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