Joanne Heim

What a Day!

Joanne is home! In fact at this very minute she is asleep next to me in our big bed. I bet she sleeps more soundly tonight then she has in a long time. No nurses to wake her  up with meds and no lab techs showing up at 4 a.m. for blood draws. And when she wakes up in the morning there will be someone right here to bring her a cup of coffee in bed.

Yesterday I went to the pharmacy to pick up her needed medications that Miguel the PA had prescribed. They brought them to me in a small grocery sack there were so many bottles. I think this afternoon and this evening I got her everything that she is supposed to have, but it is going to take some serious pill organizers to whip this pharmaceutical frenzy into shape! 

I can't tell you how nice it was to be at home today and tonight. Usually, at differentpoints during the day, we are at the hospital. Tonight we all had Costco pizza for dinner and then Joanne got ready for bed and went to bed and I didn't have to follow that up with a 20 minute drive home! I'm already here! And the whole family got to be around the table together. We usually pulled that off once a week on Sundays. But now it'll happen all the time. It feels almost too good to be true.

I think tomorrow we are going to do absolutely nothing. There is stuff to be done, to be unpacked and put away, but if we don't get to it, so be it. A whole day of nothing sounds like the best deal ever. Then my folks and sister are coming up to bring us dinner and hang out tomorrow evening. Man, it just keeps getting better and better!

Of course there are challenges to our new arrangement, but you know what? I'm not even going to talk about any of that tonight. At this point I am just too excited to all be together. 

Prayer request:

Sleep, sleep and more sleep for Joanne.

Toben

P.S. I need to write a 'thank you' post tomorrow or Sunday to everyone who is blessing our socks off right now. You know who you are :)

 

Coming Home

Joanne is coming home tomorrow. The girls and I have moved back into our house tonight after 4 months and 2 days of being at Gran and Papa's. It's a weird and wonderful feeling all at once. Everyone is excited for Joanne's return but it is kind of scary too because we won't have a whole team of medical experts just outside our doors ready to spring into action to help with whatever we need. Still, the excitement outweighs the fear.

I feel like I have much more to write but I want to get a few more things done around the house before tomorrow. I promise I'll write more this weekend.

Prayer request:

Smooth move home for Joanne!!!

Toben

If you are local and want to help....

....please read! Kristen.

I Still need my mommy!

 Here's one yhing I've learned in the pat four--fOUR! months of this season of stroke and recovery: (CRAZY THAT IT'S BEEN THAT LONG--SO GLAD TO BE GOING HOME ON FRIDAY THIS WEEK!!I still need my mommy! i may be nearing 40 and be a mommy myselfm but at heart I'm stilljust a girl who needs her mama everyday for life to be okay.

so thanks, dearmom, for bring at the hospital with me everyday, for shavong my legs, forreading to me, for painting mty nails, for keeping company, for warding off loneliness, for puttin g your life  on hold for four months because you love me. Iloveyou.and I want to be the kind of mommy you are when i grow uupbecause you are the best there is. Hands down-- no    competitionompetition!

From Papa

The steps of a man are established by the Lord,  Psalm 37:23

Papa is writing this Saturday morning about more praises we wrote on her calendar yesterday.   Barry had Joanne walk from the nurse’s station to the gym using her 4-point cane, but without his assistance!  This last Thursday, Audrey & Emma spent the day with Joanne doing therapy baking chocolate chip cookies, which she of course dictated from memory.  Friday, they all worked with Lori (speech therapist), since Joanne’s emotionless speech will limit her mothering skills.  I’ve finished reading Joanne Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald, and we’ve started Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood, while she concentrates on manipulating her left arm – sometimes willing it to move a small amount.  Each day, I stretch her left hamstring.   Kay & I also work on passive range of motion in her left arm, but a couple of times I’ve put her up to a #8 on the pain scale,  even with ever so slow & tender movements.  AND, her discharge date has been accelerated several days to Friday May 13^th, mainly because if she is discharged on a Monday, there’s not much therapy on weekends.  For instance, today Joanne has 30 minutes of PT at 10 AM, and then is free for the day.  So Toben has permission to again bring her home for lunch at our house.  Kay is also getting her first time off in weeks (other than being sick in bed several days this week) and will pick up our other daughter Kristen to go to the first outdoor Paris Street Antiques Market of the season.  I’m off to get sprinkler systems running, and purchase and install the last grab-rail needed at the Heim house. 

Prayer items:  So … we’re starting to think about this new phase of life, not knowing if it will be easier or more difficult.  Certainly, it will be wonderful for the Heim family to be together in their own home.  Toben will be carrying a lot more responsibility – as night nurse and medication provider.  Audrey & Emma will need to step to a new degree of responsibly.   Kay and I will remain on 7-day duty, but we’re not sure of the details yet.  At some point, my time will become more valuable than my income, and I will retire again to be an equal care partner with Kay.  This next week is important, as Toben gets medication instructions for the transition to Kaiser pharmacy, and medical appointments for Joanne to get “fully inside” the Kaiser network.  We need to work with Kaiser to set up “skilled home nursing & therapy”.  This phase of her recovery has remained very confusing to us, but we believe it will entail therapists coming to their home until she is able to travel back to Spalding for more outpatient therapy.  As the sun rises, it again all seems pretty overwhelming, but our Lord faithfully provides enough grace for each day.

 Chuck

Well, Hello there! anda little bul riding!

First off, I miss you! dear blog and readers! 

Thank you! Your prayers are a precious gift to me,...Worth more than riches!

Typing is still a frustrating game of one-handed hunt-and-peck:(

But you're worth it so I'll give it a shot this morning!

Today is the day I was supposed to go home and while I know we made the wise choice to stay longer and get stronger, I'm still feeling blue about it...especially as a couple of awesome women I'ne met sre headed home today...

May 16 is the new day to leave here and I'm praying time flies and I get my left arm fully back by then!

I have moved it a very little bit, but am a long way still from full use.. it's slow and totally frustrating! Rehab is the hardest work I have ever done!!!  Not for sissies! or wimps for sure.  If you can avoid it--do! It's no fun!

Except for riding the mechanical bull--something I did yesterday in PT and hope to again today...

M and el toro:

 

Mom and Dad are here now, friends are coming for lunch, Toben will come later and bring my sweet girlies too. Tomorrow I'm going to go home for a few hours in the afternoon and lie on my couch with my cat!  A perfect Sunday afternoon to me..

Please pray..

1.  For my left arm

2.  For strength to rise quickly

3.  Against boredom, frustration & discouragement

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Joanne

(Apologies for any remaining typos, edited by Papa)

 

 

 

Pictures!

You have to check out these pictures of Joanne that Kristen posted on her blog: 

http://khphotography.net/blog/?p=1817

Toben

Release Date

Just finished our family meeting with the therapists and the Kaiser representative to talk about Joanne's progress and her release date. The long and the short of it is that she is making amazing progress and will benefit from a few more weeks in the hospital. She desperately wants to come home, but also wants to get as much accomplished as she can before going home. So she very bravely said that she would stick it out for a few more weeks, work hard, and go home knowing that she put in her best effort. I love that! What a commitment for her to make and what a work ethic! not too many weeks ago she was ready to just give up, but she has battled back. I know there are going to be a few tough days between now and her discharge date, but at least the end is in site. After being in the hospital almost four months a couple more weeks in manageable. 

I was really anxious going into the meeting. I want what's best for Joanne and my intuition was that it would be best if she could stay a little longer, but I really wasn't sure which way the staff would go. But they were all in agreement that a little more time is a good thing.  Thank the Lord that we were all on the same page!

So we have some time to get everything ready for Joanne's return. For a few hours today I think Gran and I had the thought that we needed to get everything ready for her to come home Saturday! Not sure how in the world we would have been able to do that. 

Joanne has asked for a few things: her Bible, her prayer book, her skinny jeans (which will probably not be all that skinny seeing as she has lost so much weight) and her Frye boots. 

Funny thing: Barry is the OT. Barry is a man. But as the OT Barry is responsible for helping Joanne do the daily stuff of life...like putting on makeup. So Barry actually helped Joanne get her makeup done today. It was hilarious. Of course he is really there to help her figure out how to lay things out, get them open, etc. But it was fun to hassle him about doing Joanne's makeup. He is hilarious and a good sport and a great therapist!

Prayer request:

1. Perseverance and lifted spirits for Joanne to make it through the next few weeks.

2. Real improvement over the next few weeks including use of her left arm.

3. Please pray for a smooth transition back to our home. We have a lot to do before the house will be ready for all of us to return to living there and it is going to be weird to be back there after being with Gran and Papa for so long. Plus it is a little hard to imagine what our life will be like when we are all back together. I hope it's amazing but I know it will come with a fair share of challenges.

Toben

Home Visit

Joanne got to come home for a few hours yesterday for our home study. The PT and OT come over and sort of walk through the house and work with Joanne and I on different scenarios that it'll take for her to move back in. It went amazingly well. 

First off, Joanne didn't get car sick. Almost every car/van/ambulance ride that she has taken has made her car sick, but this time she was ok. What a relief! So we got to the house and it turns out that our house is actually set up pretty well for Joanne. We don't have to move a lot of furniture or do anything major in order for her to get around.

Well, let me back up and say that Papa has done a lot of work to get the house ready for Joanne. He has installed banisters in all the stairways. We had banister on one side only but now we have banisters on both sides. It is only because of this that Joanne is able to get up and down the stairs. This is a huge help and blessing! In fact, Papa and Emma are over at the house right now staining the banisters to match the ones that were already in. They look so good!

On top of that, he is installing the shower bars in the bathroom. Joanne is really excited to take a nice, long, hot shower in her own bathroom. 

But back to the visit: so we did all the transfers and got Joanne moved around the house into all the different scenarios that we might encounter. We wrapped up about 11:15 and Joanne was up for it so we went and picked up the girls at school. They weren't expecting to see her there so it was quite a hit. On top of that the staff that saw her all ran out to the car to give her hugs. It was pretty cool. Can't wait to she can go with me to get the girls every day.

After that, Joanne was still ready for more activity so we went to Gran's house and had lunch. It was so good to see Joanne at the table. Felt very good and right for her to be there. Again, can't wait for the day that this is a regular occurrence! 

By this point Joanne was wiped out so we headed back to the hospital and got her tucked in and she took a long nap. The girls and I took off about 4 when Gran and Papa got there. We headed out and picked up a few little things at the mall for the girls (thanks to a kind gift from my folks) and met up with Christine and Shanna. Christine came with us and we hit a local pizza place for dinner. Then it was home to Gran and Papa's for a quiet evening.

Other news of note:

Joanne got cortisone and botox injections in her shoulder and arm this week to relieve some pain and loosen things up. Waiting to see if it works.

We will attending Easter services at the hospital. They have a chaplain there who will do the service tomorrow. Wish we could go to our church but I just don't think Joanne could handle the drive and the stimulation.

Feels like we are in a couple of countdowns--to the end of school and to Joanne coming home. Those two events will likely happen with a just a couple of weeks in between. Joanne will be home sometime around the middle of May and the girls will be out of school a couple of weeks after that. I am really looking forward to this summer. Last summer we moved home from Phoenix so it didn't really feel like we had a great summer because of packing and unpacking. This summer will be way more relaxing. Plus the girls will be around the house to help with anything Joanne needs.

