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!