Wednesday Evening Post

The procedure went good. They found a ulcer in the stomach and in the small intestine. They think that is where the blood loss came from. He now has a feeding tube to bypass the stomach. They think that this may help aid in the healing of the pancreas. There also two dilated veins behind the stomach. They are going to watch these but are not going to do anything now. They said that is pretty common with all he has had. He has been of the ventilator most of the day this week and back on it at night. The biggest change today was that he asked the nurse if he could get out of bed into the chair. This is the first time we are aware that he has made this request. The surgeon is thinking he should be out of ICU by the start of next week.

We know God has brought us this far in this journey. We are also promised that He will carry all of us the rest of the way. We have been so richly blessed this past year. I pray that we continue to give God the glory for all He does in the new year.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Big Prayer Request

I just got word that the endoscope will be done at 11:30.  Prayer request is the procedure goes well and that they find and can fix the source of the bleeding!  More information will be given when I get it.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Wednesday Morning

All of the numbers look okay today.  The white blood cell count went down a little, but the red blood cell count went down too.  They end up giving him another unit of blood.  Our prayer today is that the endoscope will show where he is losing blood and that they are able to easily fix it today.  I will post when I know more.  Hopefully it will be good news!

Thanks for the prayers!

Tuesday Night Update

My mom thought that he had a good day.  She said that the evening visits went very well.  All of his counts are holding steady.  That is a wonderful thing!  They have added a new doctor to the expanding team.  It is a digestive system doctor.  He is going to do an endoscope tomorrow to try and find out where the blood lose is coming from.  This procedure will be done tomorrow afternoon.  From what I understand, they will be able to potentially fix the problem while they are doing the procedure.  Other then that there is really nothing different or new.  

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Tuesday Morning Post

He didn't sleep much last night. The nurse is going to make him get up and sit in a chair today. The best thing he can do is start getting out of the bed and moving. He will be able to do that more when he gets out of ICU. All the numbers looked okay today. The red blood cell count was a little low but not at a concerning level. The white blood cell count went down a little. I will let you know more as I hear it.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Monday Evening Post

Everything looks pretty good this evening. The surgeon says that we are at least 6 weeks out from surgery. He has been breathing on his own (through the trach) since 10:30 this morning. The surgeon said that there is a chance he will be out of ICU in the next couple of days. The cat scan showed that the pancreatic pseudocyst has grown. I am going to put a link in at the bottom that tells more information on that. The surgeon says that he does not want to mess with that because it will only create more problems at this point. We are seeing many positives at this point. God has been very good to us, as always! We still have a very long road but we are still on the road!

http://www.surgery.usc.edu/divisions/tumor/pancreasdiseases/web%20pages/PANCREATITIS/pancreatic%20pseudocys1.html

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Monday Morning Update

We all had a rough night. They did end up giving him blood around 1. The lung and heart doctors have both given the good ahead for the surgeon. Hopefully the surgeon will know more information about where the blood is leaking from and how to stop it. I will update as soon as I know what the surgeon said.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Sunday Evening Update

He had an okay day. He spent 30 minutes breathing on his own this afternoon and did great! Hopefully we will have some answers to the the cat scan in the morning. The infectious diseases specialist was concerned over the cat scan. I am not sure this person has been in on the whole ordeal. We are waiting to get the real word from the surgeon and radiologist tomorrow. We do have a new concern tonight. The red blood cell count has dropped. The nurse is going to check it again around midnight and then they may give him a couple of units of blood. Please pray that they are able to identify the source of the blood loss and correct it.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Sunday Morning Update

Sorry that I missed those looking for a before church update. I am trying to get stuff packed up to head back to Austin for a few days while dealing with a sick child. I am not complaining at all. Trust me, I know life can be much worse. I will still keep the blog up to date from home. It should be done at relatively the same times.

My dad's kidney levels are down again today. This is such a huge answer to prayer. I feel like his body is slowly untangling the mess it was in. The white blood cell count is also down a little bit. My mom did not remember the number. They are going to do the cat scan at 10. We are praying for some resolution to the elevated white blood cell count. The best news would be it is the dialysis plug and that it is removed. We are praying that it is not the fluid build up by the pancreas. That would be several steps back in the amazing progress he has made. I should know something about the cat scan this evening. That is all the information my mom had this morning. I will post if I hear anything else.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Saturday Afternoon Update

He is doing pretty good overall today. They are doing several breathing test and exercises with him today. He is doing really well on all except for the one that he takes a deep breath and holds it. They want him at a -20 and he is at -11. The white blood cell count is up to 17 today. The surgeon ordered another cat scan of the abdominal area tomorrow morning. The main thing they will look at is the colon. The radiologist may have to put in a new drain. The nurse for today is wanting to get the dialysis port out. He has not needed dialysis for a week now (praise God). That is a potential breeding ground for infection. The nurse was also concerned that he did not seem to want to talk much. We tried to explain to her that he does not say much unless he has something to say. I guess after spending time with the rest of the family she thought he would have a big mouth too!

