March 31, 2009

Today was a very quiet uneventful day! Dad was pretty tired so he slept for most of the day. However, he did wake up and get very excited when a few of his work friends stopped by. He continues to show signs of good kidney function. They will check his blood every morning and decide if he will need dialysis again. We are hoping that he does not, it would show a big improvement. The respiratory therapist adjusted his machine to make it so that he taking breaths on his own. He has support still but his is doing most of the work himself. This could be a big step toward him getting off the vent. There is still a small air leak in his right lung and his lungs are still very damaged, but at least he is not getting worse. He continues to get stronger and has to be on constant watch because he likes to pull things out. They don't like to restrain his arms but he grabs things when he is sleeping and not very aware, so they may have to for a little while. It is great to see him talk even if I cant read his lips. I hope to get better at it very soon. Thank you all for your support and prayers, we are doing good.

March 30, 2009

Hi! Today was full of good news. They gave dad a medication which makes you have to go to the bathroom a lot. He did really well with that, so it could mean that his kidneys are working and he may not need dialysis any more. We will find out more information tomorrow morning when they test his blood. Dad was really awake today. He was trying to tell us all sorts of things. However, I am not too good and reading lips. I felt really bad for dad because he was trying so hard and getting very frustrated. Towards the evening the nurse gave him a pain killer which put him right to sleep. He really needs the rest and he looked so peaceful when we left. The doctors are saying that he is making progress. It may be slow but its something. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers and lets hope for good news everyday.

March 29, 2009

Today was a pretty good day! As soon as we got there dad was awake. The nurse said she was going to take him off the sedation and see how he does. The doctors want him off and just have him take pain killers. They want him to move around and get stronger. He was awake for about half of the day and he was trying to talk and move his arms. It was really good progress. After awhile he got pretty tired so we left to let him get some sleep. He is also going to the bathroom a lot, so the kidney doctors want to give him a break from dialysis to see if the kidneys are working. His blood pressure was good and he did not have a fever at all today. He is making a little bit of progress and it gives me so much confidence that he could get though this very well. Thank you for your prayers it is really working!

March 28, 2009

Hello. Sorry this is late I was so tired and just went to bed without even thinking about it. Not much happened yesterday. Dads stats were normal. He ran on the dialysis machine all day and she got a lot of the fluid off of him. They were going to restart it last night and try to pull more. There were signs that he is going to the bathroom again, so they are going to do a few tests to see if the kidneys are removing the toxins like they are supposed to or just pushing out fluid. His blood pressure was staying stable so no medication for that and he even opened his eyes a little. Uncle Keith was here so dad smiled a little when he saw him and us. It was really nice. There are not many doctors on the weekends, unless there is an emergency, so we wont talk to one until Monday. I will update later on how today went. Thank you all for your prayers, have a great Sunday.

March 27, 2009

Today started out very hectic. We got a call from the doctor saying that dad was not oxygenating and they needed to do a test to find out why. Well we got their and he said they had to put a camera down his throat and look into his lungs to see what was blocking the air flow. We were so worried. The doctor let us sit in the room and watch it. They had a TV screen and you could watch him go into the lung and all throughout it. It was actually very interesting. Well they did not find anything and while we were discussing the worst possibilities, the nurse announced it was just the oxygen indicator on dads finger that was faulty. So there were many apologies for the fake incident and it turned out everything was fine. The day went on with out any problems. The blood pressure was higher than normal when I left and that is really good. Lets hope it stays like that. Dad is staying stable and hopefully he will start making improvements. If anyone would like to visit it would be great, they will allow brief visits. Again thank you all for your prayers and support.

March 26, 2009

Today was a short day for us. We got to the hospital at about 9:00 and the snow was already bad. Dad looked good. His blood pressure was stable so he was able to come off the medication for it. However, tomorrow they are going to put him on dialysis so they will have to give him the meds again to stabilized him. He is holding oxygen well and is doing fine on the ventilator. The good news is he made it though the first day with no problems so hopefully that is a sign of what is to come. The snow storm should be better tomorrow so we can spend more time with him. Thank you for helping us get through this tough day.