Prayer requests:

1. Pray that Joanne finishes strong at rehab. She is working so hard and we would love to see her power through to the end. She will have out-patient therapy after she is discharged but we would love to get the most out of every remaining day of in-patient.

2. As always, please pray for her spirits. She is so tired of being in the hospital and of not being able to do so many of the things that she used to enjoy. Please pray that she will find new sources of joy!

3. Please pray for the pain in Joanne's shoulder and arm to go away and for her car sickness to resolve. Both of these things make life very difficult for her especially as she is looking toward discharge. 

Toben

 

The Field Trip

Well, yesterday Joanne got her first past to venture outside the hospital. We left at about 11. Getting her in and out of the car was a breeze. We had practiced for an hour earlier int he week so everything went just as practiced. We headed for P.F. Chang's. No car sickness on the way there but it was clear that all the stimulation of being in the car was a lot for Joanne to handle.  

We got the P.F.C. and they had a great table for us and flowers for Joanne. How cool is that! We had a great lunch but again, there was so much noise and activity that it was clearly difficult for Joanne to take it all in. When it was time to take care of the bill our server told us that it had all been taken care of! How cool is that! I am now a P.F.C. fan for life. 

Fromt here we headed to to house so that Joanne could hang out with Joey the cat. We got her there and inside and Joey preformed perfectly. He jumped up on her lap and they snuggled for much of the next hour. After that, Joanne told me that she was ready to go back. So got her loaded back in the Expedition and headed out. Unfortunately we hit traffic and the stop and go motion got the best of her and she got car sick. Felt terrible that her outing had to end that way. 

Got her back to the hospital and into her room. Got her changed out of her clothes and into PJs. Her outfit was covered in cat hair thanks to snuggle time with Joey. She spent the rest of the afternoon resting. 

So that was our outing. I think we all learned a lot of lessons. Joanne has been in very low-stimulation environments for the last three months. Being out in the world is a lot to take in. It clearly had an effect on her. Also, it takes a lot of effort for her to get around. We tried to use the wheel chair as much as possible , but when she had to do some walking (around the house) it really takes it out of her. The takeaway is that I think Team Joanne has a better idea of what progress we are looking forward to in therapy. And even after that, it'll be a while before she is ready to take in the constant noise and movement of the big wide world. We'll have to ease her into that. And fortunately she has time to get stronger before coming home. 

So that's about it for our day out. Today it'll be back to normal. Gran and Papa are at the hospital this morning. Emma is watching Mythbusters, and Audrey is still asleep. I am having a casual cup of coffee, which is a rare pleasure. I am usually guzzling it down before heading out the door in the morning. We will all meet for lunch at the hospital--it's prime rib day! Then some combination of us will spend the afternoon with Joanne.  

Then tomorrow we'll be right back at it.

Prayer requests:

1. Joanne's shoulder is still in significant pain. And the clock is now ticking toward her release and we really need to figure out how to get her out of pain before she comes home. It definitely effects her ability to function.

2. Endurance is going to be a big deal. In order for her to get around the house she needs to get stronger. 

3. Please pray for real progress in therapy. Having been out in the world I think we have a better sense of how Joanne needs to improve to function well at home. It would be great if her therapy over the next couple of weeks can get her to that point.

Toben

Heading Out

Today is a big day! Joanne is getting to go on her first outing since being in the hospital. We are leaving just after speech therapy and heading to P.F. Chang's.  We actually blogged about this a few days ago and got an email from someone from P.F.C. corporate asking us what location, what time and how many people will be in our party and that they would make sure everything was taken care of.  How cool is that! We will be having won ton soup, lettuce wraps, crab won tons and orange chicken (all Joanne's favorites). 

After that we are headed to our house to meet Joanne's next request. We are going to the house so that Joanne can sit on her couch, in the living room and snuggle with her cat Joey. Joey is technically Audrey's cat, but Joanne has sort of adopted him as her own.

Of course in order to make the house habitable several members of Team Joanne are over there cleaning the place up. On top of that, Papa is installing hand rails on all the stairways. I am so glad that he is handy because I could never in a million years do what he is doing.

The main cleaning  task is to remove two cat's worth of cat hair that has accumulated over the last three months. Disgusting! On top of normal shedding, Pumpkin (Emma's cat) sheds more when no one is there. It's like a separation anxiety thing with her. So we have more than the normal amount of cat hair to deal with. Bless Gran and Emma for tackling this project. 

I will post later about how it all goes!

Prayer request:

Joanne has been very car sick in every ambulance ride she's had so far. We are praying that she doesn't get car sick as we drive around today.

Toben

P.F. Changs Rocks!

Not sure what it will lead to but someone form P.F. Changs saw our blog  post about Joanne wanting to go there in her first outing since her stroke. They got in contact with Joanne and asked for my number and email so that they could get everything "all set up." I have no idea what that means but how cool of them! Pretty cool for them too because obviously now we will be telling how awesome PFC is and that everyone should go there--and even if they weren't being so cool to us it's still hard to beat Joanne's requests: won ton soup, lettuce wraps, and orange chicken. I will be having the "spicy fish." So excited for Joanne's big adventure this weekend! 

This just in: Got an email while I was writing this from Jason at PFC. They are going to get everything set up for us in order to make our first weekend outing a special one. PFC has a new fan for life.

You know her other big request is to sit in her living room and snuggle Joey the cat. I was at the house feeding them today and explained to Joey what I expect from him on Sunday. I think he knew what I was saying and is up to the challenge.

I don't have to do to go to the office tomorrow so I will get to be here with Joanne all day and see her therapy. Usually by the time I get here all the cool stuff has already happened. Tomorrow I get see it all! Pretty excited about that. 

BTW, Joanne's haircut is amazing. I was totally blown away when I saw her last night. I went to the Walmarts and got her the right product for her hair and she is going to by stylin' on Saturday. The cut completely hides her incision scar--something I thought would be very difficult to so but Kathy the hairdresser pulled it off. Way to go Kathy!

The girls and I are at the hospital now and we are all going to get to eat dinner together. Love it when that happens. The whole clan (the Heims, the Friedensteins, and the Haufschilds) hasn't been together all at once maybe one or two times in three months so any chance to get around a table as a family is a big deal. Rosie, the chef here at the hospital, has promised us something tasty for tonight. Rosie totally rocks. She is a great cook and loves her job. Tough to beat that.

Wow, what a random post!

Prayer Requests:

1. Patty, across the hall from Joanne is recovering from a bike accident where she broke 9 bones including her hip, pelvis, collar bone, a bunch of ribs and a few other things. She gets to go home on Friday and she and her husband are a great Christian couple. Please send up a prayer for her continued healing.

2. We can always use prayer for Joanne's spirits. She gets pretty low from time to time, which is totally understandable. Please pray that God would shower her with his grace, peace and courage. She told me last night that this is the hardest thing she has every done. This from a woman who bore two children, wrote six books, runs five miles a day, homeschools the girls, studies Greek at Denver Seminary, etc, etc. So when she says something is hard it's hard!

3. One little detail: Joanne has struggle with motion sickness on every ambulance transport to date. Please pray for no motion sickness as we drive her around on Saturday.

Toben

P.S. Last night Joanne said, "The therapist told me to look at my arm and put all my concentration into moving it. I felt like Luke Skywalker trying to get his X-Wing Fighter out of the swamp." This may be my favorite post stroke comment from Joanne. Great word picture.

Sliding into Home

Today we practiced getting in and out of the Expedition and going up and down curbs, both by walking and in the wheelchair. We are doing this because Joanne is getting a pass this weekend! That's right. We are breaking her out of this place for a few hours on Saturday. Her two requests: P.F. Changs for lettuce wraps and sitting on the couch in her living room petting her cat Joey. Fortunately both of these are easily done. It's not like she's asking to go roller skating. So we practiced sliding her in and out of the car--who knew leather seats would have a therapeutic value. 

However, this does present one problem: our house hasn't been cleaned in three months...and we have two cats...who shed...a lot! Fortunately Gran and I have a strategy about how and when to get this done, but I think we are going to need some extra vacuum bags. The good thing is that Joanne can't really go up or down stairs so we will only really have to clean on floor. All in all it will be pretty manageable and we will have the place ship shape for when Joanne walks through the front door of her own home for the first time in three months!

Two ways I am going to leverage Joanne's stroke:

1. We can get a handicap tag for Joanne's car that will allow us to park in handicapped spots. Now I would never do this if Joanne didn't really need it (which she does) but it will be pretty sweet to be able to park her so close to wherever it is she wants to go. 

2. I will be telling our server at P.F. Changes that Joanne suffered a massive stroke and that on her first trip away from the hospital all she wanted were lettuce wraps and some won ton soup. If that doesn't get us a free dessert, well then I just won't know what to do! 

Another cool thing is that Joanne is getting her hair cut tomorrow. Gran's stylist is coming to the hospital with all her gear in tow to give Joanne a cut that'll be easy do and that will cover her scar. She is thinking of going pretty short and sassy. We'll have to get Kristen to take and post some pictures of Joanne's new look. Joanne still has three staples in her noggin so we are going to try and get them popped out before her haircut.

The girls didn't have much homework tonight so they were able to come to the hospital with me after I picked them up from school. We are all just hanging out in her room and will be headed to dinner in about 15 minutes. Rosie is the chef and she is amazing. She feeds us very, very well which is a blessing because I eat here a lot. The cool thing is that Rosie loves her job! She has such a great attitude and always wants everyone to enjoy what she has prepared. And she makes a lot of what she serves from scratch. She talked to Emma about becoming a chef. Her advice: be the best chef so that you can tell everyone else in the kitchen what to do. Makes sense to me!

Looks like they are going to take some more aggressive measures to relieve the pain in Joanne's shoulder. The stuff that they have tried (and it has been a lot of stuff) doesn't seem to be working. So they are thinking about trying Botox injections. I don't know a lot about Botox but apparently is good for relaxing muscle tissue. We should know about that sometime on Thursday. 

Prayer requests:

1. This may seem like a minor thing, but it would do Joanne's spirits a world of good to get a great haircut, especially since she will be out in public this weekend for the first time in three months.

2. Pray for a great weekend pass for Joanne. She is so excited to get to do this. Also, she has been extremely motion sick every time she has been transported so it would be great if she doesn't get sick while driving home. 

3. Joanne is requesting prayer for wisdom for the doctors and therapists as they decide what to do about her shoulder. They are meeting on Thursday as a group to come up with a new strategy.

A note from Joanne:

"I miss you and I can't wait to get back to blogging!"

Toben

Is This Normal?

Part of the reason I haven't blogged as regularly lately is that we have sort of moved into a "normal" phase where each day pretty much resembles the last. Yes, there are little things that change and improve every day, but for the most part things are pretty normal. The big news from this week is that Joanne is walking more and even made it up a flight of 12 stairs at the hospital. This is a very big deal as we have a lot of stairs at our house!

