post from mom....

Dear Family, Friends and all of those who have lifted us in prayer

My heart is so full and so empty at the same time. Is that possible? This is a journey that is not familiar. I’m not sure how to do this. Thankfully, God the Father already knew this and gave all of you to me to help me find my way through it. There aren’t words that fully describe how thankful we all are to all of you for your prayers, food, notes, calls, emails, aspirin, blankets, bedding, numerous offers of help, babysitting, errands, etc. Everyone should be so loved.

Please know that Jesus has wrapped his loving arms around us and his angels to hold us up, through you. It is true,
It is “peace that passes all understanding”.

Jim would be so amazed about all of this fuss over him. But my darling husband would feel so loved. I am keeping a visiting journal of all who have stopped by and we will print out the blog messages to put with them. He will be so encouraged and blessed.

I have the greatest kids. They are strong, loving, protective of Jim and I and each other. Please pray for their hearts and physical stamina through this. Their faith is strong and they have given their father to our heavenly father but pray for more time with him.

Keep praying. If I can ask for a personal request that would make me feel so much better it would be this. I want to see my husband’s eyes and know he knows I am here.

Thank you all….and may God get the glory for all he is doing and may each and everyone of you be blessed for you love and kindness to us at this time and many others in our lives.

brief update...

we just went back for visiting time and dad's ICP number is hanging around 20-21....they have asked for us to keep the stimulation to him as little as possible. we have decided to keep the visitors back in his room to immediate family only. the doctor says that this is pretty "expected", but it makes its hard to accept when his levels stayed from 1-5 for so long. the CCP number is above 80, so this is positive. pray that the swelling goes down.

rough morning...

Got up this morning at around 5:30 am and put a call in to the nurse's station to see if i could see my dad. The nurse got on the phone and told me that he would prefer me to wait a bit. He then proceeded to tell me that dads numbers got a little worse in the morning...about 5 am, dads ICP went a up to about 21. The ICP is the number that measures pressure in the head. Yesterday afternoon, dad's ICP was about 7. They would like to keep this number below 20. There is also another number that is used for measurment called the CPP (i think). They would like this number to stay above 50 and it also dropped below that number. The two numbers changing together caused for a little frightful moment. They gave dad something called "Mannitol" to bring his numbers back to "normal", and they did move a little. The last that i checked, dads ICP was down to 17 and his CPT was up to 56. We spoke with Dr. Young this morning after he checked on dad and he told us that dad is stable and his numbers are under control. He also told us to not be greatly alarmed by this...that in this first 72 hours, it is expected that dad have some swelling and it is possible to have this swelling for up to 2 weeks or so. There is quite a road ahead of us!
Mom slept thru all of this, thankfully and got almost 8 solid hours of sleep! She so needed it! Thanks you for your continued prayers...we will update you a little later

-A

early evening babble....

I have loved reading all of the comments that have been made! You all have given us so much support, no words can say thanks enough. Dad is about the same tonight...pressure is up a little but not to the point of making the doctors worry. Dr. Young was able to remove the bandage on dads head and one of the drainage lines. He looks better today! Im sure that Jason will do a better update later...

One of the great things (and there have been many) that have come out of this is to be able to be with my brothers and sisters. Jason, Joe, Anna, Kelli and I (not in age order since Kelli is the oldest, then Jay, myself, Anna and Joe) have been taking shifts staying up here with mom. Mom has been hanging in here like a champ! Lynnette, April and Mike have been awesome as they walk beside each of us (their spouses). The grandkids...our children are just waiting for their grandpa to come home and start carving again. We all are not able to do any of this with out your prayers and support. Thanks again for all of your love for us and our father! Thanks for letting me babble tonight.

it's monday morning...

dr. young is back today (the one that did the surgery). dad's vitals are the same...the ICP (internal cranial pressure) is hanging around 7 or so and they said that any sustained number under 20 is good. there are some specific things that you can pray for outside of an overall miracle. please pray that infection or pnemonia doesn't set in (evidently, there is a pretty high chance of this the longer time goes on). also pray that there ar no blood clots as a result of laying down so long.. we were reminded again that this is/will be a very long process. thanks for lifting us up.

still the same.....

well, it's 11:45 p.m...things are much the same. dad is stable as far as "vitals" go. it is pretty quiet and peaceful up here right now. it is difficult to wait and wait and wait, but i try to remember that no negative steps back is something to be thankful for. it has been about 52 hours since the completion of the surgery and the most critical time is the first 72 hours. we know that God is good and in control yet it is still not easy.....for now, we will wait.

spoke to the Dr....

Dr. Kachman called the family back to speak with us. he informed us that the CT from this morning shows that the trauma to the left frontal lobe has more damage to it because of the bruising -- extending back into the brain. we do not really even know what effect this may have, and he also said that it is expected. right now, there is no additional surgury planned for his brain, but they are very closely monitoring the swelling of his brain. The goal is to keep the swelling below a "20-25" and it is currently is at a "1-5". It has been at "1-5" since the begining, but they expect it to go up.