Joye's Update 4/30/08

Andrew had a little harder day today. He wasn't able to sleep well last night as he got a new roommate and they were working hard all night getting him settled. I think it should be quieter for him tonight as everyone is settled now. He is spiking fevers again too, so that has him a bit worn out as well. He breathed on C-Pap all day and the respiratory therapist told me tonight that it's the plan to try and keep that going as much as possible, even at night when he's sleeping. They won't start tonight as he's still so tired and has a fever. Fevers pretty much come with the territory with a spinal cord injury (so I hear). The spinal cord regulates body temperature and when there's an injury, body temperature fluctuates constantly. They have done numerous cultures (almost daily), and he doesn't have infection anywhere . . . it's just something that's going to be this way for a while. Other than that, we're just anxiously awaiting tomorrow's visit from Craig Hospital. In fact, everyone around here is anxious; you'd think the President was coming. Everyone keeps coming in wishing Andrew good luck. They're all very excited for him. I know that if it's meant to be for Andrew, then he will be there. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 4/29/08

Another good day today . . . also another tiring day for Andrew. He was put on C-Pap first thing this morning and kept it up all morning. I did his range of motion exercises with him, and then they put the trach collar on and he breathed 100% on his own for 15 minutes. He did much better with it today and they will continue to increase time by 5 to 10 minutes each day. He was then returned to C-Pap and he breathed on that all day until about 4:30pm. He was also put in the Cadillac chair again today and he was able to sit up in it for 40 minutes before his blood pressure started to rise. I heard back from Craig Hospital and they are sending someone to evaluate Andrew on Thursday . . . I'm anxious to find out if he is a candidate for their program or not. Andrew's case worker for Select came into the room while the physical therapists were in their to announce that the representative from Craig was coming and one of the therapists asked how she'd managed that . . . her response was "don't ask me, it was the wife . . . she made this happen somehow." I had no idea that this is supposed to be harder than it was; I just made phone calls until someone responded. I believe that God pointed me in this direction to research and that He has made this happen, and if it's the best place for Andrew, then that's where he'll be. I'm still doing my best to give up control and let God handle this . . . I just so badly want to fix everything for Andrew, when I know that only the Lord can do so. Let's all pray that he continues improving with his rehab, and that if Craig is the best place for him, then that's where he'll be. Thank you all for your encouraging words, they mean so much to Andrew during this time. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 4/28/08

Well, they were right when they said everything was going to start today. First thing this morning he was put on C-pap and he breathed on that for about 4 hours. I then did his range of motion exercises that the physical therapists have "trained" me to do. Then they tried him on a trach collar which essentially is when they take the vent tube off his trach and put a little thing on their that just provides a little oxygen in the tube and he is to breath 100% on his own with no air being pushed in. He was able to do this for 10 minutes, which is really good. It's very hard to breath on your own when you can't feel yourself breathing. They then put him back on C-pap and he was able to continue on that for just a little while until he was too tired, so they put him back on the vent. Then the physical and occupational therapists came in and placed him in what they call the Cadillac chair. They lay the chair flat like a gurney and they slide him from his bed on to it. Then they slowly put the chair into a chair-like position. They monitor his blood pressure very closely throughout the exercise as it's very common for it to go up or down, and his rose as he was put into a sitting position. He was able to sit in the chair for 15 minutes and then they had to put him back in his bed because of the blood pressure issue. This is quite common, and they will just have to keep trying until they can get him sitting upright while keeping his blood pressure stable. It's all just going to take a while. My call to the Craig Hospital in Colorado was returned today as well. We are having Andrews medical records sent to them and we have involved his insurance case worker to see if a negotiation can take place with them and the hospital. So, please pray that all that works out so that we can get Andrew evaluated. We'll start over tomorrow with the same regimen and this will be the routine for a while with hopeful improvement. As always, we so appreciate all your posts and prayers and your birthday wishes. God bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 4/27/08

Today was another quiet day. Andrew slept well last night, so he was less tired today; however, he has been quite nauseous. The doctor has ordered something to take care of that. We are all very anxious to hear back from those 2 hospitals tomorrow, and hoping they will soon be able to evaluate Andrew to see if he's a candidate for their programs. Other than that, he rested up a lot today as tomorrow he will begin a tough regimen of weaning off the ventilator. It is going to take a lot of focus and determination, and I know he can do it. Tomorrow is also another big day . . . his birthday! It's not really the place he wanted to celebrate it, but I'll do my best to make it as special as I can under the circumstances. Well, not much to report today. Please continue to lift Andrew in prayer . . . God is good and He will answer our prayers, it was His promise to us. Good Night and God bless. Joye

