Steven Gibbs

What Would You Do?

The swallowing didn’t go so well today. When they began taking the video of his swallowing process, the x-ray showed that his NG (nose) tube was looped in the back of his throat. Obviously, they wanted that cleared up to be sure he had a clear path for swallowing. They pulled the tube out of his nose just enough for the loop to straighten out. John’s eyes almost popped out of his head, but he held his ground and squeezed my hand very hard as a single tear rolled down his right cheek. Needless to say, it hurt.

The swallowing test was short and sour. He swallowed a sip of barium chocolate milk, and some went down right, and some didn’t. End of test.

Because they had to adjust the tube, he had the privilege of getting a new one. If you’re unclear about how they get a tube up your nose and down your throat, use your imagination. I’m glad I was here for that and not Debby. He did great, but it was tough.

So, they’ll try the swallow test again early next week. Definitely a setback. Please pray that his swallowing practice goes well and he gets stronger.

I left the hospital about 5, picked the other kids up and got home about 6:30. It takes me about an hour to get to the hospital from my house. I fixed dinner, and we cleaned up. About 7:30, the phone rang. It was John on my Mom’s phone. He wanted to know if I could come back to the hospital... What would you do?

It seems you have 2 options. Your spouse can grab the phone and talk your child out of it, telling your child that you will be there tomorrow. Or you can get in your car and drive the hour back down to the hospital.

Go or Stay - weigh in with the comment link...

Slow Process

John has made some good progress these past few days. He is walking well, with only minimal assistance. He gets tired very easy, and stops to rest. He can push his wheelchair, even with one arm.

I asked him if he needed anything, and his answer was, “food.” No kidding. He did have a grape popsicle today. Tomorrow morning he will have a swallow test, where they video him swallowing some barium pudding. Sounds yummy. If that goes well, then they can start with some other foods, hopefully chocolate pudding. That is his primary frustration at the moment, so hopefully we can get some resolution on that one.

He still struggles with short term memory. I have told him countless times that he is in the hospital. Yet, he just asked me where he was and where is Mom.

He gets scared as well. We were downstairs watching television, and out of the blue he says, “I’m scared.”

Please pray for the swallowing, and the short term memory. While he has made progress in so many areas, he still has some distance to go. Also, he is still having a pretty rough cough, so please keep that on your list.

Frustration

I’ve had a long day, so I will give a more lengthy update later. However, just so you know, John’s frustration has increased, as well as his progress. He told Debby today that he wanted something to eat. Debby told him that he was going to have to begin swallowing better. John said, “Go get the nurse…”

JOHN GIBBS – “CONQUSTADOR”

Good and Tough

First off, the EEG results came back and preliminary reports appear fine. We’ll get a more detailed report later.

John did more walking, and a little more talking today. It’s always good to hear him talk, and he made some strides there. He’s still not ready to preach for me, but he is moving in that direction.

John began to show frustration. I know that is normal, and is actually good. It shows he is beginning to process that his life is not like it should be. He gave some of his normal rolling of the eyes looks.

Emotionally, it is really beginning to set in with him, and it is hard. He asked Debby today if it was a dream (ouch). He’s starting to feel a bit scared and disappointed. He saw some kids running today, and he wanted to go running. Hopefully that will drive him to work hard.

As for prayer: his cough still hasn’t cleared up, he has a long way to go mentally. Those are the 2 main things for now.

Please stay updated and pray. Tomorrow Ken will be speaking, and if you’ve read his blog, you do not want to miss.

The Saga Continues

The day went well. Before I fill you in, you need to know that a few of our elders and others came and prayed over John yesterday and last night. They have done this a few times before, and it seems that John has his best days after he is prayed over.

Of course, it started out with no MRI. They did the EEG, however. We still haven’t heard about that. He was able to swallow some ice chips, as well as several other firsts. Sounds small, but that is huge.

Then, he talked. Yeah, you read me right, he talked. He was sitting in his wheel chair, looking at Ethan and Bennett. Then he said he wanted his hat. Ethan said, "Dad, he’s trying to talk." Of course, I’m skeptical. I went and asked him to say…well, o.k., I asked him to say "Dad." (I know, you expected a pastor to ask his son to say Jesus. I'm not very spiritual.) Then he said, "Dad," "Mom," "Bennett," and "Ethan." He asked where his grandmother and sister were. I quickly ran to get the doctor, and she listened from behind John before he saw her. Pretty incredible.

