Suzanne 5. 1/8 - 1/16

Suzanne's Status as of 4:00 PM 1/8/2003 - DAY 19
It was a neat treat to walk in and see Suzanne's hair braided. Lisa and Christy braided it last night. She is off of the oxygen and trach collar. They changed out her trach with one that has a cap on it. This will allow the air to pass over her vocal chords and she will be able to talk when she is ready. She is clearing her throat by herself and swallowing. Yesterday her temp was down to 98.4, her temp is 99.1 and her heart rate is 133. Our doctor friend Jay stopped by and updated me on her spine and neck X-Rays, he said that they looked good but that she does have 4 fractures in her pelvis and a broken tailbone. Dr. Monroe said that her lungs still need to clear up the pneumonia but that she is doing very well. I sang some songs with worship CD and read some to her. She is still in a lot of pain, especially when she moves.

I read her today's "My utmost for His highest" reading about Is My Sacrifice Living? Then we went and evaluated two rehab facilities today and yesterday.

Suzanne's Status as of 10:40 PM 1/8/2003 - DAY 19
Today's nurse, Sharo was telling me about how pretty Suz's eyes are and how the nurses were in there chatting, trying to ask Suz how long we had been married, etc. And they told her that her husband loved her soooo much, 'he was trying to make sure everything was right for her'. (In case you haven't caught on yet, I only thought that I loved her tons, now Suz is in big trouble when she gets better. I'm going to really spoil her :) now!

So many people love Suz quickly after first meeting her. When I was leaving, Sharo said that she'd like to keep up with Suzanne even after she leaves the TICU (Trauma Intensive Care Unit) area.

Today was a mentally taxing day with a lot of big medical logistical decisions to be made. I prayed for the wisdom to figure out the right questions to ask and clarity of thought to understand the situations as they were progressing. My brother, David wanted me to say that he was amazed at the obvious gift to help in time of need, a special gifting of the ability to discern through the confusing situation that was building. I too was excited tonight to gain that clarity of thought and understanding and that I was able to have some good conversations with the doctors in all three areas. Exciting that they are brilliant doctors who also have patient focused attitudes. To pass on the outcomes in efforts to keep this short; it appears that she is doing so well that they are now comfortable moving Suz to the step down area.
(FYI: Suzanne has made it very clear that she does not want any visitors yet, we are still probably weeks away from being ready for visitors).

Tonight, Stacy had Suzanne looking very comfortable in her bed. She is tolerating the new-capped off trach tube very well. She is swallowing, breathing, saturating and coughing well. She was still in a lot of pain but fell asleep. Pray that she would have a peaceful healing sleep. I am thankful that He has granted us favor with so many people!

"Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Prov 3:3-5

My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Prov 3:21-24

Suzanne's Status as of 10:45 AM 1/9/2003 - DAY 20
Quick update: I called Samantha this morning and she said Suzanne had a good night and they had her sitting up in the chair smiling. She was following commands. When I got there for visitation, she was back in bed and looked like she was in a lot of pain.
Pennie gave her something for the pain. Her neck and pelvis/tailbone appear to hurt the worst. They took out her shoulder IV and put one in her wrist. She is pulling the side of her head over to the center position; we put a pillow next to her right cheek to help hold it there. She looks very frustrated and didn't want to communicate much. They might hold off on moving her today, this is a good thing. They also said that we better come back and visit them, she has made a lot of friends. When I was leaving, the Occupational Therapist was starting to work with her.

Suzanne's Status as of 11:59 PM 1/9/2003 - DAY 20
I got to talk with Dr. Gibson about her lungs, a couple of days ago they did a bronch test and the lab results showed negative for Pneumonia, so she appears to be in the last stages of that. Her white blood counts and platelets counts are high so they are treating that. Some of this is normal due to having her spleen removed. They will be monitoring her liver to make sure it is healing correctly.

They moved Suzanne to another room, which does not require as much intense trauma supervision. This is a good sign that she is getting better and there is less risk of catching infections from the other patients in the main TICU area. As Samantha pushed her sitting up in a large chair with wheels and backing, Suzanne smiled and waved telling everyone that cares so much for her - goodbye.

