A busy day

Today started on a not so good note and kinda went from there. We started at 8 with Brian's shot and then headed to get Brian's blood draw at the dr.'s office. After 4 tries Brian had had enough. They weren't finding anything so he opted to go to the hospital and have them draw his blood. It was going to have to wait until after his therapy appointment though. They were running behind and hadn't gotten him in until 9:30, so we were a little late getting to speech therapy.

Speech therapy went very well and in fact Brian was released!! His therapist has been very happy with his progress and feels like he has progressed back to the point he was at before the accident or even surpassed it! This was by far the highpoint of our day!

As soon as we left therapy, we were headed to Cox South for Brian's blood draw. After an hour of registering and waiting, they finally took Brian back. The tech took a long time looking for a vein since Brian has been stuck so many times. Once he finally decided on one we still wern't sure it was going to work. He "fished" in the vein for a good 2 minutes (being very gentle, albeit) and was just about to pull out the butterfly needle when he was able to get some blood. Finally!

Andrea, a dear friend of ours, Nana fell over the weekend and was awaiting a hip surgery while in traction at Cox. So while we were there we headed up to see her. She is so sweet and Nana looked like an angel even while she was in a tremendous amount of pain. We left the hospital to get some lunch about 1:00. As we were headed back to Ozark for my chiro appointment, Andrea called and they were going to take Nana to surgery at 3:00.

We headed home to let the dogs out and grab the mail on the way to the doctor. As soon as we got to the chiropractor, Brian's doctor from that morning called with bad news. His blood is not thinning at all. They are upping his coumadin again and he will start another round of shots. They also want him to return to the hospital tomorrow for another blood draw. I am not sure what the plan of action is tomorrow if the blood is not any thinner, because as I understand it, he is on the highest dose of coumadin that he can be. As soon as I was done with my appointment, I checked with the pharmacy to make sure we could get his shots in and we headed back to the hospital to sit with Andrea while Nana was in surgery. She did well and should be back in her room by the time I am writing this.

Today has been very busy and it is very draining... both emotionally and physically for both of us. I pray that we don't have many more days like this, for I know how the wear on Brian.

Prayer requests:
Brian: blood clots, strength, continued healing, minimal depression
E: Healing, life choices
P: Life choices, spiritual strength
D: Depression, anger, financial and the strength to pray through it all

Thank You!!

And the shots begin again...

Well that didn't last long. Brian began another round of shots today. This will make the third round of shots, but at least this time they are also increasing his coumadin. We will be taking him for a PV/INR tomorrow and another one on Monday to find out where his blood levels are. Hopefully we will start seeing better results.

The ENT doctor gave us good news this week. The hole in Brian's ear looks like it has a film growing over it, which is a sign of healing. They will test him again in two months to find out how his hearing is coming along and weather he will recover the ability to hear the high tones that he lost with the injury. As for the facial paralysis, it can take up to another year to heal. They told us it takes on average one month per centimeter for the nerve that was damaged to heal. He has 8in. of fracture and it is un-determined how much of that crossed over the nerve. Even when the healing is done, it is unlikely that Brian will have 100% of his facial usage back.

I spent today in training for the Spring tutoring session at OTC. I will be tutoring writing, speech and CIT. Yesterday I received the news that the college will be able to suspend my scholarships due to the circumstances, so I will be canceling my classes for this Spring. It is unfortunate, but I look at the time off as more time to spend with Brian and a chance to rebuild our emergency fund with some extra work once he goes back to work.

Please continue to pray for finances for not only us, but many of our Branson friends who have been impacted by the furlow time. In addition, we have some very close friends who need some prayer in a family situation. Please pray for E and guidence in some life decisions. Brian is a prime example that prayer works, so I know that this will be an excellent place to ask for extra prayer where needed!