Joanne also walked about half way to the dinning room last night before needing the wheel chair. So lots of improvement. The thing is that all this movement is exceeding hard on her. She is literally exhausted after what we might consider to be a small activity. By the time she gets in bed each night around 7 she is ready to go to sleep! We try to keep her up for awhile but by 8 at the latest, she is gone! I think they wake her up to give her some meds around 9 but other then that, she is sleeping.

And that's an answer to prayer for sure! For much of this ordeal Joanne hasn't slept well at all, but now, between the exhaustion from her therapy and the medication that she gets, she is sleeping great!

We continue to try everything possible to relieve the pain in her left shoulder. She gets all kinds of meds and therapies for her to try to relive the pain, but it still bothers her constantly. She wears a sling whenever she gets out of bed and we keep it propped with pillows when she is in bed, but it still hurts. I think the pain really takes it out of her. 

Today Gran is gong to the hospital in the morning, then Papa will head there from the airport when he lands. Then the rest of us will show up around lunch time for Sunday dinner. I hope they have roast beef again! Whatever it is, it's fun for us all to be together around the table.

I guess that's about it. Next weekend Joanne may get a pass that would allow her to get out of the hospital for a couple of hours. That would be pretty cool! She says she wants to go home which means we need to clean the home! The cats have had the run of the place for the last three months and I haven't even touched the vacuum cleaner! It seriously looks like our cat Pumpkin has exploded.

Prayer requests:

1. Joannes shoulder pain.

2. Increased ability and endurance to walk and do stairs.

3. Joanne's spirits are still pretty low. She wants to go home in the worst way. She knows that she needs to be at rehab in order to improve so that she can come home, but it's still hard for her. Please pray for her that she would be encouraged.

Toben

Bad Blogger

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days. It has been nice to take a couple of days off! Not much has changed around rehab besides the fact that Joanne continues to improve every day. And she got her staples out a couple days ago! And she took the wheelchair van to the appointment instead of the ambulance. Definitely steps in the right direction.

Joanne is working a lot on stairs in PT. That's a good thing because we have lots of stairs at our house. I would think that in a few weeks she'll really be able to get up anddown on her own. This is a huge deal because it means that Joanne will be able to get around our house on her own. 

Papa is out of town this week so we are making do with one less person in the mix.  So far so good. Kristen is going to be with Joanne today, as will I. Then tomorrow is Saturday so coverage is easier. Then Papa returns on Sunday and we are all going to have a big Sunday dinner at the hospital. My folks are even coming up! Going to be a whole bunch of us around the table which is super fun!

We heard through the grape vine that at some point Joanne will be cleared to take a field trip or two while still being an in-patient. I asked her where she would like to go if she could go anywhere and her immediate response was "home!" She misses her house, her bed, her cats and all the rest of it. 

Of course we will have a ton of cleaning to do before she can walk in the place. The house hasn't been cleaned in almost three months! There is cat hair everywhere! I mean everywhere. We are going to have to vacuum every flat surface in that place, wash rugs and curtains, scrub the kitchen and bathrooms, etc.. It is weird to see how dirty the house can get even with no people in there to mess it up!

I guess that's about it. Nothing major has changed with Joanne besides her daily improvement. I'll keep you posted on any big news.

Prayer requests:

Please pray for endurance for Joanne. She is doing a lot of work to get better and it would be great if her energy level and spirits would stay up so that she can tackle the tasks that are put in front of her in all the therapies.

Toben

 

The Press of Days

Joanne's folks headed to the hospital early this morning. Emma is in her room and Audrey is still sleeping so I have a little time to sit and think. Not sure if that's a good thing or not! We have been moving at such a pace, rushing from here to there, that I don't take a lot of time to sit and think. I think in some ways that's been a good thing because I don't always like what I think about when I do have time to do it. 

We are coming up on three months of this journey. Today that feels like a very, very long time. So days it feels like it has flown by, but as I let my mind walk backwards over those days it seems long. I remember those first days in ICU when Joanne was in her coma. Each day was like that last: we sat by her side and waited to see signs of life. We prayed and waited. Then she woke up and after another week or so she was ready for LTAC. Those days especially seems long to me--we were there for 41 days. But so many good things happened there. Joanne progressed and to me the biggest event of our days there is that she started to talk and it became clear that she still had her mental faculties. She started therapy and her long road back there. 

Then rehab. To me this was an exciting move because rehab is all about getting better. And we literally see progress every day as Joanne does the hard work of preparing to come home. All of us are so ready for that day, but we still have a lot of ground to cover before we're ready for that. Still, it is amazing to see the new stuff she can do every day.

I have been thinking about endurance this morning. I have been thinking that the last miles of a marathon must be some of the hardest but also some of the best. The end is in sight but the body is exhausted. It is the excitement about what comes at the end that drives one forward even when your body is telling you that it's had enough. But if you've ever watched a marathon, the runners usually collapse when they finally cross the line. But there will be none of that for our family. "Crossing the line" in getting Joanne home isn't the end of the line, it is just the beginning of the next part of the journey. 

I am thinking about all of this because Papa has been taking a critical eye to our house to figure out when we need to install in order to make the house ready for Joanne's return. There is a lot to be done! But it will all lead to Joanne's ability to have some semblance of independence. In some ways it is still too early to know what she will really need, but it is safe to say that she is going to need hand rails on the stairs, in the bathrooms, etc. It's not clear yet what level of Independence she will have. 

But I am holding out that she will have a lot of independence. She is making so much progress and if she keeps up at this pace she is going to be able to do a lot for herself.

Right now my main concern for Joanne is that pesky left arm. It still causes her a lot of pain and we aren't seeing much movement there. The therapists said that it could be the last limb to come on line and start working again, so I am hopeful/prayerful that she'll regain use of that limb. She will be so bummed if she can't knit!

Anyhow, I have rambled on enough. Today we will put one foot in front of the other and move forward in whatever way God calls us too. I have said it many times: I don't know how a family would survive this without faith. It is what our family clings to to make it through these days. 

Prayer Request: Stamina!

Toben

 

Saturday

I wish all days were like Saturday for our family. It is just so nice to have everyonefreed up to come and go at the as they please at the hospital. It is easy to make sure someone is always there when all of us are entirely available. Plus it gives the family a little time to catch our breath. 

Today we are trying something new. Each of the girls are going to get time with Joanne with just one other adult. In other words, Audrey will be with Joanne this morning with Gran. Then Emma and I will be there together alone with Joanne this afternoon. We are trying to get them a little more one-on-one time to see if that helps them feel like they are getting more time with Joanne. Both of them are definitely missing her a bunch. We are hoping that getting them some time with fewer people around will allow them to connect more with Joanne. 

I think we are all feeling more ready for Joanne to be home. I think that's because we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and that she'll be home sooner than later. If I had to guess I would think that she'll be home in a month or so. After being in the hospital for the last two and a half months only having a month left it feels like we are in the home stretch (literally). 

Papa is headed over to our house today to take a look at how we might set it up for Joanne's return, with railings and grab bars. Still not sure how much of that kind of stuff Joanne will need. It is possible that she won't need much of anything. On the other hand, she may need a little help. So Papa is going to go do a survey of what we might need and how we might be able to install it. We certainly don't want to be caught unprepared when it comes time for Joanne to be released.

One thing that I really like about rehab is how they are keeping Joanne busy. She is basically in therapy from the time she gets up until about 4:30. She has therapy in half-hour blocks. So she has PT for half and hour than she gets a 30 minute break. Then she is off to some to her therapy. Work breakfast, lunch and dinner in there andit makes for a full day and keeps her out of bed. There was  a time when all she wanted to do was stay in bed, but I think she is getting used to being up all the time. THis is a huge step forward! It means she's not giving up on herself. It means that she is not willing to just leave things the way they are but is ready to get better. It is so cool to see her working so hard.

As for her pain, they keep trying to find new ways to dela with the pain in her shoulder. That;s really where most of her pain is coming from. She still has the occasional headache but those are becoming increasingly rare. But her shoulder is in constant pain. There have been a number of therapists in to work on it and medically they are trying some different pain meds, muscle relaxants, and other massage/manipulation exercises. Can't wait to get her pain issue resolved. I think she'll make a ton of additional progress when her arm stops hurting.

By the way, Joanne is starting to sleep better. That is a real answer to prayer.

Prayer request:

As I mentioned, Joanne's shoulder is really hurting her. Please pray with us for relief. Being in pain constantly is a significant drain on her energy and it also takes it's toll emotionally. 

Toben

 

Stairs

Joanne went up and down stairs yesterday! I couldn't believe it. After doing some walking around the therapist took her to the staircase and told her they were going to go up and down. I thought, "You've got to be kidding me!" But the therapist was determined. She kept telling Joanne, "You're strong. You can do it!" And she did it. Slowly, one step at a time, and with help she walked up five stairs and then turned around and went back down those same stairs.

The girls and Papa were in the gym and got to see it too. We kept looking at each other like, "This can't be happening." but it happened. Man, Joanne was totally spent after that. It was really good for the girls to get to see it, to see how hard their mom is working and that she is making progress. I took a bunch of iPhone photos but I have no idea how to post them. Maybe Kristen will post the one I sent her on her blog.

Today is a momentus day becasue Joanne gets to wash her hair. It has been a week. I don't think I need to go into any more detail then that, but at some point, before bed, Joanne will ahve a clean head of hair! I can't imagine how good that is going to feel to her. We have talked about bringing in a stylist to the hospital to give us a consult on a style that might cover Joanne's scar. Joanne has said that she wants to go short and maybe blond! I say, why not. She has been through so much and if a crazy, spikey, blond hairstyle would put a spring in her step then I say go for it.

Joanne's list of things to bring to the hospital (dictated):

1. Her mom

2. A heatpack (like the one Holly made her)

3. CD player and music (so many CDs have come in from friends!)

4. Lippy--Blistex or Burts Bees

5. Toothbrush and tooth paste

6. Face cleansing product

7. Lots of pictures or posters for the wall. Digital photo frame works well too

8. Flowers

9. Good jammies

10. Comfy clothes and slipper to wear during the day

11. A pillow pet to support her left (paralyzed) arm

12. iPhone

Fortunately for Joanne she has all these things in abundance!

Prayer requests (from Joanne):

1. Continued strength

2. Good sleep

3. And no more pain!

Toben

 

 

Dread Locks

Joanne isn't allowed to wash her hari for another 4 days. It's already been three. That's a week with no hair washing. On top of that they had put all sorts of stuff on the incision, like antibiotic gel that is now all in her hair. I have been kidding her that she is going to get dread locks. And I'm not entirely kidding! 

So she can wash her hair at the end of the week and then next week she goes back to the surgeons office to get all her staples out. Man I am looking forward to that day! Tomorrow she gets her feeding tub (PEG) removed which is the feeding tube into her stomach. Then when the staples come out that will be the last artificial thing to get out of her body. Then there will be nothing but pure, unadulterated Joanne! She has been hooked up, tubed up, or wired up for the last 10 weeks so this is a big deal.

These next weeks are all about therapy. She has about seven therapy sessions a day so she doesn;t have much time to get bored. She like that, but it does make her very tired. She is about ready for bed by seven or eight every night.

