In a room

Steve was admitted to the hospital this morning. We got to a room at about 5 am. He is doing better now that he has fluids in him. They put a new end piece on his feeding tube so we will not have any more problems with leakage. He has a migraine and is noticing his pain again so they are working on that. The main concern is his chills that cause him to shake so badly. They think there is an infection causing this so they are still running tests to see if they can find anything. In the meantime they are giving him a stronger antibiotic that should work on the infection no matter what type it is or where it is. So now we wait for the results. At least he is more like himself and I know he is being taken good care of. 

Hopefully Steve will come home sometime this weekend. Sunday is Becca's 15th birthday and he told her his goal was to get home to celebrate with her: ) 

Emergency Room

Sorry for the delay in my posts. I have been so busy I just have not had the time or energy to blog. Steve has been doing a whole lot of sleeping. I had gotten him settled in his feeding pattern over the weekend. He saw a nurse and physical therapist on Monday. That seemed to go pretty well. I could not get him to feed himself though. He did okay Monday night. He was very tired from all the activity on Monday. So on Tuesday I let him stay in bed and sleep. Monday night his feeding tube came open and the contents spilled out. We got everything cleaned up and started over with liquids, food and meds. The same thing happened again on Tuesday night. 

Today I worked hard on getting water and food in him. Evidently it was too little too late. After talking to the visiting nurse and the doctors office, we got Steve in the car (which was a very hard thing to do), and I drove him to Emory to the ER. I realized in the car on the way over here that I should have brought him yesterday. It is so hard to know. Hind sight is 20/20. Steve is very emotional and irrational. He is hooked up to an IV and is calming down a bit. He keeps crying over his dad. He has these vivid memories about his dad being here before he passed away. 

We are waiting for the doctor to come see us and I imagine that we will be admitted tonight. The girls are quite upset over this whole experience. Please keep them in your prayers tonight and tomorrow. I know that we will be fine. This is just another part of our journey to healing. 

The other day I found myself writing some verses down and putting them in my purse for later. I had no clue why I did that until now.  I pulled it out tonight and found Philippians 4:6 - 7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." I am the world's worst about memorizing verses. I guess I just I need to keep writing them down and keeping them in my purse: ) 

More later...

Weekend update

What a beautiful day it is outside! It is so nice to have the warmth of the sun shining in. Well, we have had a pretty good weekend. Saturday morning started off rough - Steve ended up vomiting the can of food I gave him. He was so weak after that (from exhaustion and not enough nutrition) that he slept all day on Saturday. I decided to try giving him the nausea medicines the doctor had prescribed for him to use during chemotherapy. I fed him a little bit of his food each half hour all afternoon and evening. By 11:00 pm I had managed to feed him 4 cans and he kept them down! That was progress! He asked me to cut his pain medication doses in half also. 

This morning he was more coherent when he woke up. He is still very weak and shaky on his feet. He has lots of chills, but no fever. I'm sure his body is working so hard on healing that it is taking all his energy and using all his white blood cells. Steve's leg is healing nicely and is not a big source of pain anymore. The swelling in his face has gone down a lot since he's been home. I keep telling him what wonderful progress he is making. I know it is hard for him to realize it because it is all so daunting and the path of recovery is so long this time. 

I will be returning to work tomorrow. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we are at the next step on this road - Steve doing a little more for himself. We are so fortunate to have friends and family who can help by stopping in to keep Steve company and remind him when to take his medicine and food. He can do it all himself, but when he falls asleep, he loses track of time and needs a gentle wake-up call! Have a great week. 

"Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power." Ephesians 6:10 (NIV)

And enter the nurse (me?!?)

It's been a busy couple of days. Steve has been doing a whole lot of sleeping. I am working to keep up with his medicines, feedings, dressing changes, nurses, supplies... need I go on - ha! My main concern right now is his nausea. I am supposed to be feeding him 5 cans a day but his stomach isn't cooperating. We are slowing down on the food so that he doesn't get sick anymore (it's very painful and weakening when he vomits!), but I worry about keeping his strength up. 

