January 4, 2012

Happy New Year Everyone!,

 

Wow!  Who could believe we are already into another new year?  Time passes so quickly, doesn't it?  Speaking of time passing...a lot of time has passed since I last updated you and soooooo much has happened in that time.  I will do my best to update you on the most important things that have happened.

 

We first of all would like to thank each one of you for your continued prayers, your calls of encouragement and reminding us of your prayers, your love and support for us in this time of recovery.  Without your prayers and positive thoughts heading our way we would not be able to stay strong and continue to heal at the rate of speed that we are experiencing!  God Bless you all in your personal contributions toward us in thought, word, deed and prayers!

 

The last time we updated you we were anticipating a big cross country trip to accomplish some very important things for Don and I and it seemed like a huge amount of tasks, stops and encounters that needed to take place in a very short period of time, didn't it?  Well, we are happy to announce that literally everything on our "to do list" for the trip was accomplished, thanks to your prayer support.

 

We had originally planned on leaving the morning of December 14th to start on the first leg of the over 4000 mile trip we had planned.  Well, as most of you know, neither Don nor I are morning people and because of his sleepless nights mornings are even harder for us than ever before.  Many nights Don struggles with sleeplessness and pain and doesn't even get to sleep very well until 4AM-6AM so he is just sleeping the best until 9AM or 10AM most days.  So we talked about it and decided that if at all possible we would try to head out around noon on December 13th to give us an extra day to get to Tulsa which is 1105 miles from our doorstep here in Mesa, Arizona!  Under normal conditions we could just make it in two very long days of pushing hard but since Don needs to get out of the vehicle about every hour and a half to stretch and walk a bit that was going to add some time to the trip.  So we had that goal in mind and were anticipating getting a jump start on the trip.

 

Well since Don did not have a license anymore due to losing his wallet in the accident, my days were filled with running him from appointment to appointment and pharmacys on top of constantly having to massage his right foot and leg for sometimes up to 45 minutes at a time to help with the pain.  I was trying to keep up with regular living with meals, dishes, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, yard work, Christmas decorating (remember Donnie putting up icicle lights outside?) and trying to get all the stuff from the Las Vegas ordeal put up (a whole U-Haul full), that I was not seeing any possible way we could leave at all, let alone a half a day early!  Don was so uncomfortable and miserable most of the time that it was all I could do to try to help him get more comfortable with either essential oils, massages, drugs, food or whatever which left each day a little worse with the issue of not being organized or ready for the trip.  My anxiety was starting to really climb when I would look around and it seemed as if there was more stuff to deal with instead of less!!!  I wasn't getting adequate sleep and Don was having to wake me up in the nights to rub his feet.  I was so exhausted that sometimes when he would ask me to rub his feet in bed I would start to move toward his feet so my head would be at his feet and his head at my feet, that I would literally fall asleep half way down the bed.  Is that funny, or what?  Don used to sit up and move his head to the bottom of the bed but he moved so slow that I thought it would be better if I moved instead of him.  Well the first couple of nights that was ok but after that, I would drop off to sleep in the middle of the move.  Who ever heard of that?!  Well, Donnie would just go out on the couch and put his socks on and get the foot massager out and sit there for a long time having it massage his feet because I literally could not stay awake long enough to do it for him.

 

All of this was going on when all of a sudden just two days before we were wanting to leave Don had two of the worst days of pain and sleepless nights on the planet.  He was probably the worst I had seen him since we returned home.  Nothing at all would curb the pain and he could not sleep at all!  I had a talk with him about the wisdom of taking this huge trip with me getting interupted sleep and him no sleep and the house in shambles and nothing packed.  I told him that unless we see literally a miraculous turn around that it was impossible for us to take off on the 14th let alone by noon on the 13th.  I am a person that cannot leave my house in anykind of a mess or dirty in any stretch of the word so this meant that if we were to be able to go at all I would need a host of helping angels to come and work with me on this impossible project!  At 5AM on December 13th we sat knees to knees holding hands and prayed like we have never prayed before asking God to show us clearly what we were to do and for Him to send a host of helping angels and relief of Don's pain as well as miraculous restorative sleep and clarity as to what we were to do about the trip we had planned.  We cried together and held each other as we relinquished our personal wills to do what God would see fit as best for us to do.  Don cried out to God in the most pleading, childlike way for his help and deliverance from his pain and sleeplessness.  He poured out his heart to God telling Him that his heart's desire was to see his parents and get to Tulsa to get his license and attend the JCT 25th Anniversary/Christmas Party.  God wants us to be able to have our deepest hearts desire and Don was telling God what his hearts desire was.  Don went to bed to get some sleep and I looked around thinking it was impossible for us to leave that day.  I made a few phone calls to my sister Julie, my friends Sally and Dee and explained the situation and shared how hopeless it looked for our journey.  I started working on the impossible tasks and by 7:30AM, just 2 1/2 hours after he layed down, Don came out of the bedroom and announced that he felt energized, rested and amazingly different with almost no pain!  I was astonished.  Well, we both put our best foot forward in getting the trashed house together and packed our suitcases.  I even got everything in the house back in perfect order and only ran out of time to vacuum and mop the floors.  We aimed at getting on the road by noon but it was 3:03PM when we drove out of the gate.  This was truly a miracle in more ways than one!

