Joye's Update 7/29/08

Another pretty good day today. Andrew will do his first 24-hour wean today and will continue this way if all goes well. His numbers have been so good that they decided he was ready and so our prayers were answered and he is ventilator free as of this day (Thank You God). He will soon begin his therapy to get his trach out too. I'm sure you all know what this means . . . God answers prayers . . . it's as simple as that. I spoke with Denny Harkins today and his question to me was, "what should we now specifically pray for?" I told him that it is my understanding that as Andrew recovers, what "should" come next will be biceps. According to what I've learned, feeling and movement work downward and elbow movement should be next. So, my prayer request tonight is for you to please pray for Andrew to regain elbow movement. I know God heard and answered our prayers for him to breath . . . many around here say that was most definitely a miracle, and I know God will answer this prayer as well. I know it's hard to imagine why elbow movement would be so important, but being here and seeing the difference between a person who can and who cannot move and feel at that area is huge. It would mean he would be able to feed himself, scratch his face, give a hug, open a door, brush his teeth, wash his face, swat at a bee . . . I'm telling you this list goes on and on. It would be such a blessing for sure. Even if he didn't have feeling and movement in his hands, all of this is possible with special devices; it's amazing what they have. We thank you so much for all your prayers . . . we don't discount for a moment that it's the reason Andrew can now breath on his own. Good Night and God Bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 7/28/08

It was a good day today. Andrew is excited that they are going to let him wean for 22 hours today. He's having no trouble so far, so I'm sure he'll be able to do it. They will put him back on his vent at around 5:30am for a couple of hours and he will begin his wean again for another 22 hours. They said they will do it this way for a few more days and then he will be able to go for 24 hours a day once he's ready. He will have to work on developing a better cough before they can consider taking the trach out though. At this point they say he will most likely go home with the trach, but will still be able to work on getting it out there. I believe God will give him another miracle and Andrew will soon get the trach out as well. Andrew and I continue to pray together for God's healing and our faith is getting us through this. Your prayers and encouragement are also getting us through this as well. We thank you so much for all you are doing for us. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 7/27/08

It was a nice day today. Andrew and I went to church and then watched a little TV in his room today. This afternoon I shaved him before his shower and then left somewhat early tonight as he was very relaxed and ready to go to sleep. He's still weaning 20 hours and is doing very well. Andrew is feeling so blessed for getting his left side of his diaphragm back and together we have given thanks to God for that. We continue to pray and praise God for all He is doing for Andrew. Please keep praying for Andrew . . . God is hearing us and will answer our prayers in His time. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

P.S. As we are getting closer to coming home so many of you have already helped with so many things to make our homecoming possible, and we cannot thank you enough for that. One thing I am being faced with now is choosing a number of physicians Andrew will need immediately on his arrival. I am finding this task especially stressful as it is so very important that we find the right people to take charge of Andrew's medical care in Yuma. If I could please ask you, Carrie, to email me at joye.lynn@adelphia.net I would really appreciate it . . . Andrew says you should be an expert in this area. Thank you so much, I hope I hear from you soon.

Joye's Update 7/26/08

It was another good day today. Andrew is still weaning . . . he will end his wean at 20 hours if all goes well. We spent the day together outside of his hospital room. We sat outside for a while and then we watched TV in my apartment for a while too. It was nice to have the alone time. We continue to pray and to believe that God is working on healing Andrew, and we thank you for your prayers as well. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 7/25/08

It was another pretty good day today. Andrew is weaning for 20 hours today and is doing very well. He's very excited about getting the left side of his diaphragm back and is recharged and ready to get off that ventilator. God's perfect timing with this is evident . . . Andrew was starting to get discouraged especially last week when his doctors told him he would be returning home with a night ventilator. He was feeling a little defeated and God gave him this wonderful gift. He's found that strength and determination and is ready to beat this. I'm very proud of him. Again, we thank God for this answered prayer and we thank your for all you prayers. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 7/2408

ANOTHER PRAYER ANSWERED AND THIS WAS A BIG ONE! They did another "flutter" test on Andrew this past Tuesday . . . it's probably got another more medical name, but that's what they called it. Anyway, it's done in radiology where they can see if the diaphragm "flutters" or not when Andrew breaths. When they did this test before, only his right side of his diaphragm fluttered which is how they knew he only had the right side of his diaphragm. When they did the test this week, they found that the left side is now fluttering too; therefore, he has his entire diaphragm now. This greatly improves his chances of getting off the ventilator for good now. And, I have to tell you . . . this is a rare thing; his respiratory therapist said he'd only seen this one other time and he's been here for years. Because of this, Andrew is now able to wean for 20 hours a day. They will hold him there for a while until his left side catches up with the right. Once he's going strong at that time, they will take him off the vent all the time and watch him carefully to make sure his lungs stay healthy. Once he's able to do that for a good while, and he's developed a good enough cough; he has a chance to get his trach out. So this answered prayer changes a lot. Today was also Andrew's first outing. We went to a museum and a movie. Everything went really smoothly . . . we didn't even have one wreck. So, it was a great day today and we thank God for this day. I have no doubt that the Lord heard and answered this prayer. So thank you for all your prayers . . . please continue to pray for Andrew. Good Night and God Bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 7/23/08

It was another good day today. Andrew is doing great with his breathing, his therapies, and his driving. I didn't go over to see him today until about 3pm. I rested some more as I still had some stomach issues and my head is still pounding. I was able to go over with him and meet with an oral surgeon that has been called in to look at Andrew's jaw. He is going to try to treat it with some injections next Wednesday. The MRI of his jaw didn't show much, but did show something with the disc in his jaw that could be causing the problem. Hopefully this will work so that other, more invasive, procedures don't have to be done. We are still praying and keeping our eyes on God as we know this is all in His hands. And we thank you so much for all your prayers. Good Night and God Bless. Joye