-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Kimble [mailto:mike@mikesmagicshop.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2003 3:54 PM
Subject: Mikie - much improved!

Good news!  Mikie’s temp broke and is back to normal and his heart rate is under 120.  We just spoke to the lung doc and they are taking Mikie of the ventilator in an hour.  They basically turned it off now to see how well he would breath on his own and he didn’t even flinch.  He is ready to come off of it, I am sure.  His white cell count is elevated slightly which might indicate an infection, but everything in his lungs seems to indicate it is not there.  They even did a chest X-ray and it was clear.  It may only be a reaction to the surgery, so they say.  I think it is a reaction to having a foreign object shoved down your throat.  He was resting well while we were there, but we are looking forward to seeing him at 5 and hopefully be able to exchange some hugs.  The next hurdle will be to finish this course of antibiotics. 

Thanks again for your prayers!

Mike & Lorraine

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Kimble [mailto:mike@mikesmagicshop.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2003 10:02 PM
Subject: Mikie - Off the ventilator!

I just got back from visiting Mikie.  He is off the ventilator and breathing quite well on his own.  He was sleeping when I went in but woke up for a few minutes and was exercising his voice.  I guess you would call it an attempt to holler, but it was obvious that his throat is quite sore.  At first I thought I heard a rattle but I think it was just his sore throat.   He wasn’t very happy and fussed for a few minutes but soon went back to sleep.  His heart rate is back up to 140 and his temp is almost 100, which is not so bad, but he feels quite warm.  They have the cooling blanket handy if they need it.  He has yet another new nurse, but she seemed eager to make him comfortable, and that makes me happy.  I’m praying that if there is some infection there that God will help Mikie overcome it and that his lungs will remain clear. 

Thanks again for praying!

Mike & Lorraine

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Kimble [mailto:mike@mikesmagicshop.com]
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 6:59 AM
Subject: Mikie - doing very well!

Great news, Mikie looked great this morning!  His temp was down to just over 99 and his heart rate down to about 130.  When he vocalized he sounded good and I don’t think his throat is as sore as it was.  He didn’t sound hoarse at all.  He is off the face mask and just has a nasal tube giving him a little oxygen.  He looked very content, the best I have seen him yet.  The Nurse Practitioner for the neurosurgeons came in and he was very pleased and says that there is no reason that Mikie can’t go out to a regular room today and should be able to come home in the next few days.  It will depend on what the infectious disease people say about the course of antibiotics he will have to be on for the next few weeks and how he is to receive them.  It would be great if they approve giving them through his feeding tube.  Even if they decide to keep an IV in place than a home care nurse can still come out to administer the antibiotics.

Looking back to December the fourth when the doctor came out after the surgery and told us how bad it really was and comparing that to now, I know that God has answered our prayers beyond our expectations!

Thanks again for being so faithful to pray, and thank you for the individual cards and calls.  I’ll try to have an update for you on Jackie and Janice later today.  I spoke to him only briefly this morning and it appears they still don’t know anything.

Mike & Lorraine 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Kimble [mailto:mkimble@sc.rr.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2003 6:09 AM
Subject: Mikie - out of ICU!

More great news!

They moved Mikie to a private room on the sixth floor just before nine this Friday evening.  It was like heaven to just be able to pull up a chair and hold his hand for a while.  He is doing very well, though not quite his old self, but getting closer.  We decided to not try to stay the night with him, but came home to sleep in our own bed, and we will just go up early in the morning to check on him.  Hopefully we can get him on his way home in the next day or two.

We talked to some of Janice’s family and it is really hard to tell what is going on, but they did tell us that the doctors don’t know yet what is causing the blockage.  It seems like it is related to her liver, but I just couldn’t understand all that her sister told us.  I do know that God knows, and that it is His will to pray for her.  (James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.)

I have other sad news, not about anyone that was in the hospital with Mikie, but about a dear fellow church member that went in a different hospital about the same time Mikie did.  Dot Henderson had been suffering with a lung problem and then came down with double pneumonia.  She passed away today.  People had been praying for her (many on this list) just like they have been praying for Mikie.  Did God only answer the prayers for Mikie and not for Dot?  Not at all, He answered all of them but in different ways.  Did He answer yes for us but no for Dot?  I don’t think so, I think Mikie has been healed, but Dot has also been healed, but in a different way.  The same verses that I shared with you at the beginning of Mikie’s ordeal speak to us about Dot’s struggle as well.   

(1 Peter 4:12,13 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.) 

Dot’s passing seems very sudden to most of us, but was it a surprise?  It shouldn’t be, we know we all will pass from this life, we just don’t know when.  But if we pass from this world and are trusting in Christ and his atonement for us on the cross, then we will be in a position to see the fulfillment of verse 13 and will be overjoyed.  While our hearts are broken for our loss, especially for Gene Henderson and the great loss he has experienced, it helps to hang on to the promises of God and to imagine what Dot might be doing right now since she has been really healed. 

I could not help but think of our circumstances while reading this week’s Sunday School lesson in our current study of Pilgrim’s Progress.  Pilgrim and Hopeful take an easier path on their journey and they meet the Giant Despair at Doubting Castle.  The giant had a wife named Diffidence (Gloom, in the modern translation).  Despair beat them ‘without mercy’ and his wife told him to convince them to kill themselves.  All hope seemed lost until Christian remembered that he had the key to open any lock in the Doubting Castle with him at all times.  The key was called ‘Promise’.  The doors easily opened and they escaped and Despair was unable to pursue them.  I won’t try to tell you what all that means, because I think it is pretty clear, but do think about it for a few minutes.  You may read the story yourself at http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Stories/Bunyan.Pilgrims.Progress7.html.  The story of the Giant Despair is at the end of chapter 7.

