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.  

Bone Flap back IN!!

Just got off the phone with Stephanie's ICU nurse.  She had her surgery this morning and was just visited by her neurologist and he is very happy with how the surgery went and how she is recovering!  PRAISE THE LORD!!!  This is her (hopefully) final major surgery for a good long while.  She will go in for a CT scan this afternoon/evening to just check on everything, but if all keeps on going as it is she should be moved back to the neuro floor tomorrow.  Thank you SOOOOOO much for your prayers this morning.

Look who was at the shop today!

Today Art started back at the shop.  He is excited to be back and looking forward to getting back into his normal life.  He'll be commuting up from his temporary home in Reno and spending the evenings with Stephanie at the hospital.  Here's a shot of him today with a couple of the grandkids. 

We also had a quick visit with Stephanie.  She is doing well, and even spent some time in a wheelchair!!!  The nurse shared that they were working with Steph today on shuffling her feet to move her around.  She is also talking SOOOOO well!  They encouraged us to "make" her use her words as much as possible, to strengthen her vocal chords.  On our way out, we ran into Dr Demeers, her brain surgeon.  He too was encouraged with her recovery and confirmed that he'll be doing her bone flap surgery first thing Wednesday morning, and has full expectation that she will do well with having the bone placed back in.

Continue to pray for her kinked neck.  It seems to be giving her headaches.  Jason and I have rubbed her neck and shoulders the last two visits, and she says it helps.

We look forward to giving a report on her, post-op, sometime Thursday or Friday.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Doing well, upcoming surgery

We are coming in to the week of Thanksgiving, and we have SOOOO much to be thankful for!  Stephanie is doing really well.  She was very interactive with Jason and myself today.  Using her speak valve to say things to us and asking us questions.  Her nurses are very encouraged about her.  On a side note, I (Jenn) had the privilege of meeting 4 of her therapist on Saturday at a church women's retreat.  What a blessing it was to hear stories and thoughts from these gals as they help her through therapy every day.  They said that she is such a joy to work with and so eager to try things for them.  The speech therapists told me right now they are trying to get her to pick up on a conversation and finish the line to a song.  A sweet story about this, was that the speech therapist said she was asking Stephanie about the business (Shepherds auto body) and wasn't really getting her to chime in.  Then she asked, "well, who makes decisions in the business?", her matter of fact response, "God.".  When you know Stephanie and Art, you know how accurate that statement is.  Her occupational therapists are trying to get her (hard-wired) memory/reflexes to kick in.  They shared that the knowledge is in there, it is just getting her brain to remember and "reconnect" that.

Back to the report from the hospital tonight.  She is doing well.  She has tolerated/passed all of the "blue dye tests" and now awaits a final test ( more on that in a moment) before they can begin the process of removing the feeding tube and trache.  Once again we were reminded how SLOW this process is.  On Wednesday she is having surgery on her skull/bone flap.  Once she is back in the neuro unit (she'll spend 24 hrs in ICU after her bone flap surgery), and she is stable and at her baseline, they'll do a proceedure that uses a camera and goes and looks at Stephanie's airway/vocal cords.  If they don't find any damage to those organs then they'll feel comfortable moving in the direction of removing the trache and feeding tube.  IF there is an abnormality/injury she will need a feeding tube into her stomach, and therefore, the feeding tube in her nose removed.  This is a requirement for her to be moved out of the hospital and over to the rehab hospital.  We are excited that they are talking about those goals for her recovery now!!!

Last week she did fall/get out of bed, but PRAISE THE LORD didn't have any injuries.  She is now seatbelted in to her bed (although she has figured out how to undo the buckle) to keep this from happening again.  She also needs to wear her helmet at all times, should this happen again (although they are taking measures to make sure it doesn't).  So, if you go to visit her and you see her helmet on her it's nothing bad, just protecting her brain.  She is scheduled to go in on Wed to have to bone flap put in.  

Her nurse shared this evening that Stephanie is such an upbeat and positive patient that those factors are really helping her progress....as well as all the love, support, and visits from family and friends!!

As far as how you can help her, right now...if you are able to visit and stay for 1-4 hours...we could use you.  Almost every day she spends time in the cardiac chair.  It is really needed for her to not be left alone while she's sitting in it.  If you are able, and willing, to go spend a chunk on time with her, would you give Jenn a call at home(530-550-8941)She'll call the hospital to find out the approximate time frame she'll be in the chair that day., It would be great to have someone with her during that time.  Take a book to read to her.  Cards or chess to "play with her".   She doesn't need much, just the company and watchful eye of someone who cares for her.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

*Surgery on Wednesday to put back in her bone flap in her skull.  Prayers that there would not be any sort of infection, guidance of the surgeons hands and that Stephanie's body would respond well.

