Walking

This week Stephanie finally received her prosthesis leg!  She has been visiting with the manufacturer of her leg over the last handful of weeks getting everything fine tuned.  Last week she brought it home and this morning gave us all a treat!  What a miracle of the Lord she is!

They are HOME!!

Praise the Lord, Art and Stephanie are HOME!!!!!  They got home around 3 and Stephanie is adjusting well.  Thank you all who have signed up to bring meals.  We will post some pictures of Stephanie back home this weekend. We hope you all have a wonderful and Merry Christmas!

******NEED******

If you are able to shovel or help with snow removal...can you give Art a call?  530-414-1525. He really shouldn't be out there shoveling snow with his leg newly healed.

Prayer requeszt

Today Stephanie fell and injured herself.  She was in a lot of pain and medicated appropriately.  PLEASE PRAY that she recovers quickly and will still be released Christmas Eve.

Coming Home!!!

Yesterday we met with Stephanie's neurologist for a followup appointment.  She is doing absolutely AMAZING!!!  The doctor is just blow away by her progress.  He let us know yesterday that her most recent CT scan was free of any fluid accumulation on her left side of her brain (opposite side from her injury).  This was wonderful news, since that had been a concern.  There was still injury showing up on the scan...but he let us know that time should take care of that.
At the Rehab Hospital she is moving through the therapy programs.  She is learning to keep a "memory notebook" to aid in her short term memory.  She is learning how to get in and out of a wheelchair and more amble for her return to her normal life.  Speaking of normal life, we are excited to share that she is TENTATIVELY going to be released next week on CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!  We are so excited that she'll be home soon!!!!  Once she gets home she'll continue to have therapy through "Rehab without Walls".  They'll teach her how to really integrate back into her normal life by taking her through her normal routine and reteaching her how to do everything from her wheelchair and then her prosthetic once she is strong enough to use it.

Specifically, here are some prayer requests for now:
-Healing for the vertigo that she is experiencing that makes her very sick.
-That she would come home Christmas Eve
-That her stump would not hurt (she fell out of her wheelchair reaching for something the other day)
-That she would be patient as she relearns how to navigate through life.
-That we would have love, patients and unending support for her as she comes home.

With her coming home I (Jenn) am looking for a video style baby monitor to      set up in their home.  This will allow me to keep an eye on her when she in in     there by herself and I am upstairs in my home.  If you have one of these laying  around the house, that you won't be using for 3-4 months....could I borrow it?   
**MEALS**
Friends who would love to bring them a meal for two would be much                  appreciated.  Stephanie won't be cooking for the beginning of     her time home, and meals would help out A LOT!!!  I have set up a meal train    with address of people I have.  Please forward and share this train with those     you know who  would like to bring them a meal.  The meal train can be found at:                                
https://www.mealtrain.com/view/?id=qcHDoO%2bT%2fAc%3d                         
                                                                                                                    
You will need to make an account (or sign in if you have never used this             website).                                                                                                       
Thank you in advance for your help!!                                                               

If you are unable to log in to the meal train....please either reply/comment to this post or email Jenn & Jason at aquajenn@sbcglobal.net with the date and meal you plan to bring.

This was taken last night.  We are looking forward to getting 

ALL (13) of the grandchildren with her for a very special photo!!!

"Missy" Therapy

Come and see what our God has done,

what awesome miracles He preforms for people.

Psalm 66:5

This afternoon we went down to see Stephanie.  She is doing SO GOOD!!!!  It is amazing how every time we see her there is such a marked improvement.  Her memory is coming back and is pretty sharp for the most part.  She is blurry on a few areas of life and sometimes calls people by the wrong name.  We are so thankful that the Lord has healed her memory and continues to heal her brain injury.  Our good friend who is also a nurse at the rehab hospital suggested we bring Art and Stephanie's pooch down for a visit.  We did and what a joy it was to see Stephanie respond and be so happy to see her beloved puppy-dog, Missy. 

We enjoyed a very long visit with her and were able to take her, in a wheelchair, out to the front lobby to visit.  It was nice to sit with her in a "normal" environment and spend time with her like usual.  She is having hard time with eating.  Her appetite is minimal and she has great nausea and discomfort after eating, but we had the opportunity to sit with her during dinner and encourage her to eat as much as she possibly could.  This is definitely an area to pray for.  The nurse also shared with us she might have another hospital born virus of the intestine.  =(  She's having tests to deny or confirm this.

We are so overjoyed to have our "Miracle Mom" with us to enjoy this Christmas Season.  Thank you so much for your continued prayers.

Some specific prayer requests:

Eating/appetite.  That she would have nausea and discomfort after eating.

That she would have the hospital-born virus of her small intestine.

Continued improvement of her memory.

Praises:

Where to start.  She is doing great!  God is so over the top amazing good!!

Into Rehab

Today was another BIG day!!  Stephanie was released from the neuro floor of Renown Hospital and placed in the Renown Rehab Hospital.  This facility will give her intense therapies needed to re enter "normal" life.  In many cases they will be re teaching her the skills she needs to know.  We are so thankful for her quick healing and ability to go to this new facility.  Along with going to rehab, all of her tubes and such were REMOVED!!!  This is a HUGE, PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!  No more IV, feeding tube or trache!  She passed all of her tests and the medical staff felt comfortable removing these things.  She is now on a diet of foods that are the consistency of baby food and thickened liquid.  She absolutely can not have any (normal) water or food other than what is served her right now.  She can continue to have visitors.  Typically the therapy day ends around 3:30 pm and visitors after that time are a good thing to help wear her out so she will sleep well.  Part of her brain injury is keeping her awake for long periods of time, so helping her get tired in natural ways (I.e. Not sleeping meds) is good.  As of now she is in room 126, the same room Art was in...although we have been told she will probably be moved into a room a couple of doors closer to the nurses station.  Please continue to pray for her.   Pray specifically for her therapists as they work with her.  That she would keep moving forward in her healing.  Pray for visits with friends and family that they would be helpful to the healing of her brain.  Pray that her immune system would remain strong as we enter the cold and flu season.  Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.  Words can not express how thankful we are.

Hold onto your hats....she's FULLY alert, talking, and interacting

Happy Thanksgiving! What a HUGE day we are all thankful for.  It started this morning at 6:30AM when we got a phone call from Stephanie!!!  She said she was waiting for us to come pick her up and ready to come home.  We were floored that she was talking so well and so fluently.  Mind you she just had her skull put back together yesterday morning!  Art (dad) got to the hospital first and then the rest of us joined her before lunch and were A-M-A-Z-E-D!!  We spent the next hour talking with here and helping her understand what had happened.  Her short term memory is pretty shot (right now)....but her long term is great!  We enjoyed a picnic lunch and then came back for another visit before heading home.   Arthur (brother) took a video of her talking with us.  We hope you are encouraged and blessed as much as we were/are.

In the meantime she still has quite a bit of rehab to go through.  She's currently in ICU and will be until they remove one of her drains from her skull.  She also has a trache/speaking valve and feeding tube.  She needs to learn how to take care of herself and go through extensive rehab with walking and balancing.  There is still a road ahead of her....but we are more confident than ever that she will come through.