Anyhow, Joanne had a good day today and that counts for a lot.

It's bed time for me. Got to get up tomorrow and do it all again!

Prayer Requests:

1. Joanne's shoulder is still killing her. Please pray for pain relief in that arm.

2. Joanne is starting to get a little more sleep. If she got to the point where she was able to get eight hours a night that would be a dramatic improvement and would really benefit her in her therapy.

3. The girls are on Spring Break this week. We are trying to do some special things with them whole they are on break, but I would appreciate your prayers that this would be good week for them and that they would feel rested and ready to go back to school next week.

Toben

 

Room Change

So they ran out of beds up in ICU, and since Joanne isn't really in critical condition they moved her down to the surgical floor. It is every bit as nice as the ICU. The rooms are a little smaller but there is still room for the very cool recliner chairs that they have here. I think I want one for my birthday. Seriously, they are that comfortable. Plus Joanne is right across the hall from the "refreshment station" which means close access to soda, coffee, microwave, etc. Pretty sweet. We will only be here over night and then back to rehab sometime tomorrow mid-day. 

And I can't believe I am going to say this, but the diet Shasta cola that they stock here may actually be better than my beloved Diet Coke. That's all they keep stocked and I have to say that it has more cola flavor. I never would have guessed it! 

Joanne is all tucked in and medicated for the night. I am really hoping for a great night sleep for her. Today was pretty long and hard. Many tears when they came to remove the drain from her incision--freaked her out pretty badly. And more tears just becauseshe is tired of being poked and prodded and stuck with needles. She has said so many times that she just wants to go home. I totally get that. I know for a fact that we all want her home.

I also know for a fact that she is going to rock rehab and regain a lot of function. She has already made such amazing progress and I know there is a lot more to come.Joanne said today that at least rehab isn't boring like the regular hospital. They haveher up and moving by 7:30 every morning and keep her going until mid afternoon. the work is hard but it beats the heck out of sitting in bed for 22 hours a day.

Prayer requests:

1. Joanne is asking for prayer for renewed strength as she returns to rehab. Also strength for the family. I think she can tell that we're all a little weary ( I thought we had her fooled.

2. Easy move tomorrow from Littleton to rehab. Joanne has come to hate ambulance rides--too bumpy plus you have to ride backwards. Makes her pretty car sick. Sosmooth transport would be a blessing.

3. No infection at the wound site. 

Toben

P.S. One of Joanne's new nurses goes to Denver Seminary as does her husband. they are preparing to be missionaries. Plus her other nurse, Hainy, is totally cool too. They call joanne all sorts of pet names like honey and sweetie and she loves that.

Overdue Post

I apologize for not doing a surgery/bone flap update sooner. There has been a lot of activity over the last 36 hours! The short story is that the surgery went well. The bone flap in back, held in place by four or five titanium plates. Joanne looks amazing! I think "Team Joanne" had gotten sort of used to seeing her with her bone flap out. But now that it's back in place she looks amazing!

Joanne is still at Littleton. We are sort of hanging out today to see when she will be transported back to rehab. At the moment she has a drain coming from the incision that is taking care of some fluid build up. Her surgeon is supposed to be in later this morning to determine when it can come out. She can't go back to rehab until the drain is removed. So we wait.

Cool thing: Erin, who is our other favorite nurse from our weeks here, is on duty today so we got to catch up with her and Joanne was able to meet her for the first time. Erin was on duty during some of the darkest days of Joanne's stroke, so there is a special place in out heart for her. 

Joanne is exhausted and in pain.  They took her down to get a CAT scan at 4 a.m. this morning, interrupting her sleep. She has been up since then and is now trying to take a nap, but it is difficult for her because she hurts. Her shoulder and hip on her left (paralyzed) side are continuing to bother her a lot and then incision from the surgery is painful and itchy too. She is on some pain meds but all they seem to do is take the edge off and don't fully relieve her of the pain that she is in. This morning she told me that she can't even remember the last time she was pain free. That just breaks my heart. I would do anything to take her pain and put it on myself. She has a lot to do to recover/rehab and the pain that she is in makes it so much more challenging for her personally. 

It is also really weird to be back in room 556. This is the same ICU room that we had when we were here before. This is the room that we almost lost Joanne in. This is the room where we sat vigil and prayed and prayed that God would move to relieve the pressure on her brain. This is the room that we will never forget. It is nice to be here under such improved circumstances but a lot of memories remain. In some ways this trip feels like redemption and like victory.  God moved and Joanne won! We didn't lose her here and she has come so far. I guess it's really hard to explain the complexity of emotion I think our family is feeling right now.

The girls are now officially on Spring Break. We sat down this morning and mapped out coverage for them for this upcoming week. It's amazing how something as routine as a school holiday needs a spreadsheet to coordinate all of our activity. But that's where we're at. We need to be there for the girls and we also need to be here for Joanne. So Papa got out a piece of paper and we scheduled it all out. I hope the girls are able to have some rest and relaxation over the next week and that we can be present for them. Papa is going to spend a whole day with them and my mom will spend a couple of days with them too as will Gran. Also hoping they will get some time with Joanne--they miss her a lot and I think they are sick and tired of the current reality. They want to be home, they want their mom back, they want to turn back the clock to when everything was "normal." As a dad I wish I could give that to them. I wish I could be more available and present for them. 

Sometimes people ask the question, "If you could have any super-power what would it be?" I now have my definitive answer: I would have the power to be in two places at once.

Prayer Request:

1. That Joanne would not get an infection. If the bone flap gets infected or her body rejects it in some way that would be a bad thing. So please pray for healing and no complications.

2. Please pray that Joanne's pain would cease. Just hurting all the time is taking it out of her, wearing her down and significantly dampening her spirits. 

3. Please pray for a good Spring Break for the girls, that they don't feel "passed around" and that they have some rest and some fun. Goodness knows they deserve it.

Toben

Never Get Used to It

I don't care how long a live or whatever else has to happen with Joanne's medical issues but I will never get used to or be  OK with her being wheeled away to surgery. It is just a horrible feeling.  I want to go with her and be there until she is totally out. Today they gave her a whopper of a sedative before wheeling her away and she was starting to fade, but I just imagine that ride form the pre-op to the operating room must be very lonely and frightening.

Gran and my mom and I spent the couple of hours with Joanne before she went in. We tried to keep the conversation light and we prayed with her. Apparently the ambulance ride was tough and Joanne is so scared that her nerves were totally shot and she felt nauseated. But through it all she has maintained her sense of humor. May be a way of coping with the stress but it is good to see her smile even in the midst of all that's going on.

So now we wait. the surgery is about three hours and then she'll be in post-op for a couple of hours. Then she'll be back in the ICU. I found John (our favorite nurse) and it looks like he will  be the one taking care of Joanne today.  How cool is that! 

I'll update after I get to see her.

Toben

Brain Flap Tomorrow!

This is a short one, skipping everything else to get to a long prayer request:

Tomorrow morning at 9 MST Joanne will have her brain flap replaced. This is a very big deal with very mixed emotions surrounding it. For some of the family we are so excited to get this procedure done and behind us so that Joanne can move forward without this hanging over her. Joanne is very afraid but seems to be resolute that it is the right time to get this over with. She and her mom will be picked up by ambulance tomorrow morning at 6 and I will meet them at the hospital. We have been told that this is a "simple procedure" but it's hard to view it that way considering that it is a big incision and involves her head! Anyhow, please pray with us tomorrow that Joanne would be at peace, that God would guide the surgeons hand, and that her recovery would be swift. On a positive note Joanne will be back at Littleton ICU so the nurses and doctors that took care of her during her coma will be there to see the new and improved Joanne! 

Toben

 

 

Making a Break For It

I got to the hospital earlier than usual today so I got to be here for more of the action. Usually by the time I get here Joanne is done with her therapy for the day--they have been starting her as early as 7:30 a.m. with her last appointment sometime after lunch. But today I got here for her last PT of the day. So I got to see her take steps using a device that I can only describe as "half a walker". It looks like a walker but she only uses her right hand and arm to control it. It's sort of like a cane but not really.  Kristen is going to be here tomorrow so maybe she'll take a picture of it so you can see what I'm talking about. Anyhow, Joanne walked about 30 feet and then turned around after a short rest and came the 30 feet back. Nikki, the PT, rolled along beside her and helped her move her left leg but you could tell that Joanne was initiating the move and Nikki was just helping her finish it off. So very cool to see!

Earlier in the day Joanne decided that she was tired of her room and took off. She was int he wheelchair while they were putting fresh sheets on her bed and she just wheeled herself out the door and down the hall. It took me a minute to realize what was happening but I took off after her, caught up with her and asked her where she was going. She said, "I'm going to the gym." I told her it was time for her PT yet. She said that she didn't care and that she was feeling antsy and that she was going to the gym anyhow. Somehow I managed to talk her out of it and got her to wheel herself back into her room. But I just love the tenacity and the fighting spirit that I see in her. She is no wilting daisy. She's a fighter! And that's what's going to make her time here in rehab a success. By the time she's done here, she is going to walk out under her own power and you can take that to the bank.

This si a big week because Thursday Joanne is supposed to get her brain flap replaced. We are trying to keep her healthy and infection free between now and then because if she has anything going on, they will postpone the surgery and that would be the pits. We need to get it done and over with so that Joanne can move forward.  So we are having as little actual contact with Joanne as possible, washing hands a lot and constantly applying hand sanitizer. I can tell you that my hands have never been so clean and germ free in my life. Even at that, I am keeping them to myself just in case. 

So that's about it. A few other things going on this week: Audrey missed school yesterday afternoon and today with a fever. She seems to be fine now and will return to school tomorrow. Report cards came out and Emma is devastated by the one B she got--all the rest are A grades. Audrey did great too and even pulled an A in math which is her hardest subject. The night of worship was totally awesome. I should have dedicated a whole post to it, but have been feeling tired and not very bloggy over the last couple of days. Plus Wade got us court side seats at the Nuggets. Did I mention that in an earlier post? It was incredible! We literally had seats on the court! What an experience. Wow, this is all so random.

Prayer request:

Please pray that Joanne stays healthy even while some of us around her are not 100% so that she can have her surgery on Thursday.  She will be operated on at 9 a.m. so any prayers you want to send up would be greatly appreciated. She will be back atLittleton Adventist and will be back in ICU. I am hoping that some of our favorite nurses from our weeks there will be on duty so that they can see how far Joanne has come. Please pray that the surgery will be routine and uneventful and that Joanne will be brave--she is very frightened about all of this.

Toben

 

First Steps

From Joanne's dad:

But the LORD directs our steps, Proverbs 16:9

 Few Papas are twice blessed.  My first was when Joanne was about a year old, taking her first wobbly steps toward my outstretched arms.   But today, watching from across the gym while she made her way around both sides of a 6 ft long grab-bar was far more emotional.  Yes, she had lots of support from the OT holding the therapy belt around her waist, sliding sideways on a stool with her legs before and behind Joanne; but Joanne DID IT.  First left; then right, clinging to the rail with her good arm.

 Only last night I was saying to Toben that the day Joanne might walk seems infinitely far away.  But Jehovah Ropha!

