign Bethany's guestbook and let her know you have stopped by. It really encourages her to know people stop by and are praying for her! Thanks for stopping by! God Bless, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 1-26-07 I'm so sorry it has been a week or so since the last journal entry. Not a lot to write about. Bethany is still doing better seizure wise and headache wise. She does have that "crud" that's going around with sinus problems, cough, achy, that type thing. She went to ENT yesterday and got a shot and antibiotics. Hope that plaquenil starts working soon. I hate to see he sick so much! She has only had a couple of seizures this week, and headaches doing well. She is still having a lot of back pain though and her legs are really giving out a lot. She just falls down. She does a lot of physical therapy exercises for her hands and her back, so hopefully they will have some solutions for her when she goes back to her rheumatologist next Thursday. She has several appointments coming in up Feb. plus her plaquenil should be in full effect by the middle of Feb. She is working real hard right now on homebound school while she is able to. We have a great teacher and her MeMe has been helping her a lot. We will hopefully have new pictures to put on the website in the next few weeks. We had to go to Nashville over the weekend for a death in our family and Bethany finally had her hair cut while we were there. The lady who cut her hair said that Bethany's hair was so long and thick that it could have gave her a constant headache. Keep us in your prayers. We are going through a lot of changes right now, with jobs, careers, etc. and really need all the prayers we can get. The changes are good for our family and will benefit our family greatly, however, change is hard. So, please just add that to your prayers if you don't mind. Thank you for following Bethany's journey, being our friends and especially for your prayers. Bethany is really lonely right now. She only has a couple of friends because of not being able to go to school and our church is small. She is getting older and seeing all the other kids having a lot of different friends and she misses that. It means a lot to her to know she has friends from all over the world who are supporting her though. Please sign the guestbook if you stop by. It shows her just how many people do stop by and think of her. Pray for all our friends and family who are going through rough times. We love you!!! Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 1-17-07 Just wanted to update real quick and ask for prayers for Bethany. She just does not seem to be doing well at all. her seizures have slowed down, Thank God! She did have a small one late last night, but nothing major. Just some flashing lights. The headaches seem to have slowed down some, not a lot, but there has been improvement. She is having so much more pain though. I took her to the pediatrician today to make sure she didn't have a kidney infection. Her back has been hurting nonstop, no matter what she does she can't get it to stop. For about the last week. She does NOT complain about her pain. Usually the way I know she is hurting is I see it in her face when she is moving, and I ask her about it. She does tell me if it gets really bad, but not the everyday pain she experiences. But, she has really been complaining with her back. She is on the maximum dosage of Celebrex. I don't know what they are going to do for her. And her legs have been giving out on her. She will be walking and I turn around and she is on the ground. They are just giving out on her. She feels bad all the time now. I absolutely hate to see her like this. I trust God, and I know that things could be so much worse. Just please keep her in your prayers. I hate to see her on so much medicine and she is gaining a lot of weight lately too. When you pray just pray in agreement that God takes COMPLETE CONTROL of this situation, and that we continue to have faith to move mountains in this situation!! We thank God for each one of you and are So grateful for you. We are so fortunate to have each of you following Bethany's journey and sending your love and prayers for her! Please sign her guestbook. The guestbook messages really do help her. God Bless!!! Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 1-12-07 It seems like I blink and it's been several days since i have updated. I"m sorry for not updating sooner but I really haven't known anything. Bethany had still be actively seizuring. 2-3 a day. Her doc increased her Topomax 25 mgs. on Wed.am and she has not had any seizures yesterday or today, which is WONDERFUL! She has not only began seizuring again but she has also began to have horrible, horrible headaches. Some I think are migranes, others I think are just bad headaches. I'm going to call her neuro again tomorrow and let them know how bad the headaches have been. Her neuro mentioned he didn't want to see Bethany for at leat 1 month of starting the Topomax, but I feel he needs to bring her in and at least do a CT and EEG to make sure nothing has changed in her brain to coinside with all the changes that have been going on. Or, it could just be the lupus because it's been so crazy latey. She has truly just felt bad most all week. Very achy and hurting a lot. It's been really cold here, so I don't know if that's what's causing the pain and aches or from the JRA and Lupus, or what. I feel helpless A LOT, and I feel like there are more things going on that we are catching, and she is just slipping through the cracks. Who knows..... Only God, and that is where I have my trust. Thank you for stopping by to check on Bethany. Please sign her guestbook so she will know that you stopped by to check on her. She LOVES the messages. We appreciate all your prayers and ask that you PLEASE continue to pray for Bethany and our family during this latest battle. We pray for this to go away. It is NOT of God, and so it's not welcome in our home. Thanks for all your support, and love. We appreciate each of you greatly. I'll update as soon as I know something different. Love In Christ, Michelle (Bethany's Mom) UPDATE: 1-9-07 Happy Monday to everyone! Thanks for stopping by to check on Bethany. I am waiting on Bethany's neurologist to call back right now to see if they need to increase the Topomax. She is taking it only once a day now, and I don't know if they will increase it to twice a day or not. I hope they don't, I don't want it to knock her out, but she has been having seizures every day, and we can not allow that to continue. She is really handling it well. I am so proud of her. She has such faith in God. I hope that one day I will have the amount of faith that Bethany does. She had a good weekend this weekend. She went to a sleepover on Saturday night(of course, I had to stay there with her) but she had a great time. Her friend Megan spent the night last night, and they have been playing all morning. School starts back tomorrow and Bethany is a little bummed about not being able to go back, but there is just no way that she could go now. We are completely trusting God to take care of this. We know that He has the ultimate plan for Bethany and it is in His hands. ADDED: 3-16-05 Bethany is 10 years old. Child's Condition: JRA/Crohn's Disease/Fibromyalgia/Lupus Comments: Bethany is having a rough time right now. She was very sick when she was about 6, and since then, she has been doing fairly well. She has just recently been told about Lupus, and it has suppressed her immune system. She is on almost full homebound from school. We could really use as many prayers as we can get right now. I am watching her become more than just down in the dumps. I'm really afaid of depression.