Treatment #5

I should have blogged yesterday, but I didn't.  I will tell you why later.

Wednesday was to be treatment #5, and so far with every treatment Tracy is wiped out until late evening or sometimes until the next day.  So I planned to go back to Troy, visit the doctor myself and take care of few things back home, and meet with our accountant, Tom.  

I got up a little after 6:30AM and was in Tracy room by 7:00.  We waited until 7:45 for a nurse to come up and take us to the 1st floor for treatment.  While we waited we Tracy still was sleeping, just like the day before, it was a bit disheartening.  But when we moved Trace from her bed to the gurney, she woke up smiled and murmured a bit, which brought a smile to my face.  We went down the elevator; I really wish I had a nickel for every elevator ride, to the PACU unit, don't ask me what it stands for because I forgot.  They were ready and waiting, I spoke with Dr. Taylor, the guy who wrote the book on catonia, told Tracy my plans for the day and kissed her goodbye as thought I was off to work.  

I went back to the Med Inn, ate some breakfast, showered and was on the road by 9:00, well 9:15; I had to make a stop on the way, yeah, Starbucks.  Got an Americano and was disappointed, boy do I miss my SoRoSbux back home.  I arrived at home to Drew and Murphy a little after 10AM, I made good time.  Went to the doctor, got my allergy shots and found I did in fact have sinus infection.  Ran back home, took Drew to lunch and went to the bank, made it to my SoRoSbux (had a Robicano, as Alex called it, by the way it was perfect, that's why they are MY STARBUCKS!) and dropped Drew back off at home.  I then went an met with Tom for about an hour, picked up some antibiotics, filled the car with gas and headed back to A2 (Ann Arbor).

When I got to A2 our friends Don & Deb Paquet where here they stayed a couple of hours and we were seeing some responses from Tracy as we talked.  This was very encouraging.  After they left I went back up to the room and sat with Trace.  All of a sudden she just kind of woke up and started responding to me in word, well as best as she could and we conversed for the next hour or hour and a half.  I don't know how long but it was over an hour!  I did most of the talking and Trace responded with answers, mainly only one or two words, but sometimes complete short sentences, "notebook moments" as Adam and Rene call them, but it was heaven on earth to me!  So please forgive me for not writing yesterday, but I didn't want to come back and think, I just wanted to soak it all in.  I found out as I left that the nurse had not given Tracy a dose of Ativan and that was probably why she was so lucid.

I got wonderful night of sleep as you can imagine.  Got up this morning and went over hoping to continue where we left off, but she was exhausted and sound asleep.  So off to the secretary of state to get tags for our car and truck, only to find out they do not take Visa.   So back to the Med Inn to get the checkbook and meet Tom (our accountant) and Eric (a mutual friend).  It was nice to see them; they stayed for about an hour and a half.  When they left I headed back to the secretary of state, with the checkbook this time and then to the mall.  I picked up a pizza on the way back and ate some of it before heading to Trace's room.  Had a little small talk, nothing like last night.  But still time with Tracy!

This brings back to the Med Inn, cold pizza (I like that), and the blog.

Tomorrow is treatment #6.  I hope to spend sometime with the doctor and tell him about Wednesday night and maybe get her Ativan reduced some.

I am also opening up the takethemameal calendar for dinners for Drew next week.

So with that I bid you good night, morning or day.

Oh, it was also pointed out to me that I have my Jimmy V. quote wrong.  It's "Don't Give Up ... Don't Ever Give Up!”  But I like my version better so I still will give him credit but use my version instead.

God Bless and "Never Give Up... Never Ever Give Up!

Rob

Grace-Filled Waiting

There is really nothing new to report, except that I will share a couple of things.  

While doing physical therapy yesterday Kristen the therapist said "Tracy we need to do these stretches so that when you get home you can do your Pilates" to which Tracy replied "not yet" and then smiled.  Then Kristen said something about Drew to which Tracy responded "He should be studying and reading".  So there you have it, our girl is on her way.

I will part with this:

and I hope Our Daily Bread forgives me for lifting this, but it is basically Tracy's (Our) Journey and our feelings toward this whole journey.

God Bless and remember "Never Give Up...  Never Ever Give Up!"

