Suzanne 3. 12/28 - 12/31

Suzanne's Status as of 11:00 AM 12/28/2002
Not much change since last night, she had a really good night and morning. Good responses, raises her arm (to go to the bathroom:), reaches over with her left arm to touch Beth who was on her right side, squeezed hands, etc. They took the bolt w/sensor out of her head, took all the IV's out of her left arm, planning another CT scan today for follow-up to the bolt removal.
She is taking the food well - imagine digesting quarts of something like green 'slime fast' shakes on steroids. Everyone is so encouraged by your notes and emails from all over the world, I've seen about 25 countries. Got to take a nap, I'm feeling like the energizer bunnies competitor, 'must get slee...

Suzanne's Status as of 11:30 PM 12/28/2002
Today was a day of Suzanne enjoying restful 'sleep in the arms of an Angel, on a cloud of prayer sent up by the saints below.' She woke up when we were singing 'Jesus, Jesus, name above all names, blessed Savior' and opened her eyes pretty wide for us. She seemed pretty alert and followed a couple of our requests to squeeze hands and lift fingers. God is so kind to send rainbows of encouragement to us!
Tonight they said that she was not waking up for them and they wanted to see if we could get her to wake up and follow commands. (We can't speak highly enough about everyone that we have met at the Med.) Well, we tried to wake Suz, but couldn't. So we prayed and sang some songs again and she woke up to the same song, what a coincidence : ). We showed her a couple of pictures and she looked intently at them. I asked her if she'd like a kiss, if so pucker up for me, and she did!!!
It looks like she is sleeping through much of the suffering and pain and now it is in His hands to come around in His timing. The neurosurgeon said that they were doing a routine CT Scan tonight and we are just waiting to see her start coming around in the next couple of days.

Pray that she will become more alert, day-by-day. And there won't be any lasting effects of any of the trauma.

Today I was thinking of Daniel 3 again and how they were so confident in God's capability to rescue, but Bryce Bouchard pointed out that they were also confident that He would rescue them as well. Pray that I would have that healthy balance of confidence. We miss her so much and so want to see her smile soon. So, I'm trying to keep optimistic while avoiding presuming on God's will. It's exciting that when God did choose to rescue them, the King said: 'Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego!'
I hope that you too are being encouraged as you meditate on His word.

Suzanne's Status as of 9:20 AM 12/29/2002
Good news! Suz's CT Scan last night was good, no changes. As we came in, we said hello and she opened her eyes. I put her glasses on her and showed a few fun pictures from Hawaii and her class reunion in AK. Dr. Rush came in and said that her swelling has gone down in her abdomen so they will close her up tomorrow, more good news!
Then we went to Christ Evan, they had a time when people could give thanks for things that God has done this year in their lives. We slipped in late and left early, we were so encouraged to hear testimonies and sing. All four of us had to brag on God and say a little something. I told about how her good friend Jen in AK said that Suzanne is a flower. It made me think of the following verse that is so true of Suzanne:
'But thanks be to God, who always leads us in victory through Christ. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume. Our offering to God is this: We are the sweet smell of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost. To those who are lost, we are the smell of death that brings death, but to those who are being saved, we are the smell of life that brings life. So who is able to do this work?' 2 Cor 2:14-16 'We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living, vs8' All these things are for you. And so the grace of God that is being given to more and more people will bring increasing thanks to God for his glory. So we do not give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day. We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain an eternal glory that is much greater than the troubles. We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.' 2 Cor 4:1-18

Suzanne's Status as of 3:00 PM 12/29/2002
She is on some morphine so that Ann, the nurse could turn her and wash her hair. She's cleaned up and looked good! We brought Ann some of Suzanne's homemade soap, Ann also likes to make crafts and such. With no change in about three or four days they will remove the lumbar drain.
We prayed and sang with Suz again, enjoying her opening her eyes and looking at a couple of pictures. She was sleepy.