He isn’t talking a lot. You can still see his anxiety when unknown and unfamiliar people enter the room. Because of this we still aren’t having visitors, but hopefully soon we’ll be able to have people come by to help in his recovery.

Oh yeah, I bet you’re wondering about the MRI. The saga continues (smile). We go down for the MRI, and they put the IV in his arm in order to sedate him. It took 3 tries, but whose counting (smile). The doctor comes in and listens to John breathe – John still has a pretty good cough. He then proceeds to tell us that it probably isn’t safe to just sedate him because of his cough, but rather try the MRI with general anesthesia – i.e. intubation. You can only imagine after he heard the history of John he said we were NOT doing the MRI today.

You guys must be praying…

Let's Go

As I noted last night, we were SUPPOSED to have the MRI between 6 and 7 this morning. Because they have to sedate John, Debby didn’t want to do the MRI by herself. I got up @ 4 and made my way here to Scottish Rite (SR). The nurse was waiting for a call to go down to the MRI. He walked in at 7, and said our MRI is at 4 p.m. Yeah, I know.

This isn’t about my sleep, but John’s health. I’m done playing with this. Let’s pray today that he makes so much progress that he doesn’t need a stinkin MRI.

So, I know all of you are praying because you are reading this blog. Please keep up the intensity all day. If it is possible, increase your intensity. Remind people to pray, and let's see if we can bust through this.

Thanks.

John Gibbs - "CONQUISTADOR"

John 9:3

Long Day

Well, today was quite a long day. Alot to share about some good progress. But more on that later.

Tomorrow morning, 6:30 a.m. is the MRI. While it’s Debby’s turn for night duty, she’ll want me there for that. Funny how when she has night duty, I need to be there first thing…

As you can imagine, an MRI is a slightly scary proposition. They will need to sedate him, as I don't think he would do well sliding up in a tube the size of a piece of conduit.

Please pray for this, that the MRI goes well, and that all is well for John.

Room With A View

Quite a day at rehab. First, when we arrived, we had an interior room next to the aquarium. That was pretty sweet. However, as many of you know, Debby suffers from INTSS, (I need to see sun). So she asked if they had a room with a view of outside. It was her lucky day, and we got a room with a view outside.

Today was a day of assessment. John was able to walk a few steps with support from his Physical Therapist (PT). He played his PSP with Ethan, and a few other tasks. We will see the dentist in the morning to remove the wire, and then hopefully an MRI. John had a few more x-rays, and even a bath! Imagine your hair without washing for 21 days. Yeah.

Tonight, Ethan and I are staying at the hospital. They two of them are curled up in the bed watching the latest Nick movie and chilling out.

Our prayers continue to be his mental responsiveness. With each passing day I am just interested in getting John HOME.

Shout Out

During this process, our family has been amazing. Anna Lee, Ethan, and Bennett have rallied. Even though they have not gotten the attention they are used to, and have to stay closer to home than they would like, they have not complained. They have embraced the challenge and realize that the best way that they can help John is by helping Debby and me.

One night last week I sat them around the kitchen table and talked to them about the future and the help that John is going to require. We prayed for him. It’s always easy in a moment like that to say we’ll do what it takes. It’s harder to put that into action. They have done that.

My Mom has come and stayed with us since the accident. She has been a great source of stability in our home. She is going to return to her house for a few days this weekend. One of her good friends has passed away after a long bout with cancer, so she needs to go to the funeral. This will allow her to take care of a few loose ends at home, and then come back with us for an extended time.

You guys continue to be a source of comfort for Debby and I. The emails, cards, and phone calls mean more than they seem. Please continue to pray for John and our family.

John is now in a 3-day assessment period in rehab. After this assessment, they’ll give us a plan for his recovery and some goals to move toward.

He did see a dentist this morning. They should remove the wire on his teeth, and then do a panoramic x-ray to determine a course of action for oral surgery. One thing I may not have mentioned is about the wire on his teeth. The wire has been protruding straight into his upper lip. My other kids have braces, so I understand wires in the mouth. This wire was not just aggravating, it is pointing straight out. Getting this out of the way should help his comfort somewhat.

