ellen5e.com » update

Three Months of Struggling

ellen5e — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 03:47:16 +0000

This is rather urgent request for prayer for little baby Jonah Silverberg who has struggled almost his entire three months of life. Please join with us in prayer and see what the Lord is doing in the lives of those who are prayed for as well as those who pray!

Dear Praying Family,

Thank you for your continued prayer, love,support and encouagement.
Jonah has contracted a Sepsis infection in his blood. He has had many transfusions.
The source of the infection has not been determined.
He has been very close to death 2 times this week.
The Lord is also very close to him, and us as well.
We are trusting in Christ, who loves us all so very much.

Jonah is being treated with anti biotics.
Just seeking more prayer, hoping your Church may receive this in time to pray as a Church.
So glad to have you as our supporters.
So glad to have the Mission, BMM, so strongly behind us, there for us.

Looking forward to a good time of worshiping our Lord, and ministering to our Church family.

Thanks again, so very much. It’s been a long hard journey. Jonah has been thru so very much,
it really hurts to see him have to struggle so. He can be in no better place, as in the will of Jesus.
Nor can any of us.

We love you dearly,
In Christ’s Love,
Marty for Val

I am posting this from my church in hopes that you will have time to pray in yours.

Hope is Springing Forth for Baby Jonah

ellen5e — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 03:25:58 +0000

Here is an update on Baby Jonah still fighting against so many health trials. If you have not been one of those regularly following the story of baby Jonah and the Silverberg family, you can just search on this site for “baby Jonah” and you can read all that the Lord is doing and the specific prayers that are ongoing as well as those that have been answered in mighty ways.

As of April 5th…2011

Dear Praying Family,

We are ever so greatful to you all for your prayers for us and our baby.

We went thru some dark days, as it looked again that we would lose Jonah,

but God has answered our prayers once again.

Jonah is still running a fever, but is mildly improving.

There is talk of possibly releasing him to a rehab hospital in Westchester,

in possibly as little as a month, or as long as 6 months.

We look forward to this, yet the challenge of having Jonah an hour away, instead of a few minutes

is one we have no idea how to work out logistically with considerations of the entire families needs.

We are still completely on our own in regards to staying w/ Jonah at the hospital and caring for our

other 3 children.

This has been a most difficult and challenging time in our lives.

The Lord has supplied us w/ strength, although at times it seems we are not able to rise to the callenges,

but God is with us.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for Jonah’s recovery and for our family.

Jonah is 14 weeks old today. He is still in ICU.

In Christ’s love,

Marty for Val Silverberg

God of Power; God of Details

ellen5e — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:34:42 +0000

I just received an update from the Silverbergs regarding Baby Jonah’s continued struggle in critical care. They have very specific needs and I am thankful that this update is succinct and specific as to how we can pray for them. As the world focuses on this mornings devastating 8.9 earthquake off Japan and the ensuing Pacific Tsunami (I will be doing another post on that after supper), please also remember the Silverberg family in your prayers.

Dear Praying Family,

” The Lord’s Mercies are New Every Morning”

Thank you so very much for your love, prayers and support.

Jonah had another crisis on Wed

He had a virus and very high fever.

Valerie said he had thew RSV virus, caught from human contact.

The doctors could not control the fever. His heart rate was over 200 beats/ min.

for most of the day. The doctors and nurses worked feverishly over him.

Valerie told me as she watched, she was afraid he was dying, and the Doctors

couldn’t stop it from happening.

Well. Praise to the Lord, he began to come around and do better.

Val spent the night again at the hospital on Wed.

Jonah is not well but doing a little better.

We are still seeking help w/ someone to stay w/ Jonah when Val is not there.

We are also looking for the right person to hire for some nights w/ Jonah.

We are very thankful for the young women who did this to help us for 2 1/2 weeks.

Naomi was a huge blessing. How wonderful for her Family and Church to allow her to come

all the way from upstate NYand stay for that time. She asked for nothing in return. Only to

be a blessing.

It has now been over 2 weeks since she had to leave.

Also, we are praying for someone who can help on a regular basis w/ our 3 children, form 2-9 PM,

like 5 days a week. Or a part of that time or days. We need some continued regularity for the

childrens’ sake.

Josh is a handful, so the situation needs to be appropriate, as I will be home some of that time.

When Jonah comes home, we will still need the help.

If we lived by the Church, some folks would help. We live several neighborhoods away, and no one

in the Church has a vehicle. We also live by a different subway line.

