Joye's Update 6/25/08

Andrew had a pretty good day today with his breathing. He weaned for 14 hours and was up in his chair for 3.5 hours. They purposely had his time up in the chair limited today because he was very tired today and they are concerned he will get over fatigued. We had our monthly conference today, which involves his main doctor, nurse, physical therapist, psychologist, and social worker. We were able to see Andrew's latest MRI and each person gave a report on Andrew's progress and expected prognosis. Although a lot of the information we received, with regard to prognosis, was not all that great . . . we were told that they are amazed at Andrew's progress and he has far exceeded their earlier prognosis'. His MRI looked very scary . . . he has extensive damage to his spinal cord from C3 to C7. They are also concerned that Andrew may not be able to get off the ventilator. Even with his progress, there are still a lot of other components that have to work properly in order for him to be completely weaned from the vent. These were not great things for us to hear today, and although (after the conference) I really tried hard to help keep Andrew focused and to continue his faith in God to heal him . . . I'm worried the news today will set him back. So my prayer request to you tonight is to please pray that Andrew will persist with his vent weaning and that he will soon be completely free of the ventilator. Please pray for Andrew to breath on his own. Thank you so much for your prayers, we appreciate all of you so much. Good Night and God bless you all. Joye