Wednesday, May 25

Karen continues to make progress but as we have said all along, progress will be slow.  She went to the ortho doctor last week and they want her to continue to wear the neck brace for at least 2 more weeks, but the two broken vertebrae are healing well.  Karen was able to go to church this past Sunday for the first time in months.  She really enjoyed getting out of the house and seeing all of our church friends.  Her appetite and occasional nausea continue to be an issue with some good/some bad days, but the doctor thinks this will improve as her hemoglobin improves.  After several weeks of low hemoglobin, that has finally started to improve with the medications they are giving her when she goes for dialysis.  Hopefully she will now begin to have a bit more energy and feel better.  She continues to have home Physical Therapy, but they have released her from further Occupational Therapy and looks like this week will be her last week with the Speech Therapist so she is making progress there. 

 

Rusty

 

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Monday, May 16

Karen has now been home for more than a week and continues to gain strength every day. Dialysis is still Tue/Thu/Sat at 6:30am at the dialysis center on Miller Street. She still has her cervical collar on her neck and she goes back to the ortho doctor Thursday. She had a good weekend with a few spells of not feeling so great, but those passed. She is making the trip up and down the steps more frequently now instead of once per day and I believe we are getting close to getting her of the house a little more (store, dinner, etc.).

Thanks to all of you who have brought us meals! That is a real help and we appreciate it so much.

Please pray for continuing improvement in strength and that she can get rid of the collar soon.

Rusty

Monday Morning

We had a very good weekend with Karen home: got her hair cut Friday morning, dialysis saturday morning, dinner with friends on Saturday night, Mother's Day celebration with kids (minus Russ who stayed at State studying for 3 final exams) and grandkids on Sunday night It was great to have her home!

Karen still needs someone to walk with her and to help her with getting up from chairs and climbing stairs, but she is getting stronger every day. We just need to be cautious until she is very sturdy on her feet. She also is still wearing the neck brace. Home PT, OT, and speech therapy for cognitive issues should start this week as well to make sure she continues her progress.

As always, God is good and we thank Him for he has done for us!

Rusty

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Going Home...But staying On Dialysis

The good news is Karen gets to go home today.  We are just waiting on paperwork and we will be on our way.  Unfortunately, the 24 hour kidney test indicated that her kidney function has not returned so she WILL continue to need dialysis three times per week.  Karen will go back to her Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday at 6:30am hemo-dialysis treatments at the Miller Street clinic starting this Saturday.  While this is disappointing, we both felt like it was a long-shot that dialysis would no longer be needed, and we are fine.  We are just delighted that she gets to go home and thank God for how far He has brought her!

 

Rusty

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Still Waiting

We are still waiting at the Sticht Center to find out about future dialysis and to go home. I will update as soon as I hear more. Karen has now had blood drawn three times today! She is the human pin cushion.

Rusty

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Surprise Possibility and Urgent Prayer Request!

Karen’s discharge from the Sticht Center has been delayed at least one day, but for a very good reason.  The nephrologists (kidney doctors) have been monitoring Karen’s kidney function and now believe there is a possibility that she may no longer need dialysis!  They will be a doing a 24 hour test on her kidney function beginning tonight to determine whether dialysis is still needed.  We think this possibility is a great reason to delay her discharge and worth the wait!   We are trying not get too excited yet, but it is a very exciting possibility.  If this comes to pass, the doctors may have some kind of explanation for this, but we will consider this a miraculous work of God!  I am not sure how long it will take for the doctors to read the results, but hopefully we will find something out sometime Thursday morning.  I will post something on the blog as soon as I find out.

 

I want to ask that you pray a special prayer tonight that this test will show that the dialysis is no longer needed!  

 

Rusty

 

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Countdown to Home - 1 Day Left!

Believe it or not, Karen is 1 day away from going home!  It is hard to believe that she has been at the hospital (with the exception of a couple of brief stays at home) since January 21!  The plan is still for her to go home on Wednesday, May 4 barring something unforeseen.

 

We are now on our fifth day of Karen feeling good (with the exception of brief period Sunday when she didn’t feel so good) and thanking God for this.  They have really been working her hard at the Sticht Center in anticipation of her going home.  We are also making plans to have things squared away at the house to help her with the transition.  I will be working from home for her first week (May 4-11) so that I can be with her and then we will determine what her needs are after that in terms of on-going assistance at home.  I am much more comfortable this time, that she is ready to take this next step. 

 

Please pray that we will adjust quickly to this next step in her recovery and also that things will go smoothly and she will be able to meet the challenges that lie ahead (things like steps!).

 

Rusty

 

 

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