Chuck

 

Night of Worship

Here is the link to watch the video of the night of worship that we did on Friday.

http://www.calvarychapelcr.org/pages/nightofworship.html

Toben

Night of Worship

Please join us for the night of worship tomorrow night at Cherry Hills at 7. It's going to be an amazing time of praise.

Prayer request:

That friends and family will all be able to gather together to celebrate what God will do in Heather and Joanne's lives and what he has already done!

Toben

They Know We are Christians by Your Love!

Here is another great post Joanne's dad wrote:

By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13: 35

 Kristen and Ava (her 5 year old) have undecorated Joanne’s room to prepare for her move to a rehabilitation hospital.  When a patient leaves, the cleaning staff removes every piece of furniture and sterilizes the room from top to bottom – as if the occupant was never there.  It’s a sobering reminder to consider what we will leave behind when we are finished with our worldly abode.  “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens “ -2 Cor 5: 1; “ For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either “-1 Tim 6: 7.  You are leaving behind a clear testimony of the love of God’s dear daughters through your overwhelming amount of cards and prayer flags.

I have now read about half to Joanne – when I can keep my emotions under control.  They fall into several categories:  first, the long notes from close personal and virtual friends who talk about how much Joanne has ministered to them.  I won’t embarrass Joanne by quoting from these – but you get the picture.  OK, here’s one:  “Though I have never met you face to face, this weekend my 9-year-old daughter and I spoke of you.  Through your life, your pain, your story, my sweet one received the truth of how much her Lord loves her.”  Then there are the hand-made cards from Joanne’s “crafty friends” – who could have successful businesses!  Next are the ones from countries like England, Germany, the Netherlands (thanks for the wonderful CD’s!), Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.  Tennessee and Virginia each have as many as Colorado.   Many are from ladies who have just met Joanne.  Some break our hearts by their sacrificial gift:  “I was introduced to Joanne’s blog by my sister.  I read it every day now to get updates from Toben so I can pray.  I know $10 isn’t much, but maybe it will help in some way.”  (Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury – Mark 12: 43)  Others teach us about continual prayer,  “You continue to be on my mind constantly.  I hear myself whispering words like “healing”, “hope”, “restoration”, “strength”, “miracle”, “peace”, “tenacity”, “compassion”, and then realize that another prayer has started.”  (Pray without ceasing - 1 Thess 5:17),

 There are a lot of people who may never read the above Bible verses, nor hear a clear sermon declaring the sacrificial love of God in Christ for sin.  But they have seen a clear reflection of it through your outpouring of compassion and sacrifice for Joanne.  This earthly father thanks you.

Chuck

Friday night

Hi everyone.  Kristen here.  Friday night's worship service is just a couple days away, and I wanted to let you know of a few options for that night.

First and best option:  COME and be there in person!!!

Second option:  Watch it live.  At 7pm (MT) on Friday night, you may click here to watch the service live via webstream.  HOWEVER, this comes with a catch.  There is only so much traffic available on this stream....ie first come first serve....and we really want close friends and family who are not able to be there in person to be able to view via live webstream.  You are welcome to watch live, but if you are able to utilize option 3 or 4, please do so.

Third option:  A recorded version of the service will be available to watch on-demand over the internet beginning Saturday afternoon.  Click here to watch on Saturday afternoon, or at a later date.

Fourth option (for all you podcasters out there):  An on-demand copy of the service that will be accessible as a iTunes podcast which can be found by searching for "Calvary Chapel Castle Rock" in podcasts. 

Thanks everyone, and we really hope to see you Friday night!

Kristen.  (little sis)

Move to Rehab

Today was a big day for two reasons. One is that it is Joanne's birthday. But that was overshadowed by it being the day she moved to rehab--her new home away from home for up to two months! It is a little hard to leave Kindred but it is definitely exciting to be taking this next step. Apparently a lot of the Kindred staff brought Joanne a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to her before she checked out. There were so many amazing staff there. It's what really made that place work.

The new facility is amazing! I mean it is really, really nice. Reminds me more of Littleton Adventist where we started this whole journey. The halls are wide, the rooms are big, there is a lot of light and the place is spotless. 

On top of that the staff was amazing today. Within minutes of Joanne being in her room there began a steady stream of staff: a PA, the nurse supervisor, her nurse, the PT on OT.  All of them were so nice and professional. I think all of us were very impressed. I was especially struck by the fact that they all talked to Joanne and not to Gran or me. In other setting it has been up to us to answer for Joanne but the staff there just expected Joanne to answer for herself. That's a little thing but also very significant.

I wasn't going to have the girls come visit until tomorrow, but at the last minute I decided to bring them down. I just really wanted them to get to see their mom and I know Joanne  really wanted to see them. So, made the drive adn got them there for a little visit. THey didn't get a ton of time together but it was something. 

The real question: how is Joanne doing? Well I think she is doing well. She is tired, her shoulder is really bugging her, and she has other pain (head and hip) plus her foot is numb which is really bugging her. But I think I actually detected a slight up-tick in her spirits this afternoon. I think it must feel good to her to have a change of scenery and to be in the last facility that she'll be in before heading home (which is what she really, really wants). 

(Lots of) Prayer Requests:

1.  A good transition into rehab. We are off to a very good start, but now the really hard work begins for Joanne--the work of getting some function back. These next month will have a huge impact on what happens next. I am trying to temper my enthusiasm and the hopes that I have pinned on her time here, but to be honest, I am expecting miracles. So please pray for miracles too!

2. We have the worship service for Joanne and Heather on Friday. Please pray that God would bring the right people and that everyone who is there would be blessed. And if there is only one person there who doesn't know Jesus as their savior, if this time somehow nudged them toward saving faith that would be the greatest answer to prayer.

3. I think all of us on "Team Joanne" have experienced a peace that passes understanding through many of these days. But what we really need right now is an eneergy that surpasses understanding. I thnik we honestly look at each other and try to figure out who is the least exhausted and how we are going to make it. We need to stay healthy and avaiable, but we could use a burst of energy right about now.

4. Brain flap goes back in on the 24th. Joanne needs to be healthy and infection free to have the surgury done, so please pray that there will be no secondary complications.

5. The girls are really feeling the absence of their mom acutely and the absence of me to a lesser extent as I am with Joanne as much as possible. Gran and Papa are carrying the brunt of the parenting these days. So please pray for those relationships and for my precious daughters. I can't imagine how tough it must be for them--especially Audrey who is a 12 year old girls! That's hard enough without all the rest of this circumstance going on around her. Pray for their precious hearts.

Toben

Happy Birthday, Joanne!

Dear Joanne,

We hope you have a CHARMING birthday! We love you. Each time we hear our bracelets jingle today, we will say a prayer for you.

With love,

 

Thanks everyone for sending me your pictures! If you are coming to the Night of Worship on Friday, please wear your bracelets again. They will add to the musical praise we will lift up in Joanne's honor. --Janna

If you have a special birthday post for Joanne today on your blog, please link using Mr. Linky.

A birthday surprise for Joanne

Posted by Janna:

Tuesday is Joanne's birthday.

JOANNE: If you are reading this, STOP! Don't ruin your birthday surprise!

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If you have ever met Joanne in person, she was probably wearing her charm bracelet. It's one of her "favorite things." It's pictured on her blog header and she has posted about it here, here, here and here .

It's full, beautiful and heavy. I mean seriously, take a look at that thing. It must weigh 10 lbs. Ok, maybe not. But still, that girl has got a lot of charms--each filled with a memory or special meaning. Oh, and it makes a magical, jingle-y music when she moves her arm/wrist. But I digress...

For Joanne's birthday (on Tuesday), I'd like to create a special blog-world-birthday-card post with pictures of you wearing your charm bracelets.

Here's how you can participate:

1. Email me a close-up photo of your charm bracelet (along with your name) by 8 p.m. on Monday, March 14. I will include it in a photo collage that I will post here on the Simple Wife. If you don't have a charm bracelet, you can take a picture of a special charm that you wear on a necklace. Email: [email protected]

2. Wear your charm bracelet ON Tuesday as a reminder to pray for Joanne. See Toben's recent posts for specific requests. Each time you hear the jingle of your bracelet, say a prayer for Joanne.

3. If you have a blog, do a charm-bracelet-birthday post on your blog on Tuesday. Write Joanne a special birthday message. Ask your readers to keep praying. And then leave a link to your post on The Simple Wife.(I will put up a Mr. Linky widget at the end of her birthday post.)

Hope you'll partake in the birthday fun. Help wish Joanne a "charming" birthday!

March Madness

This is the beginning of college basketball's March Madness. All the conference championships are happening today. Joanne is showing great kindness in letting me watch a little of the game. She's watching Facts of Life on DVD--one of her favorite shows. Gran and Papa were with Joanne this morning and said she had a really good morning--she got a bath and got her hair washed so she smells and looks marvelous! 

Gran and Papa started the process of un-decorating Joanne's room today. They took out bags and boxes of stuff...but the room is still decorated to the hilt. Kristen is coming tonight and will do a little more decoration removal. We only have three days to get everything else out of here before the move to rehab.

This is sort of March Madness for Joanne too. She will have her MRI, her birthday, a move to rehab, a brain flap replacement and more therapy then you can shake a stick at. I can't wait to see the progress she makes this month! If it is anything like the last month she will come a very long way. A month ago she couldn't sit up or talk or eat or any of the stuff that she is doing today. Because we see her every day sometimes it is hard to really see the improvements. But when I look back a month ago I am amazed at where she is at. So lets go March Madness!

Prayer Request:

Please continue to pray for Joanne's transition to rehab. This is a big move for her. She is encouraged by the fact that this is her last move before getting to head home--something she really wants to do. Pray that she will like the new facility and that she will be happy and comfortable there. Of course you can pray for the rest "Team Joanne" too. We are with her at the hospital so much that the things like relationships with the staff,  the cafeteria, internet access and the availability of free Diet Coke and coffee are a big deal! I know it may seem minor but every little detail counts when you are planning on spending hours every day for the next two months in a place.

Toben

Two Months!

Today is the two month anniversary of Joanne's stroke. It's one of those weird time things where in some ways it doesn't seem that long but in others it seems like a really, really, long time. Someone should come up for a term for this long/short time perception thing. Anyhow and needless to say, a lot has happened in the last 60 days. If you have followed this blog you know all about that.

I literally have tightness in my chest when I think back to what was happening two months ago today. At this exact time, Joanne was in ICU and we were just waiting to hear about how the radiologist had done in busting up her clot. She was out of it. Tomorrow marks the beginning of the truly dark days. Tomorrow is when her brain flap came out and the pressure in her head began to build to almost fatal levels. I feel sick just thinking about it. Yuck! So glad those days are behind us. We have some tough days ahead, but nothing like what we experienced in that first week.

Couple of things: Joanne is going ot have an MRI on Monday at 5. Not sure why they chose the dinner hour to do this procedure but they have. Here is the fun part: Joanne gets to take another ambulance ride for, get this, one block! the hospital she is going to is literally across the street from the hospital we are in now. I think all of us are asking, "Can't we just wheel her over there?" But of course the answer is a resounding "no!"