 

We drove in driving rain and about 58 degrees which is freezing for Arizona.  We got to Globe, Arizona and had Don get out to walk, potty and get a sandwich before heading across the "no-man's land" of the desert.  We drove out of the rain by the time we hit the New Mexico border.  We drove to Las Cruses, New Mexico and got there about 10PM for the night.  The next day we got going about 10:30AM and made it to Clinton, Oklahoma just west of Oklahoma City after having a really sunny, dry beautiful day of driving.  Don actually drove for about 3 hours of the trip too.  (Sshhhhhhh, don't tell anyone because he didn't have his license back yet.)  We had to get up early (6AM) to get off to see his friend Virgie before heading off to Tulsa.  We had a nice but short visit with Virgie and he was so glad to see her for the first time in many years.  She is 82 years old and lives in a senior living duplex area and is very happy there.

 

We rushed on to Tulsa and immediately went to Sam's Club to get a small gift for the JCT Trucking Office Staff and continued on to the office before everyone was finished working for the day.  We arrived about 2:30PM and stayed until around 4:30PM.  What an emotional time that was for Donnie!!!!  He just cried and embrased so many of his friends and co-workers there at JCT.  He cried as he embrased John Christner his long time friend and boss there at JCT Trucking.  John and Don were able to sit down in John's office and talk business for over an hour.  Don is really wanting to get back in a truck and get to work.  He just has to realize that his body has to catch up with his mind.  He'll probably surprise us all at how quickly he does get back to work.  Don wants to stay here in Mesa, Arizona and drive more locally for JCT if that is possible.  Time will tell.  When we walked out of the JCT office Don said, "That really made my day, that is my family and it was so good to see them all."

 

On Friday, December 16th we got so many things done on our "to-do list" including getting Don's CDL license back, seeing his doctor there and many other things that we really felt good about everything.  We also had a little "open house" at our hotel for people we knew in the area there were not going to be at the JCT 25th Anniversary/Christmas Party on Saturday.  Our open house was from 4PM - 8PM but ended up being until 10PM.  Many people came and enjoyed some snacks and treats with us there in the hotel lobby.  It was so great to see everyone!  Our salesman, Lance Collins from MHC Kenworth where we bought our last truck came and the shop foreman from MHC Kenworth, Jessie came and brought a beautiful suede throw with fleece lining and the MHC Kenworth logo on it as a gift.  What a surprise that was!  It was so good to see them and of course, I had to take pictures!  That night was so good for Don to see all the friends and prayer warriors that have prayed us through all of this.  Many tears were shed and the love we both felt from everyone was so amazing!

 

Saturday we had to go to our camper and get several things out of it including most of Don's clothes and a few other things.  It had already been winterized for us by the awesome campground owners, Chad and Nancy Cline.  They have been more than wonderful to us with helping us with the camper and keeping our pickup truck at their private home while we are gone.  God has truly blessed us with that whole situation.  We just love the Warrior RV Park there in Tulsa and Chad and Nancy have been such great friends and angels to us, we could never thank them enough!

 

That night we headed off to the JCT Trucking Anniversary/Christmas Party.  Our insurance agent from Great West Casualty, Brenda Hood and her husband Mark drove down from Kansas City, Missouri to attend the party with us.  We had never met Brenda in person before but she has been an angel, arm of God and a true friend to us through all of this!  She has gone way beyond the call of duty in many areas and we could never thank her enough for going beyond the call of duty on our behalf.  It was truly a blessing to meet her in person!  She has the cutest Yorkie named "Molly" that she brought with her.  The dog lover in both of us was reignighted for sure!

 

Clifton and Donna Biggs of northern Oklahoma drove down to attend the JCT event as well.  If you remember, Clifton is David Terry's double cousin (the driver of the truck when the accident happened).

It was great to see them again too.  The JCT party was totally awesome!  There were over 500 people there at the convention center in Tulsa and one of the highlights was a new Freightliner Tractor with a Utility Trailer were in the dining room as gifts to John Christner for his 25th Anniversary in business.  They had a photographer there to take pictures of those that chose to go up the staircase they had at both sides of the tractor and sit in the drivers seat.  This was the first time Don was able to get into a tractor again.  It felt so good to him and he was so happy.  The whole night was totally awesome and it was great for me to get to know more about John Christner from over the years.  They had a great program with many competitor's owners on recording sharing the love they have for John Christner and the loving, supportive competition they have between themselves.  The integrity, stewardship and honor that was given to John that night was a great testimony of his character and good, honest and giving heart in all that he does.  He is truly a man of his word!  It is no wonder he has been so blessed and has been so successful.  God has honored him for his integrity!  Thank you, John!

