Tuesday, October 24, 2006

October 24, 2006





Friends and Family,

Evi celebrated her third birthday on Friday with a fun princess party. We had princess plates, napkins, decorations, and of course a princess cake. Evi dressed up as Cinderella complete with a new diamond tiara and earrings. She had a lot of fun playing with the Vennell girls. It was great to have a visit from their family. We all enjoyed seeing some faces from back home in Africa. Thank you to everyone who sent cards and gifts for Evi. She really enjoyed them.

Today Evi went in for a check-up. Her orthopedic surgeon said she is doing so well that he doesn’t have to see her again for 2 to 3 weeks. If her leg has healed enough during that time, we may be able to begin fitting her for a prosthetic! We are a little concerned about Evi’s weight though. When we left the hospital last Tuesday Evi’s weight was up from 11.4 kg to 11.8. Today she was back down to 11.2 kg. The dietician is not extremely worried, but we really need to pray that Evi will eat very well and gain weight.

Overall, Evi is doing great. She’s playing, laughing, and even singing again. She is also scooting all over the house on her bottom. We are still praying that she will find the courage and motivation to use a walker, but are overjoyed to see her getting around independently. We are changing Evi’s bandage and giving her a bath daily. It is the worst part of all of our day. Evi cries all through the bath, begging us to stop. She says that it doesn’t hurt but it scares her to be in the water with her leg uncovered and unprotected.

We also ask you to pray for Danny. He went to an ear, nose and throat specialist today because he was having another sinus infection. The ENT said his nasal polyps had grown back and along with his deviated septum (crooked nose) the problem has become severe enough to require minor surgery. Danny has a CATscan scheduled for this Thursday and surgery scheduled on November 3rd. Please pray that the surgery goes well and that Danny recovers quickly. We are happy that this surgery will correct or at least help with Danny’s chronic sinus and asthma problems, but obviously this adds more stress to our already stressed out family. Please pray for our family.

God bless,

Leslie for the Hulls Family

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

October 17, 2006

Good news. Today we went back to the hospital to have the doctor check Evi’s leg and to check in with PT and dietary. The doctor said Evi’s leg is looking great, and as of now Evi doesn’t need another skin graft. Evi has also gained a pound since last Friday! In fact Evi is doing so well that they officially discharged her from the hospital today. Even though she’s been home from the hospital on pass for a week now, it’s great to make it official. After 6 weeks it felt great to tear off the hospital ID band on Evi’s ankle.

We will be taking Evi back to the hospital once a week for check-ups. Our main challenges now are continuing to get Evi to eat well and getting her to move independently. Evi is fully capable of scooting, crawling, or even hopping but refuses to do so. Overcoming Evi’s stubbornness and motivating her to channel her strong-willed determination towards her recovery remains our biggest challenges.

Tim and Tonya Vennell (our fellow MAF missionaries from Lesotho) and their four little girls will be visiting tomorrow. We are hoping Evi’s friends will motivate her to move around by herself (maybe even use her walker). We are also excited to have the Vennells here for Evi’s birthday on Friday.

Thank you for all of your support and prayers. Please keep praying!

God bless,

The Hulls Family

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

October 10, 2006




Friends and Family,

Evi continues to make progress everyday. It’s great to see her smiling, talking, and laughing again. She seems to be doing better with taking her medicine, combing her hair, and getting dressed. Yesterday we got some great news. Evi’s doctors allowed us to bring her home on pass till Friday morning! We are very excited to have a break from the hospital and spend time together as a family. Evi was allowed to come home in hopes that she will eat better here than in the hospital. Her appetite has been very poor, and her nutrition levels low. Things were further complicated when Evi pulled out the central line in her chest on Sunday. Without the central line Evi cannot receive the nutritional supplements. Please pray that Evi will do well here at home, especially with eating. If she doesn’t’ lose anymore weight over the next few days and her nutrition labs look okay on Friday, we may be able to bring her home to stay. But if things don’t improve, she will have to return to the hospital for a while longer and the OR to have another central line put in.

Here are some specific prayers and praises:

1. Praise that Evi was allowed to come home for a while
2. Praise for a vehicle (A member of Parks Cities Baptist Church is allowing us to borrow a vehicle while we’re in the States)
3. Praise for Parks Cities Baptist Church who has provided housing, meals, and lots of loving support
4. Pray for Evi’s nutrition and that she will eat well. We are really hoping we don’t have to return to the hospital.
5. Pray for Evi’s skin graft (still looks like she will need some additional skin graft procedures. We are praying that this will not be necessary)
6. Prayer as Leslie and I change Evi’s dressing every day and as Evi observes her leg and missing foot while we do this.
7. Pray that Evi will be able to sleep better at night. She seems to wake up almost every hour crying.
8. Pray that Evi will meet her physical therapy goals by learning to move around on her own. She needs to be able to pull herself to a stand, hop around while holding on to furniture, and possibly crawl or scoot on her bottom. The therapist believes she is physically capable of each of these tasks, but Evi is understandably scared to attempt any of these things. That means that PT sessions (no matter how fun we make them) usually turn into screaming sessions.
9. Pray that God would give Evi courage and comfort.

Thank you to all of you for your prayers, gift and financial support. You have truly been a blessing to us during the last month and a half. Here is our contact information for us at the church.

3917 Villanova
Dallas, Texas 75225

Friday, October 6, 2006

October 3, 2006




Hello – Thank you so much for your continued prayers for Evi and our entire family. Evi is doing well and is slowly starting to feel better. After four weeks in the hospital, Evi’s nutritional levels are very poor. The last five days she has been on a constant nutritional IV and taking multiple supplements. On Monday she had her thirteenth visit to the O.R., and today they did her first daily dressing change in her hospital room. We are so excited that we will be able to do this in the hospital room from now on. Evi did great and tomorrow we are going to try and do it without any medicine. Please pray for her skin graft. There is one spot on her shin that does not appear to be healing like the rest of her leg. There is a possibility that she will have to have a second skin graft surgery in about 4 to 6 weeks. One of our biggest prayer requests for Evi is that she would be able to accomplish basic things like take medicine, brush her hair, get dressed, brush her teeth and those types of items. These basic tasks that used to be everyday items now are surrounded by crying and screaming. She has been touched for so long by everybody and wants nothing to do with these items. She has new combs, toothbrush that lights up and all sorts of cool things that do not help at all.

Evi’s started physical therapy last week and it is going fairly well. She has regained some strength in her “trunk” and can now sit up again. We have a little wheelchair and she loves to have daddy push her around the hospital. This week we are helping her to sit on a bench and working towards putting weight and standing on her good foot. There are a lot of milestones that we have to meet in PT before we can leave the hospital. So please pray for Evi and us as parents as we work hard to reach these goals. (Doctors say it will be at least two more weeks)

Thank you so much for your calls and e-mails. It is so encouraging to know that you are standing behind us during this journey.

I have also updated our photo web site at www.flickr.com/photos/hulls there is a section of photos of Evi’s journey this last month.

Love,

The Hulls Family