We brought everyone pizza to both areas to say thanks for taking such good care of Suz.

Suzanne was demonstrating her amazing hand to eye coordination and dexterity by cleaning out her fingernails. This is good to see that she is that alert and aware and has the control of her left fingers and eyesight. She has not been moving her right side much still. She is coughing well and had some thick stuff that had to be suctioned out so pray that will clear up in her lungs and throat.

The Med is opening their own rehab unit in two weeks, so I'11 be talking with them and evaluating their area to see where the best place will be to send her. I'm still waiting to talk with the Neuro doctors to get their recommendations. Pray that this answer will become more obvious. They are working with her a little on the Occupational Therapy. They said that she is improving quickly.

On my way in tonight, I saw the paramedics who cut her out of the wreck. I thanked Ed Jeter and DJ again for doing such an important job and for saving Suzanne's life.

Suzanne has been in a lot of pain again today. Her fractures in the pelvis and Sacral (near the tailbone) areas look like they are very painful. She has been complaining for the last couple of days about her head hurting. Tonight she especially communicated that to me and I passed that on to her new charge nurse, she is going to talk with Dr. Fontaine to see what he thinks. (She was scheduled to have another CT scan on the night of the 6th and that has not occurred. Last night Neuro cleared her and said that she didn7t need one since she was doing so well). Please pray that they will discover it quickly if her head pain is being caused by swelling or any other new issues. Not to get you alarmed, they seem to be staying up on her very well.

Even though she is in a lot of pain from her head, neck, abdomen, pelvis, tailbone, catheter, etc7 she was still kind enough to try to fix my security badge that was coming unstuck on my shirt. She is so sweet and yet so tough, she is in excruciating pain and I have not seen her cry (even as I cried just watching her). She hugged my neck tonight and kissed me as we prayed together. She is making some noises when she hurts and sometimes gives a 7unhuh7 for yes. Still not talking yet but looks like that will come in short time. Some of you are asking if she is ready to have visitors, I asked her this morning if she wanted to wait to have any visitors and she nodded yes. So please be patient it looks like it will still be a couple of weeks at the earliest before she is ready for visitors.
Please pray that we both would be able to get some good sleep. Thanks!

Suzanne's Status as of 5:00 PM 1/10/2003 - DAY 21
Kathy is Suzanne's nurse today; I'm thankful that we have another group of caring nurses! Suzanne was sitting up and very uncomfortable. Kathy asked if I could find out why. Suzanne's tailbone & pelvis is still hurting very much. Her heart rate was up, around 145-148 even after she received some pain medicine. Dr. Jay stopped by and talked with me about her orthopedic progress.

This afternoon, Suzanne is ready to drink juice and broth. They let me stay a little extra, said that she does better with me there. Shannon is Suzanne's Speech Therapist, we have a few mutual friends and she had already heard about Suzanne. Shannon said that Suzanne spoke to her and answered a few open-ended questions, she knew her age and that her birthday was coming up, she said "I need my Pelvis." On the other side, Suzanne didn't know several basic things. So keep praying that her pain and injuries will heal completely.

He speaks to my spirit when I feel brokenhearted. I thought you might be encouraged with these verses and message as well.
Today I am encouraged that the Light of the world cares much more about Suzanne and I than we can imagine. It is so natural and easy to turn elsewhere for healing and love. Instead of going to the right person, bowing my head for the shepherd to do His work, I can easily turn to things, busy-ness, business, people, etc. instead of trusting Him.
I am also reminded that only God can heal. He "heals the brokenhearted" Ps.147:3
He cares about me. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:6&7

Suzanne's Status as of 11:S0 PM 1/11/2003 - DAY 22
I was able to stay late last night and talk with police officer Taylor and then Lisa her previous nurse about rehab details.

I was a little sad on my way in to the hospital and was encouraged to get to spend so much time talking with so many neat people today! Thanks - Damond, Lori & Christina, Taylor, Franswa, Jan & Mari.
This morning, Damond was taking good care of Suzanne. One of her physical therapists named Susan said that Suzanne answered several questions correctly today. Are you hurting? Yes, Where? Pelvic bone, etc.
Suzanne has had to consistently stay on pain medicine to be able to tolerate the pain. This slows down her digestive system, so she needed something for that and then she had cramps to add to her pain sources.
I was able to stay extra at the hospital today to be with Suzanne, special treat for me.

