New Problems for Bruce

Bruce had an EEG last night, and a CT scan this morning.
He has a "little bleeder" in his brain. The doctors are not over concerned at this stage, but will be watching it closely. We should have the CT results tomorrow.
He also has some bleeding inside his feeding tube in his stomach. It may be an ulcer which would be common in patients who lay down for long time. They will scope him tonight to see where the blood might be comming from.

Shelly Takes a Fall

Shelly was in the wheel chair today getting ready to wash her hair, when she had a little "incident." When she is in the wheel chair her legs are straight out in front of her. The person helping her was in in the bathroom getting that water ready. So she decided to reach for something down by her feet. Not being used to a wheel chair yet, however, she did not have the wheels locked. So when the weight shifted, the chair tipped toward her legs and down she went.
She has a few aches and pains from the fall. The worst now is in her left wrist and ribs. (Her left wrist has never really stopped hurting from the accident, however, initial x-rays showed it was not broken.)
Shelly's sense of humor bounced back quickly. By the time I found out about it, she said, "Well I can tell you they keep the floors quite clean here!"

Bruce Update

Sorry its been a while since the last post. Hope you've all had a Merry Christmas.
Bruce had a bit of a rough day Saturday. His color was pale, white blood count went up and he had a fever again. He responded well to some medications and was looked at by the infectious disease specialist. They decided to install a more permanent dialysis port to cut down on infections. The fever color and white count are all better now.
Here's the basic problem however: After three weeks he is neither better nor worse and we have no good idea why. His breathing is shallow still and he is relying heavily on the ventilator. His responsiveness is better but not normal. (He does respond best to Shelly's voice.) When he is on dialysis (about every other day) they have to be careful that his blood pressure doesn't drop. His heart rate has been over 100 for a while now. But nothing is getting worse.
Because of this, they may be moving him to an acute care facility maybe even this week. The resources of the CCU are not well suited for long term care. PLEASE PRAY FOR AN IMPROVEMENT - or at least a full awareness of whatever all the problems are.

Merry Christmas friends and family! We love you all! Thank you for your concern, love, prayers, thoughtful words and support whenever Bruce or I have a weak moment. This year we pray that we all have a wonderful Christmas. On this day we remember the birth of Jesus, our Savior, the lifeline to our Heavenly Father, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. With everything that has happened, this Christams I am greatful Bruce and I took the time to meet Jesus. In times like this it helps to realize that life is a gift, but how you live it is a choice. Bruce and I have asked God into our hearts and never have been alone since.

There is nothing better than our Hevenly Father's love. Nothing purer. Nothing as satisfying. Through his grace, mercy, blessing and strength we can face anything. There is a lot in front of us right now, but our faith stands stronger than ever. This is one journey I couln't imagine going through without God.

Thank you friends and family. Your love to us is like hugs and kisses. We truly are blessed having you and your love. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! FROM THE STEEGSTRAS

Shelly is on the Move!

Today Shelly got in a wheelchair and went down to the cafeteria for lunch. Last time she over did it a bit, but today she's heading out of the room with a plan to get back to bed after she eats. Pray it goes well for her.

A Special Moment

I was in Bruce's room today when Shelly happened to be on the phone with him. The nurse held the phone up to Bruce's ear so Shelly could talk to him on his birthday. Bruce was awake and clearly listening. On the ventilator he can't speak. But then I saw something very beautiful and exciting. In the muffled sounds from the phone I made out that Shelly said, "I love you." Then Bruce mouthed the words, "I love you" back to her. It may not of had sound, but I had the priveldge of seeing it. Bruce spoke. And his first words of the comeback were to his best friend.

Go Bruce! Make your comeback! Go Bruce! Make your comeback!!

A Note form Shelly on Bruce's Birthday

Today my Bruce turns 62. Just a month ago we were planning to celebrate this day with a high five and say, "We made it!" After 5 years of living on savings it was, "Come on Social Security - We're "rich" again!" In reality, today marks 17 days apart. The longest Bruce and I have been away from each other before this was 10 days and we swore we would never go that long again - it was too painful.
Well, here we are. Happy Birthday my dear, dear Bruce! Today it's not about the money or the choices. Today your birthday is all about fighting. So fight! Fight, fight, fight. I need you. I love you. I miss you. And that is the worst pain I have today - of this whole accident - being away from you. When I sleep at night, I can feel you. When I pray, I can imagine you holding my hand. It's funny, but now even when I channel surf, instead of racing past "Bad Boys" hoping you didn't see it and ask me to stop, I watch it myself. Now it's something that connects me to you. When I look out the window, I wonder if you are looking out yours too. But I have peace that our new journey together will be fine. I just look forward to when we can share it together.

