It’s been awhile!

I know, I know.  It’s been awhile since I have updated my blog. No excuses.  I won’t use the “my mom got in a bad car accident” one, or “I lost my job” excuse.

Anyways, my mom is doing great.  She is starting week 2 of being at home.  Mom has made a lot of progress now that she is home.  This morning April wheeled her outside for a little but.  My dad built the coolest ramp in the garage for mom to get in and out.  I also saw this morning how he added grab handles for mom to get in and out of the shower.  He actually tore out the drywall on back side of the shower to add extra studs so that mom would be safe.  Yes, thats where I get it from.

As far as I go, God is blessing us.  My trip to Catalyst blew my mind and God has really been speaking to Nikki and I about our next step.  The cat is out of the bag, FINALLY, no more secrets.  We are starting a church!  This is the first time I have had the freedom to talk about it on my blog.  (Wow! this is really freeing) There are still a TON of details to work out, but I promise I will keep you updated.  Our first step is to begin building our core team and raise support.  More on that to follow.  

Do you want to be a part of movement that changes how the world looks at church?

Another surgery *UPDATED*

Sorry for my lack of updates. I am at the Catalyst conference in Atlanta.

On my drive down I got a call from mom. She was so excited. They finally gave her the ok to go home to finish her rehab. She said all she had to do is go in for a check up with the doctor who did the surgery on her leg.

Once mom was transported to the doctor she found out that she now needs to have surgery on her broken ankle. They said her ankle is not setting up the way they wanted it too. As you can imagine mom was pretty upset.

So yesterday they transfered mom back to the hospital. Her surgery is today (Thursday) at 3:30. Please make sure to keep mom in your prayers.

The good news is that the doctors are still saying that she will get to go home after the surgery. Thank you Jesus!

UPDATE
I just talked with Nikki. The surgery went great. Mom woke up from surgery perfect this time and they took the ventilator out right away. She is awake and talking. Thank you for your prayers everything went great!

Update on Mom

 

Even after the accident mom is still real brave.

Mom has been doing great!  She has been able to move to a wheelchair so that she can get around.  She really like’s the care center that she is in.  The people are all really nice (even though it’s still weird not driving to the hospital every day)

Mom has about 1-2 hours a day of physical therapy.  It wipes her out pretty good.

Also today mom got to take her first “Real” shower since her accident.  She said it felt great!  I can’t imagine what I would look like after 20 days of no shower, but mom still looked great.

The picture that you see was the girls pushing Grandma back to her room.  The wing mom is in is very quiet so we all go into the “family room” area to sit and talk.  Our family is all planning a get together Sunday evening to bring mom some of her favorite pepperoni bread and all of us sit and talk.  Although we all wish this had never happen, it has really brought us all closer.

Chris

Where she is?

Here is the address to where mom is now at.  The doctors are saying mom might be there anywhere from 2 to 4 week.  Let’s pray that mom can stay strong during during her time of rehab.

Crown Pointe Care Center
1850 Crown Park Ct.
Columbus, Ohio 45325

She has moved!

Yesterday after spending 16 days in the Riverside hospital mom has finally been moved to a rehab facility. Mom will now begin her very intensive physical therapy.  My updates will probably get less and less, but I will update you with the address information shortly.

IT’S A BOY!

What you are looking at is a picture of Winesette #3.  As most of you know we already have 2 BEAUTIFUL girls.  So when we found out we were pregnant we were praying for a boy.  Well, be careful what you pray for.  

When we went to the doctors office on Friday he asked us if we wanted to know the sex of the baby.  After Nikki and I glanced at each other nervously we both said “YES!”.  He then said “Great cause it’s a BOY!”.  Nikki asked the doctor if he was sure and Emylie immediately said “I KNEW IT!”.  We don’t have a name yet (well, one we can agree one).

 

So with this great announcement we start over.  Does anyone want to but some great girls clothes?

Update 9/29

Not much to update on mom right now.  She is doing great.  We are still waiting on the doctors to collaborate and decide on the next step for mom.  They will be deciding if it would be better for mom to go home and get her therapy, or go to a rehab center.  Hopefully they will know this soon.

On a side not I was to thank everyone for coming to visit mom.  It has really meant a lot to her all the support she has gotten.  If you do plan on visiting mom please make sure to keep your spirits high and try to stray away from talking about the accident.  All of us have been talking about it for weeks now, but some of it is still REAL fresh to mom.

Love you all!

Update 9/27&28

Mom is doing great.  She is now really looking forward to finally coming home.  It hopefully will be this week.

- they removed the chest tube

- the doctor’s took mom off of her oxygen

- they also removed her direct line for medication.  Mom is now taking pills for pain.

