Suzanne 4. 1/1 - 1/7

Suzanne's Status as of 11:25 AM 1/1/2003
I called a couple of times during the night to check on Suz, she had to get some morphine because she appeared to be in pain.

She had good eye contact this morning and appeared to be very alert, but we couldn't get her to respond with a squeeze of the hand or any finger responses. She is still not as responsive as she had been on Sunday and Monday. We got to talk to the doctors. They said her infection rate is up and this could be the cause. She still has her neck brace on, but when she is more responsive and is able to answer them, they will do a neck x-ray or MRI to make sure there aren't any ligaments tears in her neck.

Right before leaving, she responded with a squeeze when her dad was singing to her the song, 'God Will Take Care of You'. She is going to have physical therapy starting today. They will begin by sitting her up on the edge of the bed and then standing her if they can. They are going to try to do an X-Ray with her standing today. We asked when she might be able to get up and have therapy on walking. The doctor replied that she is doing so well; they are hoping to sit her up more by the first of next week. Gas is building up in her stomach and they will be inserting the NG (nasal gastric) tube again for her to get relief. Her heart rate was up to 145 and went up even more when she recognized us. As she rested, we sang and prayed and her rate went down. They were giving her some medicine to lower her rate. They will do another CT Scan tonight on her head. The blood clot is getting re-absorbed and might take a month to go away. It is improving each time they do a CT Scan. They said that she is doing very well in light of all that she has been through.

We really appreciate your friendship!!!

'Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life.
Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of
their trial had they not found a friend.' Charles Spurgeon

'It makes me really glad to know that I can depend on you.' 2 Cor 7:16

'Your companions are like the buttons on an elevator. They will either take you up, or they will take you down,' Thanks for taking us up!

Suzanne's Status as of 11:00 PM 1/1/2003
Suzanne was not responsive today. We are hoping this was due to her past surgery and medication. It was painful to see her coughing and choking; she had the most awful face as if she was gasping for her last breath. Stephanie, the nurse, said that it is good for her. That was confusing and didn't really ease my mind. Suz's heart rate was up to 155 and her BUN was up to 22, her mouth looked dry, it appeared that she was dehydrated. I was starting to panic inside, especially with the lack of information we had been given all day, and just then the doctor walked by her room. (I was so glad since we have not seen them much in the past 3 or 4 days). I stopped him and we talked, the nurse soon came in to give her some fluids. Her blood pressure dropped a bit, immediately!

So we were feeling like today was a flat day for the most part, and reminded to keep trusting God even though we don't see visible progress.

The NG Tube was inserted by our early afternoon visit. The therapist was with her for a time today doing a range of motion exercise on her extremities. This will help in keeping her from becoming stiff. They took x-rays yesterday, but we have not heard the results yet. The lumbar drain was used for about an hour or so to see how much would drain. We were told it wasn't very much so we are encouraged the pressures in her head are still okay. The daily CT scan also confirms this.
No response from Suz today until our late evening visit. We really were hoping and praying for a rainbow, a sign of encouragement. God is so good to us! She had her eyes wide open and she squeezed our hands, and used the finger communication one time. She had been on morphine and pain drugs most of yesterday and today due to her surgery yesterday, so that may have played a big part in her unresponsiveness. So, please continue to pray for Suzanne's speedy complete recovery. And for her to not experience too much pain and panic situations. Also pray for us to be patient as we are in the beginning of the marathon and we haven't gotten our second wind yet. Phil 3:8,10

Suzanne's Status as of 12:35 PM 1/2/2003
Today when we walked down the hall, we were glad to see that Ann was taking care of Suzanne. (She cares for Suzanne as if she were her own daughter). They have taken the lumbar drain out from her back to drain fluid. Looked like she was getting the plain vanilla slim fast stuff today :) They are going to take Suz to get an MRI today; I think this will tell if she can take the neck brace off.