Rob

Grace-Filled Waiting

December 27, 2011

Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn

READ: 2 Corinthians 4:7-18

We do not lose heart. —2 Corinthians 4:16

Roger lost his job due to the company being downsized. For months he searched, applied for jobs, prayed, asked others to pray, and trusted God. Roger and his wife Jerrie’s emotions fluctuated though. They saw God provide for them in unexpected ways and experienced His grace, but sometimes they worried that a job would never come. For 15 long months, they waited.

Then Roger had three interviews with a company, and a week later the employment agency called and said, “Have you heard the saying, ‘Sometimes clouds have a silver lining’? Well, you’ve got the job!” Jerrie told me later, “We wouldn’t trade this hard experience for anything. It brought us closer together and closer to the Lord.” Friends who had prayed rejoiced and gave thanks to God.

Paul wanted the Corinthian church to see the grace of God at work in his life, which could cause “thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 4:15). His trials were so severe that he was “hard pressed on every side,” “perplexed,” “persecuted,” and “struck down” (vv.8-9). Yet he encouraged the people not to lose heart in troubles (v.16) but to trust God. During our difficulties, we can be drawn nearer to God and others, as Roger and Jerrie experienced, and praise will go to the Lord for His grace. —Anne Cetas

Thank the Lord when trouble comes,
His love and grace expressing;
Grateful praise releases faith,
Turns trials into blessing. —Egner

There’s no better time to praise God than right now.

Merry Christmas everyone!

            Merry Christmas everyone! I (Drew) will be your blogger for tonight, and I have news to bring of a very uneventful Christmas day, partly, because we slept through quite a bit of it.  We weren’t moving until eleven this morning. And that was only so that we could watch our favorite sports analyst, Charles Barkley for the opening day of the NBA.  It seems as though I’m the only one who’s too excited about that.  But you aren’t here to read about our interests and activities, so on to the important stuff.

            We were over at Mom’s room by 12:00, and she was laughing often.  She didn’t talk too often, but I thought that she was enunciating much more clearly today than she was yesterday.  My dad didn’t notice as much improvement, but I’m the young one with all my hearing left. 

We left around 1:30 for lunch in the cafeteria, finished quickly and went back to Mom’s room, the next couple hours were when things got very uneventful.  We sat there for a long time while Dad just held her hands.  She laughed when we told her jokes, and she murmured as she has done recently.  At one point, we were on the phone with Ed Roden and he told us all Merry Christmas, and I’m sure I heard Mom mutter back “Merry Christmas”.

Instances like this show me that she’s improving from day to day, and I’m very excited for her next treatment, because it seems like they’re really helping.  I left Mom’s room at four to come back to the room, and Dad stayed until six.  Sounds like it continued to be quiet in there. 

At 6:30, we set out to find food, and this proved to be a very difficult task.  We had to settle for Papa John’s for Christmas dinner.  Barbeque chicken pizza was not very traditional, but tasty nonetheless.  Plus we weren’t exactly following a classy trend for dinner, as some of you noticed in the blog last night. 

Drew eating Christmas Dinner at the Elf's Table

Now we’re in the hotel room, watching the Christmas night football game, and that makes us feel a little better, because now we know that 80,000+ Green Bay fans are having beer and hot dogs for dinner.

We’re planning on returning to Mom’s room soon, and we will report on those details tomorrow, but I’m sure they will be good ones.

Thank you once again to all those that have helped us through the holiday season, we very much appreciate it.  It hasn’t exactly been our typical Christmas, but that has helped us to focus on the true reason for the season.  We hope that you all had a great Christmas and that you all got the gifts you asked Santa for! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Christmas Eve

Well Christmas Eve came early for me as a nursing situation caused me to spend the night with Tracy again.  Let’s just say that I thought it would be best if I spent the night to make sure she was taken care of.

While Drew slayed dragons in Skyrim, I kept watch of Tracy.  I was able to doze off between nurses visits which were much more frequent as my concerns had been made known earlier.

About 4:30AM I decided it would be ok if I went back to the Inn to get some good sleep.  Both Drew and I slept until a little after noon.  After showering, we went to Tracy’s room to see how she was.  She was still sleepy, I wasn’t surprised, as see was awake most of the time I was there last night.  She was still trying to communicate with us, which was good to see.  I just we could understand her exact words, but you can tell she follows the conversations at times by her facial expressions and murmurings. 

Drew and I left to eat Bruchner (breakfast, lunch, dinner) at Denny’s.  Much to my dismay, Drew had never eaten there before.  So we finally had our first meal of the day at 2:30 in the afternoon.  Then it was off to Starbucks and back to the hospital to watch the Lions secure a playoff spot.