Tonight, Christina was able to get Suzanne to answer a few more questions. Suz said that she is allergic to "husbands with needles." That was cute and in case you are wondering, I didn't have any needles on me. She answered that I was her husband. She knew that her birthday is January 16th (I wonder if Suz slipped out of her room last night and gotten on the web to read the updates on her progress and saw the birthday note at the bottom of this page. : ) She answered that she was 38, I guess this whole ordeal might have felt like 10 years to her.
Christina said that Suz was very restless and settles down when I am with her. You can tell that she really hurts when Suzanne hurts; she was really concerned for Suzanne. Nurses Lisa and Christy stopped by to see Suzanne tonight.

Alignment drill: The word 'Frustration' comes from the Latin word 'Frustre' which means 'In Vain'. A person who is frustrated feels that all he does is in vain.
Here's a good quote from Blaise Pascal's Mind on Fire - pg. 115
"It is in vain, a men, that you seek within yourselves the remedy for your ills. All your light can only reach the knowledge that not in yourselves will you find truth or good. The philosophers have promised you that, and you have been unable to do it. They neither know what is your true good, nor what is your true state. How could they have given remedies for your ills, when they did not even know them' Your chief maladies are pride, which takes you away from God, and lust, which binds you to earth' Pascal Pensees #430 Is Pascal correct? Jesus said, "yet you refuse to come to me to have life." John 5:40 (Speaking as much to myself here) do we go to Him to find meaning to Life?

Thank you all for your encouragement and the messages that you have sent. I was encouraged by an email that our friend Lavada sent to me. She has really had her share of character building experiences and still keeps her chin up. We had gone to lunch with her a few weeks before the wreck and I had written a verse down for her that she sent back to me. It was neat how God's word comes back around and lifts our spirits when we need it. When the very foundation of our lives appears to be shaking and quaking, and we panic, it is He who holds the pillars firm. God has demonstrated this truth over the past few weeks.

"I came across the verse you gave me and thought I would send it back to you: I've had to use this verse many time this week myself'.

"When the earth and its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm." Psalm 75:3

JP's personal note on 1/12/2003
Many of you have asked for more of the personal notes. Here is an encouraging story: Suzanne and I were headed to the Czech republic with Taylor from ChristEvan.org on 12/23. Suzanne and I were asked to give a talk on "relationship to material things" at a conference with some college students from kvz.cz. Yesterday, Taylor told me about how much they have been caring and praying for us, he related to me how neat it was to hear her name being lifted up in the Chez language. Thanks to all of you for praying for us! I was reading Hebrews 12 this morning, feeling the encouragement of the "great cloud of witnesses"; those in chapter 11 have blazed the trail. Encouraged that Suz and I do not endure and run this race alone. The word 'endure' means to 'bear up under trial, to continue when the going is tough'.

My good buddies Steve and Misti Wiggins's song A Faith that is Real has been on my mind constantly and has become my constant prayer. "Consider it joy when the trials of life are upon you / Remember: a promise is given to all who endure / Bringing wisdom, filling completely [Chorus: With a faith that is real, a faith that is true, the source of strength to carry me through, what 1 believe is not what I feel. I hold on, with a faith that is real] Tossed by the wind and waves, I have been double minded, Faithless and doubting until you taught me how to believe. You are my anchor! Lord 1 can trust you [CHORUS] Oh Lord I know that it's by your grace alone that you save me! And the good that I do is only because you gave me' [CHORUS] Oh Lord, give me faith!

Then at ChristEvan this morning, Taylor had us turn to Heb. 12:1-3, I already had turned to it and was meditating on this. What a coincidence :) He talked about how runners are required to exhibit 'perseverance' and they must make sure that they run 'the race marked out for us' It is so easy to get distracted and sidetracked. Good stuff!