- they had mom up yesterday sitting up on the side of the bed.  Mom said she was pretty sore and lightheaded from laying down for so long (baby steps)

- the doctors are still keeping a close eye on her lungs (daily xray) to make sure that the air pocket does not return.

Update 9/26

Mom had another good day.  She is looking much better than she did just one week ago. For those people wanting to send cards or flowers the address to the hospital is:

Riverside Methodist Hospital

3535 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, OH 43214

Room 4013B

- the doctors removed the chest tube and everything looks great so far

- the only things mom has hooked up to her is a heart monitor, oxygen, and her happy medicine.

- the doctors are still talking about if they are going to send mom home or too a rehab facility.

It’s feel good that these updates are getting smaller and smaller as mom gets better and better.

Update for 9/25

Yesterday started off with a call from my dad telling me that mom’s ankle was in fact broken.  He also told me that they were going to have to do surgery on it and put a plate and a few pins in it.  Shortly after that I went to the hospital to see mom.  She was really down about it and didn’t want to go thru what she did after the surgery last week (ventilator, oxygen, not remembering 3 days).  So we prayed that God would guide the doctors.

Later on that night all of us kids were there visiting mom and the “real” doctor came in.  He said that the crack in mom’s ankle was not bad enough to have surgery on.  She would just have to stay off of it for 6-8 weeks.  This was great news!

- because of the broken ankle they will have to evaluate the timing of mom going directly to the rehab facility.  If she can’t put pressure on it she can’t do all of the exercise they have for her.  Mom might get to go home for a few weeks to let it heal and then go into the rehab facility.

- they did put a big wrap on mom’s ankle, which got rid of most of the pain.

- everything else is looking GREAT! 

- they still have not pulled out the chest tube but hope to do it soon.

- the doctor also ordered one last xray of mom’s elbow to make sure they did not miss anything.

9/24 Update

Yesterday they were finally able to get mom out of her bed.  They had her transfer herself from the bed to a chair.  It was very painful for mom but she was able to do it.

- mom has been complaining about the ankle on the leg she broke the femur on.  After yesterday they ordered an xray to make sure they did not miss something.

- the doctor also ordered another cat scan of her spleen to make sure that it is still holding strong.  The results are not back yet

- they are saying that mom will be in the hospital for at least another week.  From there they have decided to move mom to a rehabilitation center.  They expect her to be there 2 to 3 weeks.

Mom is really looking great and has a great attitude about things.  Her room mate went home yesterday so they are going to move mom into her side of the room which is by a window.  Now mom will get to see beautiful 315.

9/23 Update

Everything has been going good for mom.  There is supposed to be a meeting today with all the doctors to talk about next steps.

- they took the “Doppler radar” test yesterday for clots in the leg and it all came back negative.

- the doctors are still trying to get on the same page about mom’s back brace.  Some say that she MUST have it before she can get up, while some say it is just purely for comfort.  We should know more from the meeting today.

- as soon as we know the back brace situation the PT’s will begin working on getting mom out of bed.  Mom has been in bed for 10 days now.  They already have walker ready to go.

- how much help mom needs getting around will decide if she is able to go straight home or into about a week of therapy.

The updates are getting shorter but that’s a good thing because mom is getting better.

Love you all

9/23 Update (NEW PICTURES)

Yesterday was another great day for mom.  Thanks to everyone sending her card and flowers.  Mom loves them.  When I had visited mom yesterday she had already had 3 visitors so she was pretty wiped out.

Updates:

- they are still working on the blood clot in her lung to work it’s was out.

- mom’s knee on the leg she broke the femur is not looking to well.  The doctor’s are saying that she might have a blood clot there also.  They said that they are going to take mom down for a “doppler radar” test,  It sounds more like they are checking the weather?

- Dad always goes and visits mom first thing in the morning.  I got a text message from him this morning here is what is says.

                ”Everything is good with mom.  She had a good nights sleep and is alert and                     speaking clearly.  Busy day with moving legs and arms and x-rays.”

So hopefully they are going to get mom in a back brace soon so she can start moving around.  Mom is very relaxed in her bed but she is ready to get up.  She is also armed with her cell phone now.

The cones cover up where that metal box used to rest. It is all the wiring for the traffic signals.

That long brown mark in the grass was from the engine on their SUV dragging the ground

Their SUV ended up on the far left of the picture.

Here is where dad hit his knee

The view from dad’s side

Update 9/21 (Sunday)

Mom got into her new room late Saturday night. Once she was in the room we found out that April happens to know the other lady in mom’s room. Funny how that stuff works out.