Suzanne was very alert and responsive, moving her left leg and left arm the whole time. I asked her to lift a finger if she was ready to go home, she held up all 5 fingers. She reached over to hug me and squeezed our hands. She kept touching my face and hair. Made us all very happy. Ray & Beth were singing in good harmony. Her new neighbor likes to have her TV turned down so that she can hear us sing. Suzanne needed to be suctioned, not much at first, but then Ann turned up the suction and a good bit came out, (yuck). Suzanne's heart rate and blood pressure soon dropped. She was looking very good. The few scrapes on her face were healing nicely. We prayed that God would purify our hearts through this situation and reveal blind spots, pride, attitudes that need to be refined, etc.

Thanks again for all of your prayers!! Keep sending them up along with your praises. We were overjoyed today. We appreciate the encouragement of the Great Encourager. We went to see our good friend Misti Howell who cut Beth's and my hair.

'Therefore since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God's throne.' Heb 12:1-2

Suzanne's Status as of 11:00 PM 1/2/2003
Suz was very active today up until the late afternoon visit. They had taken her to get the MRI done and had to sedate her to make her lie still. She slept the whole time we were with her. It is good to see her sleep and not be restless. Hopefully we will get the MRI results on Friday. During our late evening visit Suzanne still slept for the most part, but began to wake up some and move her left arm and leg again. Suzanne has lots of congestion in her lungs and will be getting a 'shaker jacket' as part of respiratory therapy. She has started some physical therapy. She is getting two types of feeding.

Please continue to pray for the supernatural healing of Suzanne's brain and that the MRI results will be positive.

Suzanne has endeared the hearts of many at the hospital. It is neat to see previous attending nurses stop by to check on her. They don't see Suzanne as just a patient in a bed. We are very thankful that she has been in a place that has such caring and loving people in every capacity. Their positive attitude and updates on her progress can really brighten our day.

"Keep your face to the sunshine {Sonshine}
and you cannot see the shadows."-- Helen Keller

Suzanne's Status as of 11:00 AM 1/3/2003 - DAY 14
I met Andy Pierce for a quick breakfast. I am always encouraged to be around Andy. We talked about 1 Peter 1 and how we have a 'living hope', and it is only for a 'short time you have had to be distressed by various trials' and how we are being 'protected by God's power'. Pray for Andy and the doctors & their families who have such a tough work schedule.

Marie said that Suzanne was watching TV (she may have been waiting for Jerry Springer to come on (jk) :)

She said that Suzanne had a good night last night. She will have X-Rays today. We asked her to show us a finger and she gave us the peace sign. Neuro Doctors told us the results of her MRI. She has Diffused Axonal Injury,(DAI) a sheering of axons of the nerves, bruising of the brain. The swelling is down. The MRI does show that her pressure is down. The blood is being absorbed in the brain, so that is positive. The injury to the left side of her brain is keeping the right side of her body from working as well as it should be. Every day she is improving, she is moving her right foot a little. This will take a very long time for her to heal. Seemed very confident that they were doing all the right things to provide nutrition to keep the brain healing. Over the next week, she should show much more improvement on moving her right side. We asked if we should wake her on our visits, he said yes, to stimulate her thinking. They are going to be putting her shaker vest on today to loosen the congestion. She was coughing so they suctioned her, ouch. They do this about every 2.5 hours. I read her the verse for today a couple of times:
'I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand,
whispering to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.'
Isaiah 41:13

Suzanne's Status as of 3:15 PM 1/3/2003 - DAY 14
Suzanne was very alert, a lot of raised eyebrows and she was moving her left arm constantly. She even hugged me with her left arm and squeezed some. Ray brought her some of their juggling balls. (A while back, they learned how to juggle back and forth to each other). She squeezes the juggling balls with both hands and picked the ball up with her right hand. She still has the Trach tube in her throat and the neck brace. They said that she has such a straight neck and 90% of the people don't, so they want to do another scan to double check and make sure everything is fine before taking it off. She seems to be slowly getting better each visit. This is going to be a very long road, but we are hoping to be pleasantly surprised. We still cannot receive any visitors at this point. We appreciate your prayers and support!