Joye's Update 4/26/08

Well, today was a pretty quiet day. Andrew still hasn't really slept well as he has a "roommate" and he is quite restless during the night. He (his roommate) constantly tries to get out of bed and he's on a ventilator so alarms go off all night long . . . so, me being me . . . I had them move that guy out of Andrew's room. It was just getting ridiculous, so I had to say something. Tonight will be Andrew's first night of peace (hopefully). A couple positive things: Andrew complained of his lungs feeling as though too much air was being pushed into them with the vent. This is a positive thing because it can mean that he is gaining more sensation in his lungs. He also complained of having a stomach ache. His stomach did contain some gas, but not near what he was having in the past couple of weeks, of which he could not feel at all. So, although these were uncomfortable things, they are positive improvements of feeling. Other than that, not much else is going on. I've been doing constant research and have narrowed 2 major rehabilitation hospitals that are known world-wide for their rehab methods. I have contacted both and will be setting up visits from each of them to come and assess Andrew. From what I've read, Andrew should qualify for each of those in-patient programs. One is the Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado, and the other is the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia. People go to these places from all over the world. Anyone interested can look each up on the net; they both look to offer a lot for him. Other than that, we just keep praying and staying positive. We understand that it's going to take time and a lot of effort, but he will recover. Thank you all for your prayers; please continue . . . God can and will heal him. God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 4/25/08

So sorry again for not being able to post yesterday; I was very busy with Andrew and yet another move. Andrew was released from the St. Joseph's ICU yesterday (Thursday) at 3pm. Me and my sister and brother-in-law spent most of the day yesterday looking at rehab hospitals; we didn't want to make the mistake again of trusting someone else's recommendation and send him to a place like the Select Speciality Hospital at St. Joseph's. And by the way, we are going to file a formal grievance against that place to hopefully keep others from going through what Andrew went through there. We decided that the Select Specialty Hospital at Good Samaritan was the best (not the same owner as the Select at St. Jo's). They are within the Good Samaritan Hospital, very clean, fully staffed with their own nurses (little to no contract nurses), and equipped to handle someone with spinal cord injuries. We were able to meet with the administrators there and we fully explained the experience Andrew had at the other Select. It's my understanding they held a meeting with their staff to prepare everyone for the fact that Andrew's confidence and level of security in caregivers as a whole is quite low due to his experience. He was transported by ambulance and I was able to ride with him so that he would not be without me there for a moment. When we arrived all of the administrators, charge nurse and his bed-side nurse were waiting for him. His room was equipped with everything he needed. They simply moved him from the ambulance gurney to the bed, put him on their vent and was hooked up to his fluids and medications. He was immediately assessed and made comfortable from the get go. The attending physician saw him soon after and kept all his medications and orders the same as he was receiving in the ICU. One of the problems at the other Select hospital was they took him off all the meds he had been receiving and lowered his pain medication as well. Although it's against the rules, they let me stay with him for his first night to help get his confidence back up. He had an okay night (not much sleep) and his confidence and security is much higher. He began his day today with a full assessment and immediately was put on C-Pap to begin the process of weaning him off the ventilator. He was also seen by Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy to begin that regimen as well. He was pretty tired by mid afternoon and finally got a little sleep. The doctor has ordered and anti-anxiety drug to help him sleep better at nights. I can only be with him at night until 8pm, and tonight is my first without him. He was clean, comfortable, and ready for rest when I left him tonight. This place is such a better place for him; I feel so much better about his care now. Although it's very hard for me not to want to control every aspect of his recovery and comfort, I'm working hard at letting go a little and leaving it in God's hands (where it's been all along). I know that God is with him through this and He will take care of Andrew. I just keep praying that God will continue to lead me to make the best decisions for Andrew right now. I spoke with Andrew today about receiving visitors and although he wants to see everyone, he wants to become a little stronger before people start coming to see him. The Physical Therapist explained to us today how getting Andrew over tired can set him back so much. She said that over exerting him for an hour can set him back days. It's so tiring for him to just breath on C-Pap for an hour. We were also told today that the physical therapists will begin sitting him up (with assistance) the first of next week. This is really good for his lungs and muscles he will use for breathing . . . but, this will be very, very tiring for him as well. It's going to be a lot of hard work (the hardest he's ever done), but he says he's ready for the task; he's very determined, but again, we just have to make sure he doesn't over do it. We know there will be good days and bad days . . . the goal is to just keep moving forward without set backs. Well, I'll close for now . . . and will do my best to post daily again. Thank you all for your posts; I hope to be able to catch him up on them tomorrow. Good Night and God bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 4/23/08

