Today the Physical Therapist did an assessment on Dad to make his therapy plan. The therapist found dad to be very alert and they feel positive about his treatment. As part of the assessment they had Dad stand.... yes I said STAND! He stood on his own with a person on each side. They said that the left leg is very strong and the right (which was always his bad side) was weaker. Dad smiled at Mom today and lately puckers up for a kiss here or there.
They are putting Dad on a big flat surface that moves him around so that he can get used to motion again, and will begin other PT options as the days come. We are all thrilled and give thanks for his improvement just in one days time.
Kelli
The diary of the progress of Jim Maley
Dad with Alena at Christmas
The story as we know it...
On Friday morning (Jan. 19th) around 10:50am, i recieved a call from my brother Joe telling me that he needed me at the house. I asked him what for and he told me that dad had hurt himself somehow...he had a black eye, his nose was bleeding and was "a little beat up". I immediatly got into my car and started heading that way. I called Joe back and asked him for more details and he told me that he was having a hard time getting dad up. I told him to call the EMS and he said that he thought Jason had already done that and he was on his way. When i pulled up, i saw the EMS was already there. I walked in and i saw Jason, Anna, Joe and several EMS people along with dad sitting on a gurney. They imediately took dad out in the EMS...not knowing what was wrong...just that something really wasnt right. We followed the EMS to parkview ER and had to go wait. Mom met us there as she flew across town to get there. We had to wait a long time (it seemed like days!) before we were told what was going on. The chaplain kept coming out to "brief"us...but thats all it was, a "brief". Finally, the ER doctor called the family together and told us the news...dad has a broken neck and he is bleeding in and on his brain on both sides....this is very serious. "Its a bad deal" the ER doc kept on saying, but we had to wait until the surgeon would come in and take a look at the CT scan before we could find out for certian what was wrong. Dr. Young finally came in and said that he had looked at dad and his scan. Dr. Young was very "matter of fact" with us which was good. We needed that! He told us very similar things to what the ER doctor told us. He said that dad had broke his neck, C2 to be exact. He also said that he was bleeding in several areas in his brain. He needed brain surgury immediatly. On a scale of one to ten...with ten being the worst...dad was a "plus 10". Dad went into surgury and was there for 3.5 hours or so...he came out of surgury fine but we found out the damage was worse than they had thought. They had to remove some of the damaged area and he would be on life support. We were told that the next 3-10 days are life and death...or very critical.
What we think what happend is something as follows: Dad was sleeping down in the basement which is a normal thing. Between 8:30am and 10:30am, he tried going upstairs. This info is a little sketchy because we werent there, but based on some of the info that we have seen, we think that he tripped on the stair going up and fell...hitting his right eye on the stereo and then hitting face first on the ground. This created the damage that we are aware of.
We spoke with the cardiologist today and found out that dad has also had a heart attack with in the last eight days, but they have not figured out exactly when. There is a thought that this might have caused the fall be we are uncertain.
Dad is in stable but "second to second" condition. If and when dad comes out of the "coma" state, there will likely be many months of therapy that needs to be done, plus until the brain issues are resolved, they can not even think about looking at his broken neck.
To sum it all up...dad is in very bad condition. We thank you all for all of your prayers and support and all of the food and gifts. Your love for my dad and our family is amazing and we are extremely grateful. We will continue to update you as we know more. Please continue to pray!! Pray for dad (jim) for healing. Pray for mom (sue) that she can continue to be strong. We do know that we most likely havent seen the worst yet. This is when we need your prayers the most. Please feel free to enter your thoughts on this blogspot as we will update you as we know more. We are very thankful for the love you all have shown.
10 comments:
This is wonderful news. I have been checking everyday and just praise the Lord for His hand in all this.
Betty Jackson
Wonderful! We will be up soon to see Jim and all of you.
John & Tara
Our God is awesome! What a wonderful testimony! Thank God for your father's fighting spirit.
Shena
FANTASTIC!!
STANDING... WOW THAT IS AWESOME :)
AND THE PUCKERING STUFF IS A
R E A L L Y GOOD SIGN :)
THANKS SO MUCH FOR REPORT
Helen & Steve
Very Humbling !
Giddyyyyy Upppppp !
The Gallagher's
How awesome is he! God works wonders! I will continue to pray as I have as the process will continue. Stay Strong.
The Kostecks
We are praising God and rejoicing with you at this news! We will continue to pray for healing, strength, and that your whole family will continue to draw near to God and each other.
Dale and Karen
Maley's,
PRAISE THE LORD! I am so glad to hear the "grandpa Jim" is doing so well. Savannah continues to pray for you all everynight and you all are in our thoughts and prayers for wisdome and patience.
We love you all! If there is anything we can do, you know how to find me!
The Wallins!
Keith, Misty, Savannah, Corbin and Sheriden
PRAISE THE LORD!!!!
WOW!!! What awesome news to hear!!! I am glad I came online to check the blog. God is definitely a major player in Jim's recovery!! May God continue to bless all of you!! I know we will all continue to pray for your entire family!!
Love to all,
The Gottfrieds
praise God !!!!
our prayers are with you
the Stiers
how are you for dinners at this time...?
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