Here’s a promise I hang on to when things get tough.

Romans 8:18  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Thank you again for lifting Mikie up in prayer.  If you have a few minutes, will you also do so for the Henderson family, particularly Gene, Dot’s husband?

Mike & Lorraine

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Kimble [mailto:mike@mikesmagicshop.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2003 10:59 PM
Subject: Mikie - doing great!

(I apologize to those that can’t see these pictures because their server filters them out.  I’ll have to get busy and get a website up, especially for all those nurses and doctors in the ICU that only saw him at his worst.)

They tell us that Mikie will likely get to come home Monday.  I brought his wheelchair up to his room today and had him sitting up for a while.  He was having a ball and was able to sit up for over an hour.

I got to tuck him in before I came home to get some rest myself.  That’s Mom’s hand getting the stuffed animals in place.  He doesn’t know they are animals but he does know they are fuzzy and feel good!  He was so happy today I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.  God is so good!

One other side note for those that have been praying for Janice – she is starting to improve, though by very small steps.

Mike & Lorraine

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Kimble [mailto:mike@mikesmagicshop.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2003 11:26 PM
Subject: Mikie Update - wow, what a change!

Lorraine spent most of the day with Mikie today, and I spent most of the evening.  He has been catching up on lost time!  He has been smiling and laughing and playing all day.  A few times I thought he was going to slow down and take a nap but it just didn’t happen.  A long time ago, so long ago I forgot until tonight, we used to play a little game with Mikie.  It’s a simple game, you played it as well, and it’s called ‘catch’.  (Remember that Mikie is blind and only has the abilities of a very young child.  Many babies can do more than Mikie.)  Lorraine was throwing one of Mikie’s stuffed animals at him intentionally hitting him in the face (very lightly of course).  He would smile and laugh and throw it back.  He would do this 4 or 5 times, maybe 6, but then he would pull a fast one and throw it in the opposite direction.  That was a long time ago.  Well, he did it again tonight!  He has been doing things that we haven’t seen him do in a year or more.  We had a hard time getting him to slow down.  He did have a few seizures today, but we think that once we get him back on his home schedule of medication that they will be reduced in number.  They didn’t slow him down a bit.

We still think he may be coming home tomorrow.  We are so happy, it is the best Christmas present we could ever ask for!

Janice update – she took a little step backwards today, but I was told late this evening that she is much better.  They still don’t know what to do or what can be done.  Pray that Jackie, her husband, would not be frustrated with the lack of results.  He seemed very tired and worn down today, but then it was late when we talked to him.  The Pond family asked us to pray for them as well.  Their son was in a serious car accident and has already lost one leg and is having a hard time recovering.

As always, thank you!

Mike & Lorraine

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Kimble [mailto:mike@mikesmagicshop.com]
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 7:16 AM
To: Gordon McCaa
Subject: Mikie Update - home soon!

(Sunday 11 PM)

Lorraine spent most of the day with Mikie today, and I spent most of the evening.  He has been catching up on lost time!  He has been smiling and laughing and playing all day.  A few times I thought he was going to slow down and take a nap but it just didn’t happen.  A long time ago, so long ago I forgot until tonight, we used to play a little game with Mikie.  It’s a simple game, you played it as well, and it’s called ‘catch’.  (Remember that Mikie is blind and only has the abilities of a very young child.  Many babies can do more than Mikie.)  Lorraine was throwing one of Mikie’s stuffed animals at him intentionally hitting him in the face (very lightly of course).  He would smile and laugh and throw it back.  He would do this 4 or 5 times, maybe 6, but then he would pull a fast one and throw it in the opposite direction.  That was a long time ago.  Well, he did it again tonight!  He has been doing things that we haven’t seen him do in a year or more.  We had a hard time getting him to slow down.  He did have a few seizures today, but we think that once we get him back on his home schedule of medication that they will be reduced in number.  They didn’t slow him down a bit.

We still think he may be coming home tomorrow.  We are so happy, it is the best Christmas present we could ever ask for!

Janice update – she took a little step backwards today, but I was told late this evening that she is much better.  They still don’t know what to do or what can be done.  Pray that Jackie, her husband, would not be frustrated with the lack of results.  He seemed very tired and worn down today, but then it was late when we talked to him.  The Pond family asked us to pray for them as well.  Their son was in a serious car accident and has already lost one leg and is having a hard time recovering.

As always, thank you!

Mike & Lorraine

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Kimble [mailto:mike@mikesmagicshop.com]
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 10:06 PM
Subject: Mikie Update - we are home!

(Monday, 12-22-03)

Well, they actually did it, they let Mikie come home late this afternoon.  He will still get some antibiotics through a pic-line (I think that is what they called it) once a day, but Lorraine has been trained to do it.  We have been working all evening sprucing up his room while he sat up in his chair.  He really is doing great and we are happy to have him home.  Now maybe we can get some rest!

Mike & Lorraine

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Kimble [mailto:mike@mikesmagicshop.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2003 9:34 PM
Subject: Mikie!

I thought I might share just a couple of our photos, one from two weeks ago and one from Christmas day.  Mikie got a Tickle-Me-Elmo that talks and giggles and vibrates.  He got a new fuzzy blanket as well.  And we got Mikie.  Isn’t it amazing what lots of love and prayers can do in two weeks!