Tiresome Days and Persistent Faith

But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."

²³" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."

²⁴Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

Mark 9:22b-24

These past few days have been busy. Since Sunday, Vitoria's nose has gotten worse and she was very congested. Fortunately, she hasn't had any fever; she's just more quiet and sleepy and, sometimes, she has woken up very agitated due to her difficulties to breath through her nose.
We also had a marathon of doctor's appointments. On Monday, we went to her neurosurgeon to see the inflamed stitch on her head. It is a folliculitis, which means the root of her hair is inflamed and we are applying an ointment to see if it gets better. Thank God it isn't anything serious, it is only a superficial inflammation. On Tuesday, we went to her pediatrician on a routine exam. Her doctor prescribed some medicine to help decongest her nose; she also said everything else is fine. Vitoria weighs 6kg and is 58cm long! Despite her many chubby folds of skin, she is doing great, not over or underweight.


And, on Wednesday, we saw a neuropediatrician. Unfortunately, it was disappointing! He just passed his eyes through her exams, said there wasn't much to do, that her malformation was very serious and that it would be frustrating for him and for me to follow her, because Vitoria would respond very little to any stimulus. He examined Vitoria for about 2 minutes, requested some physiotherapy sessions and asked us to return when those were done. All took no longer than 10 minutes. It was frustrating to wait so long for this appointment, spend 3 hours to drive there and come back, all for in 10 minutes hear his superficial words!


Well, if we were to depend on everything the doctors - limited and flawed human beings like all of us - said about Vitoria, we would have killed her with a few weeks of pregnancy, believing she had no senses and that she would live very few hours after being born. But here she is, 7 months-old, at home, living and fighting, going against all predictions. She has many sensations, many preferences, she has her own personality. It is true she has her difficulties, such as motor skills development and interaction. But with love and sensibility, we can see how much she communicates, how much she participates in our lives, how much pleasure she has in living and how much she desires to grow and overcome her difficulties. God made the miracle of allowing her to live, when everybody said she would certainly die, besides many other surprising things we have told you about in this blog. Now that she is alive, how many more things God can make!
Our faith is not in the doctors, in science, or in the exams done. Our faith is in a living and powerful God, who still makes miracles, who has mercy for His sons and daughters, who is near us and who can do it all.

We have sent her exams to AACD a few days ago, requesting a vacancy in their program, so that she can receive all stimulus and accompaniment that is possible. We ask for your prayers so that God may open the doors of this institution to our beloved Vitoria, for we know she has potential and she will surprisingly respond to any treatment.

We also ask prayers for the logistics of so many visits to clinics and doctor offices. It is still very challenging for me to go out alone with her, for I still don't drive well, especially in Sao Paulo, and therefore I have needed the precious help of friends and relatives to take Vitoria to her doctors, since Marcelo's work is at the other side of the city, and he cannot leave work at all times to take her to the doctor. This is also a mountain I need to climb, with faith and effort! :-) It is great to know we have going in front of us the One who loves us so much and helps us remove mountains!
After three exhausting days, we had yesterday to rest, and we even went for a stroll outside and a session of exercise trying to crawl on the living room floor. And it was all breath-taking! We have good news to share and beautiful photos to show! But we will leave you all in suspense, because now I need to wash Vitoria's bottles for her next feeding!