Suzanne's Status as of 11:50 PM 1/12/2003 - DAY 23
Suzanne was sitting up and talking about an hour before 1 got there. Vicki and Lori were taking care of her. (1 knew Vicki from my high school wrestling days). They said that they had Suzanne stood up and she walked a few steps today. I was so fired up when Suzanne read the calendar to me saying "Today is January 12th." She spit up some so we had to put her in bed. Please pray for her digestive system, it is still cramping and not back to normal yet.

Suzanne talked a lot today and tonight. A man died last night in her area; Suzanne asked, "Did he die?"
Her neck is moving very well and she is moving her right side more. She has an infection that they are giving her medicine to treat. She is still in a lot of pain but today seemed to have some relief and sleep. I had some good talks with everyone today. Steve came in town tonight, so we got to talk some too.

They are about ready to release her to rehab, so I've been trying to find out where the best place would be to take her. I heard about a place in Atlanta called Shepherd.org, which is connected to Emery University. They specialize in brain and spinal chord injuries. With a situation as important as this, 1 don't want to limit her options to only Memphis. If anyone has any information that could help in making this important decision, please email me. Thanks!

"Lord, I give myself to you; my God, I trust you" "guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." Ps 25:1-2;5

Suzanne's Status as of 12:25 (late) 1/13/2003 - DAY 24
Today started off on an encouraging note, Steve and I got to talk with (my former roommate) Dr. Andy Pierce over a quick breakfast this morning.

Suzanne was sitting up and her speech therapist was working with her. She looked like she was hurting more than ever. They had said that she would become more emotionally aware. Sometimes this shows up in laughter, but this morning this showed up in her crying. The doctors see this as a positive step on the long road to recovery. It looks like Suzanne will be medically stable enough to begin the next stage of rehab in a few days. This will mean that she will move from the Med to another facility that specializes, in her neurological and physical conditions. We are really going to miss all of our new friends at the Med. They are strongly encouraging us to keep in touch with them and want us to come back visit. (I'm sure their accounting department will not forget to write and keep our mailbox full).

This afternoon and evening, she laughed a few times and even messed with nurse Viki to make her laugh. She slept most of the afternoon; she was tired because the therapist had her up taking a few more steps. I spent some time today on the phone with the insurance company and case managers. Thank you for sending information in about going to Shepherds.org in Atlanta. Another blessing is that we have a really good insurance policy at our company so this will be covered! Shepherds is considered among the top facilities in the country.

Carolyn Chambers at the Med is the Trauma Injury Clinical Coordinator, we got to meet over the phone today and have a long conversation. We'll talk more tomorrow, but she was able to answer some of my questions that I've had for quite some time.

Our good friend, Mo at The Ugly Mug gave me a free frozen coffee drink. (Another shameless plug for the mug: Ugly Mug Coffee Company 3445 Poplar Ave (901) 458-2343 info@uglymugcoffee.com)

Dr. Jay Saenz, her orthopedic doctor (who was already a friend of ours) brought in a model of a pelvis to explain Suz's fractures. We had a good time talking with Jay again in the area where Steve waits. I'm blessed to have Steve in town while teaching at the University of Memphis. He has been patient to wait outside as I go in and attend to Suzanne.

Tonight I was able to meet and talk a while with Dr. Vanzyl in trauma. He spent a lot of time with me patiently answering my questions, which was both enlightening and encouraging.
They are going to help Suzanne stand up for more pelvic X-rays and if stable, they will get her up and moving around a bit more. And did I mention already that Suzanne is able to eat some solid food and drink liquids?

Good news! Tonight, Suzanne introduced me by name to the charge nurse, Phyllis. Suzanne said, "This is my husband Jeff." This is a big deal to me because she has recognized me as her 'husband', but this is the first time that she identified me correctly by 'name' Things seem to be starting to come back in many areas.

Please continue to pray for her digestive system, head, pelvis, tailbone, bladder infection and ability to cope with the pain.

Suzanne's Status as of 9:50 AM 1/14/2003 - DAY 25
Wendy, the case manager at the Med just told me that Timber Ridge is also coming to evaluate Suzanne. If anyone has any important information on this TBI facility, please let me know. Thanks!

Suzanne's Status as of 6:20 PM 1/14/2003 - DAY 25
They called me early this morning to tell me that Suzanne was agitated and she wanted me to come be with her.