Please pray w/ us for the Lord to provide the above mentioned help.

Thank you again, so very much for being there for us to rest our burdens on.

We love you very much,

In Christ’s Love,

Marty for Val

The God who can keep all the powers of the giant waves or quaking of the earth from completely anhilating all life in the Pacific this last fifteen hours is also concerned about the details of who can sit bedside with a tiny baby in the Bronx. There is nothing outside of our Sovereign’s sight and care!

Jonah’s Family Struggles Too

ellen5e — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 09:05:50 +0000

Silverberg Family ’09 Bronx,NY Missionaries

(photo from http://baptistbulletin.org/?p=5804 )

This post is very long for two reasons. One, I was too ill to work at computer even, and two, I included all the information that was sent me. This way, you will have a better idea of how to pray. I will post the two updates on critically ill Baby Jonah (and the entire Silverberg family) that I have received since the last post with the most recent first.

Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011

Dear Praying Family,

Thank you again for your patience and perseverance in prayer for and with us.

Yesterday was a very difficult day. Jonah was struggling all day and in a lot of pain. X-rays revealed his breathing tube had pulled out of his lungs and was stuck in his throat. The tube was then removed and Jonah breathed on his own for 4 hours before failing and being put back on the ventilator. Doctors will meet today to discuss how to proceed. We are afraid tracheotomy is looking like a very real next step. When Jonah will get out of the hospital, we have no idea.

We are very glad he is alive, and hope he gets to come home before he goes in for his next surgery, which is scheduled for age 6 months, but may have to be delayed some now. Jonah is 10 weeks old today.

Last night, Val stayed at the hospital. It was very rough on us all. Shakinah, who is already not dealing well being a sibling of an older brother w/ Autism, was in tears last night. She wanted her mother. I, am suffering quite badly from the 32 foot fiberglass ladder job, which did more damage to my spine and neuromuscular condition than I thought, and also suffering sleep deprivation, had a very hard time putting the kids to bed alone. To get Joshy to sleep, Val has to get in the bed w/ him. She is usually exhausted and ready for sleep. I cannot do that, nor could I sleep all squeezed up like that in my condition. I found a way to finally get him to sleep, but it was nearly 11 PM. As usual, I squeezed in a little more work, till 1AM. Figured I’ d try to be in the bed about 5 hours. Figured wrong. At 3:49 AM, I was awakened by Shakinah, who was very disturbed by the continued absence of her Mom. Josh then awoke also. We didn’t get too much more sleep. Val did come home in time to get them ready for school. I took Shakinah and Josiah, and Val rushed to get Joshy and on the bus, which I fought so hard to get re-routed for a trip under 1 hour for him. Then Val went back to the hospital. I am trying to work, but moving very slowly. Then I’ll get the kids and start all over again.

We really need your prayers. Things are getting harder and harder. Our hired help is no longer available at the hospital. Val’s family will not help. My mom is 83 and not close by. The Church has some very nice people, but this is a type of inner-city mission, and we are also a Church. So no one is helping from the Church. In fact, these dear folks look to us to help them. One women, very new to Christ has offered to take Shakinah for a day. Shakinah does not know her, and we do not know her that well.

The Lakes have helped w/ the kids, and will help more. They also have their hands full w/ their own 2 children and a lot of ministry. So, there it is. We have sought help, and the Lord has deemed we continue to bear up under this load. So we go on, in the strength he provides. 70 straight days, except one day that all of us were snowed in. No end in sight. The isolation of ministry in the Bronx, and in fact NYC as a whole, is a very difficult aspect to ministry here. We have always known this. It is getting increasingly difficult for our children. Please keep us in your prayers.

My greatest joy, is being at Church, teaching the word. When I am doing my calling, while draining at times, this is like a refreshing vacation to me.

Thank you for allowing me to share. Thank you also for your comforting prayers, love and support of our family in this difficult time. Your e-mails have been a blessing to us.

Please accept our apologies for not being able to find the time to respond to your e-mail. We know we are loved and prayed for by many.

This is a huge encouragement to us.

We love you dearly in Christ,

Marty for Val

There was also this update prior:

Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2011 20:11:39 GMT

Dear Praying Family,

All is relatively the same w/ Jonah.

Today he is getting at least one of his lines removed and Having a Bromevac line inserted, to administer meds and draw blood.

Yesterday he struggled w/ an irregular heartbeat.

We are very thankful to not get the kind of news we got last week.

However, we must be prepared for good or bad news.

We are trying to tell ourselves each day is a gift, and we may have to give Jonah back to the Lord at any time.

