First day of the rest of our life!

Hi there from Stan and Maxine.
Well, we have had a busy day. I feel like we are trying to get "repotted". Who is our doctor? (doctors!!) where do we go? How will they treat us?? Gratefully, many of these questions have already been answered and it is going to be fine. We have a new kidney doctor, new family doctor, homecare ladies to change dressings and a wonderful team in the dialysis unit. We have been warmly received by all these people. We still do not have the physical therapy sessions scheduled, but hopefully by the end of the week. We will be going to the St. Pauls hospital and those nice people even gave us a parking pass that saves us $7.oo a day!! What a deal. We are loving being here with our family and as usual, they are a comfort and wonderful to be helping us. The kidney doctor (nephrologist) was very encouraging to Stan today regarding the return of kidney function, so please keep those prayers heavenward. It continues to be one of our biggest concerns. Thanks for the continued love and support from you all. Love, Stan and Maxine

Celebrations!

Dad and Mom are now temporary residents of Saskatoon!!! They drove up this afternoon, and will stay with Melissa for a while. We celebrated with fireworks! (We really did! Saskatoon's centennial celebration was this weekend, and when Dad heard there were fireworks he said "Let's go", so we did!) He's very tired, but glad to be able to go out at his own decision.

Dad will do dialysis here starting Monday, and has various referrals to look after things like physio.

We are so excited to have them here now! We thank God for bringing Dad to this point. Now for those kidneys!

On the road again!

Well, if all goes as planned, Dad's dialysis on Monday will be in Saskatoon!!!!!!!!
Mom just called and said they got a doctor in Saskatoon, and either tomorrow (Saturday) or Sunday they'll be headed up here! This is so exciting, but they are also quite nervous how everything will be for Dad to not be in the hospital. There are lots of details to work out, with physio, dressing changes, and equipment to help him get around easier. They will stay at Melissa and Robert's for the first while, as they have fewer stairs, and will probably stay with us after a while as well.

A special thanks to Shelley, Joyce and Pradzynskis for providing housing for us in Regina. We appreciated it!

Another Note from Maxine

Hi again from Maxine. I'll let Roy do his magic of where this ends up.

Thanks to those wonderful people back at home that are taking off our crop!! It is a relief to Stan to know that Gerry, Tim and "company" are doing such a great job.

Stan has been working very hard, too, in mind an body to fit together a plan of recovery and I guess renewal. I had been warned ahead of time by someone here in the medical land. As family, we have been working on all this for almost 6 weeks now but Stan has only woke up to this in the last week or so and found out his life has changed in some pretty major ways! Our love and commitment to whatever comes is forged over our 32 years together and even if we were kids when we got married (20 and 21), we knew we meant "together" and we ask God's continued blessing upon what comes.

It is a real blow to us that the kidneys, as of yet, have not cut back in. That would be wonderful!! The need for dialysis three times a week is very life changing and will effect where we live and what we will be doing with the next years. Please pray for the kidneys and for us as we seek God's wisdom for the next plans.

Saskatoon plans are indeed looking hopeful. We once again have some wonderful people on our side trying their best to make this happen for us. Thanks again to you all for sending your thoughts, prayers, flowers, cards and love!!

Love from Stan and Maxine

Plans

Today Dad was able to go outside! Grandpa and Ruby went to visit and they took Dad out to the courtyard by the cafeteria for a little while. He has been wanting to go outside but it hasn't worked till now. As well, he was able to walk the loop around the nurse's desk today.

Apparently one of Dad's doctors wrote a letter to the kidney doc, Dr. Wilson, telling him that he's holding everyone up, that they will keep Dad in the General until Dr. Wilson gets dialysis arranged for Dad in Saskatoon! So, hopefully it won't be much more than a week or so until Dad and Mom will head our direction! We aren't sure if they would transfer him to a hospital here first or if he would just go to Melissa's right away.

Keep praying for his kidneys!

Nightly update

Dad had what's becoming a typical day today. Physio to work on his shoulder range of motion and his foot/walking, dialysis which took way longer than it should have due to clotting, trying some new meds to fight the nausea, and the usual bandage changes and visit from Dr. Chang (the wonderful plastic surgeon).
They have started adding iron to the blood during dialysis, which will hopefully help his hemoglobin to stay up.
On Friday they will take him to the OR to move the dialysis port to his neck/chest, which is supposed to not clot as much and be safer as far as risk of infection.
A nurse who was working when Dad was moved upstairs last week thinks he has improved a lot since then, so even though he isn't feeling like he's progressing, we think he is.