Suzanne's Status as of 11:00 PM 12/29/2002
All I can say is WOW!
Tonight we had the pleasure of seeing Suzanne with her eyes open wide and very responsive. We read scripture again to her and then read the Max Luccado story 'The secret of Love'; (I read this story to her on a carriage ride in Vienna when I proposed to her.) I reminded her that she was a true gem and I that I was glad that I didn't let her go. I reassured her that we were not going anywhere and that she was improving quickly. I didn't want her to think that we were just being overly optimistic, so I asked the nurse to tell her how well she was doing and she graciously did. She said that Suz is doing better than most people who have been here for weeks. She was holding her teddy bear named 'Jeffie'. We showed her pictures, she looked like she enjoyed them very much. Ray & Beth sang more great songs and she was obviously enjoying our time together. I asked her if she would like for us to read some of the messages to her from the web site, she lifted her finger to say YES! I asked Suz if she remembered the wreck and she lifted her finger. I told her that she had bumped her head and they were monitoring it now. She is getting much better. They had to put the tube down her trach tube and suction the mucus out, it is so hard to watch but I held her hand through it and told her that she wouldn't have to have this done that much longer because she is getting so much better, very fast. When we were leaving, I asked her to pucker her lips if she wanted a kiss. She did and I kissed her. Then she did it again! Yippee, I'm so thankful, we all were overwhelmed with emotion!

We went back after dinner and she was again awake. We showed her pictures and sang a couple of songs and talked with her. Our good friend, Dr. Andy Pierce is working here again this week, he stopped in to check on her and was pumped up to see her look so much better. He encouraged us as he prayed for her. It was an exciting time. I asked questions and she talked with her finger. I asked if she was in pain and she didn't lift her 'yes' pointer finger, I asked if she was frightened and she didn't lift the yes finger. I asked her if she loved me and she gave me our goofy one finger wave at me.
Once again we were ecstatic!

Thank each one of you for all your prayers and love! Please keep it up. There are so many people who are thinking of God and talking with God for the first time. We told Suzanne about a few email stories that we received and I know that she is glad to suffer and endure this, to have Christ produce eternal fruit through her life.

I prayed the following would be true in Suzanne: "Now the One who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness, as you are enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many acts of thanksgiving to God. Through the proof of this service, they will glorify God for your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with others. And in their prayers for you they will have deep affection for you because of the surpassing grace of God on you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift." 2 Corinthians 9:10-15

We've seen visitors for sure from the following places: Czech Republic, United States, Singapore, Netherlands, Norway, Canada, Bolivia, Finland, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland. Let me know if I have missed any.

Suzanne's Status as of 10:45 AM 12/30/2002
She looked so much better; they took the Nasal Gastric tube out of her nose. I asked her if she was glad that that was gone and she raised many fingers. They took out her right side chest tube. Her eyes were open wide when we first got there. So we played Charlie & Marci's 2 Chronicles song (that I video taped on my camera earlier this year.) Then I played the song that Steve made for her and she fell asleep. They gave her morphine last night and this morning. She doesn't even take aspirin; it doesn't take much to knock her out. She'll get another CT scan today. We sang a few more songs and read many more of your online messages to her. She seemed to be happy to hear them.
I got to meet Dr. Andy Pierce for a quick breakfast in the cafeteria, that was encouraging.
Germaine Peterson took Beth to the bookstore to get something that we can sing from. People wonder how can they know so many songs by heart' They raised the kids singing all of these neat songs.


Suzanne's Status as of 11:25 PM 12/30/2002
Praise the Lord for another good day! Today's visits brought joy to our hearts with lots of eye contact and answering questions by raising her fingers. We sang songs and read some of the messages you all have been leaving for her on the web site. We hung a few decorations that were provided by Susan Bouchard for Suzanne's enjoyment (see today's message from Susan).

Our last visit was especially good: her nurse Lisa was back again. Lisa was so excited to tell us about Suzanne's progress and how she had called her name and Suz's eyes opened and made eye contact. This was exciting to her because the last time she worked was on Christmas night, when Suzanne had a very hard night. The exciting part to us was discussing Jeff and Suz's courtship (before he arrived) and how it was centered on God. We had a nice time talking with Lisa and learning more about her life. We can only rejoice for what God is doing in her life. It was also a joy to have Pennie and Michelle, (some of her previous nurses), stop by and check on Suzanne while we were there.