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Friday Evening Post

The first day on the trach went well. He was very alert during the last two visits. My mom said that he was moving his lips some and he even smiled a little. We had not seen a smile in a while. He has a tube in his nose to his stomach to pull out any of the sludge in there. He had two breathing test today. They improved dramatically from what they were like before the trach. This is what the doctors told us to expect. We are very encouraged and feel we are on the right path. Hopefully we will continue to give you good news.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Friday Morning Update

He had a pretty good night. They moved him to what they call an ICU suite. The nurses thought that would give the doctor more room this morning for the trach procedure. It will also allow him more room to get up and moving. This will hopefully start soon. The trach procedure went well. We are praying that this is the bridge he needs to get his lungs back up. The white blood cell count dropped slightly. It is still considered high, but is lower then yesterday.

I will post this evening how the first day on the trach went.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Christmas Day Update

Merry Christmas!

I don't have much of an update today. Things are slow at the hospital. He had a good night. He was up in the recliner this morning doing a practice breathing test. The nurse said that he had been on it for an hour and was doing good. I am not sure if they would consider taking the ventilator out without putting in the temporary trach at this point. It was nice to see he was improving though. The white blood cell count went up very slightly today. Not a massive increase which is good. The kidney numbers came down just a little. Last evening he was trying to cough up some of the stuff in his lungs. They said that was a good sign. The lung x-ray looked better today as well. Overall we are making progress! It is just going to be slow from here on out.

One thing that was encouraging today was that he wanted to read the Christmas story first thing. That has always been a tradition in our family. The nurses went and found a Bible for him. David read it. It is such a wonderful story for all of us to remind us that God has a plan. I am sure that this was not the plan that Mary had for her life. But her willingness to follow the will of God gave all of us the opportunity to be called a child of God and have the hope of an eternal life with Him. God has been so good to us and we know that His plan is the best.

We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Comments

Several have asked me how to post. I thought I would add instructions on here for everyone. Under each enter you will find a line that says posted by the Atkinson at whatever time and then a number and the word comments. Click on the word comments. You will see a screen that has a box on the left that has all the comments that have been posted. On the right you will enter your comment in the box at the top. Then you will type the word that appears in the box below it. You will then need to choose one of the options as to how to appear. If you choose anonymous then please make sure you have your name in the comment. Then click publish comment.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Wed. Night Update

Hello!

Sorry I didn't post this morning. I have been trying to get ready for our scaled back Christmas.

Overall we have had a good day. He is very tired and has slept most of the day. The white blood cell count is up just a little bit today. They are talking about doing another cat scan over the weekend. We have also been discussing what to do about the ventilator. He does not seem to be able to get off of it as fast as the doctors would like. They typically want people on the ventilator about 14 days unless it is a permanentt thing. Thankfully we are not looking at a permanent ventilator. The option they have presented to us is to do a temporary trach. This would allow the time needed for his muscles to build back up for breathing on his own. The surgeon explained to us that there is a lot of dead space that takes about 40% of the air your take in. This is the space from your mouth or nose to your lungs. The trach would block allow the air to be pulled in after the majority of the dead space. I want to stress that this is a temporary solution that will allow him to build the muscle again. The doctor that would do the surgery did a consult today and will potentially do the surgery on Friday. David explained what was happening to my dad. We are pretty sure he understands. He knows that we do research and ask lots of questions before we agree to anything. He knows that we will only do what is best for him. Our pray is that this procedure goes well and solves the problem it is suppose to. Our other pray is for his over all spirit. Please pray that he is able to be encouraged. Please remember my mother too. She is resting and eating. This is just been very hard for her too.