Rough day

I just spoke to Dad and to Mom, and Dad said he's had a miserable day. He's still quite nauseous, so they've started him on IV gravol and another anti-nausea medication, but they had a hard time getting an IV started. They also had trouble getting the right spots for more blood work, so Dad said he's full of holes tonight. They've decided to move the dialysis lines from the current site, where they just put them last night, to his neck, so that will mean more holes yet. He was able to do a little more with the physiotherapist, but he was discouraged that his drooped foot isn't doing much yet. The plastic surgeon is happy with how the graft area and donor sites look, but otherwise Dad's still having a rough time.

Keep praying!

I just talked to Mom, who had just talked to some dr's and nurses. We have planned to bring Dad to Saskatoon when he's released from the hospital so that he can continue dialysis and physio without having to drive to Regina 3 times a week, but when she asked about it today they made it sound like he may not be able to get in for dialysis in Saskatoon because it's out of the health region. They said there may be a waiting list of up to 3 months before he could get in here.
Please pray that #1 his kidneys would kick in so he won't need dialysis, and #2 that if they don't kick in yet that he will be able to get into the system in Saskatoon for as long as he needs dialysis. Thanks. It's so good to know there are still so many going to God on our behalf!

Slowly but surely...

For anyone who saw Dad in ICU, doesn't he look great? For the rest of you, this is a huge improvement!

Dad wasn't feeling that well this weekend. He was very weak and nauseous. He was so much better than last week, though! We saw huge improvements since last Sunday. His mind is a lot clearer, he can feed himself with relative ease, and he can get up to move from the bed to the chair by himself. He was frustrated that he had so little energy and was feeling so poorly compared to a few days ago, though.

Our major prayer request is for Dad's kidneys to start working. Please pray hard about this. The kidneys are the only area where there has been no improvement so far, and so he is still on dialysis 3 times a week. The doctors have no idea how long this could go on or even if it may be permanent. We have seen God do miraculous things in Dad's body already, however, and are hopeful that He will see fit to fix Dad's kidneys as well.

Dad will probably need another blood transfusion in the next couple of days, which will hopefully give him more energy, and they will try to get his iron up so he can make more blood himself. The back area of his graft is not healing as quickly as we would like, due to the pressure of laying on it all the time. As well, his right shoulder is sore and weak, and his left foot droops (due to compression of the nerve from laying still in ICU for 3 weeks). These are all areas for which we are praying for healing, as well as for him to regain strength and do well with the physio. Aside from the kidneys, however, all other areas are gradually improving--praise God!

A Note From Maxine

(this was originally a comment on another post)

Hi from Maxine.

Stan has made great strides with his mind clearing and his desire to put all the pieces together of what has gone on in the last weeks. He is overwhelmed by the love and concern from all of you. He is also a little overwhelmed by the pace things are moving and what all happens to him the the course of a day with dialysis (three times a week), doctors checking him, bandages being changed, trips to xray and physio. Sometimes he has had his food sent back to the kitchen because he was off on one of the above adventures! and was short on sleep and nourishment.

It may seem a big leap from Intensive Care to the Observation Unit but he still has a lot of healing to do. We have finally reached a place where he doesn't fight sleep, but welcomes it.

Thanks again to you all for your love and concern. I still need to be faithful to my goal of protecting him from too much additional activity than is already necessary for his daily maintenance and we will soon welcome more visits, but just not yet.

Love from Stan and Maxine

bigger steps

I got to talk to Dad on the phone tonight! It was so nice, as he sounds much more like himself. He met with the physical therapist today (who happens to know Melissa!) and the goal was to take some steps with the parallel bars. Well, this wasn't challenging enough, so they quickly moved on to walking with a walker. He was quite tired, but did well.

His eyesight is improving a little as far as the double vision but is still a concern to him.

Our prayer requests are for his vision to improve, his strength to return, and his kidneys to start working again. We are so thankful for how far God has brought Dad already!

