Thanksgiving Day

We are giving thanks for answered prayer today. Dad is able to "talk" and even trying to write on a notepad. Mom and I are spending the day with my Uncle Dwayne and Aunt Anna. Her family has invited us to an Italian American Thanksgiving.... What fun we had! The food was wonderful and so was our time spent together. Dad trys to sleep most of the time and has a pain pump. The staff here are beginning to talk about Dad's future. Mom and I noticed thay hadn't done that before now. We are not out of danger yet but we have hope and that is enough.

Wednesday is even better.

This is a wonderfully blessed day. Dad is able to focus his eyes on us for a few seconds at a time. He can move his arms and hands some and responds to request to move his feet and legs. The best news is his kidneys are beginning function. It will be a long road to complete recovery but at least we have begun the journey.

Tuesday is a good day.

This early noontime Daddy began responding! He stuck out his tongue so the nurse(our sweet Miss Kim) could brush his teeth. He is moving his right leg some and shakes his head to answer my question of do you hear me? Yeah! God is soooo good. Last night the trama Dr. Udobi did what he called house keeping. He moved dad's central line and iv to his leg and then put a tube called a swan into his heart. It runs all the way through his chambers and into the pulminary artery. This can keep the minute details and pick up exactly what his heart is doing. He still goes into a-fibbut responds to meds. The heart Dr. isn't worried about his heart having long lasting problems, she thinks time will help. The nero resident had him moving his eyes in response to her directions. All of this is such an answer to prayers. Yesterday I was so afraid that he wasn't going to come back to us. I wasn't loosing faith but was getting ready for whatever God was bringing our way. It is still a very long journey for dad and us , but we are not alone.

Sunday, Monday

For Sunday our biggest concern was Daddy not responding after ending his seditive and pain meds. Today he had another round of dialysis. He still isn't responding but his breathing had increased rate so they began the pain meds again. The trama team was changed over today and Dad was re-evaluated by Dr. Udobi. They want him to wake up also! yeah, we are all on the same team. Dad had an MRI and CAT scan last night,they both showed nothing wrong. The newest stratagy is to make sure the heart is operating properly, it is in a-fib again today and keep his blood pressure high enough. They have ordered many more xrays and blood test. We wait and see and pray a lot. The kidney problem is a concern but not a priority for now.
On a happier note, Saturday was a hit and Tessa celebrated a wonderful second birthday. Papa and I had gotten her a new indoor/outdoor slide. She loves it! I wouldn't be surprised to see it in the livingroom when I get back home. We sat it up on the screend in porch but Bubbers wants to crawl out there too! Tessa also got a new pair of boots. She had gone home that night and had her pjs on, when Branden went to check on her she had them back on over her pj footies! do I know my girl or what?

It is a BIG Happy Birthday Day

Today is Daddy's 74th birthday. I am at home with my family this weekend celebrating Tessa's Happy #2 birthday. She shares this wonderful day with her greatpapa Jim. Daddy was born on his mom's 21st birthday. Today she would have been 95. Happy Birthday Grandma, we love and miss you very much. I gave daddy a big kiss and hand rub yesterday before I left. I will be going back to KC on monday morning and spend the week with mom.
Daddy had dialysis again today. It helps his system when they remove the fluid. He is considered improving by the Dr. but it is still such small steps. I pray that his lungs continue to be clear. I don't want to borrow trouble but that is so vital to his recovery. They haven't decided when to bring him out of his sedation. I think every day he is sleeping is another day of healing and one less of pain. They don't like to keep them down too long because of the lung problems. It is such a give and take time for his health care. I do like the nurses and Dr.s that have been overseeing his care and am thankful for their concern and hard work.
Now we are getting ready to party hardy and celebrate Miss Tessa's Happy second Birthday! fun fun fun till the sun goes down, (hat leaves us about 3 min. haha)

friday

We are thankful everyday for Daddy's Dr.s. We have a trama Dr. that is staying very close to dad's case. He is having several problems today. His pancrease is slow and they gave him insulin today to help it out, not sure if this is new or if it just was bad enough today to give him the insulin. His kidneys keep improving very slowly but improving. They ran three hours of dialysis yesterday and are again today. they took 3 Lts of fluid off yesterday, that is about 6 and 1/2 lbs of fluid. This will probably continue for a few more days. His heart was running fast after surgery so they had a continual med in his iv. they were going to push through a lg dose to correct the speed when they noticed that daddy had self corrected. so no push. Today though, his heart has sped back up and a cardio team has been called in to evaluate. They are keeping him sedated so he can continue to heal. The vent is slowly being weaned off.

thursday 11/19

dad is resting again today, listed are a few of the plans and problems he faces
>still on ventilator
>sedated
>irregular heartbeat, meds to regulate
>regular scheduled dialysis due to renal failure, the prayers are thet this self corrects, some output on his own
>feeding tube
what a day.