Then on Tuesday Joanne will move to rehab! I have some mixed feelings about this because I was really hoping the bone flap would be in before the move, but I also think she is ready for a change of scenery and to step up her therapies. I think the rehab facitity is actually a little shorter drive then the one we make now, so that's a very good thing. I am sure Kristin will take a lot of pictures of Joanne's new spot and will post them on her blog.

I can't imagine what it is going to take to un-decorate her room. It will be hours!

The biggest impact of the last two months have been the support of friends and family. This blog has had over 1.5 million hits. There have been hundreds upon hundreds of cards. There have been text messages, emails and phone calls. Others have given so generously to assist with medical expenses. And still others have provided countless meals. I can't tell you how blessed we all feel.

It's all so amazing and overwhelming and a blessing beyond measure. I literally believe whole-heartedly that it's the prayers of all God's people that have gotten Joanne to where she is today. Please keep it up!  It is likely that Joanne will spend about two more months in rehab so we still have a long way to go. After that there will likely be months more of out-patient therapy. Like I said the other day, it's going to be a marathon. Prayer will sustain her and the rest of us on "Team Joanne."

Prayer Requests:

1. Joanne's spirits are pretty low. Pray for the anti-depressants to really kick in and for Joanne to have a "peace that passes understanding."

2. Pray for a smooth transition to rehab. They are going to really work her so she needs a boost of strength and energy as she moves over there.

3. MRI on Monday and move to rehab on Tuesday measn ambulance rides. Joanne hates ambulance rides. Please pray for all the logistical details of these moves.

Toben

March 24

That's the date for Joanne's surgery.  I think we were all hoping it would be sooner than that and would happen before she went to rehab, but the surgeon wants to wait a couple more weeks, and so we'll wait. The hard part about today is that it was very taxing on Joanne. She had to take the ambulance both ways for an appointment that lasted about 15 minutes! This is actually about what I expected, but it was still lame that she had to go through so much for such a quick consult with the doc. 

Once again, it is my favorite time at the hospital. Dinner is over, Joanne is back in her gown, the lights are low and Joanne is watching the Facts of Life season one disc two. Everything is quiet and peaceful. In fact I think Joanne may have just nodded off. She wakes up every day about 4 a.m. (I know this because we tend to text back and forth when she wakes up) and is usually pretty shot by 7 p.m.. So she sort of drifts in and out of sleep until about 9 when the nurses come in and give her her night medications, make sure she is comfortable, etc.. Then she sleep until about 4. 

Of course she has reason to be even more tired today after all of the activity that she had. I know it might sound weird that an ambulance ride across town could be exhausting but she has spent the last two months in the hospital where big activity is taking the wheelchair outside for 15 minutes. So this was a big day for her activity wise. My hope is that she has a great rest tonight.

Tomorrow I get to spend much of the day with her. Ryan is at an event in Lancaster, PA so no live show tomorrow or Friday. I am looking forward to being here at the hospital in the morning. That's when all the exciting stuff happens--PT, OT, and ST. Gran has been on the morning shift almost every day for the last couple of weeks so she will get a little bit of a well deserved break tomorrow morning. 

I guess  that's about it. Thanks for all the prayers for Joanne's appointment today. I guess it went as well as could be expected, even if it wasn't maybe exactly what I hoped for. Oh, one good note is that the surgeon confirmed that once that bone flap is back in Joanne will experience somewhat rapid improvement as a result. Not quite sure why that is but I'll take him at his word. 

The next big question will be: when will Joanne go to rehab? Should have an answer for that by Friday? Who knows how all the medical machinations work. I'll keep you posted. I just hope they give us enough warning so that we can un-decorate Joanne's room. I think we are going to need to use the truck and trailer to get everything out of here that has collected over the last month! She still has the best decorated room in the joint.

Oh, and one last thing. Please come to the night of worship at Cherry Hills on the 18th. It would mean a lot to all of us if you were there! The music and the message are going to be incredible. Our hope is that God will be glorified in all we say and do and that we will all draw closer to him as we gather to worship the great physician who is and will continue to minister to his daughter Joanne.

Prayer requests:

1. Praise that Joanne survived her trip to the surgeon!

2. Peace for Joanne as she anticipates the surgery on the 25th. She is full of fear about this procedure and needs a peace that passes understanding.

3. Joanne is still in a lot of pain in her head, shoulder and hip. Please pray for some relief for her. More then that, please pray for a good pain management strategy. Things are a little hit and miss right now--tough to stay ahead of the pain without keeping Joanne too doped up.

Toben

 

 

Big Day Tomorrow

Joanne goes to the neurosurgeon tomorrow. A lot hinges on this appointment because he will determine when the brain flap will go back in. Our hope is that he will want to put it in soon so that we can get it over with. Joanne is very fearful about this surgery so the faster we can get it behind us the better. On top of that, we have been told that we can expect to see a boost in her ability/recovery when that gets put back. Also, it would be great to have that done before she goes to rehab. 

Had a great lunch today with a guy who's son has had a lot of medical issues. He really helped me out on a few things:

1. We are in a marathon, not a sprint. I thought I knew that, but he helped me realize that I was sort of thinking middle distance. We're not talking weeks or even months but maybe a year or more of rehab/therapy for Joanne to recover all the function that will eventually come back. That being the case, we have to be ready to go the distance physically, mentally, and spiritually and we have be ready to help Joanne in these areas too. I have been looking two months out because that's about how long Joanne will be in rehab and telling myself, "You just have to make it two more months." But there is nothing magic about two months. I have to be prepared to go the distance, however far that distance might be.

2. This is going to be the hardest work that Joanne ever does so we need to use any means necessary to get her through it! That means cheer leading, incentivizing, tough love, and who knows what else. there is no one approach that we can take and we need to mix it up to keep it fresh for her. And "Team Joanne" has to mix up who does what too. Gran can't always be the cheerleader and Papa can't always be the tough love guy and I can't always be the incentivizer. It means that we all will have to play all those roles over the next months, mixing it up and keeping it interesting.

3.) On a more personal note: It's ok to feel how I feel. I think I have put certian expectations on myself as to how I should be feeling but the truth is that I am pretty numb, even after two months. My friend says I am still in the "shock and awe" phase. There are a lot of scary thoughts that flash through my head, but the reality is that I am in survival mode and as such I am probably going to not feel a lot of the things that I feel like I should be feeling. He says those feelings of sadness and fear and anger whatever else when the time is right.

What a great and helpful lunch. Just what I needed today.

Prayer request:

Great appointment with the neurosurgeon. Simple as that!

Toben

The Problem of Pain

Here is what I don't think I will ever get used to: seeing Joanne in pain. It is not a thing I have had to see too often. When she had the girls, she was in a lot of pain, but there was something really good that came at the end of that pain, and it had a definite end point. Like, this is going to hurt a lot for a few hours and at the end of it you are going to have this whole new little new life, your daughters!

From time to time Joanne has had back problems and sort of moves gingerly around the house. But enough Advil and some rest seems to get her back on her feet. Hard to watch but again, in the scheme of things it's pretty minor. At least it is in relation to what she is dealing with now.

And every once in a while she would cut her finger in the kitchen or knock her head on something. So I have seen her in some pain, but it has always been clearly temporary and relatively minor.

But the pain she is in now seems somehow different. She has been in some form of constant pain for the last couple of weeks, and the pain seems to be getting worse. Today in a text message I asked her what hurts. Her answer was "head, arm, shoulder, hip, bladder." I tested back , "That sounds like just about everything!" Her response, "Yep." I hate that there is nothing I can do other than fuss at the doctor and nurses to get her meds figured out so that she can be comfortable. And they could easily get her out of pain. Problem is that then she would be stoned, and it's hard to do therapy when you're whacked out. So there is this fine line to walk.

And Gran had to deal with all this through most of the day! I'm not sure how she didn't just go berserk! She had to watch her daughter in pain and couldn't do anything about it. Plus delays in meds are enough to drive anyone batty! The tough part is that Joanne is just simply going to be in pain through this process.  That's a big part of rehab. So those of us on "Team Joanne" have to help her cope with the pain that comes naturally in this process, we even have to push her to work through it. Rehab is going to be brutal and she needs to be able to rise to the occasion and that's going to take some pushing from us. But we have to help her medically as best we can too.

That's the problem with pain. Too much is bad; some is to be expected. Where to draw the line? If you have the answer for this one, let me know.

So, here's what happened: she got a lydocaine patch on her shoulder, she got her pain meds doubled, her anti-depressant was increased, and she got a new sleeping med. Whew! Man I hope this works! We don't want to see her in pain, but we don't want to see her therapy compromised. Not to repeat myself but when she goes to rehab they are really going to step things up. She is going to be pushed beyond what she thinks she can handle. And we need her to fight for it, to give it all she's got.

Prayer Requests:

1. Pain management for Joanne. Not to much, not too little, but just right.

1.5 Joanne is depressed and discouraged. If you pray for one thing, pray for this: that Joanne's sprits would be lifted and her discouragement would fade into the background. She has come so far but it seems like she is hitting a bit of a wall. Honestly she has been at this for two months now so it's no wonder that she is ready to be done with all this. Pray that she can focus on her progress and not on her limitations.

2. Strength for "Team Joanne." As much as we want her out of pain the days are coming where we are going to have to show a little tough love. If she wants the best possible results in rehab she's gonna hurt. We need courage and wisdom to know how to help her through this time.

3. Positive meeting with the neurosurgeon on Wednesday and all the details to go smoothly. She is going to go via ambluance and transporting her from one place to another is no small task. We really want the surgeon to want to put the brain flap back in pronto!

Toben

Best Thing About Sunday

Sunday is bath day at the hospital. Because Joanne is so far along they can actually roll her down to the shower and she can take an honest to goodness shower with great water pressure and all. You may not know this but Joanne loves a good shower. So this was a real treat this morning. Then we got Joanne dressed in a cool outfit and and Audrey sprung into action to do Joanne's hair. It was a team effort and now Joanne looks and smells great and is comfortably in bed watching Cake Boss on TLC. And Audrey is snuggled up in bed with her. Love that!

This is visiting day: Joanne had two visitors (Wendy and Jen) before 9 and the Franklins are headed this way with burgers--now that Joanne is on a regular diet she can eat whatever she wants, and one of the first thing she asked for was a good burger and some fries. And Jaime and Kristin are on it! They are bringing the boys too and we are all going to hang out in the cafeteria. It's been a long time since we have all been together. Really looking forward to this!

The girls and I had a bit of a lazy morning--didn't leave the house till almost 9:30.  Made possible by the fact that other friends were visiting so we knew Joanne wasn't alone. But we texted with her a lot and I even called her. It is so amazing to be able to keep in such close touch with her even when we're not here. That is a game-changer!

Anyhow, we are here at the hospital until this afternoon when Gran and Papa show up. Then the girls and I will head home for the evening to get them some down time before heading back into their week (and for me too!). If I've said it once I've said it a million times: I can't imagine what we would do without Gran and Papa.

Sleep update: The last two nights Joanne has slept well. Thanks for all the prayers!