Morning Update

We are headed to the hospital now. I talked to the nurse at about 3:00 Am and everything looked good. His blood pressure was stable and he was on lots of pain killers. We probably wont be able to talk to him for awhile because he will be so sedated. I will talk to you all later. Hopefully we will not get stuck at the hospital, there is going to be a huge snow storm today. We are taking the big car with 4 wheel drive so we should be good. :)

March 25, 2009

Good evening everyone. Today was full of every emotion possible. The day started out very stressful. The surgery was running late so we just sat in the room and waited for two hours. It did not help the fact that I was scared about the surgery in the first place, and then we had to sit in anticipation. When they finally started getting him ready it was very hectic. They were asking me a thousand questions and handing me form after form to sign. Doctors were everywhere updating and yelling stats all over the place. They let me ride down with him on the elevator and the nurses and doctors got all emotional and telling me they would treat him like there own and that got me crying. Then we waited. Overall it was 5 hours between when they took him and when the doctor finally came in to talk to us. Fortunately one of the nurses called a few time during to let us know what was going on and why it was taking so long. The doctor said dad did very well during and all his stats stayed right where they should. He said it took so long because it was a little worse than they thought. Over all they had to remove the middle lobe of the lung and they scraped a bunch of junk off the outside. There is a little air leakage from the lung but they expect that it should heal itself. He did not loose much blood so that was good and there is a chest tube in him to make sure he will not keep bleeding. He was stable when we left and we hope this next twenty four hours he stays that way. It will be very scary because he could get really bad really fast. He was awake when we got back into the room so it was great to see him look at me and smile. He is going to be in a lot of pain but this should be a huge step forward for us. Thank you all for you concern and prayers. It was very helpful that we had such great support during this long difficult day. Good Night.

5:00 pm Denver time

This is Andrea's mom again. After a 5 hr surgery, he is back in his room in intensive care. Andrea will write about the details later but for now, they feel it went well and they removed an infected part of the lung. The next 24 hours are very critical. She is on her way to his room now and will write later tonight when she gets back to the house. Continuing praying for improvement now over the next 24 hours.

Surgery Update

This is Andrea's mom. It is now 1:30 in Denver. Steve went into surgery 2 hours late so he did not go in until 11:30 am. So it will still be a while until she can get to a computer. If she can't get to a computer, she will have me update again. Keep praying!

March 24, 2009

Today the nurse spent the day getting dad ready for surgery. They had to give him some new lines and stop the feeding. She stopped the sedation medication for a little while so that he could wake up and we could talk to him. He was not too responsive but he did smile when we talked about things like the dog and Nick. It was really nice of the nurse to give us that, because it could be a while before he can wake up again. I am very nervous about tomorrow and all I can do is pray that this will work. It is going to be very risky but the results should be really good. I will update as much as possible tomorrow, computers are hard to find at the hospital, but I will try. Thank you all for your support and prayers. Good Night.

Morning Update

Well I had a meeting with the doctors this morning and we decided that he should go into surgery tomorrow morning at 9:30AM. I will keep everyone posted on how things go. The biggest worry is how he will recover. The surgery should go fine but after that will be the deciding factor on how he will do. Tomorrow will be a big hard day so keep the prayers going. Lexie is here with me so I will not be alone. Thank you for all the support and I will write later on how the rest of the day went.

March 23, 2009

Hello everyone. Well it has been one month since he was admitted. There were no changes today. His breathing was the same and all his stats stayed the same. Unfortunately, that is why the doctors think we need to take some sort of action. One doctor sat down with me and said that the team feels that going into his chest and removing all the gunk from around the lung will make a huge difference. This is a big risk because dad is not very strong and the chance of him not making through surgery is higher that we would like. I am sitting down with two surgeons and a few doctors tomorrow morning to discuss exactly what they feel needs to happen. There have been many little things they have been doing to try to make him better but so far nothing has worked. The antibiotics, changing all the lines and draining the fluid from his chest has not solved the problem and they think this is the only thing that may help. The other worry is that if we wait too much longer he will just get weaker and the option for surgery will pass. Tomorrow is going to be a though day, and I thank everyone for being there to support me. The prayers will be very important this week and I know my dad wants to be here and he will fight, but a little help from god will make all the difference.

March 22, 2009

Today was very uneventful and that is fine by me. I had to make two long trips to the airport so I did not spend much time at the hospital. However, the time I did spend was nice. All his stats looked good. His blood pressure was up, his heart rate was down and his temperature was a little high but that's fine. I just spoke to the nurse about how the rest of the day went and he said all was the same. He is still on the continuous dialysis and had a little more Tylenol for the fever. They are keeping him sedated to keep him calm and breathing at a slow steady pace. Lets hope he starts making a little progress soon. Thank you all for keeping dad in your thoughts and prayers it really keeps me positive.