Update:
- the cat scan that they ran on mom did come back “positive” for a blood clot in her lung. They are going to continue to keep the chest tube in and give mom some blood thinners hoping to flush out the clot in the chest tube.

- still waiting on them to fit mom for a back brace.

- mom is very comfortable right now. They finally have the pain under control. Most of our conversations are about family and work, not about her pain.

- Emylie, Madison and Luke all got to finally see Grandma. They are were so excited to see her and Emylie and I got to say a special prayer with mom. At 5 Emylie really is a prayer warrior. She is always asking people if she can prayer for them.

- dad has been trying to balance work and the hospital. He leg is starting to bug him from the accident. The bruising has spread to a couple other area of his leg. He does have a doctors appointment today to have it looked at.

Mom has made a great deal of progress the past few days. They say that mom might be able to do some therapy at the hospital and then go home from there. It is still a little to early to know for sure how much therapy mom will need.

Room 4013

Today was another great day for mom. She was awake and talking to everyone today. Kim brought mom a frosty from Wendy’s and that made her day.

Updates:
- mom was moved to the “step down” unit today. She is sharing a room with another lady so she is room 4013 bed 1.

- she was moved real late tonight so my 2 girls have not got to see Grandma yet (no kids under 12 could visit in the ICU). Tomorrow after church we promised them they can go see her.

- they took mom down for a cat scan to check for blood clots in her lungs. I left before the results came back but the doctors say either way it will not change moms recovery time. The trip down wore mom out. She took a 2 hour nap when she got back to the ICU.

- a PT was in today asking questions about moms living arrangments. They want to get a better idea of what issues mom might have when she gets home.

- we are still waiting for them to remove the chest tube and measure for the back brace.

- the buckeyes WON!

Please continue to pray for moms lungs. They really took a beating in the accident and then on top of that she has bad asthma.

Update 9/20 (Friday)

Today was another GREAT day for mom.  In the morning she was allowed to eat some Jello and some Orange sherbet (which she loved so much I had the nurse bring her 5 more to store in the freezer).  Later in the day she was also allowed to have a sip of Diet Coke.  Anyone who knows my mom knows that she always has a Diet Coke nearby.

Updates:

- mom’s fever finally broke early friday morning.

- they removed her direct line that was in her wrist to monitor her heart rate.

- after giving her pain medicine every 3 hours (on the scale of 1-10 mom always said 9) they gave mom a constant drip of her meds.  They also gave mom this button that she can push to give an extra dose of her medicine when the pain got worse. Once they did this mom has been as relaxed as I have seen her all week.

- a physical therapist came in an gave mom a feel exercises that she can do to start strengthening her leg. They were very painful for mom, but she did them all.

- most of the pain that mom is still having is still from her back.

- they hope to remove the chest tube soon.  AS SOON as they do that they can fit her for a back brace.  Once they do that it will take up to 2 days to get it made.

- mom’s Hemoglobin level is still holding strong.

- they hope to move mom to the STEP DOWN unit today.  As soon as they do that I will post her room number.

Thats it for now.  Thank you for all your encouragement.  I read mom some of the comments left on the site and it brought a big smile to mom’s face.

9/18 Update (thursday)

 

Emylie gave mom one of her stuffed animals to tell mom she was thinking about her. This is one of her favorites.

First off thank you so much for all of your words of encouragement for mom. I will be reading them to her tomorrow.

Today mom made some real great progress.
- today they finally took her completely off of the ventilator and they took that dumb tube out of her throat. It is a very light whisper but we are able to talk with her (and maybe a few jokes:)

- when they took mom off of the ventilator they also removed the drip of her meds and sadation (I am typing on my iPhone so forgive me if the spelling and typing is bad) so now she gets her pain meds only as she needs them. Right now it’s about every 3 hours.

- mom’s biggest complaint besides being “hot” is that her back hurts. We also confirmed today that the vertibray that were fractured are in her lumbar area. The part that was fractured is not the vertibray it’s self but the part that extends out the side of the vertibray. This is good (if you had to fracture the vertibray) because there is no chance of nerve damage or paralysis.

- for the doctors to be comfortable with moms Hemoglobin level they wanted the count to be at or above 10. After 5 units of blood her level is right around 11.2. Which is great.

- mom is still running a temp of about 100.2 which is the lowest yet.

- they are giving her what they call a “lasik” treatment. What this does is break down and flushes all the fluids in her body that they have pumping in her they past 4 days. This should help with the swelling and mom’s temp.