Please pray for a critical issue:” Jonah needs to be able to breathe w/o the ventilator, or he’ll get a tracheotomy, which may be permanent. We really hope this will not be the case, so please pray about this.

We are still in need of help in the area of people to stay at the hospital w/ Jonah so Val can be home some. Also, Lord willing, when Jonah comes home, we will need some help w/ the Children, so I can get some more work done and Val can survive. I have no family and Val’s Family are not helping. So, all those wonderful young ladies who volunteered to babysit, we can use your help, I hope soon.

Yesterday, I patched the holes on top of the eaves of our house. Dr. Joel Grassi, came over to help me. The 32 foot ladder was definitely out of my league, even w/ help. I had to be the lead guy. This was my first time being the leader w/ a 32 foot ladder. Working in an 11 foot wide driveway, (bet.) house was tough. The ladder was heavy and hard to hold up while extending almost to full length.

That was so hard, picking it up, moving it, extending, and repeating, w/o dropping it.

The Lord helped us. Joel is not a big guy either. Climbing, tarring, using some roof fabric, tarring again, then sticking a little sheet metal on top of the tar was the easy part. Even working at 25 feet above the ground was easy. Getting the ladder down was almost as hard as putting it up. I did get my finger crushed, but that was it. I hope it is not broken. Maybe I’ll just lose the nail. So glad to get that patched. It should last at least a few weeks.

The upstairs of our house smells awful from the water that got in. I don’t know what to do about that water damage except hope it dries up.

We still need help fixing the eaves permanently.

Thank you again so much for your prayers.

In Christ’s Love,

Marty for Val

Friends, you can see how very much this entire family needs our prayers and support. This is taking a remarkable toll on their everyday family life for nearly three months now. Our church has recently gathered together many cards from our people to forward on to these Dear Ones as they endure this trial.

Please, I implore you dear reader, won’t you share a line or verse or some piece of encouragement with them by simply adding a comment at the end of this post?

Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”

Feeding Tube Move

ellen5e — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:52:30 +0000

I just received this update from the Silverbergs regarding Baby Jonah who remains in critical care.

Dear Praying Family,

Jonah will be undergoing a procedure tomorrow [Feb. 17] to insert a feeding tube into his intestine and remove the tube from his stomach.

Doctors believe this may help w/ breathing problem.

Thank you again for your continued prayers.

In Christ’s Love,

Marty for Val

Please remember to keep this little boy in your prayers.

6 Weeks: The Struggles Continue

ellen5e — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:54:45 +0000

If you have not been following this story, please read all the previous posts by searching “Baby Jonah” in the site’s search box.

This has situation continues to take a physical and emotional toll on the entire Silverberg family. So I encourage all of us to remain diligent in praying for them.

Dear praying Family,
No news is good news. Jonah has had a relatively quiet time since I last wrote. He is still very sick. He has a fever, is still on the ventilator, and is not conscious much, which may be better for him. They tried to put anew main “pick line” in him for medicines but could not get it in. After three hours of poking holes in him they gave up. Other than that, all is relatively well, for now. Please keep praying as he is far from being out of trouble.

Val is doing OK, except for exhaustion. I am having a very bad time w/ my hands and arms from shoveling. Painful, jarring, numbness, which won’t subside. Rest of spine and body in misery as well. Also exhausted. Josh, Shakinah and Josiah are having a very hard time with this continued situation. Please pray for us, especially Shakinah.

Jonah is 6 weeks old today. Time flies, yet it has been a very long, hard 6 weeks. We do praise the Lord that Jonah is alive and God has used you to be a huge blessing to us thru this difficult time, which continues.

In Christ’s love,
Marty for Va

Baby Jonah’s Challenges Increase

ellen5e — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 23:04:24 +0000

Here is the latest update I have on little Jonah Silverburg.

Dear Praying Family,

We received a call at 1:45 AM this morning. [Sunday, Jan. 30th]
Jonah was unable to breathe on his own and was put back on the ventilator after 36 hours being off of it.
He was also having continuous heart arythmia, and there is a fluid buildup around his lungs. All this after his kidney failure, heart reconstructive surgery and 3 previous cardiac arrests. This little baby has been thru an awful lot. Valerie was unable to go back to sleep.

We will be leaving for Church soon to Praise our Lord.
Afterwards, Val will go to the hospital.

Thank you for your faithful and continual prayers.