During the game we Skyped with Tracy’s sister Susan and family.  It was a good time seeing and speaking to them, they even got to see and say a few words to Tracy until Tracy murmured “I don’t want that on me”, which meant the camera on the computer.  So, Sue and Bill were forced to see me for the rest of the conversation.  Sorry guys. 

After that the Lions finished off the Chargers and are now in the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.  GO LIONS!

Drew and I then headed out for dinner, only to find out that everything was closed.  Drew then remembered the movie “Christmas Story”, and decided that we should try Chinese.  Guess what?  TK WU was open!  Fa raa raa raa raaa, raa raa raa, raaaaa. 

After dinner it was back to the hospital again.  However Tracy was asleep.  It was so quiet, I took this picture. 

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

So we headed back to the room to watch a movie. 

Got any guesses?

Merry Christmas and “Never Give Up… Never Ever Give Up!”

Rob  

Day 19 @ UM

Well as Drew says it’s “Christmas Eve eve”.  Hope you are prepared.  We know that the birth of Christ is the biggest miracle of all, but we are praying for another big one ourselves.

We have seen God at work here at UM and also at Beaumont.  From the people we meet in the hallway and elevators, to the doctors, nurses, and sitters, God is definitely present.  However, we are pleading with Him to cure Tracy.

Today we received our 3^rd treatment.  Drew and I were up at 6:15AM to go with Tracy for a 7:30AM appointment, which normally means they get her around 7AM.  Not today, they didn’t come and get her until 8:30AM!  Drew and I lost 1 ½ of sleep!  If you haven’t been following, this sleep thing is a very valuable commodity.

Drew finally had the loaded hash browns in the cafeteria this morning and he really liked them.  We will see how much he liked them as they stop serving them at 9:30AM, which he only sees this early hour during school.

We returned to Tracy’s room around 10AM to see if she was back yet.  As we turned the corner there she was just outside of her room.  She was sleeping as the anesthesia still had hold of her.  So we figured if momma is sleeping, everyone is sleeping, well at least me.  Drew and I went back to the room where I paid a couple of bills, did some office work, and settled in for a short Winter’s nap, while Drew had visions of playing Skyrim on his Xbox, which he had brought with him so that we could watch DVD’s.

After I woke up, we went back to Tracy’s room and found her still sleeping.  Things seem reminiscent of Wednesday’s treatment.  While Tracy slept, I worked and paid more bills; I do not know how Tracy kept it all together.  Drew played games on his phone by himself until he asked if I wanted to play cribbage with him.  How could I refuse?  He beat me badly the 1^st game and the second game was a doozy!  For those of you who know how to play, Drew lead 120 to 119 and it was my deal.  I scored on the first fifteen for 2 points and the win!  (Drew: I was so mad).  Now that I think about it, it was kinda like the win that we watched last week as Indiana beat Kentucky at the buzzer.   Which also reminds me that I still haven’t written about the lost week of blogs.  I will try to recollect my thoughts and fill them in some time soon.

Well we didn’t play the rubber match of cribbage, at least not yet.   Instead we went for a walk and some snacks.

Returning to Tracy’s room, we found her still fast asleep.  That was an hour ago.  She now has a partner, Drew.  But I think I will wake him up and go have dinner.  I think it’s going to be Mexican.

This is Drew now, Dad is in Mom’s room with her, and I am in charge of finishing off the blog.  It was in fact Mexican for dinner, and I think it will be Mexican for midnight leftovers once I finish this blog. 

Upon returning from dinner, Dad and I went into Mom’s room and stayed from 7:30 to 9.  She’s still very sleepy, but she’s murmuring some phrases that we can barely make out.  Before we left for dinner, both Dad and I received murmuring that went to the sound of “I love you too”s.  She was doing some more murmuring like this the whole time we were there.  We left at 9, hoping to watch a movie, and return later.

The plan was to watch Ocean’s 11, then return to the room in hopes that she would be more lucid around 11 or 11:30, as she was the other night.  We returned, and she was a bit more alert.  Her murmur’s seemed to have more consonants scattered through them, making it apparent to us that she wanted to tell us something.