Prayer Request:

Joanne goes to see her neurosurgeon on Wednesday. We'll find out when the brain flap will go back in. Please pray that they want to put it back in soon, maybe even before she goes to rehab. We have been told that we will see a real jump in her progress after the flap goes back in. She has a lot of fear about the surgery so please pray for peace for her as we approach this procedure. Also, Joanne will be transported via ambulance to her appointment and that's a lot of activity for someone who isn't used to that! Pray that it is a smooth and pain-free experience.

Toben

 

Too Tired to Blog...Almost.

Today: 

Text message from Joanne at 4 a.m. that she really needs me at the hospital. She was too hot and uncomfortable. And she lost the call button. I called the nurse's station and they gave her the button back and turned on the AC but Joanne was still pleading for me to come down. So I did. On the road by 4:30, hospital by 5.

Hung out with Joanne until 6:30 then drove home to shower and get the kids to school. Home by 7, out the door by 7:30. Dropped the girls at school and drove to our house to feed the cats then headed for Colorado Springs to make radio. Arrived at Family Talk at 9. 

Made radio, back out the door at 11:30, hospital by 1. Joanne's iPhone 3G battery has been lasting about an hour on a full charge so I got a Genius Bar appointment at Cherry Creek, grabbed Joanne's phone and slid in at the last minute. 

Battery confirmed dead. $99 to replace the phone...if they had one, which they didn't. Got upsold to the 4G, flew through the buying and set-up process. In the car by 2:15 to go get the girls. Got to the car line by 2:50. Girls in the car by 3:10 and back to the hospital at 3:45. The girls had a nice (short) visit with Joanne and then they headed out at about 4:30. Joanne's dinner at 5. My dinner down in the cafeteria 5:30.  

5:45 start blogging. 

5:50 feel sorry for myself

5:51 tell myself to man up and deal with it! 

6:05 stop blogging.

 Selfish prayer request:

It would be a miracle if I got to sleep through the night. I don't have the heart to take Joanne's phone away and I can't bring myself to turn my phone off. If Joanne really needs me I will be there for her, regardless of time of day. So let's just pray that Joanne doesn't really need me tonight!

Toben

P.S. I put almost two hundred miles on the car today and went through half a tank of gas!

Late to the Game

I am on the night shift tonight. After being at the hospital just about all day yesterday we decided to try a new rotation to see what would happen. So Gran came this morning to be with Joanne and I drove the girls to school before driving down to work. Then I drove back from work and picked up the girls and Papa came to relieve Gran and hang out with Joanne through dinner. I ate an early dinner at home and then left to spend the evening with Joanne until she is all tucked in and ready for sleep. Whew! It felt really weird not rushing to the hospital to be with her today. It felt weird to be the one picking up the girls. It almost felt a little decadent to be so late to the game.

I am here and actually feeling good instead of the exhaustion that usually hits like a ton of bricks around this time. Of course on work days I have usually been at the hospital for about 6 hours by this time of night with another couple of hours ahead of me. Tonight I feel totally energized and ready to jump in on anything Joanne needs. 

So far those needs have included straightening up her room. The beautiful vase of roses she got yesterday was sitting in the middle of the floor (I am sure there is a good reason for that). In Joanne's bed I found a full sized bath towel, and extra top sheet and an empty pillowcase. She also needed me to rub Icy Hot on her shoulder and forearm. That stuff stinks! I have washed my hands three times but the still feel (and smell) Icy Hot! Also, we needed to get her teeth flossed, brushed and then hit her with a little mouthwash. After that we hit Audrey up on Skype. Audrey is missing Joanne so much and she needed to see her mom tonight. Tomorrow night she'll be here at the hospital with me but it is almost impossible to make it work to get the girls to the hospital on week nights. Totally throws there schedule out the window. The final step: heating up the corn bag in the microwave. Holly made this flannel bag of deer corn that holds heat like nobodies business. Joanne has been living with it on her shoulder ever since she got it. Ok, I think that's it.

Now it's time to sit and hold hands, to meet the night nurses and make sure they know how precious the girl is that they will be watching over tonight. It's also time to make sure they are up to speed on her night time meds. Still looking for a solution to Joanne's sleeplessness and subsequent 2 a.m. text message conversations we've been having. 

Joanne will be in LTAC at least through next week. She sees the neurosurgeon next Wednesday and depending on what he wants to do regarding her bone flap she'll either get that done before transferring to rehab or at some later date. We are pushing to have it done ASAP. I think it would give Joanne a real boost to have that procedure behind her. It's really been on her mind a lot.  Get it? Brain flap...on her mind? Oh never mind. 

Prayer requests:

1. SLEEP FOR JOANNE

2. SLEEP FOR JOANNE

3. SLEEP FOR JOANNE

Toben

 

 

 

What to Write About...

I don't really know what to talk about today so I'll just fire away:

Sitting here in Joanne's room with Joanne and her dad. He read her a few of the cards that have come in and is now working on loosening up her shoulder. She has so much pain in her left shoulder. It has tightened up to the point that she has almost no flexibility in that shoulder.  So the heating pack is on it and he is gently rotating her shoulder in and out. To be honest the majority of the work we do with Joanne's body is taking care of her left (paralyzed) side. She reports that much of the time her left side feels "tingly" and  "jangly." So we use heat, stretching and massage to try and keep things loose. 

Kristen came down for much of the day today. She was here from about 8 to 3 and it was so nice having her around. Joanne  loves it when Kristen is here because they laugh a lot. Today's laughter had something to do with Joanne's inability to eat cake without making a total mess. When I got back from running errands Joanne, her gown and her sheets were covered with crumbs. Had to get a nurse in to change it all out and get things cleaned up. Apparently she had spaghetti for lunch and that was quite an adventure too. But at least we can laugh about it. There have been plenty of tears shed so whenever the laughter comes it feels healing, and makes everything feel a little less worrisome. 

Oh, and Joanne kicked Kristen's butt at Wii bowling. She did it in the last frame with a strike! Boy did we hassle Kristen about loosing to a stroke victim! More laughter.

Other then that, the day has been pretty normal. Not much to report. Joanne is still talking although slowly and quietly, kind of like you would talk if you were really, really sleepy. We had a visit form our Kaiser rep today and she was really nice. Gave Joanne a bit of an evaluation as we try to work out when she will move for LTAC to rehab.  Joanne goes to the neurosurgeon in a week to see about getting her skull replaced. So Joanne will be in LTAC at least through that appointment. 

Joanne still tires incredibly easily. Just being on the slant board for 15 minutes at 50 degrees causes her to need to lay flat and rest for a while before going on to any other activity. Sitting up int he wheelchair is also exhausting. She can do it for about an hour but then complains of headaches and dizziness and wants to go back to bed. We have to really push her to make it to two hours (which is how long she is supposed to stay in the chair). Today Kristen and I took her outside for a little walk. We threatened to take her to Starbucks a few blocks away but the staff didn't think it was that funny--apparently a patient did that once and they thought they had lost him! So now when you leave the hospital they give you a walkie-talkie so they can track you down!

Prayer requests:

1. Pain is still a big issue. We are trying a few new things, like moving from Tylenol to Advil but it would be such a blessing if Joanne could be pain free for much of the time, versus the persistent level of pain that she is in.

2. Still would love for her to get a good solid night of sleep. She only stays asleep for a few hours at a time with long periods of being awake. The pain contributes a lot to this and it is when she feels most lonely, so the emotional pain late at night is a reality too. The doctor prescribed a new sleep aid for her tonight so we'll see what happens.

Toben

 

 

 

Read more from Joanne

posted by Janna:

Each day Joanne's voice grows stronger. And I'm sure that you've been excited, as I have, that her "voice" is reemerging periodically here on the blog and on Twitter. So I won't be posting from The Simple Wife Archives any longer. But, I do encourage those of you who are interested to continue reading from the list of categories and monthly archives (found on the left-hand sidebar).

Kristen (her sister) continues to share about Joanne's journey on her blog. Using her amazing photography talent, Kristen has captured some powerful photos of Joanne's journey. So be sure to keep checking out the posts found there.

I also encourage you to purchase one of Joanne's books. If you enjoy her blog, you will LOVE these books. Buying her books is another way we can Help the Heims.

Living Simply, by Joanne Heim

Misplacing God, by Joanne Heim

1,000 Gifts

Read about Joanne's 1,000 gifts here.

No Rest for the Weary

Got a call from Joanne at 3 a.m. asking me to come to the hospital. She was lonely and in pain in her hip, shoulder and head. So I got up and headed to the hospital and got here a little before 4. So we hung out, just holding hands until the sun came up. I tell you what, I am not really a morning person and getting up so early is painful! But if Joanne needs me, I'll come running. She's is eating breakfast and then her day of therapy will start. Joanne's mom should be here around 9 so I'll head home and get a shower and then come back to the hospital. 

Wish we could keep her pain under control. She is on two different pain meds and they don't seem to be taking care of things. We are keeping a corn filled bag bag (that Holly made) heated in the microwave and one her shoulder and that seems to be helping her a little bit. 

On to other things: thanks to everyone who has clicked the "give" button on Joanne's blog. The support has been overwhelming and will be of significant help in cover some of Joanne's medical bills. At this point it looks like her total bill will clear a million dollars! Can you believe that? Thank God for insurance, but there will still be a portion of that that we will have to pick up. I am literally blown away by what you all have done! Saying "thank you" doesn't really express my gratefulness. But thank you!

I am struggling with how I am parenting. Yesterday I saw the girls for a total of about 15 minutes. I got them dropped off at school and then got home about 8 p.m. Audrey was awake but Emma was already crashed out on the couch. I got her into bed and sat with her for a minute but she was out of it. I got to talk to Audrey very briefly while I ate dinner but it just doesn't feel like I am parenting. That bugs me. Problem is I don't know how to fix it. I need to be with Joanne as much as possible but I miss my little ladies. 

Progress update: Despite her pain, Joanne is continuing to make forward strides. She is talking up a storm and doing well with her PT, OT and speech therapies. Can't imagine that it'll be very long before she heads to rehab. She is also on a solid food diet so that opens up a world of possibilities as far as what she can est. This afternoon Kristen F. is bringing Joanne Chic-fil-a for lunch! And Jaime has promised her a burger and fries one of these afternoons! The hospital food isn't bad, but it is  a little...bland.

Joanne's spirits are pretty low these days. She is tired of the hospital and wants to go home. Unfortunately she has a lot more hospital time ahead of her. Not positive how much, but it could be a couple of months of rehab. Poor girl. She has so much work ahead of her. The best thing we can do is keep bringing that encouragement and pump her up, focusing her on the positives. She really has come so far! Need to keep her attention on that and not the discouragement of what she can't do.

Prayer requests:

1. Pray that we can get Joanne's pain meds figured out so that she isn't hurting so much. 

2. I think we could all use a good night sleep, especially Joanne! 

3. Pray that God would lift Joanne's spirits and that he would direct friends and family as to how to best help her.

Toben

 

The Five Carat Diamond

Joanne's trach is out and it has left a small scar. So Joanne has decided that in order to cover up the scar she needs a five carat diamond. It started out as a two carat diamond, but somehow every day the number of carats seems to go up. The irony is that the wound site keeps getting smaller while the number of carats is trending up. Hmmm...