Here is a link to help you understand more about the trach

http://surgeryinfo.org/tracheostomy.html

We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas. I should be able to post something in the morning.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Tuesday Evening Post

I am going to try to do the review of the day the best I can. We got a good bit of information and I hope that I get it all across without confusing anyone. The pulmonary doctor thought the lung x-ray looked good today. They are seeing small bits of fluid at the bottom of his lungs. This may be part of the problem with him not taking deep breaths. Hopefully we will find out more on that tomorrow. The kidney numbers were slightly elevated today. He is putting out a good bit of fluid. The doctor is now concerned that he is dehydrated. They are going to start giving him a little more fluid in his IV to help with that problem. We are thinking that we will not be doing dialysis much more. It sounds like we have the green light from the kidney doctor to do the gallbladder surgery. We spoke to the heart doctor today. He was very encouraging to us. He feels the valve problem is something that will need to be fixed but is not the pressing issue right now. He has taken him off all heart related medicines. He is pretty sure that my dad will be out of the hospital and back to work before he has the heart surgery. We were very encouraged by that. We are all ready to get back to normal life. The heart doctor has said that he is fine with going ahead with the gallbladder surgery. Now we come to our main discussion of the day with the surgeon. First off, let me say that God has blessed us with a great team of doctors. They are always willing to sit and talk to us. All have been very honest and answered any and all questions we have had. We have also had wonderful nurses taking care of my dad. We defiantly know that God's hand is in this. All that to say we have hit a wall of frustration. We realize that we are in a waiting game but anyone that knows anything about our family extended or immediate knows we need a plan and we need to know what to expect next. Someone mentioned to my mom last night that they did not understand why the surgeon would not do surgery right now. We all went to bed last night knowing the one person we were looking for today was the surgeon. He should up right at 4 and set with us until 4:45. He quickly picked up on our frustration and let us know that he was getting it from the nurses too. He told us that cat scan looked like they wanted it to. The abase in the colon had shrunk to 1/3 of the size it was. The pocket of fluid behind the pancreas had shown no sign of abase and had not grown any. We asked him what we were waiting for on the gallbladder surgery. He said that he need to be up walking the halls and eating food. Pretty much my dad needs to be stronger to have the surgery. He also explained to us that he thinks that everyone is of the opinion that he has dead tissue floating around inside from the infection. The surgeon assured us that if this was the case he would have to do immediate surgery. So far this is not the case and we can wait. He said that if he was to go in now there is a chance he would disturb the fluid build up because that would potentially cause an infection. Overall we have had a good day. My dad is noticing everything and responding any way he can think of.

Please pray for the lung issue. That is his greatest need right now.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Tuesday Morning Post

He slept well last night. The nurse said that he would wake up and help her move him around and then go back to sleep. He is currently down in x-ray for his cat scan. We should (hopefully) know about that by the end of the day. The kidney numbers and white blood cell count are slightly elevated today. They have not spoken to any doctors yet so we are unsure what they are thinking. They have not done a breathing test today. Our prayer is that he passes it with flying colors. My mom said that he seemed tired today but physical therapy came in and worked with him. I will post more as I get it today.

Thanks for the great comments. Please keep sending them. We tell him all about everyone that is commenting and praying. He seems very encouraged by them.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Monday Evening Post

We had an okay day today. The nurse made him get out of bed on his own and sit in a chair for two hours this morning. It was good for him to do it, but it made him very tired. He did it again for an hour this evening. We had good visits today even though he was very tired. All of his stats looked and they say that the lung x-ray looked better today. I have not heard for sure if they were able to do the cat scan today. They will do it tomorrow. They did not do dialysis today. The numbers show that his kidney activity had returned to normal. There is one number that is slightly off. They will keep an eye on that.

Please continue to pray for peace and rest. The big prayer request and hurdle is still the breathing and getting of the ventilator.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Monday Morning Update

He had an okay night last night. The nurse said that his white blood cell count is SLIGHTLY elevated today. I think it was up to 13. Normal is 11. He also had a slight fever. Hopefully we will get some news on that today. They are going to do a cat scan later today to make sure there are no more abases and the pocket of fluid around the pancreas is okay. We are still on the ventilator. Hopefully we will get another update from the new lung doctor today that is as good as yesterday. My mom asked that I put these two main prayer request in here. The first is for rest, peace, and patience for my dad. He is starting to show signs of discouragement. The second is for the lungs and breathing. We are hoping to get him off the ventilator soon!

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Sunday Evening Update

Good Evening!

