Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:16 PM
Subject: Mikie Update
I hope you don’t mind me chaining these messages together, as there are new people being added to the list daily. I’ll start a new message when (and if) we reach week two. I’ll always put the latest news on the top, but if you are a new reader, you can catch-up by reading the earlier messages. I suppose I should learn how to do a blog and put this stuff up on a site. With the right key words it might help someone else get through a similar experience.
We just got back from the last visit for the day. Mikie was really looking good. He was breathing much easier and it looked as if he could just about come off the BiPap machine. His temp was coming down, as was his heart rate and blood pressure. He was awake and very actively holding my hand. I thought I could almost see a smile under the mask.
And we still don’t know when they will do the surgery, but was told I should know by morning. There is a new twist that we aren’t sure what to think about yet. About 14 years ago Mikie had a spinal fusion and double rods put in his back to stop the progress of scoliosis and correct his curvature of the spine. It was a very serious surgery, more so than replacing a shunt. Over the years he has had a spot on his spine that would sometimes flare up and then drain. We tried for years to get it to clear up but finally the ortho-docs concluded that the only way to get it to clear up would be to remove the hardware. The problem makes sense now as the neuro-docs are telling us it is impossible to sterilize hardware in the body once it is infected. So has had an infection in his back, very close to the spine, for years. It has not been a problem as long as we kept a clean bandage and some cream on it. But guess what, it could be the source of his shunt infection. This will be another area they will have to look at after they remove the shunt hardware, especially if the infection remains. Surgery to remove this hardware can be very painful. (Anytime you have to cut or break bone, expect pain. I remember simply having an ingrown toenail removed and the doc actually made my toe a little shorter so the skin could be pulled over the nail area. Doc told me that when the anesthesia wore off not to wait to ask for pain relief. Come on, I was a big tough guy, I could handle a little toe surgery. So I waited. OUCH! Man, did I hurt!) Of course we have good old morphine to help us through the pain. I’m not so sure about that either. I had a kidney stone once and would have been happy if someone would give me a gun to shoot myself. So they gave me morphine. I remember the doc asking if the pain was gone. I told him no, but that I no longer cared about complaining about it! It still hurt like hell, but since the morphine quieted me down everyone else was feeling fine. See, the problem wasn’t that I was hurting, it was that I was so vocal about it! Anyway, we will cross this bridge when we come to it. One thing at a time is enough for us to handle right now.
Pray for the surgery tomorrow, for wisdom and skill for the two surgeons doing the work. Praise and thank God for the answered prayer that we see daily. I overheard someone mention prayer and someone spoke up and reminded the other person that “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16) Let’s be sure to keep in mind where that righteousness comes from – God, not us. If we are to be righteous and then be on solid praying ground, then let’s make sure our trust is in what Christ did on the cross, not in our own works. If you feel distant from God, don’t work your way back, come to Him in faith. The work comes after the faith and it’s a whole lot easier that way! We don’t love Mikie simply because we want to, we do it because “the love of God compels us.” (2 Corinthians 5:14)
I heard again a song made popular by Steve Green and I’ve been meditating on the words. The song is “As We Sail to Heaven’s Shore”, and I will share the words with you tomorrow.
I’m off for some much needed rest.
Mike
Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 7:55 PM
Subject: Mikie Update
What a roller coaster. I was very encouraged to see that Mikie looked like he was getting a little better. I was even thinking again that maybe he could come home for a few weeks to continue the healing at home. The old shunt is working without being pumped and I actually thought they might be able to reinsert the tube and let us continue the treatment at home. Well, we just got back from the hospital and the docs decided that the infection is not going to get better with the old shunt in place, especially the piece left in his abdomen. We thought that the plan was to pull the piece up from the abdomen by making an incision up around his neck, and to us that is what it looked like he did last Thursday. Now we find out that it wouldn’t pull free so he cut it off and brought a piece of it out to drain externally. So we are looking at surgery in the morning. This time they will have to put him on a ventilator and he will still be on it when we see him afterwards. We said we didn’t want to go to the extremes but we also said we would take it a step at a time. This doc says he remembers Mikie from two years ago and never expected him to survive. He was as pleased with the results as we were, and left us believing it could happen again. I think we will see an improvement almost immediately, and if we don’t, then I don’t think there will be another step to take. If only we had a way to see the future! But we are blessed to know that we have been down this road before and the results then were fantastic.
We are praying for recovery, we want him to get better. It would be easier for us to let him go, our life would be easier not having to care for him. Sure, it would be hard for a while, but we would get over it and maybe we could learn to share some of that love we had for Mikie with others. But in my heart I just don’t think the Lord is done with him yet.
We’ve got to run, we’re headed back up to the hospital to find out when they will do the surgery.
Mike
Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:27 AM
Subject: Mikie Update
Hi all! Thanks again for all the encouraging notes, some coming from the other side of the world. It’s always a good thing when God’s people are praying, whether for the big disasters or a little guy like Mikie.
Yesterday evening was kind of rough and he was very restless when we left after 9 PM. He just doesn’t seem to be getting better at all. I do think that the spinal fluid was a lighter shade of yellow, but not by much. Since last night it is moving much better on its own, not needing to be pumped, and that’s a good thing. This morning the nurse said he calmed down last night so much that his pulse dropped to around 90. He seemed to be struggling a bit this morning and was much more awake than he has been, enough to cough up a bunch of crud by himself. After he finally cleared himself he looked pretty good. He was just holding my hand this morning, he was squeezing it.