Hi all . . . I'm so sorry I did not update you in the last 2 days; it's been a rough couple of days, but we're doing okay now. On Monday afternoon, we learned Andrew had gotten well enough with his breathing and would be moved out of the CCU and moved into the rehab place. We were referred to Select Specialty Hospital at Good Samaritan Hospital; however, since his doctor is a Barrow's doctor, he thought it would be more convenient for him to be moved to the Select Specialty Hospital at St. Joseph's Hospital. He was moved out at 6pm and arrived at this new place at 6:30pm. The following 24 hours were the worst you can imagine. This place is a separate business within St. Joseph's and this place should be shut down. I could go on for hours and we have 2 pages of notes as to what was done wrong. Anyway . . . long story, short . . . we contacted his doctor, he got him out of there and put him into the ICU at St. Joseph's. How he managed that, I do not know . . . but doing this may have saved Andrew's life because in this place, they found that he has 2 blood clots. One that is not so serious in his arm and the other that is quite serious in his leg. He will be having yet another surgery tomorrow to have a filter put into his vessel through his groin area. This filter is opened up like an umbrella and will filter any clots that try to pass that area, which prevents them from traveling to the lungs, heart, and/or brain. His surgery is tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 7:30am. Please pray for him during this time. He is then scheduled to go to a different Select Specialty Hospital at Good Samaritan. This is a different owned business with different management, etc. My sister and brother-in-law and I visited every place that can take him (as he is on a vent and acute) and we liked this place the best. They are fully aware of our terrible experience with the one at St. Joseph's and they are accommodating our needs well so far. It was a bad deal getting him into that first place, but yet a blessing in disguise as this was how he got into St. Joseph's to find the blood clot. God put Andrew here for this reason, I'm sure of it. I will do my best to post again tomorrow, but may not be able to as Andrew will be moved again. Thank you all for your prayers. Good night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 4/20/08

Andrew had a pretty good day today. He breathed on C-Pap for 4 hours, and did it pretty comfortably. He's also developed a decent cough reflex, which he has not had at all up to this point. It sort of frustrates him now, because he has a lot of secretions in his lungs, so he coughs quite often now; it's painful to cough with his fresh wound in his trachea. Getting that reflex is a good sign and an important ability as it will help to keep his lungs healthy. His feeling in his arms has now gotten down close to his wrists (on the outside). He still has no feeling in that area on the inside area of his arms, which is normal as it was explained to me that these nerve endings are kind of like branches on a tree that "report" to different areas. The neurosurgeon is encouraged by the feeling still coming to him, and he explained to me today that feeling comes first and then movement . . . so we are still on track. Andrew is so determined to get off this vent before leaving the CCU in order for him to get to go directly to spinal cord injury rehabilitation. He knows it's going to be hard work and he's ready for the task. He relayed to me today that he wishes he could start right now. We're stilling keeping our eyes up to God and praying all the time; we could not get through this without that faith. Tomorrow will be day #20 in this place . . . hard to believe, and we pray that not many follow. Our goal is to have him to rehab before Andrew's birthday (April 28th) . . . I believe he can do it. Hope all is well in Yuma, we miss everyone! Good Night and God Bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 4/19/08

I saw a different Andrew for a period of time today. He's was sort of angry. Not a "I'm mad at the world" depressed anger, but a fierce sort of anger. He was very determined today to breath with C-Pap as long as he could. He did it for about 2.5 hours. He would have gone much longer, but he had some secretions that needed to be suctioned during and it sort of wore him out. He's resting now, but I believe they will put him on C-Papp again tonight for a little while. He really wants to try to get off the ventilator so that he can go directly to the rehab hospital for his spinal cord condition, rather than to the one that will have to rehab him off the vent first. I know he can do it, especially now that I see how determined he really is. We just need to keep praying . . . God will heal him. I will begin looking at rehab hospitals on Monday. If anyone of you have any experience with this sort of thing, I would be grateful to hear from you. I've been told the best spinal cord rehab facility in the Phoenix area is Good Samaritan. I was surprised, because I had always heard Barrows was the best (I think it is the best for surgery, etc.) Andrew's Doctor is a Barrows doc and even he believes Good Sam is the best place for his condition. But truly, if anyone out there has been through or had experience with someone who's been through a spinal cord injury . . . I would love to hear from you. I have no problem taking any kind of advice in order to get Andrew in the very best place he can be. Well, I think I'll quit for now . . . we're very tired today as there was a lot of activity in the CCU last night (new patients and trouble with other ones too). Thank you again for all your prayers and words of encouragement. God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 4/18/08