Catching Up On Bruce

OK, let's run down the current status on Bruce by issues he's dealing with:

• Responsiveness - Bruce made a turn in responsiveness a couple days ago to the point that they never did the MRI. He still spends most of the day sleeping, but now he nods in response to questions and almost always moves the body part he is asked to move. When he gets off the ventilator, they can get him off the sedation that keeps him so sleepy.
• Diarrhea - Over the weekend Bruce was hit with some serious diarrhea. They staff thought it was a condition known as CDif, so he has spent the last couple of days in isolation with everyone who goes in his room "gowned-up" from head to toe. They take three separate cultures to confirm CDif. With Bruce they took 4. All were negative. So no more isolation or gowns!!!! Yea! So why does he have diarrhea? We don't know. But it is very common in CCU. No solid foods. Lots of antibiotics. No exercise. But we are told this is not a threatening condition.
• Pneumonia - X-rays show that Bruce's lungs are improving. He still has lots of chest congestion in his lungs which is being suctioned. They can't take him of the ventilator until his pneumonia is gone, but the ventilator makes him more susceptible to pneumonia. (Ever see a dog chase its tale?) Eventually, the antibiotics will win. Pray it happens soon.
• Feeding Tube - Over the weekend, Bruce vomited for the first time and his feeding tube came out. So yesterday they installed a more long term tube straight into the stomach. All went well.
• PICC Line - Bruce's white blood cell count started to rise a bit, so they were concerned that his central line may have become infected. When they put in the feeding tube, they removed the central line and replaced it with a PICC line. (click for more info) The cultures from the central line are not back yet, but his white count has returned to normal.
• Kidneys - As long as they were in there changing stuff, they also put in a new line for his dialysis. He is getting dialysis 4 times per week. He is still not producing any urine. The kidneys are not improving yet, but we are only in week three, and it may take 8 weeks if they are going to bounce back.
• Blood Sugar - Some of you may have heard Bruce's sugar level was high. When the body is under stress, the blood sugar rises. When its under a lot of stress, the pancreas can't produce enough insulin to bring it back down. So Bruce is on an insulin drip, but this is pretty expected. We are told it is NOT a sign of a problem with the pancreas. With the insulin drip, his blood sugar level is normal.
• Bed Sores - One of the anticipated problems with Bruce given his size and his injuries, was bed sores, or more properly "pressure ulcers." (click for more info) These are caused when there is pressure of the body pressing down on one spot of the skin for a long period of time. They are dangerous if untreated. They are also extremely difficult to treat. There really is no one cure. It is a combination of multiple things. Bruce is in a special bed that rolls him from side to side to help prevent this. The nurses also do what they can to keep him changing positions, but his injuries and size make that difficult. In spite of these efforts, he now has a pressure ulcer on his right heal. They have put him in a special boot to take the pressure off that area. His bottom is also looking very raw and he will probably get some there as well. This is the new issue that requires a lot of prayer.

So life ain't easy for Bruce right now, BUT he is alive to celebrate his birthday. Not long ago, we weren't sure that would happen. Please take some time today to say "Thank You" to God for your relationship with Bruce and his continued life. Thank God for those things that are improving, and ask him to help with these new issues. God bless you all.

Today is Bruce's Birthday!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days. Lots of things are happenning. I hope to have a big post for you today about Bruce. Trouble is, we're in a blizzard and all the busyness of Christmas doesn't care about either the blizzard or this blog - but I do. So until further notice, pray for special blessings on Bruce's birthday.

Bruce is nodding to questions and looking around!

Today's Status

Bruce has not received his MRI yet, because there is a line and he is not considered an emergency. When we hear what happens, we'll let you know.
Shelly really enjoyed her time in the wheelchair yesterday, but she did pay a price. All that activity kind of made her body say, "What are you doing???" So she had to deal with some more vision problems, fever and some restlessness. She wasn't able to sleep until she was sedated around 2:00 am. Every time shes tries something for the first time, it will be difficult.
Please pray for both of them. Shelly needs rest. Bruce needs to wake up.