Also, he acts very groggy and "drugged up". I hate to see him that way. I miss his personality. We had a visiting nurse today and she thinks that he just needs to catch up on all his sleep. The doctor told me to lower his pain medicine now so that should help. Steve has not needed as much since we got home, so that is a good thing! I know that I am expecting too much from Steve because he has always bounced back so quickly in the past. His mantra is "if you lay down you stay down". But, this one is going to take longer. He is not pushing himself like he usually does, so that has me a little concerned. Time is the healer - I just need to be patient. 

I'm becoming quite the nurse if I do say so myself! I think I'll add that to my resume - although Steve would beg to differ I'm sure!! 

Steve is home!!

Steve came home yesterday afternoon! I was able to get him settled, get all the medicines (with help from my dad!) and get him started on a routine. He seems to have slept fairly well. The pain medicine they have him on has him talking in his sleep and waving his hands in the air as he talks : ) It is actually quite entertaining - ha! It is so good to have him home again. We all feel so much better now. 

As Steve said in the car, this is the beginning of our next step in this journey and we should focus our prayers on the healing and adapting now. His speech can be understood if you really concentrate and he slows down and enunciates. The girls are having trouble understanding him still, but in time they will be able to follow what he is saying. When he is asleep, I can't understand anything because it is slurred. (And I was hoping to hear some good secrets too!) 

Steve cannot swallow yet of course, but he believes that will come in time. He is getting around the house fairly well on his crutches. His leg is healing and while it is still painful, it is not as painful as it was. His trache hole will slowly close up. Steve has a red spot on the inside of his right arm from an IV site. It has gotten infected so they gave him some antibiotic. I wonder if this was the cause of his fever? 

I woke up yesterday with a sore throat. I bought some of that zicam stuff while I was at the pharmacy. Hopefully this will keep an illness at bay. I cannot afford to get Steve sick, or to be sick myself for that matter. I am off of school until Monday so I can get him all settled. By then he will be able to do most of his feedings on his own. I can still handle the morning pills, and the dressing changes on his leg and neck. 

While I pray for Steve's recovery and for strength for us all, I continue to pray for blessings on all the nurses and doctors, as well as all of you who have been praying for us and supporting us in so many ways. 

Here is my email again just in case: lkb0282@bellsouth.net. Have a great day!

Only one more day...

Today when I went to see Steve, he was very sleepy and groggy. He said he hasn't been able to get any sleep : ) He had another fever this morning. They ran a few more tests but have not found anything. The nurse had Steve use the breathing machine to see if his lungs were okay. The funny thing is that he got the little blue thing all the way to the top! I don't think I can do that and I'm "healthy"!  

I realized on the way home how tired I am of driving to the hospital everyday. It's such along drive and I would rather spend my time with Steve instead of stuck in traffic. The gasoline and parking fees are really adding up too!  

I am so fortunate to have a wonderful administration at my school who understands that I need to leave to check on Steve everyday. I don't know what I would do without my parents! They are always here to do whatever I need. They have become taxi's for the girls, hostesses to the wonderful people preparing food for us, and shoulders to cry/complain on : ) We have so many friends who have been helping with rides for the girls too. We are trying to keep things as normal as possible. It's hard for me to be in 2 places at once - even though I really want to.

I think my quality of sleep has been pretty lacking because I am sleeping 7 or 8 hours each night, but I'm still tired. I had to laugh tonight, because I was talking to God and telling Him how tired I am and that I can't do this much longer. I left the hospital earlier tonight in order to go to an advisement meeting with Becca. While I was grabbing a quick bit to eat, Steve's doctor called and left a message saying, "When you come to see Steve tonight, you can take him home." UGH! What a sense of humor God must have!  So, long story short, I get to pick him up tomorrow morning. God is good...all the time! Only one more trip to the hospital for awhile. YES!

Another day

We thought Steve might be coming home today, but things did not work out that way. Maybe tomorrow. Today the doctors took out the drains in Steve's leg. He was able to walk around the entire 9th floor twice with the rehab person. But then Steve "lost his lunch", got a pretty high fever(103 degrees) and had a rapid heartbeat. They ran all kinds of tests to see if they could find what is causing this. 

They couldn't find anything wrong. The thought is that his body was reacting to the drains being pulled out. If all goes well tonight then they will let him come home tomorrow : ) He is so ready to get out of the hospital! 

Every day is a holds so much promise. We'll see what God has in store for us tomorrow: )