Rehab

Well, John got the big truck ride to Scottish Rite rehab. It actually didn’t freak him out too much. He gets very anxious when new people are around. In fact, it has become clear when he doesn’t like somebody. He plays possum. Today, one of the doctor’s that he didn’t particularly like came into the room, and he pretended to be asleep. Later in the morning, one of the physical therapists came in and began talking to him. His eyes sprang open like a dog hearing the potato chip bag.

Just like the PICU at Egleston, we are very impressed with Scottish Rite rehab. We’ve got a long way to go. John is somewhat responsive, but just not where he needs to be. He’s basically learning EVERYTHING over again. It’s tough just not knowing what he’s thinking and feeling.

It’s weird that rehab for Lindsey Lohan is bad, and rehab for John is good. I think we all need rehab in some form. Possibly a sermon in there somewhere.

I did have a meeting with 3 team members today. While I had planned to be gone these past weeks, I had planned on planning for our future plans. I haven’t missed much in the way of day to day operations, but I missed planning. I’m beginning to not like the word plan anymore. It ruins my plans. It was great to be with members of the team, and start getting back into the groove.

I’ll take night duty tomorrow, and one of my kids will actually get to spend the night at rehab with John.

Please continue to pray for his progress, and that his brain begins to put the pieces together quickly.

Sleep

Great sleep last night – so far he has slept for 10 hours. That’s pretty incredible. He slept more last night than he slept all of last week. Of course there have been the usual interruptions, for vital signs and breathing treatments. But John has slept through them all.

It’s almost 8:00. We are hoping for transport to rehab at 9:00. I’m going to start packing all of this stuff we have. It’s crazy how much stuff we have accumulated. We have been here so long, I think I need to forward my mail to rehab. They may even have a going away party for us (smile.)

I can only imagine this next leg of the journey. Please pray that the rest John affects his body and his brain in a super-positive way.

Argentina

John has been awake all day, but not as responsive as we would like. At this point I’m not sure what to write. Today has been a stalemate, with all the volleying about the MRI – yes, no, yes, no. There are so many doctors to coordinate, and Debby and I feel it is best just to get him to rehab. That is the plan.

At times like these, I realize how much I am not in charge of my child. God is. Today, one of the doctors kindly told me that it was our family unit that has pulled John through to this point. I like to think we contributed. But I know the real answer. Only God has pulled him through. And only God can finish the job.

But I also feel more responsibility in making decisions for John. It’s easy to get swept away in medical decisions about the next medication or procedure. As parents, we are the primary caregivers for our children. That is God’s plan. So, we must make the best decisions possible. No one has the full story of what has happened here. There are always new doctors and nurses who don’t have the full picture. Each has their own bias – the surgeon thinks surgery, the ENT thinks ENT, neurology thinks…well who knows, those guys are too smart. So we are charged with making the best decisions, the decisions that we believe God has for John.

Please continue to pray for John’s recovery. I know many of you wake up and check the blog for his progress. As you close your browser today, pray for John. Pray for life. Pray for his future. Who knows how God can use this experience to make him into a man who changes the world. That’s what we’re praying.

When John arrived at the hospital, they gave him the name “Trauma Argentina,” because they did not know his real name. It was comical when the nurse came to the waiting room looking for the parents of trauma Argentina. We didn’t know it was us.

Ken Murphy sent me the following info about the meaning of Argentina (Thanks Ken, you rock).

Although it means "silver" in Spanish, the origin of this name goes back to the first voyages made by the Spanish Conquistadors.

Conquistadors are Spanish soldiers, explorers and adventurers. A Conquistador is a CONQUEROR!

Romans 8:37-40 (NIV)
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are praying more than survival for John. We are praying that John conquers.

JOHN GIBBS ... CONQUISTADOR!

Ugh

Most of our cell phones have a distinctive ring for certain people. For instance, Debby’s ring on my phone is the Train tune, “Calling All Angels.” There are certain times when you don’t want to hear that special ring. When your wife has the night duty at the hospital, 11:30 at night is one of those times.

