John is Home!

Family and Friends:

John was transferred to the new rehab in the afternoon of Jan 16 and removed to his families care on the morning of Jan 18. This rehab was no place that John should ever be and we lift up to our Heavenly Father all those patients that are there. We lift up the spirit of that institution to Almighty God for healing, redemption, and strength. May God's will be done in all things.
John's condition has improved so much since he has come home. He is standing on his left leg and bearing his weight 100% on it. When using his right leg he bears about 15%. He spends much more time awake and more alert. He is swallowing his food. We begin the journey of teaching him to take steps. He has a wonderful home health nurse and physical therapist
We thank the Lord for His Mercy and Goodness and we ask Him to be especially close to each one of you. We thank Him for the blessings of family and friends like you.

Thank you Billy M. Zach, Patty, and Francine, and Cynthia.

Moved to new Rehab

Dear Family and Friends,

Today John was transferred to a new rehab center. This facility concentrates on rebuilding muscle and reteaching occupational norms (feeding oneself, tooth brushing, dressing oneself and so on) and recalling speech. John has still not stood or walked. His physicians and nursing team feel that he continues to progress, but at a very slow pace. We are still hopeful in the Lord for John's full recovery. We thank all of you so much for your love and prayers. Please forgive us for not blogging in such a long time. There was so much negotiation between the insurance company and the doctors about this new rehab that we were all in limbo for the last two weeks awaiting an outcome. The insurance company came through and we thank the Lord for this. John has been approved to have 15 days of rehab and if he shows progress it will be extended until he progresses no more or can walk with a walker or transfer himself to a wheelchair. We will be attending each of his therapy classes in order to learn how to rehab him ourselves in case he reaches a plateau and we have to rehab him here at home. We will try to update this blog once a week from now on since John's progress is at such a slow pace that we would end up saying the same thing everyday. To date, John continues to improve in his speech and the strength of his trunk muscles. He can sit up without falling forward or backward but falls to either side without something balancing him. He sings along with the radio or cd's that we have burned for him. He sleeps most of the time and it takes quite a while to waken him. Sometimes he remembers, sometimes not, but after having his memory jogged he seems to remember everything ( names, places, events). John presses a 2lb weight in his left hand many times but can only lift it once, halfway, with his right. He crosses his left leg over his right but can't do it the other way around. He eats and swallows fine, but is still only on pleasure food and not a regular diet. Again we thank you for your continued prayers and we are praying that God Almighty blesses each of you. We thank the Lord for His many gifts and for His great mercy. May the glory of all good things be unto Him.

December 29, 2007

Hello All:

Thanks be to God! John is doing so well! He still has weakness in his right side but his left gets stronger every day. Crossing his legs by himself and can press a 2lb. weight in his hand several times in a row. He counts to 10, and sometimes beyond, and says his abc's everyday! Still a little trouble remembering everybody's name but eventually gets it down. Sometimes remembers why he is in the hospital and sometimes not. It still takes him a long time to wake up and as of yet has not achieved 100% wakefulness. He speaks a few complete sentences a day and has begun to ask some questions. As you know his trach is out and he has no oxygen, just breathing the same as anybody else. He eats pudding and some baby foods but has not been cleared to have the feed tube removed as sometimes he takes to long to swallow. We look for him to be moved to a new rehab center sometime in early January. We are so excited about this because at the new rehab he will be working with therapist for 6 hours a day! We cannot express our gratitude enough to God Almighty and to all of you for your prayers. Thank you, Thank you! May the Lord Bless and Keep you. May His Name be praised above all others and may the Holy Souls rest in peace.

We lift Brandy's mom up to the Lord and ask you to also.

Great News

The trach is out!!!! This is such a significant event because when we first made the decision to move forward with Dad's care, we made the decision to have the trach and the peg (feeding tube) inserted. We always viewed these procedures as temporary...one of the nurses at Riverside suggested that we look at them like crutches. Things that are needed to aid in Dad's recovery. We remained hopeful that one day, the crutches would no longer be needed. We're now one crutch down, and one left to go.

Count with Me

Heather visited Dad the other night and he was alert and very responsive throughout the visit. The nurses were all thrilled with his progress! It was a great visit. I talked about what has been going on and was anxious to know what he remembered. He told me that, "I keep remembering that night." He knows what happened and remembers the night of the aneurism, but doesn't have any recollection of his days at Riverside. He still has his memories and knows who we all are. When I asked him if he could count to ten, he said, "yeah." I laughed and said, then, do it! I helped get him started and he was able to count one to ten with ease. He seems to know what he wants to say, but just has some difficulty getting the words out. Hopefully, this will all come with time. He's frustrated, but doing very well.

God is certainly hearing our prayers.

Getting in Trouble with the Nurses

On Saturday morning, Jason walked down the hall to visit John and quickly noticed that he was sitting by the nurses station. Turns out that he was "in trouble" for pulling at the feeding tube and heart rate monitor. They were keeping him up there to keep an eye on him. Jason said, "Dad, this reminds me of when I used to sit next to the teacher's desk." And, Dad nodded his head and laughed. He was very responsive to Jason, answering his questions with responses like "yea or no." When Jason said good bye and turned to leave, John said to him, "Tell little Jason that I love him." Jason, stunned, turned around and said, "Dad, how long have you been able to talk like that?!?" To which, Dad just laughed.

Happy 58th Birthday!

Yesterday was John's 58th birthday and ironically, it seems that he gave us more in gifts than we gave him. He did not need the trach mask all day. They capped off the trach mask, which means that he was breathing on his own for the entire day. When Heather walked into the room and asked how he was, he said, "Pretty good." What joy to hear his voice after all of these weeks! He had visitors all day, which kept his spirits up. He seemed to enjoy the flowers, balloons and well wishes on his birthday. He's responding very well and moving more frequently. He was able to scratch his head and nose own his own. If he keeps this up, it won't be long until the trach is completely removed.

Thanks to Sandra & Don Dages for the pretty flowers, Judy & Bill for the balloons and to everyone else for your thoughts, prayers, concern, help and support. We all firmly believe that we are witnessing miracles in his recovery.