We took a few pictures of him from after his ordeal two years ago, just so the staff could see that when in better shape he is very full of life. I’ll include them here. Pray that his temp would come back down, it is a bit over 101 right now and along with that his heart rate is about 130. His blood pressure was up but that probably was because it took the reading while he was coughing. I had to leave before the next reading. His biggest concern right now is his breathing, his ability to get rid of the CO2.
I’ve got to go to work. Pray that Lorraine and I will be strong.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 10:19 PM
Subject: Mikie Update
Thanks again for your encouragement.
Well, here’s the latest, and it’s not all bad. Yesterday we got the report that Mikie’s blood was also infected, and that his lungs are pretty cruddy as well (I know that is not a medical term, but you know what I mean). I suppose all of this was expected, I thought he might get worse before he got better because of our experience two years ago. The good news is that he has been pretty much sleeping through it and appeared to be resting well. (Answered prayer!) His temp and heart rate have remained relatively low until this afternoon. At our 1 PM visit today his temp was up to 101 and heart rate at 130. The nurse managed to put a pretty good spin on that (maybe to make me feel better, or better yet, maybe because it is true) by telling me that it is really a good thing for our temp to go up to 100-101 if we are sick as it kills bacteria and boosts our immune system. Sounds good to me, but then why are they happy when it comes back down to normal? And it did exactly that, it came back to 98.9 or so and the heart rate back to 110-115. But he was a little restless tonight at our 8:30 PM visit. It looked like he was having difficulty breathing so they were going to suction him out after we left and give him some codeine for pain.
They tried to take him off the BiPAP machine and he did not breathe well enough on his own. The machine does make a difference and he does tolerate it well. His oxygen levels are good on or off the machine, but he just is not breathing hard enough to get the CO2 levels down to where they should be when off the machine. Looking at the stuff they are sucking out of his lungs makes it pretty understandable.
We did inquire about bringing him home and were told that as long as the shunt is externalized (draining outside the body) then there was no way he was going home. They could re-insert the tube in the body but then it is very unlikely he would survive. We told them we want to give him the best chance for survival, so we plan to continue with the treatment we have started. All we can do is take it day by day.
Pray for patience for us and that Mikie gets the best care possible for his comfort. And of course we are submissive to God’s will, but at this time we are still asking God that he will heal Mikie and let us bring him home. I believe that God has more for Mikie to do in this life. He can, like the man born blind in John 9, still be used to bring glory to God.
Mike
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 10:34 PM
Subject: Mikie
Thanks for the encouraging emails. As before, I sometimes get long winded, but writing this out helps me think and makes a very nice record. If you don’t have time for the details, skip to the end for the prayer update.
We just got back from the hospital. Mikie looks reasonably comfortable. In comparison to what we went through two years ago, he looks better, but inside he could be in very serious trouble. They still don’t know what caused or is causing the infection. The shunt is moving some spinal fluid on its own, but they do pump it hourly to make sure. He is also showing some signs of a respiratory infection and they are suctioning some crud from his lungs. That’s not surprising to me as he got sick Wednesday night and I suspected that he might have aspirated on some of the vomit because he was very stressed out when we got up Thursday morning. I spent much of Thursday night and Friday morning trying to clear him out and keep him comfortable. They gave him a little codeine this morning because he was so agitated but have not had to since then. They do have him on a machine that is forcing him to breathe a little harder but not a ventilator. We let them know this evening that we did not want extreme measures used to revive him if his heart should stop. We also started talking to them about bringing him home, just to see if it might be possible. It seems that everything they are doing right now can be done at home, and since we don’t want heroic measures used to revive him there is no need to stay there. The tests have come back and they know what antibiotic to use to treat the infection. The current course of treatment will be at least 3 weeks. I’m making some assumptions (since we didn’t get to speak to the doctors today) but I don’t think they will even think about further surgery until the infection is clear. So we think he should come home and be with us.
Just for my records, his heart rate was not bad tonight, under 110. His temp was normal, maybe a little low. Respiration was a little shallow, so they gave him some help with a cpap machine. He is still alert enough to grip my hand, something he has always done, even in his sleep.
Prayer is being answered, thank you for praying! Pray that the medication will be effective and will wipe out the infection if that is God’s will. Pray that we will lean more and more on God every day for wisdom. Pray also that we will make the most of every opportunity to minister to others that we meet at the hospital.
5:00 AM comes early, I’ll share more when we know it.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 5:56 AM
Subject: Mikie
Here we go again.
Mikie was admitted to the hospital Thursday. When we took him to the doctor early Thursday morning they tapped into the spinal fluid in his shunt and it looked very cloudy. In the hospital they externalized the shunt, the part of the tube that empties the fluid into the abdomen. The fluid is thick and about the color or Mellow Yellow. I looked back at my notes from two years ago when he had the shunt replaced (revision) and the fluid was clear. They said then that it was a serious infection, so I’m not so sure what you can call this. The neurosurgeon said he had never seen anything like this before (and he is not a young man). I saw Mikie this morning and he is quite agitated and doesn’t look comfortable. I still don’t believe that he feels as bad as he did two years ago during that ordeal. I’m hoping for some relief now that they have something moving through the shunt again.
Pray for him, that he might not have pain, and for us that we might have strength. I’m going to work, Lorraine will be in and out at the hospital. Visiting hours in ICU are very restricted.
Mike | 
