Joye's Update 5/27/08

It was a very long day today. I do have some news; however, regarding why Andrew continues to develop blood clots. Andrews hematologist has discovered that he has a blood disorder that causes his blood to clot easily and then is unable to break the clot up as normal blood can usually do. He most likely has had this disorder for his entire life. The good news is . . . this is treatable and they are now treating it. This will slow his recovery down a bit; however, with all of this going on, Andrew still weaned today. He's doing excellent with his vent weans. The worst news is he will have to remain in bed with his head below 20 degrees for the time being; therefore, he will be unable to eat until his head is able to be up above 80 degrees again. He will, of course, also be unable to get in his chair for a while too. He's not discouraged, just thankful they found the disorder and are able to treat it. Although the clots in his legs are quite serious, his doctors are encouraged that he will get beyond this "bump" in the road. Please keep praying and please keep posting and emailing . . . it helps so much. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 5/26/08

Kinda of a rough day today. Andrew's urine is much, much clearer; however, because of the bleeding, he had to be taken off his blood thinner. Because of this, he has a lot of swelling in his legs and has developed some more blood clots. Luckily, because of the clearer urine, he is able to get back on his blood thinner and he does still have a filter in place (that he received at St. Joseph's) and it will keep a clot from going to his lungs, heart and/or brain. They just have to watch his circulation in his legs very closely. Please continue to pray . . . it's all in the Lord's hands. Andrew continues to pray and when I asked him if he'd like me to read from his book tonight, he said, "no, just read from the Bible to me." So that's what I did until he finally was able to relax and go to sleep. He's staying strong and keeping his faith in God. That's all I could ask of him at this time. Good Night and God Bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 5/25/08

Again, a quiet day. Andrew's urine has less blood in it, but he was unable to get up today as they didn't want the bladder to spasm and cause more bleeding. He ate breakfast and dinner today; he wasn't hungry for lunch. He had 2 good weans and his throat is beginning to feel much better. If the blood in his urine doesn't decrease considerably by Tuesday, he may have to undergo another surgery where they will scope his bladder to see what exactly is going on. Andrew is feeling a bit tired today and really needs to be lifted in prayer. Please pray for his strength and determination to continue on. God is hearing our prayers, we just need to keep it up and have 100% faith in the Lord. Thank you so much for your prayers. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 5/24/08

Yet again, another quiet day. Andrew is still pretty tired today. He was, however, able to wean once and he was also able to eat breakfast and dinner. It was determined today that he has blood in his urine, and after many tests, they said it was not an infection. They are thinking it's being caused from spasms happening in his bladder, so he is being given medicine to help with that. It's not causing him any pain, thank God. Other than that, I am to chapter 4 in the book I'm reading to Andrew (I've already finished it myself), and it's very inspiring. Even through all of these medical things that have popped up in the past week, Andrew's faith is still strong and he continues to pray (as do I) constantly. God is going to heal Andrew, I'm positive of it. Keep praying, God hears you. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 5/23/08

Today was a very quiet day. Andrew had the upper GI done this morning and was back to his room by about 1:45pm. He was very sleepy from the anesthesia and he slept most of the afternoon. The results of this procedure came back as negative, so they've ruled a gastric problem out for causing Andrew the pain in his throat. Again, our prayer request to you is to please ask God to cure his pain in his throat so that he can move beyond this and concentrate on getting off the respirator. I'm sure tomorrow will be a better day and we thank you for your prayers. Good Night and God bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 5/22/08

Well, although it was an exciting day in weather here in Colorado, it really was pretty quiet for Andrew. For those who don't know, there was a tornado about 50 miles from Craig Hospital today. Andrews nurse had to leave a little early today as it went right through where her home is. Andrew ate a pretty good lunch today (his largest meal to date since being here). He had a big turkey leg, potato cheese soup, cantaloupe, strawberries, and Gatorade to drink. He did well, but didn't have much of an appetite for dinner, which is to be expected for a while. Andrew will be having an upper GI done tomorrow so they can take a look and see if his sore throat is being caused from acid coming up from his stomach. It could very well be as Andrew has battled acid reflux for quite a few years now. If it is this, they feel confident they can get it under control and it will most likely take care of itself as he's eating now. Believe it or not acid can be a bigger problem when you have noting in your stomach than when you do. Other than that, Andrew is still enjoying my reading his book to him and he's still praying and has 100% faith that the Lord will heal him. Thank you again for your continued prayers and encouragement. Good Night and God Bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 5/21/08.

Well today was a "mixed" day with regard to news (a little good news a little not so good news). Andrew has been having an enormous amount of pain in his throat, basically ever since he got his tracheotomy done. It's been far enough out since that surgery that he should not be in the amount of pain he's in. And, because of this pain, he's still having to have a lot of pain medication which is making him sleeping and just sort of "out of it," making it difficult to continue with important rehab stuff like weaning and gym activities. So, he had what's called a broncoscopy which is where they put a tube down his nose with a scope on it to let them look at his throat and lungs. He had many of these while in the CCU at Thunderbird and these things are not pleasant to say the least. So on to the good news first. They found that (amazingly) his pneumonia is GONE! Prayer works . . . that's all I have to say about that. The not so good news . . . they found nothing wrong with his throat that would be causing this pain. Everything looked fine, so they are sort of perplexed about that. They are going to do a different type procedure on Friday that will allow them to take an even better look (I can't remember what they called it). So . . . our prayer request for tonight is that whatever is causing this pain in his throat be healed and gone for good. If Andrew can get off of some of these pain medications, he could really concentrate harder on weaning and getting off the vent and then on to some really hard work with physical and occupational therapy. God is hearing these prayers . . . He heard the prayers to heal the pneumonia (that's just so obvious to me), He has given Andrew the ability to swallow, and He got Andrew to this wonderful hospital, and really so very much more. God is working on this for Andrew, there is no doubt. I was also able to read chapter 2 of "The Miracle Man" to Andrew tonight. It's such a great book. Thank you again for your prayers, it's making the difference! Good Night and God Bless. Joye