We have had a relatively good day, but we are not off the ventilator yet. The lung doctor had good things to say today. They did the test this morning to see if he could handle the breathing on his own. He could not. They tried it while he was asleep and he did perfect. This makes us think that it is in his head. We have encouraged him all day to slow down on his breathing. The nurse just explained to me that he needs to be at about 15 breaths per minute. He is currently at 40. I have tried to tell him to take a breath and count to 4 and then take another breath. He only started breathing faster. Please pray that he has another good night and then is able to do well on his breathing test tomorrow. He is also starting to get discouraged. He has been in ICU for 2 weeks now. I can only imagine how he must feel. The nurse gave him a sheet of paper with letters set up like a keypad last night. He typed that he wants to go home. We told him that he has come so far but still has a bit more to accomplish before he can come home. He does know that Christmas is coming. He showed me last night that was only 5 days left. He is off all medicine right now. That is a huge answer to prayer. All he is getting is food through an IV, saline, and pain medicine. It is incredible the difference in the last few days. We are giving God all the glory for that. We know that without your prayers we would not be where we are today. We are so grateful for them. I believe I speak for my entire family when I say thank you for your prayers and kindness to us. We have really felt God's love through your actions.

Please pray for
1) Peace, rest and encouragement
2) He does well on the breathing test tomorrow
3) He continues to make progress


Thanks for the prayers!!!

Sunday Morning Update

We had a good night last night. He slept the ENTIRE night! He has not done that since this all started over two weeks ago. He had his best reading ever on the breathing reading and he is trying again on his c-pat (breathing mask) this morning. If he does well, he will be off the ventilator. Our prayer is that he is off the ventilator and the heart continues to pump strong.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Saturday Evening Post

We had an ok day today. The numbers for the most part looks good. One of our big concerns is the breathing. They had him up in a chair tonight trying to help strengthen the lungs. Our big thing is that we get a lot of "opinions" for anyone and everyone back in the ICU. We did get a good report from the heart doctor. The kidney doctor thought that the kidneys were starting to put out but it is still very concentrated.

Again, our main prayer concern is for the breathing.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Saturday Morning update

He had a rough night last night. He had a hard time sleeping but the nurse thinks it has more to do with him sleeping to much yesterday. They started to try and lower him off the ventilator. That did not go so well. They will try again tomorrow. Overall the numbers look good.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Friday Afternoon Update

I just got the update from the surgeon. I am home today with Grant. My aunt typed this up for me to share with everyone.


The surgeon was just out and visited with Becky, and the rest of the family that were here. The update for this AM. Frank went to CT this morning to do further scanning of an area in the lower bowel that showed a “fluid pocket” on yesterdays scan. In the Radiology department under CT guidance they took fluid out of the abscess and have determined that it was the source of the infection that he has been trying to fight off. He has had a history of diverticuli and one of those had perforated and formed the abscess that now has a drainage tube that they have left in. The plan is to repeat the CT scan on Monday and make sure that things are continuing to improve.
The prayer is that now that his system doesn’t have to work so hard to fight the infection, that the problems with his heart will correct themselves.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Friday Morning Update

Hello!

Sorry this is late this morning. I was hoping that I would have more news to report. My mom spoke to the lung doctor this morning and he thinks that we may be able to take the ventilator off today!!! He is waiting to see how this procedure on the colon goes this morning before he makes his final decision. My dad is in the procedure now and we have not heard any updates. I will have more later!

Thanks for the prayers!!!

THursday Evening Update

We had a fairly good day. We are still making small steps in the right direction. The white blood cell count is down to 13, but he is still running a slight fever. They were able to pull off some fluid in dialysis but not as much as they had. The positive part of that is he was putting out a more urine. We are hoping that this means the kidneys are coming back.

Ok, now to the big news of the day... They did another scan of the abdomen. They found a pocket of fluid near the pancreas and fluid in the colon. We will have more information on this in the morning. They will do another scan of the area a different way tomorrow and then will decide what to do. There is a chance that they will have to drain the fluid from the colon. This is potentially where the infection is that caused the white blood cell count to go up and the fevers. The doctor told us that there is a chance that this may help the heart a little until he is more stable for the valve surgery.

Our big prayer request for tonight is that the scan and procedure go well in the morning.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Thursday Morning

Good Morning!