Well today is our 2-year wedding anniversary. We never thought we'd be spending it here, but I think we both agree that as long as we're together, it's a good one. For the most part, the day was uneventful. Andrew spiked a fever again, but it is down for now. He had an x-ray on his chest early-early this morning and it was decided that there was too much fluid in the right side, so they scheduled for him to have it drained. He would have to go to have it scanned and then drained and then scanned again to make sure it was all gone. I prayed all morning that it was not pneumonia and that it would be okay. Pneumonia is a huge fear for vented patients. They worked all morning getting him ready to be transported for the procedure and he finally went down there at about 1:30pm. I was told that he'd be back in about 2 hours. I returned to the CCU to get something out of his room about an hour later and to my surprise he was already back. The nurse said the scan showed no build up of fluid (it was completely clear), so they didn't have to do anything at all, and he's been breathing pretty good ever since. Prayer works! He has been feeling some different feelings today too. He feels a very slight feeling of tingling sensation in his hands and feet. Tonight he is breathing on C-Pap, very comfortably with his new trach. His throat is still pretty raw from the tube, which it will probably be that way for a day or two more. Other than that, a pretty quiet day. He's still keeping the faith and praying a lot. He knows who his healer is. I was able to catch him up on the posts you've sent, and he really enjoys that. He rolls his eyes with every "Ugs" joke he hears. He knows he'll never live that one down. Thank you all for your words of encouragement, and most of all your prayers. Good Night and God Bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 4/17/08

Praise the Lord . . . that's all I have to say. Andrew moved his arm twice today and squeezed a nurses hand during his surgery. During his surgery to receive the trach, Andrew picked his entire arm up and moved it open as though he was stretching. The people present in the O.R., who witnessed this strongly agree that it appeared to be a purposeful move, not a reflex. Also during the surgery, a nurse was holding his hand that had the IV in it to keep it stable and she said he squeezed her hand quite firmly. Then, when he was returned to his CCU room the nurses and respitory technicians saw him pick his arm up and lay it down on his upper thigh. When I walked in the room they were all smiles and some with tears of joy. God is touching Andrew with his healing hand, I just know it. Later in the day, he was able to receive his new feeding tube . . . and that went well too. He's sleeping comfortably; ocassionally he'll wake up and will feel how raw his throat is and I know from the look on his face that he's in a lot of pain. I guess he'll be in that pain for a couple of days though. From what I understand, we will only have a week or even less here and he will be going to rehab to get off the ventilator. I'm going to begin touring the rehab hospitals as soon as tomorrow to find him the best there is to offer. I've spoken to a lot of the neuro nurses here and have some good information to go on. These nurses have to come to love Andrew and want him to go to the best place.

Joye's Update 4/16/08

All was pretty quiet today; Andrew basically just rested up for his surgery tomorrow. We're still, of course, praying he will be able to breath on his on before the surgery to avoid going in again . . . so please continue to pray and maybe he won't have to go through that. The surgery is scheduled for 11:30am. Either way, he will be so happy to be able to speak again soon. I was informed today that once he's recovered from this surgery he will be able to be transferred to a rehabilitation hospital to begin rehab to get completely off the ventilator. Once that's accomplished, then he will go to yet another rehabilitation hospital that specializes in spinal cord injuries. It's going to be a long road to recovery, but he's committed (and so am I) 100% to getting him healthy again. Andrew's resting quite comfortably tonight, and is enjoying the Suns game. He's still keeping his humor about him and he's not wavered in his faith that he'll pull through this. As always, I'm so very proud. Anything is possible though God. Good night and God bless. Joye

Joye's Update 4/15/08

Today was pretty quiet. Andrew did a lot of sleeping. He finally woke up and was pretty alert at about 6pm. I was able to catch him up on all of your posts and we were able to pray together. It's so evident to me that Andrew's faith in God's healing power is pulling him through this. It has been decided that he will receive the tracheotomy on Thursday at 11:30am. Please pray for that surgery to go well. It's not a terribly difficult surgery; however, because of his neck fusion surgery, they are not able to extend the neck as they would normally like to do for this surgery. It makes it a little more tricky, but they still say it's not too difficult. Later that day he will also have a feeding tube put through his belly. He is unable to eat with the trach for now, so that's how he'll receive nutrients. He's still doing great emotionally, and he's still has me saying the alphabet about 100 times per day. It gets a little comical when he has just received his morphine and is trying to spell out words for me. He's not such a good speller then. He also got some new snazzy boots. They are lined with fur and they make it so his legs don't turn out and so he doesn't develop this thing called "drop foot." When we showed them to him he made me play the alphabet game and he spelled out H-U-G-G-S. I was so happy he wanted me to hug him, then I realized he meant Ugs. He was telling me his new boots were his Ugs (those fury boots the girls are wearing lately). He keeps the nurses laughing around here . . . they all love him. Well, I think I'll close for now . . . Andrew is still very alert and wants to "talk" some more tonight. He is really loving your posts. He made me spell out E-M-A-I-L today which meant he was asking me to read his posts. Thank you so much for that. Good night and God Bless. Joye