I told Timber Ridge not to bother coming out to evaluate Suzanne. As of right now, Shepherds Center in Atlanta looks like our best option. I talked with the people at Shepherds and they will have someone evaluate Suzanne tomorrow at 9am. We could possibly be flown to Atlanta as early as Thursday morning.

The dietitian wanted some help figuring out what Suzanne would like to eat. Suzanne didn't feel like talking much this morning. She doesn't like eating foods cooked with butter and oils, we have gotten pretty picky cooking for ourselves. They said that I could bring her any food that I thought she might like. I went home to pickup the cell phone and cooked her some yummy chicken quesadillas. She nibbled on them a little, but not very much. She really wants the trach to be removed. Nursing Manager, Pam Castleman checked on her and has always been very sweet to Suzanne, we talked about Maui and other fun things. Speech therapist, Shannon was there to work with Suzanne and Suzanne talked a little bit more as the day progressed.

Nurse practitioner, Jean said that Suzanne did very well on her Incentive Spirometer (keeps lungs clear and active after surgery. With this, Suz can perform and monitor her own breathing exercises). Her heart rate was high while she was sitting up, so they did an EKG. The EKG showed ok, other than a rapid heart rate, sometimes the sign of bruised heart. They are making sure that she has enough fluids and double-checking to make sure that she doesn't have an infection that they don't know about. She does not have a bladder infection. Suz asked Jean when can they take out the trach. They are looking into that issue. She is still coughing some stuff up. They had to suction her through the trach.

Physical therapy stopped by to work with Suzanne. She was in a lot of pain even while laying in bed. Her right leg and foot hurt a lot still. She asked if the flat part of her right foot was only temporary. They got her up and walking using a walker. She said that it hurts to put any weight on the right foot. They said that she is doing very well for walking for her first time up. Suz said that she felt like a dog. After it was all over, they told Suz that she did good for the first time up and she walked a long way. They had helped Suzanne to walk with the walker out of her room into the main area, when they turned around to go back, Suzanne waved to the girl in the room next to her and managed to get a little smile out. (She is always trying to encourage others).

Suzanne laughed and smiled more than a few times today. It is really good to see her sense of humor is still intact. Steve got a haircut from our good buddy Misty Howell today and she sent a teddy bear back to Suzanne. She liked her new friend, we'll see what she names it.

Jean came back in to put some silver Nitrade on her abdomen scar to sort of cauterize the weeping parts. She told Suz that she was doing so well because she was such a strong person and had determination to get up out of here. (That is so true; Suzanne has tons of will power and is one of the most industrious people I have ever met). She told Suz how much progress she had made and how far she had come during the past 25 days. I told her that Suz didn't understand how true it is that she has come a long way because she doesn't realize how sick she really was. My notes said that they had to 'aggressively resuscitate her'. Suzanne's eyes got real big, I asked her how long it felt like she had been here. She said about 2 or 3 days. Earlier they had told me that Suz probably wouldn't remember any of this until about the 3rd week of therapy forward. That is comforting to think that she might not have to remember all of the trauma.

I've been reading a great little book by Ravi Zacharias called Sense and Sensuality. It is an imaginary conversation where Jesus and Oscar Wilde engage in a candid interchange on beauty, personal freedom, imagination, and truth... Jesus: My cross may seem like the way of death, but it really is the one true way to life. The excruciating pain of the cross was the price that had to be paid.
Wilde: Your use of crux took me off guard. Doesn't excruciating come from Latin and mean 'out of the cross'
Jesus: The cross is the ultimate expression of sorrow and pain combined. It's because the price was paid at the cross that the law is affirmed and transcended. It was at that place that your ultimate worth was upheld. It's because my heart was broken that I'm able to heal yours'

"Sometimes it is good for us to have troubles and hardships, for they often call us back to our own hearts. Once there, we know ourselves to be strangers in this world, and we know that we may not believe in anything that it has to offer." Such troubles are often aids to humility, and they protect us from pride. " That being the case, we should so root ourselves in God that we do not need to look for comfort anywhere else." - Thomas a Kempis

