Lifting Up Dad From Our Knees.....: Moved to the 4th floor

Monday, April 16, 2007

Moved to the 4th floor

Dad has been moved to the rehab floor on the 4th floor. He will begin his grinding rehab at Parkview today, so pray for him to have patience and not to refuse the help. He has his in and out moments of which he justs says "no".

We had a great day yesterday with only a little aggrevation in the middle of the day. We have found that limiting his stimulation to music and a few people at a time works well, although with this there are still those moments. We are praying that getting back into the rehab program today will give dad new perspective and encouragement for his recovery.

Yesterday was an exciting day for me because it's the first time he actually remembered things he did. He spent an hour telling the nurse about all his drawings and photography shots that are in his room. Although his words didn't always make sense, there was enough right words to figure out what he was saying. I just sat there and cried. Later in the day he spoke to others about his time in Germany and Japan. What a blessing to know he has part of himself again. Since I only come on the weekend, he always amazes me with the new steps he has taken.

Continue to pray for his patience and healing. Each day is a new day.

Kelli

9 comments:

Anonymous said...: Hi All,

Our God is an awesome God ! Please tell JIm we said Hello.
Thanks for sharing encouraging thoughts from your heart and family. Prayers will continue with mighty power delivered by the Holy Spirit.

The Gallagher's; April 16, 2007 at 9:05 AM
Anonymous said...: GREAT update :)
thank you so much... I have been
praying specifically as in
Job 38:36 that the Lord will give
understanding to the mind of Jim...
I think He is doing just that :)
xoxo
helen; April 16, 2007 at 10:15 AM
Admin said...: I can't imagine how hard this is on all of you. Please know you are continually in our prayers, as you take this one day at a time. God is truly working in Jim's life. I pray for strength for you, his family, as you endeavor to walk him through this journey...his marathon to recovery.; April 16, 2007 at 1:16 PM
Anonymous said...: Glad to hear of the progress It has been a long road for all of you we will continue to keep all of you in our prayers. Pete & Pam; April 17, 2007 at 5:08 AM
Anonymous said...: Just checking in. It's been awhile since I've stopped in to say 'hi' but just know I check this blog continually and pray daily!

Bendi; April 17, 2007 at 2:19 PM
Anonymous said...: Hello
Bill is in Tn. now should be home this weekend. He said it was real good he was glad that I called him when I was down there Sat, beacause it was so good to hear his brother voice. It made his day. Tell him to kept up the good work, and we love him.We think about all of you all time and I pray everyday that things will be ok. Love
Bill & Norene; April 17, 2007 at 8:29 PM
Anonymous said...: we will pray for all of you through this new phase you are in and Jims ability to start recovering his memory as well as the willingness to do what is best for himself even if it doesnt make sense to have to stay when he is ready to set out and do his own thing. i cant imagine how he feels so i will pray that God will grant him that gift of understanding and peace ...
all our love the Stiers; April 20, 2007 at 4:28 PM
Anonymous said...: Thank you for keeping us updated. You are still in our thoughts and prayers daily.

John & Tara (and kids); April 20, 2007 at 10:17 PM
Anonymous said...: Good words.; November 10, 2008 at 9:20 PM

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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.

Lifting Up Dad From Our Knees.....

Monday, April 16, 2007

Moved to the 4th floor

9 comments:

Dad with Alena at Christmas

The story as we know it...

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