We have had a delay on seeing doctors this morning.  We did speak to the lung doctor and he was pleased with what he saw.  The lungs look better.  He is currently in Dialysis.  He will receive blood again today.  Our concern right now is where the blood is going.  The lung dr thought there was a chance that he was bleeding into the pancreas.  he said that if that was the case then it would just take time to absorb.  There is a chance that the blood transfusion will be a daily thing but we are not sure.  We are encouraged because the doctor was encouraged this morning.  We will see what the rest of the day brings.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Wed. Night Update

We had a fairly good day today. The doctors all agreed that we took very small steps in the right direction today. The progress is overshadowed by the confusion about the heart problem. We were told today that the heart surgeon would not consider doing surgery at this time. We are caught in a very frustrating circle of he can't have the surgery for the heart until he gets more stable yet he cannot get more stable without the surgery. That sums up everyone's frustration and confusion with the situation.

We do know that Satan is the creator of confusion and frustration. We trust and pray that God gives way to the truth and the answers to this.

Our prayer request for now are
1) The blood pressure becomes stable and we can start get getting him off some of the meds for that
2) The lungs continue to look good and we can take the ventilator out soon
3) The abdominal pressure will stay where it is
4) The white blood cell count will continue to go down and the antibiotics he is receiving will not do harm to the colon and other good bacteria
5) Rest and Peace for everyone
6) Wisdom for the doctors as they try to figure out what is wrong

My dad's youngest brother Randy came into town last evening and my mom's sister Debbie came this morning. It has been a wonderful comfort to all of us to have them here. My uncle was able to go back and communicate with him this evening. My dad was awake and alert and shaking his head, rolling his eyes, and using his hands to communicate.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

We will be sure to show him all the comments you have put on here once he is able. They are such an encouragement to all of us. THANKS!!!!!!!

Wed. Morning Update

Good Morning!

We have seen two Doctors so far this morning.  The pulmonary Doctor said that the lungs look good still.  The white blood cell count dropped to 17 from 29.  The heart doctor is more confused then he was yesterday.  He actually said that all doctors involved are confused.  The pressure readings on the heart are showing that the valve is not the problem.  They are doing a blood transfusion along with dialysis now.  We are just unsure what will happen.  It is in God's hands and we really do not want it anywhere else!  

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Tuesday Evening Post

I think we are all leaving the hospital encouraged tonight. We really don't have any answers but we are seeing some good signs. I am sorry if this is a repeat from earlier. We were told the lungs look good. If they were damaged then that would be a huge problem. From my simple understanding of what is going on this is a surprising thing to the dr. The valve that is leaking should be putting blood into the lungs but there is no sign of that. They were able to pull off 4 liters of fluid during dialysis today. They were unable to pull much off yesterday because his heart could not handle it. They changed the heart medicine from one that was to help the blood pressure to one that is designed to help the valve problem. I went in there around 6 and the nurse told me that they were slowly taking him off the blood pressure meds but that his blood pressure had stabilized at a normal level. The heart dr will be back in the morning to review all of this and will see where to go. My mom told me that the nurse told her that she was very encouraged and he was giving her the thumbs up that he understood what was going on and is ok with it. That is a lot different then last night where he shook his head no at one of the dr that was telling him they were going to do a procedure.

God has been good to us today as he is everyday. I will let you know more tomorrow. Please keep praying about the heart issues and wisdom of all doctors involved.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Tuesday Afternoon Update

We got the test results back and it is the valve.  They put in a catherder into the the heart and are now checking the pressure in the chambers.  They are changing his medicines from a blood pressure medicine to one to help his heart pump.  We really do not have much information beyond that.  We do need the prayers.  The Dr need prayers for wisdom because they are trying to figure out exactly what will help.  They are changing the port for the dialysis now and we will go from there.  The silver lining of today is that he has not gotten any worse.  The lungs are clear which is good.  The Dr are doing everything they can.  We have a great team of Dr.  We just pray for wisdom, guidance, rest, and peace.

I did fix the settings so that comments can be posted now.  Not sure why it was set up wrong.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

PIcs of the Kids

Tuesday Morning Update 12/16

I did not think when I started this that we would get back Tuesday.  I thought that we would be in a room having the gallbladder surgery.  

We talked to the heart dr this morning.  This is the same Dr we had for the stroke.  It was very nice to a familiar face.  He is going to send a scope down the back of his throat about 1:30 to see what is going on with the valve.  The pray request for that is that there is nothing wrong with the valve.  

He rested last night.  The heart rate is down just a bit this morning which by itself is good.  They still have him on the same amount of medicine.  He is currently in dialysis and our hope is that they are able to take off some fluid today.  