March 21, 2009

Today started out as a bad day. As soon as we got in the room they told us that his heart was in atrial fibrillation. It was beating about 150 beats per minute and his blood pressure was dropping. They gave us two options. Give him medication to bring it down or shock his heart. The medication was too risky because it could possibly put more toxins into his lungs so we decided to do the shock. It was just a small volt and Rolland was in the room. It was a good choice because it was quick results and no side effects. After that everything went back to normal. It is a scary situation because his heart is getting too much stress and he could get back into it at any time. We are hoping it wont be like that and that he will start improving now. We did not discuss anything else with the doctors today, we were still trying to get over the morning. We will probably not talk about the lungs again till Monday. Today was another reminder that he is still so sick and its just a waiting game. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts.

March 20, 2009

I'm sorry this is a day late but yesterday was so long I did not have the energy to even think about the day. We arrived at 7 am because they told us we would talk to the surgeons and then he would go in. Well we got there and they decided to put a small tube in the upper chest and hope that gross infected fluid would come out and that would be the source of the problem. So we waited and waited. He wast supposed to go in at 10 then before lunch, then after lunch then the after noon. Well about 5 they took him down. Then they told us to wait in the waiting room and they would talk to us when they were done and tell us what they found. Two and a half hours later Rolland went to the room to see what was taking so long and he was out and no one had told us. We were so frustrated. The other bad news was the fluid look normal. Meaning the infection is most likely in the lung and there will be a more complicated surgery to get it out. That discussion should come today but we will see. We all slept in this morning so I will updated later when we get there. When we left last night everything else look good. His temp was down and they were starting dialysis. Thank you all for your prayers and sorry for the delay.

March 19, 2009

Well today we got a lot of information. First, he was pretty sedated so he did not wake up to talk to us. Lexie and Rolland flew in and they wanted to talk to him but no luck. Second, the doctors wanted to take out his gull bladder because they thought it was the source of the infection and they came back an hour later and decided it was not and they did not want to risk it. Tomorrow morning we have to be there early to have a meeting with all the doctors and surgeons and decide what to do next. They are suggesting they go into his lung and try to remove all the junk they find and possible remove a part that is so badly damaged. There are many risks, but they think he needs this in order to recover. There are many factors we have to weight and with the doctors help I hope we make a good decision. I will keep everyone posted with anything new. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

March 18, 2009

Hello All. Not much has changed today. I look it as no news is good news. Dad is pretty sedated today because he is breathing too heavily. They are worried that the vessels will pop when he breaths like that so he has to rest. We have not got any results as far as the infections in the blood or on the lines. It takes a few days for cultures to grow and antibiotics to work so we should know more tomorrow. They feel the chest tube has served its purpose and not much fluid is coming out so that should come out tomorrow. They were holding off putting any new lines in, because of the risk of infection, so he did not receive the dialyses today. Plus his body needed a little break. I talked to the kidney doctor today and she says not to worry about those, they usually go when people get sick and they are the last to get better. It is still a waiting game, and each day will bring a little bit more information. Its really hard to wait but its better than things changing too fast to keep up with. Thank you all for your support, Nick and I appreciate everyone for being there for us. Keep up the prayers for dad, he needs it.

March 17, 2009

Hello. There was not much change today. I sat down with the lung doctor today and had a good look at the cat scans. Everything in his stomach looks good. However, his lungs look terrible. He is only using about 20% of each lung. The infection has scared large portions and there is still a lot of fluid that is not moving. The lungs can heal but it will take maybe months of vents and oxygen for a while after that. They changed all the lines and gave a big dose of antibiotics to get rid of the infection in his blood. If that goes away we will be in a better place. If it does not that means they have to go into the lungs and suck out as much as they can. It is very risky and they are not sure if he can handle that. He has pulled out a few miracles and lets hope he can do one more. He asked if I would bring buddy to visit, so I am going to talk to the nurse and maybe they will allow a short visit. Other than that he seams comfortable and is communicating well. Tomorrow will bring more information, so keep praying! Thank you so much.