In Christ’s Love,
Marty for Val

Jonah: another Surgery

ellen5e — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 18:10:27 +0000

Jan. 14th, from the Silverburg’s, missionaries in Bronx, New York, regarding their critically ill, new born son, Jonah.

Dear Praying Family,
Jonah had a better day yesterday. He is losing the excess fluid and is scheduled to have his chest closed today around 1PM. Please pray that all would proceed well with no complications or setbacks.

Jonah is 17 days old already, PTL. Thank you again for supporting us thru this crisis thru prayer.

In Christ’s Love,
Marty for Val

Twitter messages are also coming in to show that Christians are praying and watching!

Six Months with Foreign Accent Syndrome and counting

ellen5e — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:46:55 +0000

It has now been six months since I first contracted Foreign Accent Syndrome. Here is a fascinating video where I discovered that there was another person in a nearby area who had a similar manifestation in which her normal speech was replaced with a strongly accented way of speaking.

Next, let me say, that the video below is NOT staged. In fact it is extremely impromptu as evidenced by our lack of fine attire and makeup. Nonetheless, I think it is important to show this video to people in order to bring to light an extremely rare medical condition.

Fran found me via a local radio station who had interviewed me from time to time. “Fisher Fran” as we affectionately refer to her has episodes of a few days with it. Her case, waxes and wanes with a good deal of normalness in between. She has other body weaknesses that resemble multiple sclerosis whereas I do not.

My foreign accent has continued for over six months now without relenting. Although, I have noticed improvement in some words as I apply tricks that I have developed through speech therapy. Another difference in our two cases is that I am able to sing in my “normal” voice, whereas, Fran cannot sing at all when she becomes accented (even though, she to sings for audiences).

Here is a video taken of me (Eastside Ellen) and Fisher Fran back in June 2009. At that point I had been speaking with foreign accented speech for a month and Fran was in day two of an exasperation of her symptoms.

This video was captured by Fran’s daughter and so is not exactly framed as well as a more experienced photographer would have done. PLUS… she and I were both in our grubbier clothes as we rushed to meet with one another without the benefit of clothing changes or make-up. We were just so happy to discover that we were not the only one with this problem that we couldn’t wait another moment. As you see in this video we are quite happy to have found one another and are enjoying our ability to joke about our situation in a unique way.

However, let me stress this. Foreign Accent Syndrome is NOT a joking matter. Rather it is an extremely rare medical malady involving the Broches’(speech) area of the brain. It is reported that only 39 medically documented cases have been reported…ever…in the whole world. Because it is so rare, there are not many doctors who even know about it. Therein lies the problem. If they are unsure what causes it, how to fix it and it is so rare. There is not much help for a person who has it.

In fact that is the main purpose of me documenting as much as I can about it. Researchers could learn a lot about this if they applied themselves. Because it is such a rare occurrence the argument may be made that there is not much point in researching it from a cost benefit analysis standpoint. However, since it involves the study of the brain and speech/accent production, I think that this is a pioneering area that some university or speech pathology school would want to investigate more.

As one who has now endured it for six months, I am learning that I am teaching my speech pathologist at the same time she is teaching me. This is unchartered territory here. So it is going to take the willingness of all involved to recognize that we do not have all the answers. In fact, we must admit that we have far more questions than answers. Yet, since I am the one living with Foreign Accent Syndrome, I am a self-made researcher trying to document for the benefit of medical knowledge and hopefully to bring a sense of understanding to both the sufferers and their loved ones.

I am going to try to get another video with Fran and me together within the next few days. This time I WILL at least look better for the camera : P

Let’s Get Serious

ellen5e — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:55:58 +0000

We are fast approaching a month since I first had this strange accented voice coming out of me during normal speaking times. And yet, there has been very little “medical diagnostic” progress. Since being discharged from the hospital I have been to one appointment with a speech therapist, and another appointment with a new neurologist. Both of these professionals had never even heard of Foreign Accent Syndrome before. Likewise, both of these occasions had people believing that I was simply a foreigner speaking English with a foreign accent? “Where are you from?”

But it was when the new neurologist asked me, “so why are you here?” that I became the most frustrated. These new doctors who had not known me before the affliction, do not truly grasp the severity of my problem. At least the new neurologist entertained my theory on the matter and took the material I had printed off about F.A.S. He almost seemed to dismiss it though in statements that were similar to “but you did not suffer severe head trama,” as a precursor to the malady. I pointed out that there was one case in particular where a woman had IDENTICAL symptoms in regard to right facial numbness and even down her right arm and hand prior to her diagnosis with F.A.S..