*Continued healing and strengthening of there swallowing muscles.  That she would continue to improve and be able to have her trache and feeding tube removed.
*Her kinked neck.  Laying in a hopsital bed for 6 weeks will really do a number on your back and neck.  She has no neck injury from the accident....but was in a lot of pain and discomfort today due to a kinked neck and tight upper shoulders.  Pray that this discomfort would go away.
*Wisdom for the nurses and therapists as they work with her.
*Continued patience for our family.  Its pretty safe to say we are all pretty tired and just wanting Grandma home (although we know it won't be for a while).
*Comfort for our family as we go through the upcoming holiday week.  That we would be reminded of God's goodness and faithfulness and not experience pain, sorrow or fear as a result of the current situation of Stephanie.

Getting ready for another surgery

Just got off the phone with Stephanie's nurse.  She was a huge source of information.  She confirmed that Steph WILL be having another surgery on her leg tomorrow afternoon at 3:30.  This is the "routine" cleaning out the wound surgery.  Her injury takes a lot of time to heal and has to be periodically cleaned out of dead tissue.  Pray for her as she goes under for this process that she would come out as well as she has during her other surgeries.  Pray also for wisdom for the surgeon as they determine the best way to clean her wound.
Stephanie is also undergoing the process of (hopefully) removing her feeding tube.  They  have been injecting blue dye down her esophagus since last week.  Each day they look for any traces of blue dye in her lung secretions. So far there hasn't been any!  This is GREAT!!!  That combined with Speech Therapy working with her swallowing mechanism/muscle....they will hopefully soon be able to start giving her nutrients through her mouth and remove her feeding tube.  Simultaneously they are weaning her off the need for a trache.  This is a SLOW process, but it is good that she is strong and stable enough to be tolerating it.
Speech and Occupational Therapies as well as her nurses have been working with her regularly to have her "obey" commands.  As her brain heals, they are able to better determine exactly what injuries she sustained.  As many of you know her brain injury encompassed her entire right hemisphere of her brain...so the exact injuries aren't totally known.  She does seem to recognize family and friends when they visit as well as acknowledge "knowing" who someone is, when you ask her.  It is uncertain if she has any sort of specific memory loss.  God created a very complex organ when created the brain and it takes time to know what exactly has been disturbed.  Please pray for her caretakers as they help her through the healing process of her brain injury and our family as we walk along with her.  It is undeniable that the essence of Stephanie is back!  Her physical mannerisms and movements of the face convey a lot.  We are hopeful that when she is healed she will not have lasting effects of the accident.

Prayer Requests:                                                                                                                                        
Surgery on her leg tomorrow at 3:30                                                                                                           
Continued progression through the "blue dye tests"                                                                                   
Continued strengthening of her swallowing muscles                                                                                    
Continual progress with weaning off of the trache.                                                                                      
Her brain injury that her memory and all aspects of Stephanie would come back, and we would all        have patients in the meantime.                                                                                                                       

surgery went well

Thank you to all who prayed for Stephanie's surgery yesterday.  I spoke with Art this afternoon and he said that she is doing well and they were happy with the surgery.  It seems she had some infection setting in to her leg that they had to take care of.  Please continue to keep this in your prayers.  Our God has healed her so far and we are confident He will continue to do so.
Art also shared that he met face to face with Stephanie's neurologist and he explained that they will not be able to replace her skull bone flap until the infection in her leg is completely gone,  possibly a couple of weeks.  Either Jason or I hope to make a trip to the hospital this weekend and look forward to seeing the progress she has made.  We have heard from an occupational therapy friend (that has treated her) that she is getting stronger and we've heard from Art that she is able to talk more.  These are all such great things to hear!!  Thank you all for your prayers.

Surgery tomorrow

Please pray for the two surgeries Stephanie has coming up.  The first surgery will happen tomorrow afternoon.  This one is for her leg.  Please pray for the surgeons as they continue to work on her injury and that infection would not set in and the wound would heal well.  Her second surgery will be on Friday.  This surgery will replace the piece of her skull removed back on the day of the accident.  Please pray for her neurologist, Dr Demeres, as he performs this surgery.  Pray for his hands that they are steady and that the bone is "accepted" well by her body.
On the up note we get daily reports from Art, that Stpehanie is doing well.  She has been talking more and more each day, and according to him, "she's doing great!".  Please pray that she continues to make progress.

Back out of ICU!!