Suzanne's Status as of 11:15 PM 1/3/2003 - DAY 14
Suzanne was again very alert, squeezing our hands and holding up 2 fingers when prompted by the nurses. We have another great nurse for the next four nights, her name is Ann. She saw Suzanne when she first came in the unit and is excited about how much progress she has made. We heard about how the doctors are optimistic about Suzanne's recovery. It was neat to hear that she is seen as a miracle.

They put the shaker jacket on her and she was surprised at first but then fell asleep, they said that there wasn't much congestion there. They changed out the trach tube so that she can talk when she is ready. She is running a slight fever tonight of 101.8, the nurse is watching her carefully. Others there are seeing God work miracles in their families.

David's friends the Riley's took us out to dinner and we just happened to sit next to Officer Taylor who has adopted Suzanne. I gave her one of our Christmas cards with Suz's picture; she has been keeping up with Suzanne's progress every day or two. She came to visit Suzanne at the hospital, (I threatened her that I'd get rough with her if she didn't abide by our no visitor policy, but I had to back down when I saw her mace, gun and bullet proof jacket :). She was the officer on the scene and who was nice enough to take Julie to the Med for her wrist. She told Suzanne about how much better she looked since the first couple of days after the wreck. She was amazed at how much progress Suzanne has made.

Her former nurse, Michelle stopped by again to check on Suzanne, (she is crazy in a good way). We enjoyed talking with the nurses and one of Suzanne's neighbor's two rooms down. We prayed together and thanked God for His loving kindness, healing power and for granting us favor in so many people's eyes.

'You are precious in my eyes,' God says to His people in Isaiah 43:4, 'and honored, and I love you.'

A note from Jeff 1/4/2003 - DAY 15
This morning, I was reading the above chapter again Isaiah 43 a couple of things stood out that applies to my life and hopefully to yours. "For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?" "But, my dear people, you refuse to ask for my help. You have grown tired of me! 'You have not honored me with sacrifices, though I have not burdened and wearied you with my requests'" 'refusing to ask for my help' (vs. 23)I'm praying through and convicted about my need for an enlarged vision and a deeper dependency upon Him.

Also praying through Ephesians 3 , especially vs. 16-21
Praying, Lord please wipe away my misconceptions and indifference towards You.

'I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and width, height and depth, and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think--according to the power that works in you.'

This was hard to skim past, it sounds impossible, to be 'filled up with all the fullness of God' and to "know or experience the Love that surpasses knowledge'.
It sounds like Paul realized how huge of a work this really is, he says that it is 'Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think' and fortunately it doesn't depend upon my strength, it is based upon 'the power that works in you'. He wants to leap past what I dream and ask for.
Praying - Lord, I admit that I ignore you and thrive on the tyranny of the urgent, more than by your dwelling in my heart. I'm sad that I like to find things to keep me busy, even seemingly good things and don't intentionally depend more upon You to 'strengthen me with Your power'. I'm trying to let these truths soak in as He speaks to and deeply touches my hardened heart with His amazing love that is 'beyond fully knowing'. I am very encouraged and in awe.

Here are the words to a fun song that we have been singing with Suzanne.
Prayer and Praise
(Sung to the tune of Count Your Blessings)

Chorus:
Rise and soar until the sunlight rays,
Using both the wings of prayer and praise.
Mount like eagles, higher in the sky
And you II find things look so different when you fly.

Many baffled birds in vain will use one wing,
Drooping prayers they pray but rarely praise and sing.
Round and round these earth-bound birds go in a maze
For they fail to stretch the other wing in praise.

On the ground the view restricted; in the way
Stand a hundred hindrances that will dismay,
There your fuss and fret and worry go up high,
God will soon enlarge your vision as you fly.

Suzanne's Status as of 10:50 AM 1/4/2003 - DAY 15 (From Ray &. Beth)
When we walked into Suzanne's room this morning, she was sitting up, eyes wide open and wearing her glasses. What a beautiful sight to behold! The nurse said she had a very good night. That's always good to hear.

