Saturday Evening Update

Things went okay today.  The lung doctor has taken him off of all pain medicine.  He was complaining of stomach pain this evening so the nurse gave him something.  We are unsure what it is.  He has not been resting well.  Please pray that he will be able to rest tonight.  He had a man come to visit today that had thee same thing a little over a year ago.  He is doing great now.  My dad was tried from his busy morning.  So the visit was not as long of profitable as it could of been.  Hopefully he will come back by another day.  His mother-in-law is a volunteer at the hospital and I had talked to her about what was going on and her son-in-law's experience.  She said that the thing that got them through was a strong church family and a great prayer chain.  I told her that we were blessed by both.  

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Saturday morning update

He was up in the recliner when my mom got there. Everything looks good. The only exception is the white blood cell count. Please pray that they find a quick resolution to this ongoing issue. Also, please pray for his physical therapy sessions. Pray that he is using each one to their fullest.

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Friday Night Update

He spoke tonight!  They put the valve into the trach and he spoke his first words in about 3 weeks.  He told those in the room that he loved them.  He also wanted to watch the video that Bekah had sent of the girls.  He had it turned up as loud as possible.  All the nurses were listening to Lauren say Papa from the their station outside of the door.  My said they acted very excited to see him showing interest in the DVD.  He started speech therapy today.  He will have the same therapist that he had after the stroke.  She is very fond of my dad.  She said that he uses him as an example of a real success.  She is sad to see him under these circumstances but is excited to get to help him.  

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Friday Morning

Everything looks pretty good this morning.  The white blood cell count is elevated a little more, but there is no fever.  He was up and in a chair this morning.  My mom thinks that he is starting to show a little more life.  Hopefully they are able to get him up and moving a little today.  

Thanks for the prayers!!!

Thursday Evening

He had a pretty good day.  His fever dropped on its own.  They told my mom this evening that he has good reason to be tired tonight because they worked him this morning.  The nurse said that he will be up and walking a little bit tomorrow.  That will be a slow progress since he has not walked since the first week in December.  All the levels are reported being at an okay level.  They took out the dialysis port this afternoon.  Overall things are progressing the right way!  He still has a some hurdles to jump and a long road to regain his strength.  

Thanks for the prayers!!!  

Thursday Morning

He had an okay night.  He slept about four hours.  The nurse told him that he was getting up this morning and that he would need to sit in the chair for two hours.  He does have a bit of a fever this morning.  Hopefully that will not stay around today.  Please pray that the doctors and nurses will have wisdom and that my dad will not get discouraged.  

Thanks for the prayers!!!

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!!!