Good News / Bad News

Good first: Shelly is sitting up in a wheelchair right now!!!! GO SHELLY!
Unfortunately, they are going to do an MRI on Bruce's head tonight because he is not waking up as quickly as they would expect after reducing the pain medicines as much as they have.
Please pray.

One more thing for Bruce

Surgery went well. He is still not responding with hand squeezing, etc, but that is because of the pain meds. They are trying to get Bruce off the IV meds so he can be on an "as needed" type of medicine. When that happens, he will be more awake. Of course he may be on that as long as he is on the ventilator. I learned today that a major reason for him being on the vent is because he has "multiple rib fractures." So that makes in very painful to breath. But in that conversation, I also learned of a new complication.
Bruce has pneumonia. It's not real bad. They caught it early. They took sample of the fluid in his lungs to see what type of pneumonia he has. They started treating it with Zosyn (piperacillin) this morning. This is one of the complications that could get ugly so please pray for Bruce and his medical team to stay ahead of this.

Posie was in the van too!

As many of you may know, Shelly has a stuffed dog that she likes to photograph in places that she and Bruce visit. In fact, she has an entire photo album of "Posie" photos. Naturally, Posie was also in the vehicle. She did suffer an injury as well. She nearly severed her left ear. Shelly's sister performed the repair and has said that Posie is recovering nicely. Out of sympathy for Shelly, however, Posie is in a leg cast and neck collar.

(Yes, it is nice to be able to write about a few trivial things now.)

More on the Palsy

My eye-doctor friend said that this type of palsy is quite common with trauma and frequently just goes away with time. According to him, Shelly might never need treatment for that.

Bruce goes to Surgery at 2:00

The plan, according to the ICU nurse, is to repair his wrist and change the dressing on his amputation wound. They are still not going to repair the broken heel on his right leg.
He had dialysis again today. Now that his blood pressure is good he can have the more common version which is much quicker and more thorough. Everything went well with that.

Comments

Keep your comments coming. You may have to "sign in" or create a free account to do it, but Shelly loves hearing from everyone, and some day Bruce will too. To leave a comment, just click on the word "comments" at the bottom of each post.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO PUT YOUR NAME IN THE COMMENT. You may have to sign in, but it doesn't tie your comment to your name.

6th Nerve Palsy

Shelly has been diagnosed with "6th Nerve Palsy". Everything out on the Internet is pretty technical, so I'll try to break it down. Maybe my friend who is an eye doctor (or any of the rest of you in the medical field) can add a comment to correct my errors.
The nerves that control the eye movements (the 6th nerve) come out near the base of the brain. So they are among the first nerves affected when there is an increase in pressure inside the skull. So say you are in a head-on crash and your head smashes against something even as soft as the headrest, that whipping motion can slosh your brain around inside your skull and put pressure on that nerve. When it does you get certain symptoms. Apparently Shelly has limited peripheral vision and her right eye twitches as it moves from side to side. So she is going to begin treating for that as well. It seems that can be largely treated with special glasses, but it is the first neurological symptom she's had from the accident that I am aware of.

Shelly is now in the nursing facility

If we can get her computer access soon, she hopes to write her own note to all of you. Stay tuned!

Bruce Part 2

Surgery went well for Bruce, they fixed his femur, cleaned his amputation wound, set his broken arm and installed a clot filter. That took about 8 hours, but it wasn't done. He still has a broken wrist and a broken foot that have not been addressed. He is resting well. He is maintaining his own blood pressure. They are starting to take him off some of the pain meds so he can be more awake. Tomorrow, they plan another surgery to fix the wrist and foot. It may seem like a lot, but a surgery and a repaired bone are always better than laying in a bed with an UNrepaired broken bone. Please pray for him and his surgeons.

