Neurological Grace

Dear Prayer Warriors,

I marvel at how a pianist can float their fingers on the keys to make the softest of sounds and conversely pound on the lower keys to produce a jolt. The Pianist’s mind constantly fine tunes and nuances his/her fingers to the pressure needed on the keys for the sound desired. This brain-to-muscle relationship when done gracefully makes any instrument seem as an extension of the person. It’s possible to see that the mind is the puppet master of the fingers.

Anna’s mind sends a message that gets jumbled by the time it arrives to her muscle. The result is either too much or too little muscle. Often, it’s a case where her muscles are doing opposite things, like when her forearm muscle is stressed hard as a rock while at the same time her fingers are limp. It is not what the Creator designed the arm to do. It’s so unnatural and weird.  Its not just her arms, Anna faces this dilemma when trying to hold up her head, swallowing, tracking objects with her eyes, sitting independently, rolling over, walking, grabbing, holding, talking, and clapping.

Anna’s thumbs are most comfortable tucked into the palm of her hands, wrists curled inward, elbows favoring the bent position, and her arm pits are preferably closed. Anna keeps her arms bent this way which explains why chewing her wrists and knuckles have become so self-soothing. Changing her shirt, slipping her arms through long sleeves is always met with resistance and fussing.

 It is imperative to remember that it is a grace from God that Anna's critical muscles like her heart and lungs aren't impacted like her fingers or arms. And what an even greater grace to consider that most of us don't struggle with any issues of hyper/hypotone like her. I try and present Anna to you frankly because I know the Lord has a plan in place. I don’t want Him to answer me like He did with Job “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it.” Job 40:1-2 No our trust and dependence is in Him.

We carefully track the growth from neurological inability into ability -the hope for milestones met, and much of this happens thanks to therapy. Therapy gives the power to reprogram bad neurological connections into good neurological connections. It’s all super-small baby steps, as a parent this seems like much work for little result if any. But the alternative tends to look like a rapid decline into further disability. This is much too much for me. That is why we pray, that is why I ask you to pray. God knows the good coming out of this damaged little daughter. Oh how Anna sends me to my knees before the Healer.

What a fight Anna is enduring in those daily therapy sessions, the braces, the medical equipment, the muscle relaxer medicines, and the daily stretching times with mom. Here is the bottom line: 

One, break the tone/ bad connection (stretches, braces, medicine)

Two, reprogram the mind to command the muscle (therapy, umbilical cord stem cells, patterning, encouraging)

Three, the muscle responds and forms a neurological bond of good pattern (milestones met)

I notice that Anna’s therapists rely heavily on touch. The music therapist puts Anna’s feet on an acoustic guitar to feel the vibrations. The physical therapist cradles Anna in her arms to eliminate all distractions so Anna can focus in on one stretch at a time. Occupational therapy fights for Anna to use her fingers to grab, clap and hold.  Anna is teachable through of the power of touch, it is critical to her learning.  I’m not a trained therapist so it’s hard to use touch to educate, through it all God is teaching me to slow down and be gentler. 

Please Pray For:

-full exceptional healing of Anna Elizabeth Currat in Jesus’ name.

-a miraculous departure from the cerebral palsy tone in her muscles. From the littlest muscle to the biggest one.

-her core muscles to keep on improving for head control and to keep saliva circulating rather than pooling or getting aspirated.

-wisdom in treatment decisions, medications, which type of medical equipment to buy, etc…

-good neurological connections in her brain, milestones met and actuated through all our efforts.

-mercy when Anna has muscular pain, her joint development can cause pain if the muscles are not relenting of tone.

-the power of touch to be a language of communication with Anna for learning, parenting, and being Christ’s ambassador to her.

-the Lord Jesus Christ to return and make all things whole and new.

-Anna to give good effort in her therapy sessions, to not become disengaged.

-Anna to stop vomiting and having excess mucus at bedtime, this has been ongoing intermittently for three weeks.  

Thanks for reading, and praying,  

The Currats