Lifting Up Dad From Our Knees.....: 01/25/07

Thursday, January 25, 2007

in case you didn't know....

James Thomas Maley. He was born on June 17, 1941. He has 2 brothers, Pat & Roy. He married my mother in Aug. of 1970. Wow! I can't believe that my mom and dad have been married 37 years! I am sooo thankful for that. Dad has attended Blackhawk Church for almost 30 years where he has served in many areas. He has been in the construction industry ever since I can remember; from having a large company (Maley & Sons/MSI Coatings) to owning a home inspection business ( ABC Home inspections.), and has touched many lives with the creativity of him mind and his hands.
My dad is the most intelligent, witty, caring, kindhearted, compassionate, loving, generous man I know. My dad loves my mom more than words could ever express. He would do ANYTHING for her. My dad greatly loves his kids and grandkids and longs to have them around. He would do anything to help us succeed in life. He loves the Lord and has taught us kids in the way that is right. My dad is a little strong-willed, very strong-willed, but so gentle and tender as well. There is no father like my father anywhere, anyplace.
Often we get so busy in our own lives and forget to tell the people we love what they really mean to us: Dad, I love you so very much. You are and always have been an example of how I want to be as I get older; passionate, loving, caring, giving, devoted, the list goes on! I hope that I make you proud as a son and pray that I can be half the man that you are! I love you with my whole heart.
Andy

some things to pray for..

it looks like a little bit of pnemonia is in dad's chest. they are planning on going in with a scope and clearing it out. also, his hand is a bit swollen and looks like possible infection. we were told that the brain swelling can cause this, but infection can also. it's a little tense, so pray for peace.

morning update 01/25/2007...

"Still very critical but stable"...There hasn't been a huge change from yesterday. We spoke with Dr. Young this morning who gave us the results of the CT scan...he said that there was no huge change...no change worthy of going back in right now and removing more blood or brain matter. He reminded us that this is a long road, "a marathon, not a sprint", to be patient and keep hope. As we are on the sixth day, our bodies are wearing, stress levels go up and patience wears thin. Please continue to pray for endurance. Pray that mom will stay healthy. Continue to pray for healing for dad...pray that the intercranial pressure (ICP) will go down dramatically. Again we want to thank all of you for supporting our family in all the many ways that you have. We couldn't stand without all of your support. Your prayers for us are definatly being felt! We love all of you and hope to update you more later.

-A

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.