Monthly Miracles - Philip Briggs

I posted about my story of what happened when I died and how God performed a miracle in my life so that I could live. The post was titled Angels and Miracles in case you want to check it out.

So this brought up the idea of showcasing different peoples experiences with miracles or angel sightings in their lives. Thus Fort Thompson Monthly Miracles was born. It is my hope that this can go from monthly to weekly, but in order to do that I need your help getting the word out to others to send in their stories. They can be emailed to me.

This months story I have wanted to share for some time now. I think so highly of this mom and the strength and courage she shows on a daily basis. She is a pillar of faith and strength like no other as you will soon read. God truly blessed her family by giving them her as a mom. While she might not always feel that way because of what she has been through, I know that Gods blessings dont come any grander than Amy Briggs.

This is Philips story(Amy's son)as told by her....

Philip is a blessing to our family in so many ways. Years ago I did not think I would be able to even be a mom. I had 3 Miscarriages and the Dr told us that we may never be able to have children. When I got pregnant with Philip I held my breathe for months. I can remember every minute of the day we saw his heartbeat on the scan. The first time he moved, and the day we found out we were having a little boy. Life was perfect.

April 19th 1990 Philip James Briggs was born and I knew what it felt like to be a mommy..it was the most wonderful feeling in the world. And it still is. Philip was born three weeks early and weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces. He was perfect.

When Philip was about a week old he started to projectile throw up. I took him to the DR and we were told he had a virus. After a few days I took him back to the Dr and we were told he had reflux and to raise the head of the bed to help with this. I can remember driving to walmart at 2 am in tears to buy Mylocon drops thinking I am a awful mom. The following day I had Philip out shopping with me and he started throwing up non stop. I took him home and got him cleaned up. As I laid him on my bed his tummy started to heave as he was about to throw up and I bent down to pick up a burp cloth he vomited so hard it hit the wall. That minute I just said enough. I called the Dr and told him..I am bringing him to the ER . I remember his words so clear. Okay bring him but he has a virus and it will run it's course and be better in a few days. I said well you can tell me that when you see him.

You know it is odd..as I write this story I feel burring tears...As I write the next stage of this amazing story I realize this is where our lives forever changed. And it hurts. It hurts in a way that I can not explain. I think that is why it has taken me so long to finally sit down and write this. Maybe it is easier to think of it in bits and pieces...operation and recovery..vs the whole hard reality...19 brain operations. shunts Brain mass in brain stem .a stroke...28 orthopedic operations and pain pumps and stimulator's. Yes reality is hard some days.



I took Philip to the ER and they took one look at him and rushed him to a room. They told me that he was very dehydrated and would need a IV. I can remember thinking how in the world can I let them stick needles in him. It took 6 pokes and three IV techs to finally get his IV done. I was a wreck. The Er told me he thought he knew what was wrong with Philip . He wanted to do test to confirm his diagnosis of Pyloric Stenosis. They were calling in the surgeon and I was falling apart. I remember thinking..I can NOT do this. I can NOT have my new baby have an operation. After a few battery of test that included an Ultrasound, blood work, and xrays they could not confirm the Pyloric Stenosis. They admitted him in the hospital to run more test.

As the days went on Philip would still throw up, and sleep alot. I mentioned to the nurses that He was hard to wake up. One evening I was nursing Philip and the Dr came in and asked to speak to Jim. He told Jim that they could not find anything wrong with Philip and wondered if I might be having a hard time with being a new mom. He also told Jim that maybe I needed to be reminded that babies do spit up and they do sleep a lot. He suggested Jim have me see my Dr to see if I had post partemn depression. He said they would release us the next morning after all the test results were back. About an hour later they decided to move Philip to a room in ICU to better monitor him and we were told we were being transfered to a out of town children's hospital. Things sure had taken a sudden turn and needless to say I was both confused and concerned.

Philip was airlifted to a out of town children's hospital and taken to the Peds ICU. I had no idea how much our lives would change from that day forward. Being a teaching hospital there were tons of people who came in to care for Philip. But all these years later I remember the one resident that took extra care and time with Philip. Dr. Perez. I wonder if he has any idea what a impact he made on our lives. I have a feeling he is a wonderful Dr.



We were told that Philip had been transfered there due to a abnormal test. It was a ammonia level test that could mean he had a metabolism problem. Yet when they specialist came in he said he had re ran the test and it was in normal range. He also explained that if you smoke and touch the tip of the tube it can give a abnormal reading. So while that was wonderful news...here we were back where we started.