Last night at 11:30, Debby called me a little distressed. John had been moved to a regular room on the floor. While a good step, it removed some of our comfort level. He was in pain, and was crying. Of course, there were different doctors and nurses, so there was a learning curve. I came on down to the hospital about 12:30. They did bring it under control.

John did sleep from 12:00 to 8:30, which was great. They came at 7 to take him for his MRI, then had to stop to find out about the wire in his mouth. I guess a metal wire in a “Magnetic” test could cause a problem. What they didn’t know was that the wire had been cleared since last week. So, now our MRI is scheduled for 2:00.

We have talked to rehab, and if everything goes well, we can be on our way tomorrow between 9 and 10.

John is more alert, but seems less responsive to commands. We took him on a wagon ride around the hospital. When we started our way back, he started crying. He can’t tell us what’s wrong, so you can imagine our feelings.

So, prayer intensity is the order of the day. We just saw another neurologist (more on neurology later), who seems to think it’s just a case of ICU psychosis. He doesn’t expect to find anything on the MRI. So, let’s pray in this direction. Please pray that John begins to pull out of this, that his pain isn’t too much to handle, that the MRI is clear, and that we can get to rehab in the morning.

Alright, now they are saying no MRI, because of the wire on his teeth. This is at least the 4th change in position on this. We've told the doctor's we don't need one, and we would like to take our trip to rehab please. We'd like to play our get out of jail free card.

Sleep

John did get quite a bit of sleep last night – almost 7 hours. His sleep can be pretty restless, but the fact that his eyes were closed that long is pretty incredible.

If things go well, possibly we can find a way to get him out of the room for a few minutes and wheel him around the ICU. That would HAVE to make him feel better. And, there's sooo much to see.

One More Thing

Yeah, this was pretty cool.

Today, I had 3 of our elders come to John’s room to pray over him. Yesterday, John had raised his left arm, and given me the thumb’s up about half a dozen times. Today, not at all. He had used his right hand for thumb’s up, but had not raised his left hand.

While we were praying over him, I was standing at the foot of the bed, and John was staring at me. I was holding a thumb’s up. After a few minutes of praying, John raised his left hand in the air with a thumb’s up. I think God was listening - and talking. Pretty cool…

Bland

Well, today brought much of the same as yesterday. John did get more sleep, which made us optimistic that John would be more responsive than yesterday. He was about the same as yesterday, only seemed a little more tired. I guess that happens when you begin coming awake and they re-set an arm that’s snapped like a pencil.

As a matter of note, I have noticed that John’s progress tracks my blog hits. The more hits, the more progress. In my mind that translates to more prayer, more progress. Should seem simple to me, but I’m in the thick of it right now.

Please continue with prayer. Our hope is that he sleeps well, and is able to be more responsive. His breathing is getting better, so hopefully his respiratory system will allow him to enter rehab very soon.

Did I mention to pray (smile)? Thank you so much.

3 a.m.

Well, its 3 a.m. and I’m watching John SLEEP! He’s been in and out all night, and now is dozing. He doesn't sleep very soundly, but he is asleep. HIs legs continue to move while his eyes are closed. However, he has always been a restless sleeper. He always kicks me out of the bed.

He’s been so sleepy that he hasn’t been given any of his breathing treatments – they don’t want to wake him. That is actually a good thing.

They have turned his oxygen down, and he is still holding his own. Hopefully by 5 a.m. they can change out the method they give him oxygen to a lower intensity method.

The only nutrition he has been getting has been from the i.v. Hopefully they can begin using the tube running through his nose - I would hate to see that discomfort go to waste.

He did some funny stuff last night. At one point I asked him if he would close his eyes and go to sleep. He shook his head no and pointed to the t.v. The volume wasn’t even on, but I let him watch it for a while.

The respiratory therapist was suctioning him, which is quite a traumatic ordeal. She said, “If you’ll cough real big, I’ll only go down 1 more time.” John held up 1 finger as if to say, “I’m giving you 1 more chance.”

Once, when the nurse was going to suction his mouth again, he grabbed her hand and held it back. When they stick a tube in his mouth for suction, he likes to put his tongue in the way, and then bite the tube.

I’m actually likin the attitude…

Oh well, eyes are back open. I think I'm typing too loud and woke him up. You take what you can get at this point.