Suzanne's Status as of 12:50 AM 1/15/2003 - DAY 26
Later tonight, LazaruSuz wanted to get up and walk. Boy is she full of spunk! At one point when I went to get the nurse, she had moved her legs to the side of the bed. They told her that they have to wait for the walker in the morning when Physical Therapy comes by to work with her. This did cause her a lot of pain, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak and still a bit battered. She asked what happened and wanted the play by play. 1 showed her the updates section here from my notebook computer and scrolled through all 285 messages. She was floored, surprised then excited to hear that God was using her. When I read the message from her sister Arlynda where she said that Suz would say "God is in control just trust Him," she smiled and shook her head and said "that's right!" She wanted to know about the wreck, so 1 told her a little bit and she wanted to hear more and all of the miraculous details. She just shook her head with her eyebrows raised. Some times tears came to both of our eyes. We started to read some of the messages tonight. (I told her that I was only going to read the parts about me being a great husband, I told her to spend a lot of time re-reading those ones. She laughed at me because she is able to read them fine on her own). She had not had any pain medicine since 7: 30 am this morning, where as yesterday she needed lots of it. When 1 went to leave, she wanted me to stay and hug on her some more. She is still weak and badly wants her trach tube out, but she did need suctioning at least twice today. She wanted to hear Steve Wiggins' song that he wrote for her. 1 played it and we both cried together. I'm so glad that her work here is not finished yet!

1 wonder what it sounds like in heaven to the Father and all the angels, hearing the praises offered up to Him for demonstrating His mighty healing hand.

I'm praying that our insurance company will treat us fairly. We might be leaving town as early as Thursday morning. I'll find out more tomorrow.

Suzanne's Status as of 7:00 PM 1/15/2003 - DAY 27
Suzanne was very alert again today. She is doing very well. I have spent a lot of crazy time working on getting the details together to get her to rehab. I'II spare you all of the fun details. We face a few challenges and 17m still working feverously on them now. Such as getting the insurance company to agree to pay for her transport first thing tomorrow, expecting an ice storm tonight, etc.

Suzanne has done very well today. She had her sense of humor and memory back, I asked her if she remembered me joking about why 1 don't mind buying her Pina Colida smoothies and she smiled & told the nurse that it was because she had told me a couple of years ago that "the pineapple, coconut mix made her not able to talk". She ate solid foods, grapes, strawberries, I brought her favorite cereal; she poured up a big bowl by herself and ate it. I had suggested her favorite smoothie and she loved it for lunch. They changed her trach out to a smaller one. She walked some more with minimum assistance. They worked with her to put pants on.

Today has been a blur of activity. I met with Shepherds and am planning to bring Suz there. (Some of you have asked and yes we have an alarm system and people will house sit, etc. Thanks!)

Suzanne's Status as of 5:30 PM 1/16/2003 - DAY 28
BCBS insurance approved using an ambulance as a 'medical necessity' to get to Atlanta. We are scheduled to leave early tomorrow morning. Wendy got her ready to leave and her charts ready. Suzanne is dong GREAT! She had already been up walking with physical therapy, taken a shower, had her trach removed, worked with occupational therapy while AT was saying "her coordination is incredible", Suzanne was picking up her socks with her feet and passing them off to her hands (show off). We sang happy birthday to her and I gave her some balloons and a few things. I printed the messages and read a few today before she fell asleep reading them. Her family wanted to sing to her over the phone at 5pm, but I had to leave because she was going out for a urinary infection ultrasound. Getting her ready to leave, no room for anything in her room. I brought the box her parents had sent to us for her birthday; she was excited to open it. We'll try again later tonight. They will hook up her feeding tube overnight since she isn't feeling up to eating enough (hospital food :) yet.

Thanks to everyone at The Med!!! They are the best; I don't know how they are able to do this day in and day out - 24 x 7. Not only did they keep Suzanne alive during the most critical hours, they held our hands through this whole process, they really went above and beyond the call, even to extended hospitality and love. Although I never want to repeat this situation again! we will miss y'all (for all y'all non-southerners, that means- 'you all').

A host is like a general: it takes a mishap to reveal his genius. - Horace