I will post an update when we hear from the heart Dr.  Please pray at 1:30 that the valve is perfectly fine.  God is in control.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Monday Evening Post

He is resting comfortably tonight. Dialysis did not go like they wanted it to. They were unable to take much liquid. The heart is our biggest concern right now. The cardiologist is coming in the morning to update us and let us know what we can expect. Our pray is that he stablizes and build enough strength to have the heart surgery or they do not find anything to operate on tomorrow. The white blood cell count is still elevated and he has started running a bit of a fever. They are going to change his dialysis catherder tomorrow and test the current one to see if that is where the infection is. They got the oxygen on the ventaliator down to 45% pure oxygen today. That is a good thing.

This is all in the Lord's hands and I would want it know where else.

Thank you for your prayers!!!

Monday Morning Update

He rested well last night but had some issues with his heart rate and blood pressure. The dr told us that they did not see an abases in the scan from yesterday. That a huge answer to prayer. If there was one they would have to do surgery immediately. He is currently in dialysis and hopefully we will see some progress after that. They are discouraging us from spending a lot of time in the room with him. This making it hard on my mother. Hopefully we will see the dr today. The heart dr is the big one we are waiting to see.

The prayer needs are
1) rest and peace
2) heart problems
3) white blood cell count

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Sunday Evening Update

We had a rough time today. I am going to try to explain what all has happened but let me know if you have any questions. My mom called around 6 this morning and was told that the night was ok but not great. By the time her and Dan had gotten there by 8:30 things had gone south. They were informed of the heart murmur and were told that the head cardiologist was coming to see him. When they saw my dad they noticed that he was not breathing very well. They tried to do an EKG but that was unsuccessful. The abdominal area had pushed so far up that they could not get a reading on the lungs or the heart. The cardiologist came by and told us that they think the main valve is leaking. They can not confirm how bad this is because they would have to go down his throat to look at the back of his heart. This procedure was much to dangerous in the condition he is in. Plus they would not be able to do the surgery if there is a problem. So that Dr left. My mother was in the room with my dad and he began to crash. The nurses ran in and stabilized him. They had the Surgeon come back to put him on a ventilator. We were told to go and wait in the waiting room while they tried to stabilize him on the ventilator. The surgeon came out about an hour and half later. He informed us that they are now able to do the procedure to look at the back of his heart. He is also not having to put energy into breathing so he can fight the infection that they are trying to find. They have brought a infectious disease specialist in to try and help them find the correct antibiotic to kill the infection. The kidneys had also slowed down this morning. The nurse thought that was much better this evening too. We will do dialysis in the morning and they will take off more liquid. The kidney dr thinks he will probably go to dialysis everyday for awhile.

Ok I know that was a lot of information. God is good. My mom and I were talking earlier that we are both completely at peace with this. God has brought the correct people at the correct time today. Someone was at the hospital when he crashed. She was such a comfort and was able to come help with the babies so that we were not worried about them. We also had a couple show up that were such a blessing in comforting us about the ventilator. We also had a couple that the man works with my dad. They were an incredible encouragement to us. God is so good at providing just what we need when we need it.

Thanks for the prayers!!! Please keep praying!!!

Sunday Update

Well we have gotten bad news this morning.  He has formed a heart murmur.  We are waiting on the Dr to come out and tell us what is our next step.  

We know that God is control of the whole situation. 

Please keep him in your prayers!

Sunday Morning Update

Good morning everyone!

He slept for about 4 or 5 hours last night. He would not keep on the oxygen mask. We took Bekah up there last night to see him for the first time. The nurse said that he woke up yelling for Bekah to bring him a knife to cut off the restraints. He does not do dialysis today. We are hoping that they will get him up for just a few minutes. We have not heard about the white blood cell count or the lungs yet today. I will let you know when I know more.

Thanks for the prayers!

Saturday Evening Post

Sorry this is late tonight.

He acted a little better this evening. The breathing is still our big concern. They are leaning more towards the lungs causing the change in the white blood cell count. The pancreas numbers have maintained a normal level today. They did take off two liters of fluid during dialysis today. The Dr said that when that happened his heart rate and blood pressure dropped closer to normal. We are hoping that they will get him up and moving some tomorrow. He told my mom and I that he was getting up when we were visiting him.

Our pray concerns for now are
1) Rest for him and the family
2) Clearing of the lungs and improved ability to breath
3) Wisdom and Patience for the dr and nurses
4) Safe travel for Dan

The time in ICU started one week ago. He has become very disoriented and agitated. We think that he will possibly be moved out of ICU as soon as Monday. While this will help his mental state this opens a whole new set of concerns for my mother and family. She will have a harder time resting because she will feel the need to stay up there overnight. Please pray that she gets rest now and has peace about this situation later.