March 16, 2009

Good Evening All. Today was kind of full of bad news. There are a few organs that are not doing too well and are being closely watched. His lungs are the same as yesterday, full of junk and still draining. The blood has a little infection and they are hoping that all this can be fixed with antibiotics. So the next few days will tell us what is working and what is not. He had another cat scan for his belly today so we can see how that is doing. I wont know anything until tomorrow. His fever was up so he slept pretty well all day. Unfortunately, this could be a step back for us but the doctors have always said he could get worse before he gets better. Hopefully that is true. He is still a very sick person and that never changed, but there was a small improvement last week. He still has fight in him and I hope he will continue to do so. We really need a little extra prayer the next few days and thank you all for all the support.

March 15, 2009

Today was an on off day, but eventful. The fever has concerned the doctors enough that they needed action today. First they gave him a big dose of antibiotics to try to cure the infection. That will take a few days to really see the difference. They also put a chest tube in his side between the ribs to constantly drain the fluid that is creating the infection. This is the least invasive way to try to control this infection. If that does not work they have to put a camera in his side and search out the fluid and get as much as they can. However, this is pretty intense and the surgeons don't think he is strong enough for that. His blood pressure was on and off today so they had to give him some meds to bring it up. On the lighter side he was having pain in his stomach when the doctors pushed on it but the ultra sound revealed everything was fine, so he could just be bloated and sore. Also he is taking food through his tube and everything is digesting well. He got a little restless and pulled the feeding tube out so they had to restrain him. He is agitated but understands and says he wont do it anymore. So that is up to the nurses. Hopefully tomorrow will bring better news. Keep us in your prayers and thoughts. Thank You.

March 14, 2009

Hi! Today was about the same. The dialysis wipes him out so he slept most of the day. Also he had to get another cat scan so they have to give him medication to keep him still and that made him sleep. He still has a mild fever and the doctors are not sure where it is coming from but the cat scan should tell us. We wont find out more till tomorrow because doctors are scarce on Saturday nights. We are worried that it could be a new infection in the fluid around his lungs but I hope not. It will just be more stress on his body. They have taken a good amount of the fluid off of him so he is starting to look better, and the tube feeding is putting some more weight on him. He had a few visitors today and that really helps to boost his spirit. All is steady at this point so we will see how tomorrow goes. Thank you all and good night!

March 13, 2009

Hello! Dad is doing good today! He is awake and talking. He wants to make sure I am going to the grocery store and that we did not get rid of the house. Poor dad, he is trying so hard. Dave and I looked at long term facilities for extended care today. We picked a really nice one right across the street from the hospital. He is not ready to leave the ICU yet but we will have to move at some point soon. It is a positive sign that he is getting better. He is not out of the woods yet but he is almost there. He is getting more food through the tube and I think it is making him stronger. We are going to start practicing writing on a white board so he can get his message across better. Hopefully they will try to put him in a chair to see how his blood pressure handles it. Thank you so much for your support and prayers, we are doing great!!

March 12, 2009 Day 17 or so

Today is a great day here in Denver. You have a guest blogger (Dave) and Steve continues his journey with positive steps. The Doctors are talking optimistically and about the future care. This is a huge improvement from the weeks past. Steve is mouthing words furiously and Andi and I are playing 20 questions. Do you mean this? Or that? He gets frustrated with us, for sure. He is a awake quite a lot and is getting more strength little by little. He can pick his hands up a bit and shuffle his legs. This is great progress even if it sounds little. Steve kept asking to go outside. Andi finally got him to fess up why (he wanted to step out for a smoke...). LOL She chewed him out good! We sneaked off to the hall to celebrate that he is getting stronger in mind and body. The many months ahead will require much determination and patience.
Thanks to all for the prayers. God has listened and acted to give Steve these improving days. I sing his praise for this day!!! Ephesians 2:8-9 He is graceful to us
(PS it is much warmer here-40's above; it was -4 F this AM with -40 windchill. Not quite -200, but close!)
Keep praying!

March 11, 2009

Hello all! Dad got his tracheotomy today and it went really well. His face looks so much better and now I can read his lips. I know he feels better cause he is smiling and laughing. Besides that not much else happened today. Uncle Dave was supposed to fly in but the plane broke, (I'm guessing that it just froze its like -200 in North Dakota), but I hope he will make it tomorrow. They are going to start giving him nutrition into his stomach tomorrow so that should really help in making him stronger. The doctor thinks everything is going in the right direction, it may be slow but good. Have a great night and thank you for your prayers and support!