Still haven't had any x-rays as the trauma cases keep coming in and backing up her scheduled time. Donna, today's nurse, said she expects to be able to take her in for the x-ray this afternoon. Once they get that done and have a go ahead, the neck brace will come off!!

The nurse began changing her main tube today for her IV's. Suz just can't leave those tubes alone, or the air hose that provides the moisture and oxygen to her trachea! She continually grasps them and tries to pull them away from her.

Another bronchoscopy will be done today and more cultures taken just making sure she doesn't have any infections or the beginning of pneumonia. She coughed a little while we were there and was able to control and get over it. Her legs are shaking occasionally as her limbs begin to respond to not having been used for a couple of weeks. Praise the Lord! We continue to see God's healing hand on her body.

She still has the 'talking' tube in her trachea, so we were trying to get her to say something. She did try, but only air came through. However, it's not just a parent's imagination that she had really tried. The nurse was there and confirmed that she did indeed try to make a sound and talk! We encouraged her to work hard with the therapists that come into her room each day. The doctors are talking about moving her a step down which will move her out of TICU.

Before we left her this morning, her dad asked her to throw the juggling ball to him. Suz looked at him and then threw the ball. It only landed in her lap, but she had made the effort and that's pretty exciting! When we left, she waved goodbye with the fingers on her right hand. God is so good!!

Suzanne's Status as of 12:30AM (After midnight) 1/4/2003 - DAY 15
During our Afternoon visit Donna said that Suzanne was tired because she had physical therapy and speech therapy. They had given her a bath and sat her up. She tried to talk and mouthed the word ball. She smiled when they asked if she would sing for them.

We arrived and she left her eyes closed until it was time for us to leave, then she started to wake up when Dr. Gibson came in to talk to us about Suzanne's 101.8 fever. It looks like she might have some Pneumonia spots in her lungs, could be infection, fluid, or something else (I forgot). They will do blood cultures and a bronchoscopy to get a sample to send to the labs. They plan to sedate her.

During our early evening visit, Dr. Gibson said that the Bronch-thingie' (that is the technical term with accurate spelling. I think was named after a dinosaur) will take 13 days to get the results. 4 previous nurses came in to say goodbye to Ray & Beth since their flights are tomorrow. They said everyone will miss Ray & Beth's great singing. Previous nurse, Lisa came by on her day off just to bring us a CD of The Martins to playa cool song that applied to Suzanne, (I'II try to post the words tomorrow). She is on the breathing machine set for CPAP (breathing on her own) for a little while to assist her.

Our friend Tim Davenport stopped by to say hello. He is a Doctor on Suz's floor doing surgery. I coached Tim's brother Brett who won the state wrestling title twice (that's not the same as 'Rassling'.) Brett is a good buddy of ours; he was one of our groomsmen in our wedding in Alaska.

Suzanne puckered up for a kiss many times, which made me very happy. Her face is looking good, color is normal and the few cuts are healing fine. She was fairly alert, especially for just getting back from the Bronch-thingie procedure.

During our late evening visit; Ann B said they changed her IV line by her shoulder to see if that could have been a source of the infection. Suz is tolerating her feeding well! Still has a fever, so please pray for that. Pray that she is able to eat by mouth in a few days. That will allow the TPN feeding tubes to go away, it is hard on the stomach. Her belly is tolerating the feeding and her bowels are doing well.

Suzanne was wide-awake and squirming around in the bed. She was moving one of the air tubes between her toes to twirl it around. So my brother David tormented her by moving it out of her toes, this went on about 3,000 times, so I asked her to hold up a finger if she was getting irritated. She immediately held up her index finger and kept it up. He started it back up and I asked two different times and got the same response. We are sure that she was sending a message. So it was very encouraging that she was so alert and communicating so well. Later she seemed to be in pain (Suzanne would rather have her fingernails pulled off than admit pain, it is a sign of weakness or something manly). She did admit it a couple of times, not sure where it is coming from, maybe the Foley catheter tube. The nurse came in a checked on it, and gave Suz some Tylenol. She wouldn't admit to needing any morphine. She didn't sleep much last night and by the time we left, still seemed to be in pain, so we decided to give her some to help her sleep and not be in pain.