This afternoon Gran and Papa are going to stay with Joanne while the girls and I head for home. It'll feel very strange to have an afternoon at home. For the last few days  I have been coming to the hospital straight from work and staying until Joanne is all tucked in for the night. Gets me home around 8. I just feel better being there to make sure I meet the night nurses and make sure everything is how it should be as she settles in to sleep. 

We had a great nurse last night who realized that Joanne was prescribed her sleeping meds at 8 and was then scheduled for more meds at 9. So they were giving her something to help her sleep only to wake her up an hour later! Craziness. So the very sharp nurse moved all of that around so that it all happens at 8. But that's the type of thing we get to do to advocate for Joanne (even though it's a little thing). If one of us wasn't here it'd probably still be the other way.

And they are going to up Joanne's Ambien. She is still waking up in the night, which means text messages to me, and I can only assume, to others. This morning she was up at four. So we are going to try to give her a better shot at sleeping the whole way through the night. 

This could be a big week. I am assuming that we will land on a date for her to transfer to rehab. That's one of two really big steps we have left--it's rehab and the bone flap. Personally I would love to see the bone flap go back in before rehab so that she doesn't have to take four or five days off from her rehab regimen in order to recover from the surgery. But I don't think that'll happen. In fact, I think her neurosurgeon is out of town. Anyhow, I'll keep you posted on what big things happen this week.

The biggest news is that Joanne is talking. Now that the trach is out and the incision is healing up, she is able to speak. The volume is still low and I can tell that it's still an effort for her, but she is most definitely up above a whisper. How cool is that! She is no longer relying on writing things down or hand gestures. I love it! The first thing I was pulling for was to see her eyes again. Then is was to hear her voice. So those two have been accomplished. So now for the really big one: to see her walk. She still has total paralysis on her left side, so I am going for a pretty big miracle here but why not?

Dr. Dobson asked me the other day on the radio how we could all be praying for Joanne. My answer flew out of my mouth before I even had time to think about it. I said, "Pray for her total and complete healing." What a better way for God to bring glory to his name then to restore my girl to 100%. What a story we would have to tell! But you know what? God has already done so much, moved so far in her healing, that I'll gladly take whatever more he has to give and praise him for whatever that is (but I'm still gonna pull for complete recovery).

One last thing: Please mark your calendars for the evening of March 18 to come to a special service for Joanne and Heather at Cherry Hills Community Church. It's going t0 be a time of praise, worship, prayer and teaching. Please come! More information to follow.

Prayer requests:

1. Wisdom for the doctors, therapists and case workers about when to move Joanne to rehab, and furthermore when to replace her brain flap.  These are big decisions!

2. This is a very practical one: good relations and the cooperation of the insurance company. Papa has graciously offered to manage the whole billing process which is already proving to be a lot of work. We really need Kaiser to work with us and not make us jump through too many hoops to get things covered. I think we are in for a long haul!

3. Praise for Joanne's continued progress! The staff is talking about how remarkable her improvement is. And they're right! Every day she is moving forward. This is apparently atypical for stroke patients who usually improve and then plateau for a couple days before more improvement occurs. Joanne is improving every day! Praise, praise, praise!

Toben

Tangible Evidence That God Is Real

Another great post from Joanne's Dad!

Do you go through periods when God seems far off - perhaps even wondering if He is really real?   My daughter Kristen has blogged about how "Jesus Calling" has ministered to us ( http://khphotography.net/blog/ ). May I encourage you by His tangible comfort to me?

 Have you been reading when a family member comes silently up behind you, and yet you were suddenly aware of their presence?  Before you heard them you were impressed - even overshadowed?   I am not superstitious when I say that

Something very similar happens to me when Jesus is near.  Many believers will say they felt sure the Lord stood near while they have been in prayer, or hearing the Word, or meditating.  Since Jesus has ascended to His Father, there couldn't be such a physical impression of Jesus' presence today; but yet His presence impresses our souls.  There are influences of mind upon mind that are beyond science.  I have discerned the special presence of the Spirit with me by a consciousness as sure as that by which I know myself.

 How has this occurred?  My closest brother in Christ introduced me to George MacDonald last fall.  He grabbed my attention when I read that CS Lewis said "George MacDonald was my master"; so I was already reading him before Joanne's stroke.  MacDonald was a Scottish pastor before he became the John Grisham of 19th century England.   But his works are so hard to find, I bought a Kindle when I saw I could purchase all 50 of his books for $1.79!  I was reading "Anals of a Quiet Neighborhood" on Jan 11th.  For you dear Siestas who love Jan Karon's Mitford series, move Father Tim to 1867 as a Church of England vicar in the small village of Marshmallow, and you'll be right at home.  Since Jan 11th, I've bookmarked dozens of places where I was reading something that PERFECTLY matched what was going on in our lives at that moment.  This might happen once in a while, but dozens of times - when the words were written 150 years ago?  No - this is the Spirit's work alive with vitality today!  May I  quote one for you?

 I read this on the day Joanne first moved her right toes:  Connie, the vicar's daughter, is paralyzed in bed after being thrown from her pony. “‘Papa, papa!  I moved my big toe!  I did indeed.’ We were all about her in a moment.  But I saw that she was excited, and fearing a reaction I sought to calm her.  ‘But, my dear,’ I said, as quietly as I could, ‘you are probably still aware that you are possessed of two big toes:  which of them are we to congratulate on this first stride in he march of improvement?’ She broke out in the merriest laugh.”

One toe moving; one to go.  Thank you for continuing to pray for Joanne's left!   

Chuck Friedenstein; Joanne's dad

 

Somedayim going to go home and walk and run.n

Bye Bye Trach

Joanne got her trach out today. May seem like a minor deal, and it is a procedure that only takes a few seconds to do, but to me it feels like a very big deal. For one thing, it's really nice to not have to see some foreign object sticking out of her neck. For another, it feels like a further step in the right direction for Joanne's recovery. For another, it's got to be more comfortable for her. All in all, I am pretty excited that she is trach free.

Another cool thing is that Joanne got to go outside today. Her two very determined friends Y. and K. got her bundled up, loaded into the wheel chair, down the elevator and out the door into the sunshine. I am afraid to ask how exactly they managed to convince the staff that taking Joanne for a field trip was a good idea, but they pulled it off. Of course Joanne had her trusty (and now decorated) helmet on. Joanne told me that she loved the fresh air and sunshine.

Joanne had a few other visitors today as well. I think it made the time go by more quickly for her today. Her friend S. is a real prayer warrior and just covered Joanne with prayer while she was here. She even anointed Joanne with oil! I can't tell you how powerful all the prayers of God's people have been throughout this process. I talked to the head physician at the hospital and Joanne's occupational therapist today and they are both totally blown away by Joanne's progress.  She is progressing so rapidly! They don't really have an explanation for it, but i do: prayer and support of friends and family. And all to God's glory.

I am glad that tomorrow is Friday and that the weekend is coming. The pace changes a little bit, things slow down some.  Some contingent of us will still be at the hospital all day Saturday and Sunday, but things are quieter and there is a lot less activity; no doctor's rounds, no therapy. Besides nighttime, it is my favorite time at the hospital. Plus the girls will get to be here for a while which Joanne really enjoys.

In fact, the girls were here this afternoon for about an hour. Joanne was really missing them and what mama wants, mama gets! Made for a lot of driving but seeing Joanne light up when they came in was worth it.

Anyhow, it's dinner time now: chicken salad on whole wheat with tomato and lettuce, pea salad (a favorite of Joanne's) and cherry pie for desert. Not too shabby. After that we brush teeth and I tuck Joanne in for the evening. Of course she doesn't really go to sleep--she has too much texting to do! But maybe, just maybe, she'll sleep through the night and won't text me at 3 a.m. just to say hi.

Prayer request:

Just one tonight: sleep for Joanne. Anyone who has spent the night in the hospital knows how tough it can be to get a good night's sleep, but I would love for Joanne to have that tonight. She was awake and active all day and I know she's tired. So let's just pray that that translates into peaceful slumber.

Toben

YHINHF IB NY KRGY DJZA ADS HVXZ VTBC ZBD TUBGKT,,, NT KUOM GIIT HOOY NOFT, YONHUT, I GIGUTR YHSTD;S FITTZ BE FUUXN EVEV THIYGH UTD YBCUBFUR DNG FIYUS HURTD

Translation

Joanne wrote this great blog post below. I am going to attmept a translation just for fun. I couldn't be more excited to see her blogging again, even if it is one handed!

::Translation begins:: 

My hands are still free and Toben brought my computer, so I thought I'd check in quickly. Then I have no idea what she says next but I think it ends with...before and say hello. Here's me waving hi.

I love having visitors. It makes time pass more quickly, which is good because it gets kinda boring around here.

 I've had quite a few visitors...no idea...and my parents are here all day almost everyday. Toben is usually here too. Friends have flown in from Arizona and Seattle but I missed it since I was in a coma. They have promised to come back and I've promised to stay awake :)

::Translation ends::

Now that I think about it, this is the last time I'm going to translate because Joanne can speak for herself now, even if it is a little...interesting to decipher. It's all part of the fun, isn't it? I am just blown away that a few weeks back the girl was in a coma and now she is blogging again! I wouldn't have believed it.

And you should hear her talk! Her trach is capped so it's a lot easier for her to do so now. If the trach comes out all together it'll be even easier. Actually most of what Joanne does would be considered whispering. But she can talk. Gran and I really push her about it--we have to tell her to "talk deep" and when she does the words come out louder, but she does have to work at it.  Joanne says that Gran and I are "nags" but we don't care--we just love to hear that voice!

Got to talk to one of Joanne's respiratory therapists today and he said "you guys are always here!" meaning the family. I said, "Well of course we are!" He said that patients who have family and friends surrounding them get better because they have encouragement and motivation to do so and that patients who don't have support tend to either not get better as fast or at all because they don't have reason to.

He attributed Joanne's amazing progress to the support that she gets. And it's not just those of us that get to hang out with her in person: it is everyone praying, commenting, texting, emailing, and sending cards and gifts. Joanne is surrounded with love and support and God is using his people to do miracles. I love that! 

I got to come home a little early from the hospital and Papa is taking the late shift. Means I get to sit down to dinner with Gran and my girls tonight. What a treat (and much needed)!

Prayer requests:

1. We have to continue to pray  for those who are suffering alone at the hospital. This is as much an encouragement to myself as to anyone else. I hate to think about how lonely so many of them must be. I don't want to suppose as to why they are alone, but I want to pray for their encouragement, regardless of where it comes from.

2. Joanne still has headaches, a numb left foot and shooting pain up her left leg. In fact she texted me at 5 a.m. to come to the hospital and rub her foot! Fortunately a nurse stepped in and took care of it. But we would all covet prayers that she would be out of pain. 

3. I have sought meaning in what has happened to Joanne since January 11--the classic "why her" syndrome. But I am convicted that God will use this to draw someone(s) closer to himself. So please pray that God would use Joanne's situation to draw other nearer to him. I would rejoice to hear a story someday of someone who came to Christ as a result of what has happened!

Toben