Shelly Keeps Going

Sorry I didn't update much yesterday. It was very busy.
Today is the first day of step three for Shelly. That is a WONDERFUL thing. She is now well enough to leave the hospital and head to a nursing facility for rehab. Step One: She stayed alive. Step Two: She got put back together. Step Three: She has to fight to get back to normal. This will be long and difficult. This is the phase when there is less drama, more work, more pain, more time and eventually a final conclusion. Pray for Shelly. Pray for the long term. Pray for her patience. Pray for her strength (emotional and physical). Pray for her legs. Sometimes it's hard for all of us to stay as focused once the drama starts to lessen. Shelly won't have a choice.
It is also hopefully the beginning of some welcome routine for Shelly. Think about her life the last 9 days: ER in Three Rivers, then moved for surgery at Bronson in Kalamazoo, two days later she was moved to Grand Rapids, the next day had a major surgery, the day after that was moved to intermediate care, then the next day was moved to a regular room, 3 days later it's time to move to her 4th facility. That would be exhausting even if she wasn't hurt!

Today is Shelly's Birthday

Bruce is Out

Bruce got out of surgery about 45 minutes ago. I haven't heard what all they did, but it went well, he is resting comfortably and his blood pressure is good. Thank you God!!!

Faith in "The Moment"

So for those of you who haven't heard the story, let me share with you something, well, beautiful. And maybe out of it we can all be challenged to go a little deeper, and live a little bigger, this Christmas.
Shelly and Bruce had spent the night in Shipshewana, IN so they could be rested for their big arrival in Grand Rapids. The trip had been long, but pleasant. A few days in the car with anyone can make the best of us a little cranky, but Shelly and Bruce had really enjoyed this trip more than usual. Just North of Three Rivers, MI they stopped at a dollar store. When they got back on the road, it was snowy and icy, but they were under control and on their way. (This section of U.S. 131 is a highway with two lanes in each direction and a grassy median between them, but there are occasional stop lights and driveways.)
Shelly just got off the phone with her mother telling her when they hoped to arrive. Then they noticed a Jeep Liberty on the other side of the road start to loose control. It fishtailed, went into the median, then started to come out - on their side of the road. They saw the other driver trying to gain control, but the two cars were coming together quickly. Shelly said, "this is not going to be good." Bruce tried to turn. They both said, "I love you" and a split second later - the crash.
Now Shelly had been on blood thinners for months. She had been repeatedly warned that any cut could be very dangerous, and a bad wound would be fatal. When the sound, and the confusion, and the air bags had all stopped she knew they were hurt. When she looked down and saw her leg in pieces, she knew it would just be moments before she died. When she heard Bruce breathing hard, and saw all the damage, she was pretty sure he would share her fate.
In that moment - that seemingly final moment - they reached across the car and held hands. They thanked each other for those things only a husband and wife could understand. They said their goodbyes and then they prayed - together - the Our Father. In the middle of all that ugliness, they shared a moment of pure beauty. Then Shelly closed her eyes and waited.
According to Shelly, she was looking forward to Heaven. She wasn't afraid. She expected grassy fields, passed relatives, and especially her son Georgie. Instead, it was Brian - the paramedic. Help had arrived, and it was Brain's job to get her to the hospital - not Heaven. So Brian went to work. And Shelly went to work - she wanted to pray again. And as long as it was Brian, instead of St. Peter, Shelly wanted Brian to join her in prayer. He did. Then God went to work.
A story with that kind of beauty, and drama, is always inspirational. But it seems to me that a story that is also such a beautiful demonstration of faith and love should do more. It should challenge us all to higher level of living.
I'm sure we all will take different things away from this week, but let me tell you how that story has affected me. "Faith" isn't so much about calling out to God when we think it is over. I'm sure a lot of people do that. I see true faith in Shelly's readiness to accept God's will. She thought His plan was to call her home - and she was OK with that. But He hasn't called her yet - and she's OK with that too. It never was about what SHE wanted. Shelly has never once talked this week about what she would prefer, or how she wishes this didn't happen or that did happen. She just keeps on being ready to deal with what she gets. Not because she's strong - but she is. Not because she doesn't care - she does. It's because she trusts her God with all her heart - and she'll go wherever He leads her - even if it looks like "this is not going to be good." And isn't that really the best way to live?

Still Going

Yes, Bruce is still in surgery. The family is with Shelly. We'll let you know when we get word.