Baby steps

Not too much to report today. Dad got to work with the physio a little more and they had him standing and taking steps in place. Tomorrow they'll probably take him to the physio department and get him walking with the parallel bars. His mind is a little clearer yet. He will still be doing dialysis, probably 3 times a week. He had lots of visitors today, which he enjoyed but which played him (and Mom) out, as well. We would like to remind anyone who goes to visit to keep it short. Thanks.

Moving on up!

Dad "graduated" today, to the sixth floor! As all of the other families got transferred we would say they graduated, so finally it's our turn! He will be in an observation ward first, and then hopefully a private room.

Other milestones are he was able to sit in a chair today, and will be receiving a "normal" supper tray!

He was also excited to visit Uncle Bill and Auntie Vi today.

Even though he's out of ICU, they are still asking to limit visitors to 2 at a time and only for about 10 minutes, to not wear him out!

Thank God for such wonderful news!

Ice and Ice cream

The excitement today was that Dad was able to get ice chips into his mouth by himself, with his right hand. (This is the side that had the surgery.) He started with his left hand, but was determined to make his right hand work, and he kept trying till he got it! Later we took him some ice cream, and again he did it himself, with just a little help from me pushing his elbow. His arm was quite stiff, but by the end it didn't take nearly as much pressure to get the spoon to his mouth as it did at first. We're hoping a physiotherapist will be in to work with him tomorrow to get him into a chair and maybe standing a little. We're also hoping he won't be in ICU for more than a few days.

His mind is clearer each day, although his vision isn't yet.

It's so nice to have Dad looking and sounding like himself again!

Coherent thoughts?

More entertaining conversations with Dad today, but tonight he was actually quite with it. We had a very nice visit. They are still working on weaning him off the morphine. Aside from seeing 2 or more of everything he is doing quite well. The goals for the next couple of days are eating and getting out of bed.

Mom would like to thank everyone for the many prayers, cards, and other ways you all have shown us you care. This is all very encouraging to us. We have definitely seen God answering prayer this month, and even this week.

Food, glorious food!

They tested Dad's swallowing again yesterday. He did okay with ice chips, so they tried apple sauce, which went alright so they tried pudding, and then thickened soup. They'll work up to solids. In Dad's mind (morphine) he ate roasters full of food yesterday, they just kept feeding him as much as he could handle! He was excited about it.

Melissa and I had quite an amusing conversation with Dad when we got here last night. For the most part he's quite clear minded, but then he'll start talking about something that just doesn't make sense. We try to explain that just the drugs made him think that. One example was that he's sure he heard us stand by his bed and discuss his funeral, complete with the "Hawkins' hearse" and an announcement of his "untimely death". All we can figure is that he heard us discussing Grandpa's funeral and connected it to himself. We tried to reassure him that our only plan was for him to pull through, but he looked skeptical. :)

He's quite concerned about the farm, and just wants to go check those crops. Or at least talk to Gerry on the phone to see about spraying those chickpeas one more time.

Very nice to have Dad back talking to us! They'll keep him in ICU a little longer, but he's to the point where if they need his bed he'll be moved.

More good news!

We're done with grafting! The surgeon had time today so he stopped by after all to have a look. There are just two small red areas that aren't quite healed that should take care of themselves, otherwise it looks good!

They still have Dad on quite a bit of oxygen, so they won't move him off ICU until his breathing is better.

Please pray that his breathing, swallowing, and kidneys will improve.

Anxious

Now that Dad's awake, he's getting impatient: to eat, to walk, to have a quieter room...

A speech pathologist came to assess his swallowing today and decided that the muscles are still too weak from being intubated for so long. He was aspirating more than they would like when swallowing, so he's got a naso-gastric feeding tube for now, and they'll reassess every day to see when he can start real food. He's been asking the nurse what he can eat first, and what he should work up to, and asking Mom what she's bringing him for supper.

While they've let him sit up on the edge of the bed, he's wanting to go walk around. That will take some time yet.

He's realizing now what a busy place he's in. All the machines and people in and out are getting to him, and he just wants some place quiet to lay down for a while. Hopefully they will get him to a private room before too long.

The surgeon changed his mind on the dressing change, instead of tomorrow it will be either Friday or Saturday.

Dad hasn't been sleeping well the last couple nights because he's been too busy trying to think everything through, but when they said they would give him something to help him sleep, he resisted the idea. He said "I've been trying for days to wake up!"