Please keep praying for Suzanne's health and that she doesn't get discouraged.

Psalm 90:14-17 From The Message Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we'll skip and dance all the day long. [15] Make up for the bad times with some good times; we've seen enough evil to last a lifetime. [16] Let your servants see what you're best at; the ways you rule and bless your children. [17] And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!

Suzanne's Status as of 3:30 PM 1/5/2003 - DAY 16 This morning, Suzanne was inclined in bed and had the shaker vest on for 1 hour. (We are assuming that her head must be fine because seismologists would rate the seismic energy produced by the shaker vest as a 20 on the Richter scale. It looked awfully uncomfortable, like she was strapped to a jackhammer).

Other than that, she was looking good; heart rate and blood pressure were good. Ray and Beth said goodbye to Suzanne, their flights were earlier today. After the morning visit, we went to Christ Evan then to the airport to drop Ray & Beth off. Pray for them, as it has to be difficult to leave Suz.

On our afternoon visit Suzanne was sitting up, wide-eyed, alert and off the ventilator again. She is bending and extending both her legs now. She is trying to smile more. She puckered up for me many times. :) Donna said that it is quite obvious that she is doing better and that the neuro Dr. want's her neck collar off. They have been bumping Suz due to the many emergency trauma patients that have been coming in. (We tried to slip them a $20 to let us in front of the X-Ray line :) Suzanne was pulling on the neck brace and I asked if she wanted it off, she quickly held up the index finger. I read some verses to her; Psalms 52:8 & 89:9,14-16 then it was time for us to go so they could do blood tests. She looks like she is having pain in her left hip or pelvis; she finally signaled to me that she was hurting. They will give her some pain medicine. When I told her that I had to go, she gave me her signature big pouty frown with her bottom lip. This is the first time that her eyes were open wide and alert the entire visit. Great eye contact and she puckered up many times for a kiss. We are very encouraged! Please keep lifting her up in prayer and praise.

Suzanne's Status as of 10:45 PM 1/5/2003 - DAY 16
We are still waiting to get her in for a neck X-Ray. She has strong pain that may be from her pelvic fracture. The lab results showed NO infections PTL, she is being healed!

Ann B. is great, she is giving Suzanne back rubs and cleans her up well, putting on lotion that Julie Nichols sent from bath & body works.

Suz's WBC white blood count is good. She is clearing her airway by herself without having to be suctioned. One of her blood clots in the back of her brain has dissolved, another huge Praise! Now it looks like God is using time to heal her pelvic fracture and the blood clots in her brain.

Keep praying and praising Him, her recovery is nothing short of miraculous.

"Praise the LORD, I tell myself, and never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He ransoms me from death and surrounds me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle's!" Psalm 103:2-5

Suzanne's Status as of 8:30 PM 1/6/2003 - DAY 17
Suzanne was sitting up when we came in the room; she was looking good. She puckered up for a kiss and kissed me like normal. She hugged me and seemed like she is very aware of everything. They did her neck X-Rays and fortunately they showed no problems, so they had taken her neck brace off! She was so glad to have it finally off. She was smiling and nodded her head. Speech and Physical therapist are working with her. She is coughing up the stuff in her lungs without having to be suctioned from her trach tubes. She is experiencing pain and does not ever admit that. She makes a face that is obvious that something is hurting. Not sure if it is from her pelvic fracture, neck, head or abdomen. She is very alert and making a lot of progress each day. She is probably frustrated that her body is not responding like before and she cannot talk. Gotta hurry and go back up there for a visit. Today was a great day for her.

Suzanne's Status as of 11:59 PM 1/6/2003 - DAY 17
Another WOW visit tonight! Where to start and how to describe watching all the power being manifested.