Forward

Today has blown my mind. John made the largest steps today since we have been in the hospital – following the worst day yesterday. He was able to communicate – he even pointed to the red hippo when he needed to! He gave thumbs up, fist pump, smiled, and showed attitude. It was a really great day.

The doctor’s did have to re-set his arm. This was for the THIRD time. He also has developed a slight case of pneumonia in his left lung. He is running a fever as well. However, the other steps he made far outweigh these minor setbacks.

I realize that we will continue to go up and down. We needed an up to combat yesterday’s down. Everyone, it is clear that when we put out the call for prayer, God is listening. The timing may be different than I would like, but it has been pretty incredible.

Thank you for praying. Please continue to pray, and forward to other’s who can pray as well.

Also, don’t forget Mike Foster this Sunday. This is a topic that needs to be addressed in a manner that is biblical and helpful. Mike will be able to do that on Sunday. Bring your teenagers. The material won’t be appropriate for those younger than middle school, so be there early to drop your kids off in nursery, Splash! or Kidzu. You do NOT want to miss this Sunday.

Quick Update

John seems to be developing pneumonia in his left lung. That has been a concern for us, because he is susceptible to this.

He got about 3 hours of sleep last night, off and on.

Backwards

First, let me say thank you for passing the word along to pray for John. My blog stats showed a drastic increase in hits, which is due to your care for john.

Well, we thought we had a few baby steps today, but I was wrong. The day was pretty calm, not much progress, but a couple of minor victories. We had an EEG, which showed no brain issues. John’s pupils had been whacked out, but had corrected themselves by the end of the day. As the day closed, it looked like John was trying to lift his leg up, so I removed the covers to help him. I mean, movement of that type is huge right now. But then John bolted into a full-on seizure...

I’d like to say that I just acted like Paul and began praying over him. Instead, I hit the door and yelled for the nurse. This type of activity draws a lot of attention in ICU. Doctor’s, nurses, resident’s, fellows – they all show up. While it seemed to be a very short seizure, the only short seizure I’m aware of is the seizure of someone NOT in my family.

So, there are quite a few possibilities for seizures. Obviously we cannot rule out a head injury without an MRI, which we will have soon.

I think now we realize we are in a full-blown battle. I have received emails from Hawaii to Israel of people praying for us. Thank You. We need more. While John’s issue may be a mystery to the doctor’s, it can’t be to God. I’m not trying to be over-spiritual. As a pastor, I know that I’m expected to be, and I try to violate any expectations at every chance (smile). However, it is clear to Debby and I that God knows. Please pray that we get to the bottom of his mental state quickly, and that it is nothing too severe.

One positive thing that came of the seizure was that John got 1 hour of sleep – after 70+ hours awake.

2nd Squared

You know a couple of days ago when I said that it was the 2nd worst day?  I was wrong.  John is suffering incredibly, it seems from withdrawals from the medications.  They have run some CT scans to determine any head trauma, and all of that is negative.  Along with the withdrawals he has an infection that they are trying to run down.  This causes some pretty intense trauma on his breathing, which we know has been our primary concern.

When you read this, on Thursday, it will probably be 2 weeks since the accident.  The time has flown by so fast.  It’s crazy to think of what a radical change our lives have now taken.  We just want John to come home, and for him not to suffer.  Just to get well, even though we know it’s going to take quite a bit of rehab.   

I guess if I had to point to one lesson I have currently learned, it is to take one step at a time, and be good if some of those steps are baby steps.  When it comes to wanting progress rapidly, I’m guilty as charged.  I want rapid progress when I work out, ride my bike, lose weight, gain weight, reading books, working in ministry – everywhere I am looking for rapid progress.

But maybe baby steps are enough sometimes.  It helps you to realize that you are making progress.  It makes you grateful for the little things in life.  I can remember when John was a baby, and we wanted him to sleep for the night.  Right now I’d settle for 1 hour.  As I write, John has been awake for 55 hours.  I’m sure he’s gotten some sleep with his eyes open, but not much.

I'm going to ask you to pick up your prayer intensity.  Please continue to pray, even though it's been 2 weeks.  Send a link to my blog to someone you know and ask them to pray as well.  Even if you know they don't pray about anything, ask anyway - you never know (smile).  If you don't know anybody to send my blog to, send it to someone you don't know.  It doesn't matter. 