For a week Philip had every test done and re done. He was still in Peds ICU and no one could figure out what was wrong. It was finally decided that he had a rare virus and he could go home and be watched by our pediatrician. The same one who swore it was all in my head and yet the same night sent him to ICU.

My uncle who happen to be a DR in Ga called me to check on Philip. I told him what they had said and he listened and said okay. I had no idea how concerned he was. He called Dr. Perez and asked him exactly what type of virus and I am sure they discussed a few other things. Next thing I know...Jim has gone to get Philip's car seat ( he had been life flighted ) and I am listening to Dr. Perez tell me he is going to run one more test to cover his butt with my Uncle. To be honest I was not worried about the outcome because every single test came out negative.

As I packed our hospital room I had no idea how much our lives really were about to change. Dr. Perez came in and said they had found something. My heart broke and our life changed forever. He said it was in his brain stem and he would need a MRI immediately. I called Jim who came rushing back. He called his parents who were away on vacation and they drove through the night to get back. My mom came and we all gathered and waited.

That afternoon they took Philip by ambulance to a special hospital with a MRI and he had his scan. The first time I saw the big black area I said okay that is his brain. The tech explained to us that was the mass. I could not believe that was in my son's brain.

I remember a night that describes how I still feel today. It was about 2 am and I was sitting in a rocking chair. The nurse came in and said..are you okay? I can hear myself say the words...I am just trying to figure out how all this could of happen to my sweet baby boy. I still am trying to figure that out today. I know one day God will explain it all to me and I will know all the answers. Until then all I can do is pray and trust in my faith.

It was decided by the neurosurgeon that Philip needed emergency brain surgery. The Dr spent a lot of time answering all of our questions. He also explained that it would be best to go in and try to drain off the area vs placing a shunt. he said once a shunt always a shunt. And we spent a long time discussing the scary issues that can go along with having a shunt.

At 6 weeks old Philip had his first brain operation and spent a month in peds ICU on and off life support and was finally able to go home after spending 2 months in a out of town hospital. Life was good . We were a family and ready to put this behind us.

Things went well with Philip's follow up Dr appts and MRI. Then one day the nurse said the neurosurgeon wanted to speak to me about Philip's scan. He explained that his MRI showed 10% of the mass was back and we needed to watch it. He also explained that his brain still had a lot of growing to do and that size mass would not be a problem. For months the scan stayed the same 10%. During this time period I noticed Philip was throwing up some and sleeping a lot. I did take him back to the DR. And yes we did have a new DR. He told me he understood my fears but he really did think it was okay . He also said we would keep getting the scans every 6 weeks.

A few weeks later I went in to get Philip up and noticed he would cry out but not really wake up. I also noticed he was not eating good and seemed OFF. We did a emergency scan and found out the mass was back bigger then before. My heart sank.

As we were racing to the hospital I told Jim..atleast we know what to expect. Those were words that will haunt me forever. We had no idea what to expect. In fact I think that we were not prepared for anything. It was decided that he would need a shunt. The operation would be dramatic. They would need to go to the deepest part of the brain and separate it and move the main artery and get to the mass. It was to be a 5 hr operation. As I handed off my baby I had no idea that I should of held on a little tighter. I had no idea the changes he would go through. And I had no idea he would never be the same. I simply had no idea.

After 8 hrs we were called and told things got tricky. Then at 10 hrs we were told they called in a second Dr. Then at 13 hrs we were told that things were critical. Philip had two cardiac arrest on the table and was un stable. Finally after 17 hrs we saw our DR walk down the dark long hallway. He sat down and told us that he could not get to the mass and went past it. he had to go back and find his path. he said it was like cutting through a jungle and he was not sure what he had cut through. he said he did not expect Philip to wake up and if he did we would need to make some hard decissions...They called in the Chaplin and also we had his baptized.




The first time I walked in Philip's room after his operation I walked out. I did not know it was him. He had tubes in every part of his body. he was swollen because his kidneys had shut down and he was on full life support. I can not get that picture out of my mind. It haunts me. He was so little and so frail. My baby boy. How did this happen. How did I not know this would happen. I prayed to God non stop. Please just let him live and I will take him however we can have him. I have never prayed so hard in my whole life. For days he clung to life. I started to notice he only moved his one side. I mentioned it to the DR and they had noticed this also. Then one day when he had his eyes opened. I went to brush something away and he did not blink. I also noticed he never tracked. I sat down with Dr. Perez and told him my concerns. I was told that they felt that he had a
suffered a stroke and also was blind. they feared that his optic nerve had been cut . Isn't it odd that I can still remember the smell of the hallway and the sound of the shoes clicking on the floor as I just slid down the wall and cried. I cried like I have never cried before. I turned to god and asked him to please not keep Philip blind. I told God I knew I had said I would take him however he was but I so wanted him to see the world. I begged .