Next steps
- tomorrow they hope to take out the breathing tube from her side. This was used to relieve the air from the airpocket above her lung. The doctors said it is completely gone
- once that tube is removed they will fit mom for her back brace. This should help relieve some of her back pain
- they are hoping to move mom to a “step down” room as early as Saturday. This will FINALLY allow the grand kids to see their grandma or as Emylie says “grandma with Sasha” (that’s her dog)

Prayer requests:
- please continue to pray for a quick recovery
- for moms temp to drop down to a normal level
- pray that the fitting for the back brace is not too painful
- pray for the continued wisdom of the great doctors and nursing staff at Riverside.
- pray that my dad could get a good nights sleep.

Thanks again for all your support.

9/17 Update

Today mom made some pretty good progress. When I got to her room I saw that she was moving her good foot around. I looked at the nurse and said “is she supposed to do that?” then the nurse said “she’s up” and I looked over what mom and she was raising her hand up for me. WOW! What a relief to see my mom was awake and heard my voice. They turned down the ventilator to see if her lungs were strong enough to take over.

She was breathing on her own most of the day. Mom still can’t talk to us because of that tube in her throat but they say they might be taking it out soon.

Mom is still having issues with her blood. As of last night she has been given 4 units of blood.

She is still carrying a temp of about 100.6.

The doctors keep saying how high her tolerance for pain is. I do not get that from her!

Thank you again for all your prayers and support. We can see them working in mom’s recovery.

Chris

Car Accident

Sunday around 8:15 my dad gave me a call.  When I picked up the phone I heard an ambulance in the background.  I immediately asked if everything was ok.  He said that is wasn’t (that’s not a normal reaction from my dad) dad went on to say he and mom were just in a bad car accident. (the pictures are really her Lexus)  He hurt his leg pretty good but mom took most of the hit and they were both being sent to Riverside hospital.  I called both of my sisters and we were all 3 on our way.

My dad was released that night with a pretty good knot on his leg, but my mom is going to be in the hospital for a while.  I am going to try my best to describe everything that has happened so far.  I will try to catch you up to what is going on currently.  After that please check back on my blog as often as you want for updates on how mom is doing.  You can also follow my twitter feed on the left side of the page.  I will try updating that about every 2 hours and my blog once a day.

What the doctors have found so far.

- A broken Femur (the doctors operated on it on monday and put a rod in it to help speed up healing)

- 4 fractured vertebra (it is the very top 4 around her neck, once mom is able to handle the pain they are going to fit her to a full back brace that will help stabilize her neck and back)

- 3 broke ribs (the broken ribs bruised her lungs which made is very hard for mom to breathe, the broken ribs also caused her to have an “air pocket” above her lung making it even harder to breathe so thay had to add a tube in her side to help drain the air from that pocket)

- a small laceration in her spleen (it was bleeding a little at the beginning but is has since stopped, thy are watching it very close to make sure it’s still doing it’s job, whatever that is)

- because of the amount of pain mom was in that had to sedate her pretty heavily.  This made it hard for mom to breathe so at this time she is on a ventilator.  They hope to slowly take her off of it over the next few days.

- because of some blood loss they have given mom 2 units of blood, and after 2 tests they say that she is back to a good level.

- mom has had a fever of around 101 since she has been in the hospital, the doctors are still trying to find out what is causing it.

- yesterday she had surgery to install what they call a basket.  This will help catch and blood clots she might get.

- this morning they said mom is a little low on Hemoglobin? I’m not sure what that does, I think it has something to do with fighting off infections.  They gave her a shot Hemoglobin this morning.

- once mom is about to breathe on her own they will be able to move her out of the ICU.  After that they are going to have her go to a “rehabilitation center”.  There she will go into some pretty intense physical therapy.

- THE DOCTORS HAVE SAID THAT THEY EXPECT MOM TO MAKE A FULL RECOVERY. PRAISE GOD!

Thanks everyone for all you emails, prayers and calls it really means so much to me and my family.  To keep things simple please check back here as often as you want.  This will allow me to update people all at one time.

Catch up.

It’s been awhile.  Thats ok, I have had such a great response from Jessica’s video.  Thank you for all of your support for her family.

Most people know that I am a huge blog reader.  There are about 15 sites that I visit everyday to stay current. In the next few days I am going to post some of my favorites for you to check out.

In the meantime, here are some things that I found interesting the past few days.

- Perry Noble does a great article on “What to do when there is tension in the room”  this is a must read.

- Man does Konan’s post HERE have me excited.  I wonder what’s going on over there in C3 land?

- Great article on “Church Attendance”.

- The season finale of “So you think you can dance” was unreal.  They had the dancers from Cirque du Soleil do a routine from an upcoming show in Vegas called “believe”.  This is a great example of the next level of dance in a church this is a mix between “interpretive dance” and “human videos”.  If anyone knows of any dancers that can either write or perform dances like this PLEASE contact me.  This is the future of arts in the church.