I know people on the outside look at this situation and think; in no time at all he’ll be back being a little boy.  Somewhere in my heart I hope that's true.  But that is too much progress for me to comprehend right now.  I’ll settle for baby steps. 

Quick Update

Just spoke with Debby - she had night duty. John still hasn't slept, over 36 hours for him. So, now they are going to take him for an MRI to rule out any head injury that may not have shown up on a CT scan. The lack of sleep could still be part of the withdrawals, but you never know. Please pray for this, and that John could get some sleep.

Always chasing something...

Jeff Franceour

John is continuing to have some withdrawals, but not as severe as the night before. He still hasn’t slept. The doctor’s have given him some different meds in order to mitigate the withdrawal side effects. They are brutal. Hopefully today he can get some sleep and his pupils will shrink. They are so dilated I wonder if he can see anything.

The physical therapist came by, and John sat up on the side of the bed. She was awesome. You can begin to see the fear in his eyes anytime someone comes into the room. But it was good for him to sit up, and hopefully his progress will take off now.

He’s still on a pretty high percentage of oxygen, but it is coming down.

The speech therapist came by and let us know how that will go over the next weeks. He’ll need help with speech, as well as swallowing. As soon as he seems ready, they’ll do a barium swallow test to ensure that there is no unknown damage.

The occupational therapist will be by today to talk about his rehab going forward. Seems like it may be a pretty long road, but hopefully not too bad.

Jeff Francoeur stopped by yesterday, and made his way around the PICU floor. For those of you who don’t know, he plays for right field for the Atlanta Braves. I’m sure John won’t remember, but I did get a picture.

Hopefully today John can sleep and begin to be more aware of what is going on. I’m still recovering from the all-nighter, and I’m sure it will take a few days. What day is it anyway?

2nd

Well, yesterday John got the tube out. Yea. But I must say, last night was the 2nd worst night we’ve had. Debby and I literally got no sleep. When I say literally, I don’t mean we got 3 hours, or 2 hours, or 1 hour. I mean 0. Zilch. Nada.

John is having a terrible time coming off of his meds. If you’ve ever seen a movie where someone was having withdrawals, John has everything you could imagine. Including no sleep. Because of this, his oxygen saturation dropped, which, if you remember, is why he was intubated in the first place. We seem to finally have that under control, after many hours. It was my night on duty, but Debby came back up after she heard what shape John was in. He still hasn’t gone to sleep either. His body is revolting.

Please pray for today, that the drugs would get out of his system, his oxygen level would stay up, and that Debby and I won’t fall asleep doing something dangerous.

Around 1:00

They have John scheduled for surgery “around 1:00.” So, we’re not sure exactly what time he’ll go for his scope. Please pray for this time.

Also, he’s now facing a host of other minor complications that are too painful to mention. Please pray for him on this as well.

My understanding was that yesterday went very well. Sorry that I missed it. Don't forget this Sunday - Mike Foster. Should be a time like we've never had at Stonecreek!

The Class

John has been breathing on his own all day, even with the machine. They’ve dialed his oxygen down as far as they need to. He’s scheduled for a scope tomorrow, probably in the afternoon. If all goes well, the breathing tube will come out. After that, I haven’t asked a lot of questions. One step at a time is good for us right now.

I thought of some funny things that have been said to us during this ordeal. As I have noted before, we have received fabulous care. I can’t say enough about our surgeon and all of the care in PICU. All of the people working on the PICU floor must have taken a class in beside manner.

However, sometimes people say things before they think. You can tell they have not taken "the class." So, here are some things NOT to say to parents during stressful times, when their child has suffered serious injury, including the mouth.

“There’s no way to save that tooth.” (Oh, really. What was your first clue? The fact that it was dangling?)
“Did the doc’s tell you he’d have to have some root canals?” (No, but he did mention possible liver laceration!)
“They make the first year students do this stuff.” (Said after working on John’s mouth. Thanks for caring!)
“I can handle the tube. I’ve had 5.5 months of anesthesia training.” (said by an oral surgeon student, coming to wire John’s teeth together, AFTER we’d almost had a tracheotomy. I informed him that we’d had to get an attending anesthesiologist out of bed the night before to handle the intubation…)

Those may rank in the category of "you had to be there." But, "the class" seems to work.