I feel like I am rambling at this point. I am going to go to sleep and will possible get an update from the night nurse early in the morning. Hopefully we will have encouraging news!

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Link

I found this link this morning. It tells what all is going on. When you read it anytime it sounds like it is worst case scenrio then that is what he is dealing with. But God is in control.

http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec09/ch124/ch124b.html

Please let me know if you have any questions or anything you would like to know.

I will try to do a happy post this afternoon of what his three grandkids have been up to.

lauren says thanks for the prayers for papa!!!

She typed that herself with a little help!

Saturday Morning update

He had another rough night last night. They had to restrain his arms again. He was going to put on the mask last night in hopes that would help him rest. I am not sure why they restrained him because the mask was not required. The night nurse told us that he kept taking his legs out of the bed.

The white blood cell count is up today. They did a culture yesterday and another today to find out what they are looking at. The dr indicated they will do a ct scan either tomorrow or Monday.

We have lots of concerns that we want you to pray for.
1) The white blood cell count and the infection.
2) Overall rest and peace for him and my mother
3) The nurses and Dr. That they will know what to do and that we will be a good testimony to them.
4) Daniel has a safe trip home tomorrow and has peace as he goes to work next week.

We were telling him last night about all the people praying for him and he said that he is thankful.

Thank you for all the prayers!

Friday Afternoon Update

Hi Everyone!

We have a couple of specific request this afternoon. The white blood cell count is elevated and his breathing is more shallow then they would like. We have gotten positive reports today. They are not seeming as encouraged as they were yesterday, but they are still positive.

Thanks for all the prayers!!!

Friday Morning Update

He had a very rough night last night. The nurse said that he slept maybe a total of 10 minutes. They are trying to take him off the sedative and that is causeing his unsettled behaviour. All numbers are still looking good. We will probably not be able to see him much this morning because they are trying to get him to rest.

Thanks for the prayers!!

Thursday Evening Update

Dad has a good day today. He has been completely off the oxygen mask today. They also took him off all of his blood pressure medicine. He did a round of dialysis ealier today. The pancreas numbers have stablized. Everyone involved is encouraged by his progress. We hoped that we would see his progress to recovery happen as fat as he went down hill. We were told not to expect that. Turns out that he is making much faster progress then they expected! God is so very good!!!

We do have a couple of prayer request for tomorrow. The first is that we will continue to see progress with the kidneys without a dialysis treatment. The other is that the pancreas numbers maintain their current level. There is still a chance that they could start to go back up. We are not out of the woods but we are closer then we ever thought we would be.

Thanks for the prayers!

Thursday Morning Update

He had a good night last night. The Drs are seeing steady progress. We should see slight improvements from now on. Hopefully we will not have any more set backs. There is some confusions on dialysis today. We are not sure if he will have it. Right now he is having a hard time making sense of what is going on. We are being told this is completely normal for someone in his condition. I will let you what we find out as the day progresses!

Thanks for the prayers!

Wed. Afternoon Update

I have been up to the hospital to see him. He looks much better now then the last time I saw him Monday. He had just gotten back from dialysis and everyone I spoke with was encouraged. They were trying to get him off the oxygen mask again. His level should be above 92. It was running between 95 and 99. But remember he has been on 100% oxygen for the last few days. The lung Dr was very encouraging this morning. He told my mom that we are making steady progress.

I will have hopefully have more news to report later.

Thanks for the prayers!

Wed Morning Update

Morning Everyone!

Everyone got some sleep last night!!!  My dad rested well.  They took the restraints off last evening.  The nurse called to tell my mom that he slept all night and did not take his mask off once.  He does think that everyone is trying to kill him.  

I am about to load up my car and get on the road.  I will update once I am there and hear more!  

Have a good morning!

Thanks for the prayers!

Tuesday Night Update

Ok... We made it through Tuesday!!!  Overall we had a good day.  His dialysis was during the two morning visitation times.  He thought that my mom was not coming back to see him.  They took the oxygen mask off for about an hour and a half this afternoon.  The level dropped so it went back on.  There is still a chance for the ventilator because the Dr would like to try to start lowering the level of oxygen they are putting in.  We did not get much other information then that.  I am headed back up in the morning.  Updates on here may be sporadic tomorrow because of travel and getting Grant settled.  

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Surgery Update

The surgeon who will perform the gallbladder surgery was encouraging today.  He was willing to talk about doing the surgery.  Yesterday he was discussing other surgeries we may have to do before that one.  He said that they may do the surgery next week.

