Wednesday Afternoon Written August 31, 2011 2:57pm

Well, the appointment was interesting this afternoon.  The nurse charted the wounds that were on his leg and looked at his arm.  The Doctor came in asked how it was doing, looked at it and asked if he had seen the xrays of his leg. 

He showed us xrays of his leg, his arm, his spine.  We saw the screws that were in his back, the mri of his back, how the rods come up the spine.  It was all really interesting things to see.  I asked him if we could see the cervical spine xrays, mri and we looked at it.  He saw some bulging disks but indicated it could have been from age.  He saw no obvious fractures in the neck.  Hopefully tomorrow when we see the neuro surgeon he will be able to ditch that collar.  It's a catch 22 ~ keep the collar and go home or  ditch the collar and stay longer in rehab.  It's like Lord you will be done, you know what we need and when we need it.

We go back in October to see the ortho Dr.  They will take xrays at that time.  I thought it was kinda funny they didn't take xrays today. 

I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up the schedule.  We haven't been getting it until late in the evening and honestly sometimes I'm to tired to remember to put it on.  It's 3:08 now and Max still has physical therapy scheduled from 4 - 4:30. 

Hopefully I'll get tomorrows schedule up before tomorrow!

Wednesday ..... Written August 31, 2011 12:19pm

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  Max still had a fever.  We had to monitor that.  One of the Dr. wanted to make sure he wasn't dehydrated so she ordered 250 ml of water every hour for 4 hours and then they were giving him 500 ml of water every 6 hours.   I think of the 2nd or 3rd 250ml of water the new nurse was like.....it's not going in your feeding tube.....Max said it's probably because my stomach is so full it's about to pop! LOL

We told them we really didn't think he needed the extra fluid.  He was eating and drinking with meals and drinking when he took his medicines.  He had so much going through his output was all but clear.

They did give him some ibuprofen to help keep the fever down.  The threat is if it gets to high they will send him to the university.  I believe it has something to do with the  bladder issue.

We woke up this morning and he was fine!  No fever and feeling pretty good.....which is a great thing because his schedule is so full of therapy because of missing Monday and appointments Wed & Thurs. 

Pray for a good report today and tomorrow.  God is working out some issues for us behind the scenes and I can't tell you what a blessing it has been.  One day over a cup of coffee or maybe over a huge celebration we can tell you what's going on.  There are so many things you never dream you would need to try and make your life even close to normal again.  So many little details change just so you can be comfortable in your own home. 

I'll let you know more as soon as we do.  We are waiting for transportation to the hospital for his 1:00 appointment and Max is taking a nap!

Till later!

Mondays Diversion Written August 29, 2011 9:21pm

Max's fever kept going over 102 degrees today.  He really didn't feel good, his head kept trying to hurt.  They did a chest xray, it was fine.  They ran cultures but couldn't find anything.  They gave him tylenol, the fever stayed up.  At lunch he tried to take a pill and when he coughed he thought he had coughed it up.  He kept coughing and trying to breath ~ when I asked him if he wanted me to uncap his traech he wouldn't let me ..... until he could hardly breath.  We had to call respitory in to suction him so he could get some more air. 

After that incident, his throat was sore and he was having trouble breathing.  His heart rate was really high, the therapist said his he sounded as if his throat was swollen.  Various doctors came in and looked and listened.  They gave him some motrin, something they hadn't done before because they back surgeon said no ibuprofen  because it can interfere with the healing of the bones.  So they gave him some and it brought the fever down but not as much as they hoped. 

Max feel asleep and as he slept one of the nurses came in to check him.  The doctors told me they were thinking about sending him back to the university because they couldn't figure out what was going on.  We had planned on having a surprise for Ray tonight ~ sorry those of you who I was going to call today....please forgive me! ~ and I wasn't sure if I should cancel.  We decided that we were not going to cancel, satan was not going to win, we were not going backwards.  Ray would have his party and Max was healed and would not go to the university.

The nurse told me that his temperature was 38.3 c    It needed to be 38 c or he was going to the university.  The one doctor came in but didn't wake him up.  She wasn't sure what to do.  She hated to keep him and then have something really bad going on.  I told her it would be okay.  She decided to wait until supper and decide.  Dr. Conway came in later and said he had decided to keep him here but to moniter his condition.  I was very releived.  Max was still running a feverr at this point.  Not long afterr the Dr left Max was all sweaty.  I wiped him off and around 4:30 he woke up.  He felt fine and was wanting something to eat.  When the nurse came and checked he had no fever.  Thank you LORD! 

We had friends come over and surprise Ray and Max had a good time visiting with everyone in his room.  God is so good.  Satan tried to divert us from seeing that God was in control, but that failed and God.........
S....C.....O.....R.....E.....D  and the victory is God's!     (I can't do it as well as you can Pastor!) 

So as you rest tonight know that God is in the little things, God is in the Big things, God is in everything that you will let him be in.  He cares for you and has a plan and a purpose just for YOU!