There have been plans for a final surgery just to close her abdomen up. This was delayed today due to many other trauma emergencies and we are told it could take place in the early morning. Please continue to pray that everything goes well. And that her head injury heals completely.

God is so good and He will take care of that which He has made. Psalm 100

Ray & Beth

Suzanne's Status as of 11:50 AM 12/31/2002
Suzanne was alert this morning, the best yet. She looked like she wanted to talk and wanted to ask us more about what was going on.

We were able to thank Steve, the man who was 3 cars behind Suzanne in the wreck. He and his wife were the first to call 911. Amazing that 911 couldn't understand where the intersection was, even with detailed explanations. (Funny how Suzanne's Father likes to step in to remind us that He is able to overcome seemingly frustrating situations like this). God obviously placed Steve there to make the calls because Steve had the Med Trauma dispatch phone number memorized so they came quickly, WOW. You see, Steve works at the Med and has been checking up on Suz ever since. I thanked him for saving her life. (David is describing what next Christmas will look like at the Med with Chef Suzie bringing homemade bread, cookies, pies, soap, stained glass, etc.)

She was having a cough, gagging reflex with the pneumonia and trach tube in. She looked so frightened and hurting. It lasted 30 minutes, Ann suctioned her a second time to help, but she still struggled. It was hard to witness that. So we started to sing and she soon relaxed when we sang 'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me' & 'Jesus is the sweetest name I know'.

They came in to prep her for surgery, he was so impressed with how good she looks (of course, she is a good looking woman :) He told her about being there when she first arrived and she had to go immediately into surgery as an unknown Trauma patient and how much progress she's has made. He also explained that they were going to give her something to put her to sleep for the surgery. The swelling is gone down and she is back to looking more like herself (well... with a Punk Rocer/Indian haircut)

Suzanne didn't want to let our hand go when it was time to leave. She looked like she was in pain, with a frown. Her heart rate went up so they gave her some Morphene she should be in surgery now.

Suzanne's Status as of 12:05 PM 12/31/2002
We just got a call from Ann, Suz's nurse. Suzanne is out of the abdomen surgery. Everything went well and she is doing fine.

"You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you." C.S. Lewis
(This was on the page that Suzanne was reading in a book about stories of modern day martyrs - from Voice of the Martyrs)

"Since Jesus went through everything you're going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you'll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want." 1 Peter 4:12 - (he was crucified upside-down in Rome, 65 AD)

Suzanne's Status as of 11:20 PM 12/31/2002 New Years Eve
We didn't go for the early afternoon visit as she had just come back from surgery and was still under. Clarification: she does not have pneumonia that we are aware of, but samples of her lung tissue have been taken for culture to see if she has signs of pneumonia. She was still groggy from her surgery, so not a lot of response at our early evening visit. We sang to her and prayed.

One of the staff stopped by to check on Suz and said that 'it looks like she is one of our miracles'.

The late evening visit was a surprise when we didn't find Suzanne in her room. But, they had taken her down to x-ray and then to another CT scan. The lumbar drain is still clamped and the nurse thought they might remove it in another day or two.

We went ahead and visited 'Shay' Angela Hayes, Jonathan's brother's fiancé (Jonathan is one of our friends who we hired to work at the Ugly Mug Coffee Studio)

Went back after visiting hours were over and we were able to see Suz for a few minutes. She was very tired, but seemed to know we were there. Not real responsive as she was drowsy. (Good song lyrics: Be still my soul) We then sang some more and prayed.

Mary is her nurse for tonight, she described the wreck again and how very sick Suz was. Mary was on her way to work Friday night and passed the wreck, then Suzanne ended up being her patient that night, what a small world :)

Please continue to give praise with the prayer! 'But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me'. Psalm 50:23

Happy New Year!!
This life is fleeting. We are given only today. Yesterday & all of 2002 is a memory. There is no promise of tomorrow. It is foolish to invest your life in things that will not last. Don't be a fool! "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -- Jim Elliot 1949