Prayer works . . . we had a better day today. Actually, the night last night (after I posted) was good. Andrew was able to sleep and his breathing pattern changed dramatically. You see . . . the ventilator that Andrew breaths with is programmed with many settings (most I could not tell you anything about), but some I've sort of become educated on. There are settings for how much oxygen he gets, how many breaths per minute he will receive and how much volume he will get it at (that's about all I know). When something happens outside those settings, then alarms will go off that sound like a horn. Well, all night long his horn was going off because he was breathing against the ventilator. This is actually a good thing, although at first it scared me (these alarms are so stressful) because he has enough of his own volume to set the alarms off when he breaths one direction and the ventilator is pushing air in another direction (I hope I'm explaining this well). So anyways . . . last night was encouraging. This morning they gave him another test to see if he was able to come off the ventilator and he still is unable to do so, but he's doing better. If he is still unable to test well enough to come off the vent by Thursday then they will have to do a tracheotomy which is a procedure on the neck to open a direct airway through an incision in the trachea (windpipe). This will be much more comfortable for him and he will soon be able to talk with it . . . no more tube down his throat. Once he's better and doesn't require the ventilator, then it can be removed and no damage is done with exception of a small scar. But, we still have 3 days to get him off the ventilator completely. They did a scan of his lungs to make sure there is no large areas of fluid and we will have the results to that in the morning. One thing that came as a result of that test sort of happened by mistake (but turned out to be a good thing) was when he returned from the scan, he arrived at the same time 2 new CCU patients came in. This made it difficult to get him set up right away and he went over the amount of time he should have without pain meds or this medicine called Propofol. Propofol is given to most all patients that have a tube in their throat to help them relax and not constantly gag on it. They turn the amount given to him up and down all the time to sedate him and take him out of sedation for assessments, etc. Well, without this medicine the tube can be very painful and it makes the patient so aware of it that they will gag like crazy. A couple of days ago, they took Andrew down to nothing with that medicine and actually stuck a stick thing to the back of his throat and he didn't gag at all. Well, today while waiting for his medicine he starting gagging uncontrollably. It wasn't nice to watch, but we were all (including him) so happy he was doing it. So, I truly believe things are just slowly "waking up." We just need to keep praying and I know this is all going to turn out good. Andrew is in pretty good spirits tonight. He's comfortable and he's watching the Suns. Thank you all again for all your posts . . . it always brightens him up when I read them to him. We both feel so blessed to have so many friends and family members out there fighting this fight with us. We could not do this without you. God Bless you all. Joye

I hate to report that today was another rough one, but it kind of was. Andrew did not sleep at all last night and not much today until about 3pm. They finally had to sedate him to get him to sleep. He's quite agitated and he's had a pretty high fever today. He does have a "normal" infection due to having a catheter and has strong antibiotics for that. Visitors are completely restricted now due to that and we now have to wear gloves and those paper gown things for our own protection rather than his. It will be this way until that passes. They are really trying hard to get him off the ventilator by Thursday or Friday at the latest. I'm told he can't be on the vent for more than 14 days. Due to his state of agitation and lack of rest, they did not assess his senses today, so I don't have news there. He seems to have slipped a little and it's just so vital that we continue lifting him in prayer. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers . . . that will see us through this. Let's pray for a better day tomorrow (one day at a time). Good night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 4/12/08

Hi all. . . today was a little better than yesterday with regard to Andrew's breathing. Without pain medication or sedation, Andrew was able to breath for 1.5 hours on C-Pap. It's going to take some practice to learn to breath like this, but he's doing great. The MRI results showed the top part of the spine (C1 & C2) to have less swelling, but still a lot of swelling in C3-C6 still remains. Which, again, is not a bad thing as this gives us much hope that more feeling and movement will come as those areas become less swollen. We have perfected our more advanced method for communication called "the alphabet game." He spells words by having me go through the alphabet and I stop on whichever letter he blinks hard on. It's pretty effective; and not as time consuming as you might think; he has me running all over the place getting him blankets, washing his face, and getting the nurse for pain meds or suction. Sometimes he has me put his bed up and then he doesn't like that so we go down a little and then by the time we're done he's exactly in the same place he started; but that's okay, I'll do whatever he wants to make him feel better. He is also now able to have his neck brace off, if he wishes. The neurosurgeon took it off today and Andrew decided he liked the support of just having the back part of the brace on as it makes his neck feel more secure. I received the posters that those of you at his workplace signed and quite a few cards have come in to my sisters mail box. Those cards and messages were read to him and he was so happy to hear from everyone. We are praying all the time and his faith is still strong as ever. He's so determined to get out of this bed and it shows all over his face. He's resting when he's supposed to be and he's working hard when he's supposed to be. His discipline and focus are quite impressive; I'm so proud of him. Thank you all for keeping him in your prayers, it means the world to us both. Good night. God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 4/11/08