Monday Morning Written August 29, 2011 9:41am

We are having a slow morning this morning.  Max has a fever and I think it's because of the bladder deal yesterday.  They have sent off cultures and we will see.  He's taking it easy and trying to do his therapy but rest.

Today is Ray's birthday and Max is hoping to feel good for when he comes over later today.

I'll let everyone know what is going on as we find out today!

Sunday Night Written August 28, 2011 8:02pm

Max is sleeping, the nurse is getting ready to mop up all the tire tracks his wheelchair has put in the room and I need to let everyone know how great our God is.

Yesterday was a busy day of running around.  Due to some calls that didn't go through I ended up at the house for quite a while yesterday.  Fortunately Max had a lot of visitors that helped him pass the time.  We were both pretty tired and went to bed last night.  Max was moving his arm a lot and he didn't sleep very well.

This morning he was going to have his shower in the morning so he could be free today for visitors.  When I was doing this leg exercises I noticed his catheter line was pretty dry.  He usually has some liquid coming out.  His respitory therapist noticed his stomach was really distended.  A lot of the time he has a distended stomach because of air.   I noticed when I started on his other leg, he still had no urine output.  When I looked at the line it didn't look right.  I checked his stomach and his stomach was somewhat soft but lower in his abdomen it was very hard.  I asked the nurse to come check his urine output to the see if it was the same as the day before.  She said it was much less than the day before.  She checked and said she would do a bladder scan just to make sure everything was okay.  Well, his bladder was very full and she went to get some help.  They tried to flush the line but it was totally blocked and they couldn't get any liquid in, so obviously no liquid was coming out.  They ended up having to take that line out and put another one in. 

While they were draining his bladder ~ they could only do so much at a time or the body could go into a sort of shock our Pastor's wife Ms. Dorene called.  She said she had been praying and really felt that they (the congregation) needed to call and sing this song to Max.  We put the church on speaker phone and they sang "How Great Is Our God"

The splendor of a King, clothed in majesty

Let all the earth rejoice

All the earth rejoice


He wraps himself in Light, and darkness tries to hide

And trembles at His voice

Trembles at His voice


How great is our God, sing with me

How great is our God, and all will see

How great, how great is our God


Age to age He stands

And time is in His hands

Beginning and the end

Beginning and the end


The Godhead Three in One

Father Spirit Son

The Lion and the Lamb

The Lion and the Lamb


Name above all names

Worthy of our praise

My heart will sing

How great is our God


How great is our God, sing with me

How great is our God, and all will see

How great, how great is our God



Here's Godtube video where you can hear the song.
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=J02BJNNU


Max was singing, I was singing, Max was crying, I was crying.  Is there ever any doubt that God is there?   Is there ever any doubt that God will show you that he's there?  We have been out of church since July 17th.  God has not moved on Dorene or Pastor to call during service or play any certain song for us.  What are the odds that this time was just a coincidence?   What an overwhelming joy in the midst of uncertainty.

Our God is good, Our God cares about all the details ~ the big ones and the small ones. 

It's a good day, even when things don't go as we planned, God is always in control.

Looking forward to tomorrow ~ Ray turns 20, how the time flies!

Saturday Morning Written August 27, 2011 8:54am

The time flies when your busy.  I thought I had posted an update for Thursday, but I don'tt see it.

Thursday Max was on the tilt table again.  This time he made it up to a 50 Degree angle.  Every time he does a little better.  They tried some new cushions for his wheelchair. They want to make sure he doesn't get pressure sores from sitting in his chair. He also transferred from the wheelchair to a mat on a transfer board. 

Yesterday he transferred from the bed to his wheelchair with a transfer board.  Using the board, he doesn't have t have a sling and be lifted u by the hoyer lift.  It may be a while before I'm able to actually do that transfer.  I did have to transfer him from his chair to the bed using a removeable sling.  They watch and check off it you can do these skills by yourself.  This is getting us ready to go home!

A friend asked me some provocative questions yesterday.  You know how some questions are in your head but you let them roll around because you really don't want to grab them and look at them?  How has this changed your life ~ what will be different in your life now?  How has this changed what your family does, how Max will interact with the kids. 

It's hard because Max is the active one, we always joked that God gives you 2 parents because one is usually cautious and the other adventurous.  Usually you meet in the middle when raising your kids.  Nothing to far on the left or to far on the right.  I know this will come as a shock to many.....but Max is the adventurous one in our family.  He's the one who wants to bungee jump, sky dive out of an airplane (still on his to do list), zipline, parasail, hunt, canoe, play softball with the kids, etc....Many of those things will not be possible in a wheelchair and the others will not be the same.  At his moment in time he is dependent on everyone around him.  From feeding, to dressing, to being able to be mobile, to  eleminating waste from his body.  God makes the burden lighter but it's still not an easy road for either of us.