Bruce is in Surgery

About an hour ago Bruce went into surgery. For the first time since this has all happened, the doctors have moved past trying to stabilize him and have started focusing on putting him back together. According to the doctors, they want to move forward fixing the broken bones so his body can focus on healing without being distracted by the pain.
So today they plan to fix his right femur (same process as Shelly's femur plate), fix his left arm, fix his right wrist, and clean out the amputation wound. They also plan to install a clot filter like Shelly has. It will be several hours - but it is step two. Step two is always better than step one! Pray for him and the surgeons.

Big Step for Bruce

In the past, if you yelled real loud Bruce would try to open his eyes. Today at Spectrum, while Ed was answering all those questions, Bruce just opened his eyes on his own. Ed leaned over and asked, "Hey Bruce, do you know who I am?" The nurse told Bruce to not talk, just nod - AND HE NODDED HIS HEAD YES!!! That was enough - time for a nap.

Go Bruce!! Make your comeback! Go Bruce!! Make your comeback! (Repeat that - while dancing - until you feel real good. Then take some advice from Bruce and have a nice nap. We could all use a happy rest.)

Can you say fantastic???

Shelly is one tough chick. Period. A week ago she was fighting for her life. A day later, she was telling stories as she drifted in and out of sleep. Three days ago, she was literally screwed back together. The day after that, she was making phone calls and getting moved out of ICU. Now she is in a regular room, lifting her right leg off the bed, making arrangements for Christmas presents and planning her rehab.

God is good!

Shelly has been moved to regular care.

Bruce is in Grand Rapids!

Wow! Hats off to Spectrum Health! These people are VERY thorough and professional. Shelly's brother Ed was there when Bruce arrived and he was still answering questions two hours later! They went through everything. They wanted to understand everything. In fact, three different doctors checked on him within the first hour! When we last heard, they were prepping him for a complete re-assessment to be certain nothing has been missed. Thank you God for everything - including the science you have blessed us with!!! Thank you for the people who give their lives to make others better.

Bruce is Pressor Free

Bruce has been on meds to keep his blood pressure up to safe levels. He is now completely off those medicines (pressors) and is maintaining a safe blood pressure on his own! Yeah, baby!
We are still waiting for a bed at Spectrum, so the move likely won't happen today. If one opens up over the weekend, they will move him right away. We will keep you posted.

Bruce Will Be Moving to Spectrum

Bruce will be moving to Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, instead of St. Mary's where Shelly is located. Spectrum, like Bronson is a Level 1 trauma center. St. Mary's is a Level 2. The doctors are more comfortable with him receiving Level 1 care. Moreover, Shelly may be leaving St. Mary's in less than a week. Everything is all set for Bruce's move. We are just waiting for a bed to open up in Spectrum's CCU.

Another Milestone for Shelly

As her brother, I would never tease my sister. But because it is medically relevant, I must share. Let's just say Shelly's "waste management" system is now back online!

Bruce Update

I have been cleared to update you all on Bruce. Shelly realizes that the level of interest and concern for Bruce and the usefulness of this blog is probably more important than privacy at this stage.
Bruce is NOT in a drug-induced coma. Coma means you are completely unresponsive (and other technicalities). Instead Bruce is very sedated. He can, however, try to open his eyes when told and move fingers and toes. But he is "out of it" enough that he is not communicating on any level. That is not because of any injuries we are aware of. It is just because of everything he is on.
His kidneys are still not functioning, but apparently that is nothing to worry about at this time. The dialysis is cleaning the blood and the kidney doctor said we won't be able to tell if his kidneys have a problem for about 8 weeks.
Bruce is still on a respirator. Two days ago they changed it from a "down the throat" style to a tracheotomy. Since being put on the respirator, the machine has been doing all the breathing for him. However, yesterday (12/11) it began registering that Bruce would occaisionally try to take a breath on his own. That's good. Go Bruce!!
Bronson Hospital is preparing Bruce to move to Grand Rapids to be by family. He is already stable enough to move by ambulance. That may occur very soon. To prepare him for that move they have changed his I.V. from a "Swan Line" system to a central line. A Swan Line not only transfers IV fluids but also monitors things like blood flow and other heart issues. Bruce is stable enough that they no longer need this level of monitoring.
His amputation wound is healing as it should. There are no signs of infection. I was wrong earlier about where that occured. They did not save the knee. Bruce has the entire left femur (which was not broken) but everything below it is gone. His right leg is broken far worse than Shelly's was, but they still believe it is repairable. For now, it is stablized with an external brace, but they have not repaired it at all. The wrist and arm injuries will likely also require surgery, but all of those bone surgeries are still pretty far down the priority list for Bruce.
Yesterday Shelly was able to speak to Bruce by phone. He did not respond in any way, but we have to believe he heard it somewhere in there.