The improvement after today’s treatment was not quite as obvious as those after previous treatments, but for the most part, if we had to call it anything, I’m sure we’d both still call it improvement.  Our only concern is that as she comes out of this catatonic phase, she’s becoming more easily startled, making us think that this MAY be a return to the stage of episodes like way back at Beaumont.  But neither of us is anywhere close to a doctor, and we are choosing to walk by faith, not by sight.  We would much rather rely on faith in our God than freak out over the symptoms that we think we see.

I think that we will be having a very good Christmas weekend.  My dad will continue to keep you all updated.  I feel as though I should be leaving you with a witty remark, but I have no clever phrases in my mind for you.  So Merry Christmas! Maybe I’ll write another one some time this weekend.

Day 18 @ UM

Day 18 was a second day of treatments and to be honest I was completely wiped out.  The hospital staff informed me that they were no longer supplying a sitter for Tracy because they felt that she didn't need it.  However, I later found out that it was also a cost issue for the hospital.  So I sat in Tracy's room again Tuesday night, basically 7AM Tuesday morning to 8:30AM Wednesday.  I went down with Tracy for the treatment and then to my room and slept for about 4 hours.

The doctor today was Dr. Taylor, who we had heard was a world renowned catatonia doctor, everyone said he basically wrote the book it's treatment.  It was nice to finally meet him and to know that he would be doing todays procedure.  He was very confident that this was the right treatment for Tracy and there was much improvement in Tracy from just the one treatment she had had already.

After waking up from my slumber, I got over to Tracy's room around 3PM and was somewhat discouraged as I saw little improvement.  Dr. Belmonte stopped by around 4:30 to talk to me, as he had already seen Tracy while I was sleeping.  He told me that Dr. Taylor was very pleased with Tracy's treatment that morning, but by the time Dr. Belmonte got to Tracy she had already tightened up, but he said that his evaluation didn't really mean anything.  Evidently the telemetry that they receive during the treatment tells them how good the treatment went.  I stuck around for another hour or so and then left for the office to do payroll.   Drew met me there with dinner and our dog, Murphy.  I hadn’t seen her for 2 1/2 weeks.  It was great!  Payroll was a different situation.  What should have took me half an hour took 1 1/2 hours.  We parted ways about 9:30PM; this was easier than earlier in the week because I knew Drew would be with me the next day in Ann Arbor.

When I got back to Tracy's room I found her to very lucid and laughing at what I said.  I guess that telemetry was right!  I stayed with Tracy until around 1AM and then headed to bed.

This morning I woke up at 6AM and called over to the nurse see how the night went and she said Tracy had a good night and got some good rest.  When I got there she was even more lucid, still not conversing with me but trying to.  That was pretty much the way the rest of the day went.  Drew showed up about 5:30 and later the Harrison's showed up and took us to dinner.  I choose the same place John Pale and I ate last week, Grizzly Peak.  I think it is becoming a favorite.

We all returned to Tracy's room to tell her about the evening.  She responded to the conservation with laughter and facial expressions as she heard about the evening.  The Harrison's left a little after 9:00 and Drew and I followed around 10:30.  

So there you have it, until we meet again.

God Bless and "Never Give Up... Never Ever Give Up."

Rob  

Day 17 @ UM

Wow!  It's day 17 her and day 31 overall.  It's hard to believe it has been that long.

Well the treatment today was good Tracy, responded well to it.  So well that they have us scheduled for tomorrow and again on Friday, with the exact same schedule next week.

Tracy's eyes were open wider and she was much more relaxed.  They say it should get better with each treatment.  I told the Dr. Belemote that we were expecting great things, that with all his knowledge and expertise and our God, they were an unstoppable team.

I don't remember if I wrote about having sitters or not. but we are without one again tonight.  So I am again writing from Tracy's bedside.  I am not sure how much longer I will sit tonight, but I have been here since 7AM this morning.  So I am looking forward to finding a bed soon.

Once I get caught up on sleep I will update you more on the lost week of blogs from last week.

  

I need to find sometime tomorrow or Thursday to run home and take care of something’s, but will try to update the blog again as soon as possible.

God Bless and remember "Never Give Up... Never Ever Give Up."

Rob

Tuesday is Treatment Day

Depending on when you read this Tracy will have finally had her first treatment for her psychosis.  According to the doctors this could be the first of many or a few, it all depends on Tracy.  Drew and I of course are praying God sized prayers, like one and done or none and done.  After all He is the Master Physician.

Details to follow.

God Bless and Never Give Up… Never Ever Give up!

Rob