Navy Seals

As you know, I really enjoy stories about Navy Seals. Those guys are as mentally tough as anyone in the world. They can operate hundreds of pieces of equipment and weapons. They can go places in water or land that most people wouldn’t dare to go. They are very adaptable to any situation. And they usually never get any credit.

When it comes to health care, I think that nurses are the Navy Seals!

Nurses have an image of “let me give you a little prick,” in order to draw blood, or “roll up your sleeve” so I can take your blood pressure. But in PICU, nurses have to know how to operate EVERYTHING. They give medications, change beds, give shots, increase oxygen, connect computer equipment, check vitals, order doctor’s around, bathe patients, check blood gas, wash dishes, stay up late, educate parents, order x-rays, clear lungs – you get the picture. They know how to move patients from one room to another – no easy feat. They know how to make 32 different kinds of beds go up and down. They can operate hundreds of machines without re-reading the instructions. They can stop bleeding, and diagnose thousands of symptoms. They are on the front line of helping patients.

We have had the most incredible nurses I could have ever imagined. That is due in large part to your prayers for us. These nurses care about John and his health almost as much as we do. So, if you know a nurse, give them a big hug today. They deserve it.

In Common

Last night went very well for John. He has continued to make improvements, and did much better on his breathing. He breathed quite a bit on his own! The doctor’s are weaning him off of the ventilator and some meds, in hopes that he gets his breathing tube out tomorrow.

Much of his swelling has gone down, and now I can see his ankles and toes. He has been very sedated, and I’m sure this does crazy things to a little boy’s body.

I won’t make church this morning, and will certainly miss you guys. Over the past several months, I have been reading the book of Acts, specifically chapter 2. This morning I was reading and thinking about Stonecreek. The bible says that the believer’s were devoted to prayer. It mentions that no one had any needs, because everyone shared.

You guys have made that a reality these past 10 days. Your prayers have pulled us through to this point. Your sharing has brought us to where we are today. Thanks for helping us. We are so blessed to be part of the Stonecreek family.

Time Flies

You think that when you’re in the hospital watching a patient, it would get boring. You’re not doing much but sitting around watching someone get better, right? Not quite the way it works.

Nurses and therapists in all night: 5:30 a.m. the resident surgeon walks in, followed by the ICU doc’s, more nurses, therapists, guests, politicians looking for votes – you name it, they come in your room. Throughout the day, there are tests to run, decisions to make, sleep, whatever it is. One day, we literally looked up, it was 4:00 p.m., and neither Debby nor I had eaten – BREAKFAST!

Time flies. I can’t wait for July 8th so I can speak on the book, “The Secret.”

On Duty

I’m back on duty today. The morning was pretty tough, especially when he tried to swing his legs off the bed and get up. Why doesn’t he do that when it’s time for school? Since I got here, things were going pretty smooth, so I am just waiting for the next curve ball. So, I look up at his vital signs, and sure enough John’s blood pressure is going D-O-W-N. Gives us something else to chase down.

Debby went home and is going to take the kids to a movie. I spent my time off duty getting a haircut. Must be nice.

Don’t forget Ginny Owens tomorrow. I know I said be there by 9:45, but you better make it 9:30. We’ve had some unexpected publicity, and you want to give yourselves plenty of time to get your kids registered. Ginny will begin promptly at 10.

It’s funny some of the things you forget that have happened, until you begin recalling them to other people. Later, I’m going to recall some of the funniest/craziest/stupidest things that have happened during this experience.

But first, I wanted to give a shout out to all of those who have cared for John. Doctor’s, nurses, therapists – this place is great. In general, they have such great bedside manner. They call John’s name before ever touching him, even though he is 3 sheets to the wind most of the time. This experience would be so much worse if it weren’t for some of them and their care for him and our family.

It makes me think about our bedside manner at Stonecreek. How would you describe our bedside manner? How do we treat outsiders? Those who don't know the lingo? Those who are a bit scared and feel out of place?

Just something to think about. I'll post more on that later. But now, let me put on my running shoes and start chasing this blood pressure...