Joye's Update 5/3/08

Today was an okay day. Andrew felt better in the morning than he did in the afternoon. He was quite tired and spiked a fever, but is doing better now. A lot of times the fevers come from getting over tired and they really wipe him out. He's still very excited to be going to Colorado, as we all are. Andrew's faith is still his strength and he continues to pray all the time. Sometimes I see his eyes closed and then he opens them . . . I ask if he's sleeping and he says no and smiles; I know that he's praying. I'm so proud of him and in awe of how strong he is. He's so faithful and absolutely positive that he will walk again. His will and his perseverance amaze me daily. I was laying down last night trying to imagine what he is going through. As I lay there, I tried to feel what he could be feeling while only being able to feel from the chest up, and not have the ability to move arms or legs. The first thing I realized was that my face became itchy and I had no way to scratch it. When I got to the hospital today I asked him if he'd like me to scratch his head and his face, which by the way is a full beard now. He shook his head yes in a way that showed me he needed this in a bad way. I scratched his head and his face, and rubbed his ears for a very long time and he looked as though he was in heaven for just a little while. I did this several times throughout the day as it's just one thing I could think of to make him more comfortable. So many things we take for granted like just being able to scratch an itch when we need to. Well, just 2 more days until we leave . . . thank you for all your prayers in getting him there . . . I believe it will mean the difference in his recovery. God lead us there, He will give Andrew the strength to do the work, and we will soon witness the miracle . . . this I believe. Good Night and God bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 5/2/08

We're in!!!! We leave early Tuesday morning for Colorado. They want Andrew there by 12:00 noon. Andrew was really happy today; he's really wanting to get there and get to work. We will be there for at least 4 months, and of course the prayer is that he walks out of there at that time or before. I have faith that God will heal him and give him the strength to just that. Our God is an awesome God who gave us His promise and I believe Andrew will be a testimony to it. Andrew has not wavered in his faith that God will heal him. I will continue this blog throughout Andrew's journey, so please keep posting . . . it has done wonders for Andrew's spirit. A lot of people say it's their lifeline to him, when really your posts are our lifeline to you . . . it keeps us going. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement, we cannot thank you enough. Good Night and God bless. Joye

Joye's Update 5/1/08

We have good news today. The representative (Sue) from Craig Hospital came today and evaluated Andrew. She spent the better part of 3 hours explaining Craig's entire program to us. She also provided us a lot of hope for Andrew's recovery. I think by the time she was finished, Andrew was ready to get on a plane with her today and go to Colorado. The very best thing I took from her today is the fact that Craig's program is designed purely for someone in Andrew's condition. That is what they are focused for and are best equipped and staffed to manage. So, she of course, is recommending Andrew for the program and as long as his insurance is in agreement . . . then he may be going as soon as next week to Colorado. I will be provided a place to stay as I am told my involvement in his rehabilitation is crucial to his success. I will be able to fly in the air ambulance with him (which eased his mind a lot . . . not so much mine as I REALLY hate to fly). We will also be encouraged to get our kids up their at some point so that they can learn how to help him as well. Any family member with whom he lives will be involved . . . the main goal is to get him to the most functional and "normal" living conditions he can get to. We're still going for the gold and that means 100% functionality, so don't worry about that. And, I know it's a very long way away, but he can have visitors on weekends as there is time set aside from the rigor of rehab for that. During the weekdays it will be quite a rigorous schedule for him. He's looking forward to it and is quite determined to do whatever is asked of him. I'm telling you, he would have gotten on the plane with her today if he could. We are now just praying that we have to insurance issues. Thank you all again for all your prayers . . . God is hearing us and responding. God Bless you all. Joye

Thank You from Andrew and Joye

I wanted to wait until I was with Andrew to write this thank you note. It's Thursday afternoon and I'm here with Andrew and we want to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for the fund raising and donations. Julia from Personnel and Sandy (OHN) from ASPC-Yuma came up Tuesday and delivered the $1,315 that you all raised for us for financial assistance with this ordeal. We cannot thank you all enough for your kindness and hard work. You have truly touched our hearts with your thoughtfulness, and all we can say is "may God bless you all." This will help us tremendously right now. Thank you so much. With all our love, Andrew and Joye.

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