Happy Birthday to Clay

What a way to turn 26...with a raging migraine, holed up in the hospital. But we did it up with class! Clay's mom and I decorated his room today while he was in his Biofeedback appointment. We bombarded him with silly string and confetti when he returned to his room. He was very much surprised, but is starting to catch on to my schemes to either jump out and surprise him or scare him any chance I get so my days of catching him off guard are dwindling. We found a ridiculous balloon that sang happy birthday every time we touched it. We heard it so many times that I am still singing it in my head as I type. Once I figure out how to put pictures on here I will upload some. We got a good one of the birthday boy with his birthday pin and birthday prince crown on. He wore them for less than a second and quickly took them off. Apparently Clay is not one to show off. If I ever received a birthday princess crown, I'd definitely wear it for EVERYONE to see. :) Clay's sister Alison came in today so that was an extra treat. We had headache friendly cake (no chocolate) and a headache friendly dinner (no tyramine). I decorated his IV pole, but he wouldn't take it out of his room. :) I was proud of the fact that by the end of the day confetti had made its way halfway to the nurses station. The housekeeping people are going to LOVE me.
I am happy to report that today was the best head day we've had. Today he made it down to a 6! WOOHOO I just might pee my pants the day I hear his head is under a 5. We did talk to a woman today named Ramona who has had migraines for 20 years and has been hospitalized here on the Diamond Headache unit 5 different times. She said the first time she came, she didn't believe that the doctors would be able to "break" her migraine but after the 10th day it finally gave in and she had relief for the first time. That really gave me hope because I still fear that his migraine will not "break". Please pray that it does!!
We went to some neat classes that they offer here to help the headache sufferers. Today we went to a class on pain and medication dependence which was very informational and very helpful for us to understand why the doctors prescribe the medications that they are using (and why they don't load people up with narcotics). We also went to a class for alternative methods for migraine control and learned much on meditation, guided imagery, and guided relaxation. Clay does really well in his biofeedback sessions, which are guided relaxation sessions where he is hooked up to a monitor so he can visually see a change when he is able to relax certain parts of his body. Part of biofeedback is to learn how to have control over your vasculature by mentally increasing the temperature of your hands. The doctor puts a sensor on your fingers to let you know whether or not you are able to change your body temp with your mind. Yea for Clay because he was able to raise the temperature of his hands 4 degrees today! I guess the theory is that perhaps he can control the vessels in his brain that are irritating the nerves and creating his constant headache pain. I hope all of that makes sense.
This whole trip has proved to be very helpful and encouraging in many ways. I feel the Lord's hand here very distinctly and am so grateful for the many prayers that I know we have been covered by, so thank you very much. I was reading in Luke the other day and read the parable about the persistent widow and felt encouraged to keep praying and not give up because of how gracious our Father is with his children. Thank you for being persistent in prayer for us. I am in awe at how the body of Christ has truly gathered around us like a hedge of protection, interceding for us while we are being healed, rebuilt and renewed. Thank you

love sarah