Today was a Good Day!

Sorry this is so late. I was out of town for work and stopped over to see Bruce in Kalamazoo.

Shelly is alert and "perky" (well compared to how she was). In fact, they moved her out of critical care and into intermediate care! Believe it or not, they are starting to talk about what happens after she is released. Of course, there will come a point when she is too well for a hospital but not well enough for home care. In fact, the doctor told her today that she cannot put ANY weight on EITHER LEG for 3 months. If you have ever even met Shelly, you know that will not be easy. So we are looking at rehab facilities in the area. Keep the prayers coming. We don't want pneumonia or infection.

Bruce might be moved up to Grand Rapids tomorrow! He's still barely responsive from sleep and the pain killers, but his goal was to become "stable" and he's getting there!!! GO BRUCE! We hope to be able to give you more details soon.

Shelly is Out of Surgery

Things went well. Her femur was in about 6 pieces. Now they are put together. He also repaired a deep wound to her thigh. The doctor cleaned out the ankle. No signs of infection. That's good. Now pray that she fights off any infection.

Repairing the Femur

Part of the surgery today will be repairing the femur. It doesn't make sense to do the knee until there is a femur to attach it to. Apparently Shelly's femur (thigh bone) is in pieces. The way to treat that is to screw a plate to those pieces, like you see in this drawing. According to the surgeon the femur responds well to this treatment and will grow back. After it grows back (couple of months) they will worry about the knee.

What is a Talus?

For those of us who talk about "foot" and "ankle" more than we say "Talus" and "Tibia", here is some info: The Talus is basically the foot bone that connects to the shin bones (Tibia and Fibula). So when the doctors say that Shelly's Talus was "outside of the body" you can see how that would be a big problem. When they say they are worried about the talus dieing, you can see how that might affect her. There is no good artificial talus bone. So if it has to be removed, it would basically mean fusing the "foot" to the "leg." That is why the recovery would be so difficult. Pray for that little bone!

In Surgery

Shelly is now in surgery. They are planning 4 hours for surgery and another 1 hour in recovery.

New Time

Shelly's surgery has been moved to 12:00.

Shelly will Have Surgery Today

They are moving forward with Shelly's surgery today at 3:00pm. They will repair the left femur and clean up the ankle but probably NOT do the the knee replacement. Sounds like that would be too long under anesthesia and a higher risk of infection. It is safer to have two surgeries than to try to cram too much into one. Please pray for her today.

Bruce will not be Updated for Now

Shelly is not sure whether Bruce would want his info put out to everyone, and he can't say right now. So we will only post major developments from Bruce. We will still be going down to see him and checking on him by phone. But we won't post anything unless its major. So for now - no news will be good news.

Shelly is in Grand Rapids

Shelly arrived in Grand Rapids safely at about 4:30 today. The trip was uneventful. Her pain was about 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. She is at St. Mary's.

Shelly Visited Bruce Today

When Shelly was placed on the gurney to travel to Grand Rapids she asked to be wheeled down to Bruce's room first. The nurses prepared her for what to expect and Shelly did quite well with it. Bruce was not awake at the time, but Shelly was glad to have a chance to talk with him. The two were left alone together for a little while. Shelly really appreciated that alone time, even though (as she puts it) "an entire crew is waiting on the other side of the glass door waiting for you to wrap it up." Thanks to the nurses and LIFE ambulance crew who helped make that visit possible.

Bruce is Responding

In the past the nurse told us that if you said his name loud, Bruce would open his eyes and when asked could wiggle his toes. Yesterday Bruce also moved two fingers upon request. He now has a soft cast on his broken arm.