Well, today started off kind of rough. They put Andrew on C-Pap without sedation or pain medication and the goal was for him to breath on his own for 1 hour. He went for only about 20 minutes and was having too many episodes of Apnea which is long periods of time (like 20-25 seconds) between breaths. So, that wasn't great, but at least he got some "exercise" in. They did not sedate him at all today so he was a bit agitated throughout the day with the ventilator and being uncomfortable. I guess that's to be expected though. However, the day has ended on a great note. We had a really good nurse today that was being "sneaky" and was doing a sensation test on him without telling him. In other words, she was poking and pinching him in different places and watching his face to see a natural reaction to the pain. When they do these sensation evaluations, they poke with little pin things, they pinch normally sensitive areas, and they press a hard object like a pen into the beds of fingernails and toe nails which is actually quite painful to anyone who is not paralyzed. Well she poked and pinched for quite a while around his body as he basically laid there watching TV and completely ignoring her, when all of the sudden as she was pressing her pen into the nail bed of one of his fingers on his left hand and he shot a look at her like "what was that?" He actually felt it! He didn't feel it as pain; more like pressure, but we'll take it. The plan for tomorrow is an MRI at 6am to see how his swelling looks, more "exercise" on C-Pap and hopefully more sensation. Well I promised I'd get out of the CCU for a little bit tonight as the nurses are worried I'm not getting out enough, so I'm going to close. They say there is this thing called "CCU-itis" where sometimes family members who spend a lot of time in here start going a little nuts. And, since I'm already nuts, I better listen to them before I make it worse. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Please Pray With Me

I have a prayer that I would like to ask you to please pray with me. Please refer to James 5:13-16 which has to do with the power of prayer.

James 5:13-16 says "Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Please pray with me:
Dear Lord Jesus, we ask you, the creator of the universe and the great physician, to hear our prayer for healing Andrew. We believe that you want him to regain his health, strength, and ability to feel and move and walk. And we pray that you would touch him now with your grace and power. Please forgive us of any sin and remove all obstacles from our lives which could prevent his healing. If we are angry or bitter against anyone, bring their names to our minds now so we can forgive them completely. In your mighty name, give Andrew authority over this sickness and rebuke it. We speak to this illness and command it to leave forever in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord we also recommit our lives to your service, and will glorify you as part of our testimony. Thank you for hearing our prayer. Amen

I prayed this with Andrew this morning and he wanted me to send this out. I will post again later tonight to let everyone know how his day went. God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 4/10/08

Well today, for the most part, was uneventful. Andrew rested and rested and then rested some more. His sedation has been increased and they only take him out of it to do assessments. During the times he was awake, I was able to read him all of the posts to his blog and he was happy to hear from all of you. I could see from his expressions that he was touched by all that was written and he would smile at some of the "private" jokes. He knew exactly what they all meant :) There is still no plan for getting him off the ventilator, the neurosurgeon is not ready to take him off as he does not want to risk taking him off and then soon after possibly having to put him back on which may risk the surgery site area getting damaged. He'd rather wait a while to give it a chance to heal as Andrew had 2 surgeries in 3 days. The assessments didn't bring any new news. He still has feeling down to the same places he had yesterday. I'm really hoping this good day of rest will help with healing and more feeling. He's still hanging in there tough . . . not a glimmer of doubt. We've learned to speak a new language with his eyes. If he squints hard, he needs me to wash his eyes with a damp cloth; if he starts shaking his head "no" (which he can only slightly do with the neck brace on), he's having trouble breathing; if he scrunches his nose up, he's in pain; if he stares up and raises his eye brows he wants the TV channel changed, and my favorite . . . if he blinks 3 times slowly, he's telling me he loves me. Thank you again for all of your posts; he was so happy to hear from you, but most of all thank you so much for your prayers . . . keep that up and we're home free! I'm going to get my shower (the hospital lets me do that here), and get to sleep early tonight . . . Andrew's still sleeping soundly. Good Night and God bless you all! Joye

