Andrew's 16th Birthday...

My youngest son just turned 16. Andrew reached this major milestone on March 2! He wanted a fishing trip for his 16th birthday so March 15-18 Andrew, his uncle Harold, and I went to Lake Tenkiller. We fly fished for trout in the Lower Illinois River, but didn't do very well, so on Wednesday we went over to Lake Eufaula where my good friend Mike Scifres lives. We fished from his boat dock and caught 31 crappie and some quite large as you can see from the picture. It was a great few days to get away from all we have been facing the past few weeks and Andrew had a great time and it was great having his uncle Harold along with us.

This morning my mom was moved from Mercy Hospital to Lackey Manor at Baptist Village where she will be in skilled nursing for a while. It was hard telling her we wouldn't be bringing her home, and she was upset with me, but I believe it is the right decision for now. She seems to be adjusting pretty good today. There she can wear regular clothing and not those awful hospital gowns. She liked the lunch they served! Please pray for her appetite to increase as we need to get some more calories in her. We do appreciate your thoughts and prayers during the time. God is good and each day He shows His favor and grace.

Can't wait to fry some of that crappie!

Bro. Walter

A Cold and Snowy Thursday...

Just when we thought spring was here, we are greeted by ice, snow, and cold today. But it won't last long giving way to temps in the 70s next week.

Kathy and I went by the hospital this morning to check on mom. It is still hard to understand much of what she is saying. It takes great concentration to make out what she wants. It's almost like playing charades! We are still concerned with her eating. She is just not taking in a lot of food. She wasn't eating much at home, but I believe hospital food would take away anyone's appetite! We keep bringing in different things we think she might like to eat. Pray we can get her to eat more. Kathy and I weren't at the hospital as much today as we both had some things we had to get done today and I needed to spend some time in the office. I went back this evening and visited with her for a little while. Her friend, Susie, had been by to see her. Wednesday night, my brother Steve, and Kathy were there with her. She seems to be resting okay and seemed to be quite interested in tv this evening.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support.

Walter

A little more progress...

My secretary, Teddy Graham, emailed me this thought this morning from The Daily Bread...

God’s whisper of comfort quiets the noise of our trials.

It's Wednesday and day ten of mom's stay in ICU. Tuesday she tried to talk more, but it was still hard to understand everything she said. We tried writing, and although her penmanship is quite nice, the messages and words just weren't coming through. Speech therapy is working with her each day and I see a little progress each day, but we are a long way from being back to normal.

This morning the doctor said that he consulted with the docs who do the arteriograms and advice is not to proceed with any other procedures at this point as it would just be too risky. The anuerysm appears to be small and might not respond well to the type of treatment they were proposing. We need her to eat more, but the food choices here are not always very appetizing, so I have been bringing her other food in an attempt to eat more. Sometimes it is more successful than at other times.

They are going to move her sometime today to what is called intermediate care. It is the step between ICU and being on main floor. There they will try to do more in terms of therapy, etc.

Mom is still sharp. She wants to know what is going on and I am being very honest with her although that upsets her at times. I want her to be a part of decisions that are being made. She keeps asking about going home and I am honest with her about it in that I don't know or if she will be able to go home. Right now that would be most impossible.

Pray for her not to get too frustrated as we work through her speech problem and pray for my patience as well. I was quite exhausted after being here a whole day yesterday. It was very hard trying to decode her messages without causing her too much frustration.

Thank you for praying.

Walter

One Week in the Hospital...

It was last Monday afternoon that my mom was brought into Mercy Hospital with a stroke. She remains in ICU. They did another MRI on her today and gave her some light sedative so it wouldn't hurt so much when they moved her to the MRI table, but the sedative seems to have really caused her to be sleepy this evening.

Earlier the day she did eat! And she ate some this evening! Her speech is still slurred and she gets frustrated trying to tell us things. She wrote on some things yesterday and her handwriting was remarkably good, but we could not make out what she was saying in her writing as some of thet words didn't make sense.

We are praying that her speech returns in time. It is Monday evening and I have left for the day, and still don't have a lot of answers, but her regular nurses are back on duty and we feel good about that. Don, a male nurse, has been particularly caring and helpful.