Stephanie was moved back out of ICU on Friday!  She continues to improve and a surgery later this week will put the piece of skull that was removed the night of the accident, back into her head.  As we have a more definite time for that surgery we will let you all know so you can be praying for that.

We had a good visit with her.  SIX of her grandkids came in for a quick hello and to give her a hand massage.  We are careful to include them in our visits without overstimulating her.  She is also enjoying some of her favorite music on an iPod, so she doesn't have to listen to the hospital stations.  As for her overall progress and health she is remaining steady! This we like.  She was significantly more alert and involved with our visit today, over just a few days ago when Jason and I visited her in ICU.

As for her overall progress..her leg wound appears to be healing well.  Please keep this in your prayers.  This is a significant wound and will take time to heal completely.  We are so thankful that infection has not set in to the wound.  Her lung infection seems to be a thing of the past, but she did/does have MRSA in her lung secretions....so if you visit her you will need to gown/ mask/ glove up!  This coming week she is scheduled for Occupational, physical and speech therapy each day.  Please keep these sessions in your prayers!  It has become even more apparent for her NEED to be able to communicate through more than just nods and shrugs.  Pray for her nursing staff to be sensitive to her needs (primarily for pain management) since she is unable to speak, yell, or really even mover her body much.  Pray for her therapist as they work with her.  That they would have wisdom and approach her therapy the best possible way.  Pray for our family as we continue to all make trips to the hospital.  We are all encouraged to see her improving, but anxious to just have her out and back with us.  Pray for patience and comfort as we wait for this to happen.

As for Art...he's doing great!  We are SO THANKFUL to friends who have lent out their spare bedroom to him.  He is able to get to and from he hospital daily and able to spend long amounts of time with his wife.  If you are in the area and would be available to take him to/from the hospital, please give him a call on his cell phone.

Thank you again for your much coveted prayers!  It is by no accident that they are both doing as well as they are.  Our God hears each prayer and is healing in His perfect timing.

Met with Stephanie's neurologist

This morning most of our family met with Stephanie's neurologist.  We were able to finally hear from him about her injuries, her brain surgery, recovery, and prognosis.
First, if you lifted Steph up in your prayers, God heard you!  He answered you and He spared her life.  Her Dr informed us that he was very excited and surprised to see that she lived through her injuries!! He didn't think she would make it when she was first brought in and operated on.  It is WITHOUT A SINGLE DOUBT that it was all of you lifting her up continually to our Healing Father that brought her this far.  THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts!  He was also positively optimistic about her prognosis.  He did warn us (as other medical professions have as well) that her healing road will not be a short one, but one measured in months and years.  We are so thankful for his knowledge and care of her brain injury.  As for things to pray for:
*pray that the drainage tube in her brain will be able to be removed, and she can progress back to the neuro floor.  This morning her dr did say he was thinking he might take it out today.
*pray for continual healing of her lung infection.  Once that infection goes away, and no other setbacks come up, she will be a candidate for having the bone flap put back in her skull, which will aid in her progression of healing.
*pray for her ribs and pelvic fractures as they continue to heal.
*pray for the nursing staff watching over her and praying for her.  We have been so privileged to meet some amazing people who do a hard job very well, with love and grace.
*pray for our family.  As we have started settling into the "long haul" of her recovery, pray that we would have the grace, love, and patients to go through this trial and be a comfort, joy, and encouragement to those around us.

Thank you all so much for your immense love for our mom!

Art to be released SOON!!

Our family anticipates Arts's release from the rehab hospital tomorrow or the following day!  PRAISE THE LORD.  The rehab hospital has been so wonderful to him and our family, but we are excited that he is getting out.  The plan is for him to stay in Reno, at a friends (one story) house, to have easy access to the hospital for follow up appointments and therapy as well as to Stephanie regularly.  Many of the things he needs, wheelchair, walker, and ramps (to get into the house) are all taken care of.  There is one thing that would still be very helpful to him.  If you have a "medical bed wedge" that you are willing to loan him, this will make sleeping most comfortable until his ribs heal completely.  Please give Jenn a call at the house if you can help in this way.  530-550-8941

As he gets situated in his new living situation, we will figure out how to get visitors and meals to him.  

Saturday AM prayer Need!!

This morning we were notified by the nursing staff that Stephanie has had a procedure that has put her back in ICU.  A nursing friend has told us that it is nothing to be alerted about, due to her injury.  With that being said, please pray today for Stephanie's brain.  She had fluid/water removed today and placed back in ICU for observation.  Pray that the procedure works, she progresses and can move back to the Neurology Floor.
Thank you so much for your prayers, love and support for our Mom!  You all are such treasures!!