Visiting Update

I wanted to let everyone know the status of Andrew being able to see visitors for the time being. His doctors believe he is in need of much more rest. He isn't going to be able to come off the ventilator for a while longer and they are going to up his sedation to give him better rest, as the last couple of days of trying to breath and a lot of visitors has set him back slightly. Andrew is still in critical care and I'm going to follow whatever his doctors feel is best for him. And the orders for today are rest and more rest. Please understand that they aren't trying to keep people from seeing him . . . they're acting in the best interest of his recovery. I was able to let Andrew know that there was a concern that he wasn't resting enough and I told him what the plan is and he had a huge look of relief on his face . . . he knows he needs the rest. Thank you for you understanding, I will post again tonight to update you on how his day went. God bless, Joye

Joye's Update 4/9/08

I have encouraging news today! Andrew can now feel sensation 1 inch lower than he could feel it yesterday, which is just above his nipple on the right side and just below his peck on the left side. We were all so excited about that today. Andrew "exercised" hard today. He breathed on C-Pap without any sedation or pain medication. This is much harder for him to do as he is unable to feel his lungs due to the paralysis; therefore, it is gives him the feeling that air is not filling his lungs (the feeling sort of like having the air knocked out of you). When he's sedated or with pain medication, he's not so aware that he cannot feel the air going into his lungs so it's much easier for him to breath. Breathing this way gave him a panicked feeling every now and then, so my job was to keep him focused on breathing by coaching him through every breath. He can breath pretty well, it's just hard to convince him of that since he can't feel it. I can't imagine how that must feel. We did this for 2 hours today and that pretty much wiped him out for the rest of the day. He wasn't able to get off the vent yet as it was determined that he's just not ready. He will continue on this therapy until his diaphram is ready and he's more confident that he is actually breathing. Doctors aren't sure how long that will take, but the sooner the better as the longer he's on the vent the harder it is to get off. With this HUGE task at hand, I'm hoping everyone will understand that there are going to be days that he won't be able to have visitors, and at the least there will be times during each day that he will be unable to be seen. He obviously can't be seen during the breathing therapy, and he will need rest after as this is the course he needs to follow to get well. Basically, the status of him being able to have visitors or not changes by the hour and by the doctor (he has 4 critical care doctors and please understand that he is still in critical care status). I know people are wanting to come visit, and I'm not trying to discourage that at all. In fact just the opposite; he has enjoyed seeing those that have come so much. I'm just worried that some of you are going to drive that long drive from Yuma and not be able to see him, which would have been the case today. I feel bad about this and don't exactly know how to handle this; I want everyone to see him who wants to, but not if it will hinder his recovery in the slightest (that is the number 1 priority). My hope is that he will get off the vent, get confident with his breathing and will be healthier to receive visitors at any time very soon. As I'm sitting here in his room writing this message, the nurses are having their shift change and doing their normal assessment on Andrew and they are very excited to find that he can feel about a centimeter lower from what they found earlier! I'm so hopeful by what it is happening. KEEP PRAYING, IT'S WORKING. God is awesome and He's showing me just how awesome right before my eyes. During the times that Andrew is taken off sedation for assessments and doctor visits, we are able to pray together and we do so faithfully. Thank you again for all of your thoughts, prayers and posts, I can't wait to read them to Andrew in the morning (he's sedated for the night now). I'm going to try and sleep as well before his next assessment . . . I'm very tired myself today as I feel like I was breathing every breath for him. Good Night and God bless. Joye