Thanks for your prayers!

Tuesday Morning Update on Frank

He went to dialysis this morning at 8:30 so we have had a slow morning with news.  My mom spoke to the lung Dr this morning and he saw some slight improvements today!  He said they were going to take the oxygen mask off for just a bit today.  It will go back on but we are going to see what happens.

My oldest brother Daniel and his wife and two young daughters are now in town from Chicago.  I have returned home to Austin for today to pick up Grant.  I will head back up probably tomorrow.  

Please keep us all in your prayers!

Thanks!  

Update on Dad

Hi Everyone!

First off I would like to tell everyone thank you from my family for the prayers and thoughts as my dad goes through this.  We know that the God we serve is good.  We are amazed once again at how much my dad and mom mean to so many people.  Thank you!!!

I know that there are many people wanting to know what is going on so I thought that this may be the best way to get the information out.  Please understand I am not an english major and I am tired.  These two things combined to make it look like I should still be in junior high english.  So please forgive me for my typing.

On Thursday December 4th, my dad started having a gallbladder attack.  My mother took him to the ER around 2 in the morning.  The Dr told him that he would need to have his gallbladder removed soon but they were not going to do that then and the schedule was full.  So he returned home at around 9 on Friday morning.  At about 2 Saturday morning he was in an incredible amount of pain.  My mother returned him to the ER.  They diagnosed it as pancreatitis and admitted him to the hospital.  After twelve hours in the ER they finally had a room for him.  They were told the pancreas would have to heal before they could do anything on the gallbladder.  Around 10 that evening my mom noticed the urine output was dropping.  The nurses also noticed that.  They worked with him for a bit and found out that he was having kidney failure.  The nurses moved him immediately to ICU.  This was pleasing to us because he would get much more attention there.  That is the history of how we got to where we are.

So since we have arrived we have seen many things happen.  We were quickly told that this is not good.  We were also told that he would get much more sick before we would see any progress in the other direction.  By Sunday night you could visually see the swelling caused by the liquids going in and not coming out.  All the blood work were getting back showed that the kidneys were getting worse.  The Dr said that the chance of survival decreases 20 to 25% for every organ we lose.  We were at a 70% survival rate then.  Yesterday morning we learned that liver was starting to go bad.  But we were encouraged because the lungs were still working well.  They have put him on an oxygen mask and have him sedated for comfort.  But the Dr. were telling us that he was not as puffed up as they thought he would be.  Around 2:30 yesterday he started his first dialysis treatment.  He made it through but was having trouble with low blood pressure and heart rate.  But the Dr. was encouraged because they had gotten off 5 lbs of liquid. My mom and I were able to go back and see him at 8:30 last night.  He was fast asleep but looked a little better.  We talked to the nurse and she told us that they had gotten both his blood pressure and heart rate more stable and were able to take him off some of the blood pressure medicine.  They had gotten the results of the post dialysis blood work.  The liver was still a little off.  But the kidney had finally started to drop!!!  My mom and brother David were allowed to go back and visit at about midnight last night.  They told me that they were very encouraged because he was more alert then he had been since Saturday.  We went home last night very encouraged by our baby steps.  

We are not out of the woods but we are seeing some progress.  Please continue to pray!  

A Starting Point

I set up a blog for my MOPS group at church and thought that it was so easy I should create one for us.  This will hopefully be the easiest way to keep everyone update on all of our going ons.  We keep pretty busy and are hard to keep up with most of the time.  

I will hit a few highlights of the last year.  Bryan and I were married on June 30, 2007 in a wonderful ceremony in Las Colinas.  We welcomed the newest member of our little family on March 30, 2008.  Yes we can do the math and I am sure you have already done it.  We spent our one year anniversary celebrating Grant's 3 months of life.  He is a great baby.  We have embraced parenting.  That probably has a lot to do with how easy he has made it.  Okay, that hits most of the big highlights of the past year and half.

Grant is a great little traveler.  Our most recent trip was to spend a week helping Grandma and Grandpa Douglas in Indiana.  Grant had a lot of fun with his cousins at their church's trunk or treat.  He also loved his Great Grandpa.  I think that had something to do with the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup that he feed him.  Thankfully he didn't show any allergic reaction.  Grandpa has a history of feeding the Great Grandkids things.  

This is just a snap shot of all that has gone on recently.  Hopefully Bryan and I will keep this up to date.