Upon leaving the neurologists office, he had provided me with some links to such organizations as N.I.H. (National Institute of Health) and also set me up for an E.E.G. to be conducted on Friday June 12th. Otherwise, I’m not coming back to see him until 4 to 6 more weeks.

In the meantime, I try to remain upbeat and humorous. However, it IS difficult as I struggle to say some words that don’t get along with this heavy accent. Also I notice that the speech pattern and order (way in which words are put together: nouns, verbs, adverbs etc.) and unexpected inflections and stresses are placed in the words or sentences as I speak. If I think about catching all the “errors” I get a headache!! So, a lot of times I just allow myself to “sound funny”.

I’m getting the feeling that many doctors are not getting seriously proactive about getting to the bottom of what is going on because they don’t appreciate the profound difference it has made in my life. Many of the newer doctors and nurses were basically strangers to me before now and so do not know the “real me”.

So, I made an appointment with our family doctor Dr. Patterson. The medical office manager noticed my accent right away. Nicole was also the first person I called when I first woke up with the numbness spreading down my right arm almost a month ago. She is the one who talked to Dr. Patterson and then told me that he wouldn’t be able to see me in the office that day and would not be able to diagnose me over the phone so to “go to the Emergency room if you want to.” It’s a good thing I did. Although, that CT scan did not show a stroke, the ER dept. did notate some of the early symptoms and timeline right as it was happening to me. That was the Methodist ER on Tuesday, May 12th.

It was the delay of not going to be able to see anyone before Friday along with my new speech difficulties that prompted my Chronic Pain Group friends to assist me in getting to the Clarion West Hospital ER on Wednesday and then I was admitted for two days. Final diagnosis after a second CT and an MRI, “slurred speech of unknown origin”. Dismissed with instructions to follow up with a new neurologist and outpatient speech therapist.

Back to the more recent past: last Friday Dr. Patterson talked with me and was shaking his head in disbelief as well as all of my friends. It is profound! This strong accent just isn’t ‘me’. Yet everyone says, “at least you have a charming accent. I rather like it. I wish I had such a lovely accent.” I know they mean well, and it is something that I am grateful for, however, I want to know ‘why’ and for ‘how long’ and these kind of things.

In the meantime, I am scouring the internet and growing my research file of articles and names. Names of fellow sufferers and the details of their stories, names of doctors, neurologists, speech pathologists, specialists of all kinds and areas of expertise. Above all, I am looking for contact information. I very much believe that what is going on within my brain is a benefit for research into brain function or malfunction as it may be.

Above all else, I am fighting to endure the voice that isn’t really me. To make it pronounce the words more correctly, or leave out all the ‘ah’s” that sneak in between words of a sentence. To shorten those incredibly strong and long “U”s that make so much of the sentence sound Swedish. This week I have managed to finally be able to say “yesterday” without flat-0ut stopping between each and every syllable. I simply have to swallow back the “er” sound that wants to be so pronounced with stress. For you it may look like “yes-sird-aey”. You would not believe the effort it took me a week to get this down, and I still sometimes get hung on it a bit. At this point I am not scheduled for any other speech therapy. I am making these corrections with the help of my very patient 19 year-old daughter and saintly husband.

So far my trying to contact others via email or linking to this website in an attempt to aggregate the information into one place, have failed to produce a connection to constructive help. I do see that the once a week segment that I’ve been doing with WIBC 93.1 FM on Tuesday mornings at 7:45 a.m. ET have been impacting others.

That is an answer to prayer! If I must go through this. AND I or any of my doctors know “why” . . . then at least, I can marvel at the peculiarity of the situation… and laugh at the funny accent that is not my own… right along with them I will laugh and marvel. Because, when I am doing this, I am not alone and there is not sorrow. There is fellowship in suffering, in facing the unknown with the faith and hope that comes from knowing that God is and always has been in control.

I believe that none of this time is wasted. However, I do want to get movin’ here. It’s time!! Let’s get serious about gleaning what information we can medically obtain from this event. Can there be some therapy to help ease the strain of trying to correct the speech so much of the time? Would we learn some valuable information from a functional MRI and PET scan. I am certain that there is something profound happening within my brain in different places, because my singing voice is MY voice, not the accented speaking one.

In any case…finally, this week… I am seeing a glimmer of hope that at least one, maybe two doctors are taking my problem seriously and are actually going to help “light a fire” of some kind of action to help me do something productive in regard to this thing.

ellen5e.com » update

Three Months of Struggling

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