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.