We found out that Pennie got one of Suz's big wide full teeth smiles and one of the doctors got to watch. (See Pennie's note she posted today, she is great!). Suzanne has had the best nursing care and amazing proficiency from the trauma doctors. We are amazed that we have been able to witness all of this and benefit from their expertise.

Suzanne helped Ann B clean her up by grabbing the rail to pull herself to one side. They noticed "grim negative rods" (mild infection) from the lung X-Rays, so they switched antibiotics and it appears to be working well. Her temp went down. They changed out the Foley catheter to one with a thermometer. Physical therapy worked her out well today. (I think they were using Suz's personal favorite Richard Simmons' chair aerobics - sweating to the oldies)

It seems that people with her injuries do not function to this level even after longer time spans. One of the Paramedics that cut Suz out of the car was dropping another patient off and asked about Suz, and Ann said to "come look, you won't believe it." So he stopped by to see Suzanne. He and his station have been checking up on her constantly. Apparently they skillfully managed to get her out in record time, they saved her life there (thank you so very much Ed and all of Station 26)! Ann gave him this web site so that they can keep up to speed on her progress. Seems that more police and fire personnel have checked up on her. We had a mini 'day 17', nursing patient reunion. Former and hopefully they will again be future nurses: Lisa, Christy, and Mary came by to see Suzanne and tell her how far she has come.

She was bouncing balls with her feet and rolling over, even barking for us all. Just kidding, but I did joke about that because so many come by to see-it-to-believe-it. She mouthed "Hi" when Christy came in to see her. I told her about some business stuff that I did in her area today at her desk and she nodded her head with approval. PTL! She nodded her head a few times throughout the visit. (And of course I got another kiss or two or 10).

I am still thinking about the previous references I made to Daniel chapter 3 (3:17&18; 4: 2&3) and how God for some reason beyond my comprehension has chosen to demonstrate His power through this situation. I realize that we can condense His ways to a formula, but I am in awe at His loving-kindness to Suzanne in this situation. All I can think about is that she is an ambassador for Christ and he is letting His light shine through her in our dark postmodern culture.

And thanks to the folks at my favorite streaming audio site RZIM , Ravi Zacharias International for posting a message today. (BTW Ravi is my hero!)

Suzanne's Status as of 3:40 PM 1/7/2003 - DAY 18
This morning Suzanne was sleeping quietly. They are working on weaning her off of the oxygen because she is maintaining her oxygen so well on her own. Then in the afternoon visit, she was sitting up in the "big recliner" chair. It is very uncomfortable for her. They had just taken off the shaker jacket and she had a good sweat going. She did nod her head that she was in pain so her new nurse Pennie L. gave her something to help with that. I got to help give her the shower cap shampoo, (so her hair is looking like she had an oil change). She can nod her head yes and no. Please pray for Suzanne to have extra strength to endure the pain as she is becoming more and more aware of what she has been through. It seems like she has pain in the top of her neck, lower back, pelvis, right shoulder, head, and all of the many bruises.

"And you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." John 5:39

Suzanne's Status as of 11:30 PM 1/7/2003 - DAY 18
Suzanne is still in a lot of pain. She doesn't have a temperature. She is nodding and communicating very well with me. She seems tired of all the attention of the doctors, nurses and me asking her questions. Jay is one of her orthopedic doctors and happens to be a friend of ours. It was good to talk with him tonight about her neck and pelvis. It is incredibly difficult to watch her in this state being in so much pain.

We got to meet Ed Jeter and two other paramedics from station 26 tonight. They told us the story about how they found her and how miraculous it is that she even survived. I was so glad to meet them and personally thank them for saving Suzanne's life! We'll tell you more about the rescue scene later.

Please join me in praying that Suzanne will be able to bear the pain, that she won't have any more infections in her lungs or anywhere else, the head CT scans will not show any new swelling, that her pelvic fractures will heal in record time, her neck will get better quickly, and that her huge head ache will subside.

Thanks again for your support and prayers!