What's next?

Well, things continue to look good. Dad is trying to get everything straight in his mind, but the morphine is making for some interesting conversations, as it is known to do! Dad thinks he would feel better if he could walk around for a bit, but the nurses are trying to convince him that he's not as strong as he thinks. So far he's just able to sit on the side of the bed. He wants to know what his goals are, though, and what he should be working on next.

The surgeon stopped by and said since Dad's doing so well he'll just have a look at the site in Dad's room, instead of going back to the OR tomorrow.

We know he still has a long way to go, but we're so grateful for how far he's come!

Hurray!

No more ventilator! The doctors did decide to remove it! Mom said Dad asked rapid-fire questions when the tube came out, one of the first being "Why can't I move my arm?" (The nurse forgot she had tied it down when he was moving around too much so he couldn't pull out the tube himself!)

He has an oxygen mask still to help him breathe a little easier, and his lips are swollen from having had the tube for so long, but otherwise he is able to talk quite well already.

Praise God!

Go Dad!

This is the post that should be titled determination! Dad breathed all night on his own through the ventilator tube, and at one point tried to climb out of bed! The doctors will decided during morning rounds if they can take out the ventilator.

Determination

I just talked to Mom for the nightly update, and she said basically Dad has been breathing on his own since before lunch today! They had the ventilator off for about 2 1/2 hours this morning, put it back on for an hour or two while they did a dressing change and got dialysis hooked up, and then he was awake and acting agitated, pointing at the tube, and when they asked if he wanted to breathe on his own he nodded yes. We've been trying to explain to him that they can't take the tube out until they're sure he can breathe on his own, because they don't want to have to put it back in, so Dad is doing everything in his power to prove he can be off the ventilator! This is the major prayer request tonight, that Dad have the strength and stamina that they will take the ventilator tube out, hopefully tomorrow.

Mom was able to speak to the plastic surgeon again today, and found out that they were able to remove the chest tube (draining fluid from around his lung) in the surgery last night. The doctor feels good about how the graft is doing, and said they'll look under the vaccuum bandage on Thursday, and if things look good then they won't have to put the vaccuum back on. Also, there was one area that the intensivist was concerned about because there's such a thin layer over his lung, but the plastic surgeon said they put an extra layer of skin over that area and they think it should fill in some between the layers.

When Dad was wide awake and seeming quite uncomfortable, Mom was able to reassure him and help him relax. The nurses were commenting on her calming effect, so she is staying at the hospital still so that if he gets upset they can call her in. Now that he's awake so much Mom is looking forward to being able to spend more time with Dad in his room and keep him company.

We are so grateful for the progress we've seen in the last 2 days! God is good. Please continue to pray for healing, that Dad can get off the ventilator SOON, that his kidneys will start functioning better, and that he will have peace of mind as he goes through what will still be a long healing process. Thank you!

Joyful, Joyful

Around 12:30 Maxine called my cell, Stan was out of surgery. 90% of the skin graft took. The doctor predicted 50-80%, so this is astounding. They also found no infection.

I'm sure I am forgetting something, so I will add more when the girls wake up.

Waiting... To Exhale

We were told Stan would be taken into surgery today to assess the graft. He was originally scheduled to go in tomorrow, but the surgeon decided to move it up. We waited patiently all day, and when Maxine decided the pregnant girls needed to go home to sleep (10:30 pm), the phone rang and they took him into surgery. He is in surgery as I type this update.

We did have an exciting development today. When we got back to the hospital after church and after taking Karen to the airport, the doctor wanted to see Maxine. Since Stan has been intubated for nearly three weeks, they would like us to consider a tracheotomy. After a discussion with the doctor, they did a trial with Stan breathing on his own. They were impressed when he breathed on his own for ten minutes, and surprised when he made it over an hour. This completely exhausted him. The plan is to wait a few days, hopefully to wean him off the ventilator and avoid a tracheotomy. Please pray hard.

Robert is a farmer now. Monica, Melissa and Roy are headed back to Saskatoon tomorrow. During the week, we will be updating the blog from there, based on phone reports from Maxine. We will be driving down to Regina on the weekends.

Please pray the graft will take well, and he will gain strength to be able to breathe on his own soon.