Today is a new day, Max doesn't have any therapy scheduled so it may  be a long day for him.  I have to pick up the kids, run to the house and look at flooring, take the kids to Jefferson City and come back to Columbia.  If your in the area, drop on by and see Max today!

Till our next update......

Wednesday Night Written August 24, 2011 9:29pm

Poor Max, the more he does, the more he hurts....but he's getting better and better every day.  I'm going to run home in the morning to talk with a contractor to get flooring in the house that is even for Max and figure out a ramp system that will work for our family.  The major renovation inside the house will have to wait a little while until Max has a better idea of how quick he will regain function in his arm & leg. 

Tomorrow they will be doing a test on his arm to see how the nerves are responding and which ones are still firing.  They were going to do that today but it got switched to Thursday.  I pray that the nerves knit themselves together quickly.

His schedule for tomorrow is:

9-10   Occupational therapy
10-11 Physical therapy
1:30 - 2  Speech therapy
2:30 - ?  testing on his arm

Please pray that I have wisdom on what to put in the house, what to put outside and favor with this contractor.  Wisdom and favor as I travel.  I'm going to pick up the kids from Dad's and then go to the house so they can help me with the decisions.  Then I'll run them back to Dad's and I'm hoping to be back at Rusk's before they run the tests on Max's arm.

I almost forgot to tell you, Max was on the tilt table and he made it to 50 degrees today!    It's always neat to see him upright.

Till tomorrow!

Tuesday Night Written August 23, 2011 9:27pm

I'm glad the days are getting closer to going home, but sometimes it's a little scary.  Here there are nurses and techs and therapists to help if you need it, at home it will be me......   Sometimes I think I have most of the information I need to be help and not hurt Max and some days, well, I'm not as sure.

It was a hard therapy day for Max.  He's learning to lean on his arms and recover his balance since he doesn't have the trunk muscles to support himself.  It makes his back really hurt.  It hard to find a position that feels good when his back hurts.  His arm has been getting feeling back in it but it still feels like pins & needles or like it's been slammed in a car door.   I can't imagine how that would feel and not be able to do anything for it because it is in the nerves.

He works as hard as he can because he wants to regain as much as he can while he's here.  In the grand scheme of things he really doesn't have much time at rehab and that sucks because it means that it will take longer to try and recover function if he has to do it without the right equipment and help.

There many reasons to feel down, but when you look around this facility you realize you have more reasons to look up.  God has spared his life and he is restoring him.  He has more function in his body than many that are here. 

Max was supposed to have a test on his arm tomorrow but they have rescheduled it for Thursday.  They are going to see if the nerves are working in his arm, we are praying for a great outcome.

His schedule for tomorrow is:

11-12 Spinal Cord Injury Group
1-1:30  Speech Therapy
2-3  Physical Therapy
3-4 Occupational Therapy

I don't think tomorrow will be a great day because when all the therapies are scheduled back to back he is exhuasted.  With God's help it will be.

Till tomorrow ~ I'm off to try and find some sleep!

Monday Night Written August 22, 2011 7:56pm

It was a very busy day, just as I suspected it would be.  Max worked out his arm until it hurt, spinal cord injury group was about hiring caregivers to come into the home. 

Later that afternoon the therapist put him in a tilt table.  He was up to a 40 degree angle before his blood pressure dropped.  The goal is to get him up to a 70-75 degree angle.  It was pretty cool to see him almost standing up!  Afterward they worked on Max sitting up in his wheelchair  and bending forward and recovering.  He has to be able to support his weight on his left arm before he can begin to transfer himself from the chair to the bed or the chair to a car. 

We have an appointment Aug 31 & Sept 1.  Then we might be heading home for a little while for Max to heal. 

We need to be praying for the secretions to decrease.  They are about to make him crazy suctioning and putting him on the cough assist machine.  He feels like he's going to choke sometimes but they keep on chugging away. 

I won't have the schedule until tomorrow.  I'm sure it will be another full day of therapy.

Sunday Night Written August 21, 2011 10:14pm

Oh the weekend went by so fast..  I ran the kids home Saturday late afternoon.  I got back just before they closed up at 9:00 pm. 

Today was a lazy day, Max didn't have any therapy & the help is a little more laid back.  We are looking forward to tomorrow and forging ahead with therapy.

It's hard when we aren't sure where we are going.  Do we rent a van, buy a van, just stay at home for a while when he goes home?  What kind of ramp do we need?  Plywood, concrete?  Cover part of it, cover all of it?  Makes my head hurt!!

His schedule for tomorrow is:

10:00 - 10:30  Occupational therapy
10:30 - 11:00  Physical therapy
11:00 - 12:00  Spinal Cord Injury Group
1:00 - 1:30  Occupational therapy
1:30 - 2:30  Physical therapy
3:30 - 4:00  Speech therapy

It looks like it's going to be a busy, busy day.  Thanks for everyone who stopped by this weekend.  We enjoyed all the company!

Sweet Dreams!