March 10, 2009

Hello everyone. Dad was very alert today. He would answer all the questions that the doctor would ask and he seams to be understanding everything that is going on. He was supposed to be getting the tracheotomy today but surgery was very busy so he should get it tomorrow. He is very frustrated not being able to talk to us and I think it is hurting a little so we cant wait till he gets the trachea. Walt and Steve Johanson stopped by today and dad seamed really happy. He was smiling a lot so I think it makes him feel better that people visit him. He still has a little fever but they are not finding any new infections so it could just be a little left over. He is still on dialysis and will stay on it till they are sure that his kidneys are fully functioning. They pulled liquid from his lung yesterday and they will do another cat scan to make sure it does not come back, if it does they have to put a tube in his side to keep draining it. All seams a little better today and lets hope it stays that way. Thank you for reading this and continue to pray.

March 9, 2009

This is kind of a late post I was at the hospital for a while. Dad had his eyes open a lot today so it was really hard to leave. The doctors had to pull some fluid out from around his lungs and we hope this will allow him to take deeper breaths. All of these tests remind me that he is still very sick and cannot be considered out of the woods yet. Its hard to grasp that with all this progress he still has so far to go. I continue to hope that things will get better and he is on the right track. He really wants to talk but he cant with the tube in his mouth. I am hoping that in a day or two they will to the tracheotomy and then he can talk a little. Thank you all for your prayers and support we really need it right now.

March 8, 2009

Today was great!! Dad opened his eyes and acknowledged us. He would shake his head when I would ask him questions. He did not have them open for very long but, it was so wonderful to finally be able to look him in the eye. He was on and off a blood pressure medication because for some reason it would keep dropping but it should be OK. He had a cat scan this morning and it showed some fluid in his lungs. The pulmonologist thinks it would be best if they just removed it, so they may do that tomorrow. Also on Tuesday it will be time to give him a tracheotomy and put the vent tube in his neck. It will be more comfortable, reduce the chance for infection and be easier for him to stay awake. His original doctor will be back tomorrow so I cant wait to here what she has to say about his progress. I am so happy that grandma and Lexie could be here to see him open his eyes and I cant wait till he is more aware. Thank you all for praying for us it really was a great day!

March 7, 2009

Hello, we are still making progress. He is off all medication and is no longer being sedated. We were trying to wake him today and he would twitch his eyes a little but not open them. The doctor says it will take a few more days but to keep trying. The respiratory therapist is going to try to lower the pressure on the vent a little more tomorrow. They are working on getting it off all the way but that too will take a long time. Tomorrow he will be getting his first cat scan to make sure there is nothing hiding. He still has a fever so the cat scan should tell us where it is coming from. His doctor is going to sit down with us tomorrow and have a talk about what the prognosis really is and how long it will take him to recover. Hopefully they will bring good news and a quick recovery but only time will tell. Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers and thoughts. Again it is making all the difference.

March 6, 2009

Hello All:

Things are pretty much the same as yesterday. He is off all blood pressure medication and is now off the sedation. We were trying to wake him up with little success. He does twitch his eyes and try to move his head a little. It is really nice to see a reaction especially since there has been no movement when we talk to him. Grandma has kicked into her old nursing habits and is busy massaging, doing his range of motion and checking all the lines. The nurse loves it and says she will put grandma to work soon. As far as yesterdays fever, he still has it a little but they have not found anything wrong so it may just be him fighting off any left over pneumonia. The doctor says his chest sounds better so that infection is almost gone. Waking up will be a long process but I cant wait to see him open his eyes. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts it is really working.

Thank You
Andi

March 5, 2009

Hello! This was an uneventful day so far. But that is better than what it could be. He is still on the normal ventilator and is holding his oxygen well. The sedative was wearing off so he was starting to breath against the machine, so they had to give him more. That is OK at least it is not the paralyzer. He started to get a fever so the doctor ordered some more blood tests. They just hope it is not a new infection. He is still on dialysis but is running just fine. The machine is giving his kidneys a break so he can be on the machine for a while before it becomes too much. The goal for the doctors at this point is to wean him off the vent and start breathing on his own. It is going to be a long process but hopefully successful. I am very excited to see grandma and Lexie tomorrow and I hope it will be a good visit. He is responding to voices more so I will talk more and let him know what is going on in the world. Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers and talk to you later!!

March 4, 2009

Today was a good day!! He is off the oscillator and is doing good on a normal ventilator. Also he is off the meds that paralyze him. He is almost off all of his blood pressure medication and staying strong.