Shelly's Good Night - Ready to Move

According to her nurse, Shelly had the best night of rest so far. They are planning to move her this afternoon by ambulance. She will be going to St. Mary's in Grand Rapids instead of Spectrum. It is the hospital her surgeon prefers. They will not consider moving Bruce until the at least the end of the week. Right now, the physician willing to take him as a patient is at Spectrum (one mile away from St. Mary's). They are trying to find a St. Mary's doctor to take Bruce, so that IF they move him he will be at the same facility as Shelly.

A big upside to St. Mary's is that it is attached to Mary Free Bed which is one of the best rehabilitation hospitals in the Midwest. No matter where Shelly and Bruce get "put back together" (even if they stayed in Kalamazoo) they would almost certainly end up doing the rehab at Mary Free Bed.

Moving Forward on Moving

It would appear that everything is in place for Shelly to be transferred to Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids. The transfer may happen as early as Tuesday 12/9.
The doctors are also making arrangements for Bruce to be transferred so they can be at the same facility. A doctor in Grand Rapids has reviewed Bruce's file and is willing to accept him as a patient. But first, they want to be certain Bruce is stable enough to transfer. (Shelly may go first. The doctors would like to go to work on her as soon as possible.)

Shelly May Transfer to Grand Rapids

As you probably know, Shelly was planning to have a knee replacement in Grand Rapids, MI. The accident occured about 90 miles south of Grand Rapids. Shelly is currently at a hospital in Kalamazoo, MI (about 50 miles south of Grand Rapids).
It turns out that the doctor who has done Shelly's previous knee replacements, and was planning to do this one, is also a specialist in traumatic bone injury reconstruction. So her doctors (along with Shelly) are considering transferring her to Grand Rapids so that these delicate proceedures can be done by a doctor who is already familiar with her. As an added benefit, most of Shelly's family and Michigan support system is located in Grand Rapids as well.
Please pray that Shelly and the doctors make the right decision in this regard.

Bruce is on Dialysis

Bruce was put on dialysis Sunday (12-7) around 5:00 PM. He was also given 3 units of blood overnight. Apparently it is common for kidneys to shut down after this type of trauma. It DOES NOT necessarily mean kidney damage. The hope is that his kidneys will recover and operate normally after a little rest.

Shelly's Clot Filter

The biggest danger right now for Shelly is that her injuries may be producing clots (which she has a history of) which could migrate to the lungs and be potentially fatal. This morning the doctors installed a device in the vein that leads to the lungs to act as a type of clot filter. One of her surgeons said, "We may not be able to stop her body from making clots right now, but we can stop them from being as dangerous."

Shelly's Injuries

Shelly is in Serious Condition.

As far as we know to date, Shelly has the following injuries:

• Left leg (which she was planning knee replacement on) has multiple compound factures in the femur.
• Right Ankle the talus bone was outside the body and other severe injuries
• Stiff neck but no breaks
• Swollen left wrist, but no breaks
• However, she has NO head injuries, is talking well (including some humor) and has NO memory problems

Bruce's Injuries

Bruce is in critical condition. He needs your prayers.

As far as we know to date, Bruce has the following injuries:

• Left leg has been amputated below the knee
• Left lung collapsed
• Right femur has multiple breaks
• Right wrist is broken
• Left arm is broken
• Seperated Rib
• Kidneys are not working properly
• However, he has NO head injury

Bruce went into cardiac arrest once in the emergency room and again during the amputation surgery.

Missy the Cat Passed Away in the Accident

Photo of the Van

Thank you Jesus for giving them the chance to live!

Kalamazoo Gazette

Three hurt in head-on crash on U.S. 131
Sunday, December 07, 2008 Kalamazoo Gazette
BY JEF RIETSMA

PARK TOWNSHIP -- Three people were injured in a two-vehicle crash Saturday on U.S. 131 in St. Joseph County, police said.

A 51-year-old woman from Apache Junction, Ariz., her husband and a 58-year-old Portage man were transported to Three Rivers Health medical facility following the 10:05 a.m. crash, which occurred just south of Heimbach Road in Park Township, according to Michigan State Police.

The extent of their injuries was not known Saturday afternoon, and police did not release their names.

State Police trooper Mike Thyng said the crash occurred when a southbound Jeep Liberty driven by the Portage man went out of control, crossed the median of U.S. 131 and struck the Arizona couple's Dodge minivan head-on.

Thyng said the minivan was loaded with luggage and what appeared to be Christmas presents.