What Happened

As many of you are aware by now, my husband, Andrew Langley is in need of your prayers. Andrew went into a planned surgery for a neck fusion due to a degenerative disorder he'd developed and needed to get fixed. The surgery was last Wednesday, April 2. His doctor felt everything went fine after, and we had him on his way to recovery. On Thursday he began doing laps around the nurses station (1.5 laps on Thursday and 1 lap on Friday). Later in the day on Friday, his head was pounding hard and he could only get some relief by sitting upright in the recliner. That same afternoon, Andrew complained that his legs were numb (like going to sleep numb) so I left the room to speak to the nurse about it; it was decided that he should get into the bed and stretch out a little better. After I returned from speaking to the nurse, Andrew told me he was having trouble breathing. I called for the nurse and after a minute of watching him continue to struggle to breath, I ran to get the nurse. When we both returned, Andrew was not able to breath and the nurse pressed the blue code button for a crash team to come. The crash team arrived momentarily and immediately began chest compressions and intibated him. (Please understand I'm writing unfamiliar words that I may be spelling incorrectly and may be mis-using as I do not work in or around the medical field; I've asked as many questions as I can and I'm doing my best to get this as accurate as I know everyone just wants to know what happened). Anyways . . . they were able to get him stable and breathing very quickly and I was told that his heart never stopped beating, the problem arose when his blood pressure dropped dramatically to nearly nothing. He was then moved to the Critical Care Unit (CCU) with a ventilator and at that time he had full use and feeling in his body. He did well in the early evening in the CCU until about midnight when he began to lose sensation and strength very slowly in his body below his neck. By about 2am Saturday, it was determined that he was paralyzed from the neck down and that he would need to have another surgery so that doctors could determine why this had occurred. He went into surgery at about 8am Saturday morning and a blood clot was immediately found near the surgery site on the outside of his muscles. It was removed and a drain was put in that would drain fluid from the site for a few days. He slept a lot of the day Saturday after surgery and once fully awake, it was again determined that he had no feeling or mobility below the neck. Sunday was a little better as Andrew was able to feel down to about his mid chest area but still nothing below there nor in his arms. On Monday another step forward with Andrew being put on C-Pap instead of full ventilation which really he's doing all the breathing; the machine is just assisting a little due to the tube being in the air passage way. (Again, don't know if I'm spelling some of this correctly as I'm only hearing it rather than reading it). We were also excited to hear that Andrew may get off the ventilator completely and get the tube out on Tuesday as he'd made great progress with his breathing. Also, an MRI was also done this day to see how the swelling looked. The results showed a lot of swelling around the surgery site and this was NOT bad news; this gave us hope that once the swelling goes down, he has a chance to regain use and feeling again. Today (Tuesday), a test was done to see if Andrew could get off the ventilator. He did okay on the test, but after being on C-Pap for the last 12 hours, he was getting very tired and finding it hard to continue. It wasn't a set-back, just a precaution and a chance for Andrew to rest a little. They plan to try to get him off the vent tomorrow (Wednesday), but won't know til' then. Andrew is hanging in there incredibly well. He's very strong emotionally, and unbelievably determined to beat this. Doctors don't know if it's permanent or not, but we say it is NOT. Andrew is focusing only on getting better . . . on being able to feel and move and be strong again. He's leaving no room for doubt in his mind. You all know Andrew's will. Andrew also has a very strong faith in God and he knows this is only an opportunity for us all to witness God's glory and God will heal him. We do not waiver in this thought. Andrew was happy to see those that have visited, it has helped him immensely. In the next few days (trying to get off the vent) Andrew will not be able to take as many visitors as he will have a lot of work and concentration to attend to. He will need to focus only on breathing and rest and although the tube will no longer be hindering his speech, he will be unable to speak for quite a period of time to prevent swelling in his throat. We need to do whatever it takes not to get him back on the vent once off . . . so please, we ask for your understanding that if you do stop by, you may be unable to actually see him; this is a big hurdle he needs to get over without hinder. I'm able to stay in Andrew's room which he is pretty insistent on. I see him peek out one eye periodically throughout the night to make sure I'm there. I'm also able to communicate with him pretty effectively by reading his eyes and expressions . . . it's amazing how easy it is to know what he's saying. I know I haven't met so many of you that are out there pulling for him. I appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers more than I can say. Those of you who know me know that Andrew is my world and I love him with everything I have. Although it's difficult to remember to eat and sleep is not easy, I'm doing my best to take care of myself so that I can be there for him 100%. A lot of people are asking about our children and if they are being cared for and if I'm in need of anything. The kids are now back in Yuma as it is just a waiting period for now. We have care for them and we can get them here easily if necessary. The house is also being cared for, which I'm so appreciative of. My family is very close to us in Wickenburg and are here every day to provide me with clothes and they also make sure I eat. My brother-in-law is with me most every time I meet with the doctors to make sure all the questions we have are asked. My entire family loves Andrew as I'm sure no one is surprised . . . he's so easy to love. I will do my best to update this blog daily for you all (please understand if I miss a day or two). I will also read to Andrew any posts you would like to make to this blog. You can post by clicking the little pencil at the end of each post, and then you have to create a google account in order to sign in to write your post. I will title all of my posts "Joye's Update" for ease in finding the updates. Again, we so appreciate all of your thoughts, prayers, and very caring offers to help. This means so much to us and it's really keeping us going. Andrew's a fighter and he will beat this . . . we have no doubts. I'm so very proud of him; he's remained so strong and focused on getting better. I'll close for now . . . I hope this helps everyone to be informed. God bless you all. Joye