It looks like it will be a day-by-day affair. We are praying that tomorrow might yield more improvement in speech and perhaps more direction from the doctor. Dr. Mikawa is a good doctor, but not a talker, so we have received limited info from him.

Thank you again for prayer support. We would all be undone without it. I am also grateful to my family who have been stepping in and helping. You know who you are and you are greatly appreciated not only by Kathy and I but by mom.

More tomorrow perhaps,

Walter

Saturday morning update...

It has been a tough couple of days. Mom had a cerebral arteriogram on Thursday morning and since then she has not been able to talk clearly and has not been eating. I had hoped that by this morning, Saturday, that if the medicines they gave her for pain prior to the procedure were cauisng this problem that they would have had time to clear her system. I am beginning to wonder if the arteriorgram did not cause this. They said there was a 6-7% chance this could happen. Last night she had lots of family to see her which made her happy. My niece came and spent the afternoon with her and took good care of her while I was at the Beast Feast. Again, I am grateful for your prayers and all your concern. It has been a tough week, but God is good, and God is in control. We continue to trust in Him each day.

Walter

Good morning...

Let me begin by thanking everyone for their continued prayers and support of our family during this difficult week. As you know by now, Maddox did not have his surgery on Wednesday as scheduled. Dr. Honeycutt, his surgeon, saw some things in the physical exam of Maddox on Tuesday that prompted him to postpone the surgery until further testing could be done. We were all ready for the surgery, but so grateful to God for providing such a skilled doctor who detected that more testing needed be to done. We do not know when the surgery will take place as of right now.

Kathy took my mom to Shawnee for her regular lab work and doctor's visit on Monday, March 2. They returned to Bethany and were going through the Rink Gallery when my mother became unresponsive. 911 was called and mom was brought to Mercy Hospital where she was met by the Stroke Evaluation Team from Mercy. They are very thorough and it was determined by MRI that mom had suffered a stroke on the left side of her brain. It has affected her speech some, but not her motor skills thus far. PTL!

She is resting pretty well in the ICU unit at Mercy. She will probably be in the unit for a couple more days and maybe into a room this weekend. This morning, Thursday, they are doing a Cerebral Arteriogram to look at couple of small anuerisms the doctor spotted on the MRI. It is possible that something called a "coil" can be placed in these areas to prevent future strokes at least in those areas.

She had a CT scan with dye contrast yesterday afternoon to determine if she might have the beginning of pnuemonia in the left lung. Since she has a history of lung cancer, they wanted to look to make sure there was nothing going on in that way also.

I know most of the chaplains here at Mercy as I went to OBU with several of them, and they have been a great comfort to me and to mom. My family has been coming in the evening to visit with mom and stay with her. I have been staying during the day, and Kathy has been relieving me in the evening so I can get some rest. I am reminded of how exhausting being the care giver of someone in the hospital can be!

Yesterday, Kathy was reading the Daily Bread at the breakfast table with the kids. I have included the devotion below. This devotion spoke of knowing the depth of God's love for us. Kathy was telling the kids how true that was with Maddox and the doctor wanting to do more tests and with mom and her care. God had been revealing His love to all of us. She said something to the effect of that they should "march forth" with that true. Kristy said, "Mom, today is March 4th."

We pray that you could "March 4th" in this truth today. Read the devotion below and be blessed!

We love and apprecite all of you!

Bro. Walter and Kathy

The following is from The Daily Bread for Tuesday, March 4, 2009

To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. —Ephesians 3:19

The words of the hymn “The Love of God” capture in word pictures the breathtaking magnitude of divine love:

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skiesof parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scrollcontain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky.

These marvelous lyrics echo Paul’s response to the love of God. The apostle prayed that believers might “be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (Eph. 3:18-19). In reflecting on these verses about God’s love, some Bible scholars believe “width” refers to its worldwide embrace (John 3:16); “length,” its existence through all ages (Eph. 3:21); “depth,” its profound wisdom (Rom. 11:33); and “height,” its victory over sin opening the way to heaven (Eph. 4:8).
We are admonished to appreciate this amazing love. Yet as we expand our awareness of God’s love, we soon realize that its full measure is beyond our understanding. Even if the ocean were filled with ink, using it to write about the love of God would drain it dry. — Dennis Fisher

God’s love cannot be explained—it can only be experienced.