We were blessed in so many ways. Philip did get his site back after 17 day. It was decided he has swelling on his optical nerve . Philip did wake up and he lived. He had to learn to suck and swallow again. After 6 months in the peds ICU he finally went home with nursing care. After months of daily health care, physical and occipital therapy we started to work on finding our "normal".

Philip is our miracle. He has fought harder then I have ever seen anyone anyone fight to live. He has shown faith and courage on days I have felt like I could fall apart.

Philip has had over 19 brain operations, and 28 orthopedic operations. He has endured pain operations to try to help with his right leg bone growth and right arm growth. He has spent almost every holiday in the hospital and or healing from pain operations. He has cluster seizures and severe headaches. He has worked hard to find a way to try to make it through school and grown into a mature young man.He has since had to discontinue school. He is unable to go.

Last year Philip had a brain operation to replace a part of his shunt. A month later he becomes sick and we were finally sent to the Hospital. It was found that his shunt had a infection that had started in his stomach in his shunt tube and spread to his brain. He spent 4 weeks in ICU with drains in his brain and stomach. He also had to have two major brain operations. We were once again reminded just how fragile Life is and how blessed we are.

Dec of this year Philip woke up with pain in his left side.We gave him some meds and thought he had just pulled a muscle. His pain continued to get worse and we could not control it with meds. After numerous hospital trips and painful procedures...we did find that he has a syrnix in his spinal cord. This is in the area that control respiratory so it was decided this was a additional problem that was found but not causing his pain. After he developed weakness in his left arm and leg he was sent to a specialist. We were told Philip had a medical issues that was caused by his brain endings misfiring. Philip spent months on pain meds by mouth and injections and patches. Finally the decision was made that he would need to do a long term solution. Last May he had a special medical pump put in and a cath placed in his spine up into his brain. It delivers medication contuisely. Since it has been placed we have had to have the meds upped 10% and again by 15% and now 50%. We have had to add more meds by mouth to control his spasms and pain.

It is so hard to watch Philip suffer. It is even harder to watch his lose function in his left side. This is a condition that can not be cured only manged. The thought of Philip not able to use his right side due to his stroke and possibly losing the function in his left side is almost too much to watch. But as always we are right here by his side.

This past December I was diagnosed with Cancer. I can only hope to be as brave and strong as Philip is .

I know God blessed me when he picked Philip to be my son. It is a honor to be his mom.

Update for Philip...click here

*************************************************

I hope you can take something away from this story as we have. Please make sure to visit the links to Amys blog as well as Philip's.

Now a a special letter to Philip from Amy....



Dear Philip...

I have so many thoughts going through my head. It is hard to even know where to start.

You have no idea just how very much I love you. From the very first time I saw your little heart beating on my ultrasound to the first time I saw you after delivery...and now as a young man. I feel like the most blessed women on this earth. When God picked out a son for me...he gave me the perfect one...YOU.

You have taught me so many life lessons. I have watched you struggle to live, struggle to breathe, struggle to crawl, roll over, speak and walk. And yet I have also watched you blossom in your faith as a young man. You are the strongest person I have ever known. And I am so proud to call you my son.

I can not even begin to tell you how amazed I am at your courage and strength. There have been so many times I have looked at you and wanted to take you and run as far away as possible. And if I could have I would of done it in a heart beat. You have suffered through 19 brain operations, strokes, shunts, pumps, therapies and now the awful Central nerve pain. You struggle everyday . I hate to see you in so much pain Watching you lose function in your right side was so hard. Now watching the same happen slowly in your left side, seems cruel.. If I could take it from you I would...I so wish I could.

I sometimes finding myself so confused with God. While I am so very thankful with God for saving your life and letting me have you with me each day. I am hurt with him that I watch your struggle everyday and I can do nothing to help you. As your mom I am suppose to be able to help you...or at least comfort you. Lately I feel like a failure in both areas.

I know God has a plan for you. I see such Grace all around you and our family.

Thank you for fighting so hard. I am honored to be your mother. And I love you so much . Please keep fighting and know I will never ever give up on trying to help you. I promise to be here with you till the very end.


Please visit the Briggs blog at http://ourdailyblessinglife-amyb.blogspot.com/ you can use this link.

Also visit Philip's site at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/philipbriggs or click here for the link.

You can also click the picture of Philip with the dolphin in my left sidebar under the prayer column.

Please go and visit this family and shower them with your love and prayers!!


Love and Prayers,