 

Early Sunday morning we headed to Mt. Vernon, Illinois to stay the night before heading to Don's parent's in Iuka, Illinois.  Early Monday morning (in the rain) we headed to Mom and Dad's house.  That was another tearful reunion!  Don was so happy to see his parents!!!  This was a MUST DO on our to-do list for the trip.  I knew about this next surprise but had not said anything to you the readers or to Don about it.  That evening Don's family and extended family had put together a surprise dinner for Donnie.  His parent's and I talked about how we were going to get Donnie to go to Salem that night and they said they would just say they wanted to take us out to dinner.  It worked like a charm!  We got to Salem and turned right at this one corner.  Don was raised in this town and knew there weren't any restaurants in this area but I just kept admiring the christmas lights all around to distract him.  Then we made another turn and he leaned over to me and asked, "where are we going?".  I replied, "I have no idea".  I really didn't because I had never been there before and didn't know, right?!  Well we took a couple wrong turns evidentally but eventually ended up at this place his cousin works.  Don looked in the front window from the truck and saw his cousin's husband, Floyd sitting there and he said, "That's Floyd!!".  He immediately burst into tears because he realized that this was a surprise for him!  His family reunion had taken place on October 11th during the time Don was in the hospital which was very hard for him.  He is the MC of the event and of course couldn't be there.  So this was just like having the family reunion all over again.  This time there was a piano there so I was able to get out some of my stress, tension and other emotions as I played the piano all night.  I started out playing Christmas Carols and many family members joined in singing.  It was good background music for the night and I thoroughly enjoyed myself!  This whole evening totally made Donnie's Christmas!  He was so happy that words could not express it!

 

The next morning we returned to Mom and Dad's and spent some time with them and left about 1PM to head to Lexington.  It was raining (of course) so we drove all the way to the Kentucky state line before driving out of the rain.  We arrived at our condo about 8:15PM.  Our good friends, Frank and Sally Doub drove down from the Indianapolis area to see us and just got to their hotel about an hour before we got home.  They were staying only about 3 miles from our house so we invited them over to visit.  It was so nice and warm that we actually stayed out on our deck and visited without coats until almost midnight!  It was 57 degrees when we came in.  We had to have a little blanket thrown around our shoulders but it was not windy and very still and it felt very good! We had to get up early so we could get the oil changed in our van and have breakfast with our great friends, Stan and Phyllis Briggs.  That was a wonderful time too!  Then we had our good friends Sally and Frank Doub and Bob and Dee Edwards drive down from Indianapolis, Indiana to celebrate Dee's birthday which was actually on the 21st which was today's date so we had a great time together.  We all met at Sahara's Mediterranian Restaurant and had some wonderful food and then came back to our condo for a wonderful coconut birthday cake and gifts.  Bob didn't like coconut so luckily I had some red velvet mini cupcakes for him that we brought with us.  The cake was wonderful!  The time passed very quickly and Bob and Dee had to leave to drive back to Indy, yes here and back plus a party all in one day.  They are awesome people.  Frank and Sally stayed another night in the hotel and then took off the next morning.  Again, we had to sleep fast with so much to do the next day.  I had a much needed hair appointment with Tiny, my hairdresser and Donnie had to get his glasses adjusted at the same time.  We had a bunch of little things that had to be done while we were there in Lexington and we got them all done just in time to set up for our open house for people to come see us.  It was from 6-8:30PM and we had a blast.  The house was full of wonderful people and they came when they could and left as they needed to.  I asked Tina Coons to bring her adorable 1 year old minature Dachshund  "Daisy" with her and she followed through!  She is the cutest ever Dachshund and she loves "Aunt Carol"!!!!!  I just loved hugging and kissing on her and she was the star of the show.  She was so well behaved and the perfect little pup!!! That was a real highlight for The Queen, for sure!

 

The last guests left about 9:30PM and we were bushed!!!! I mean bushed beyond bushed!  The house was trashed and I just didn't have any more strength to do anything about it so we went to bed without doing a thing!  I told Donnie that it was totally and completely impossible for us to leave by noon the next day which was our plan.  We had to get the house put back together and fixed up from my sister Julie being there, bathrooms cleaned from the party, 4 loads of laundry to do and the stuff we brought to put back there and anything that was undone from my fast exodus from when I got the call about Donnie's accident back on September 17th!  Whew!  All this on top of trying to get the place in a position of being able to have an appraiser come in and possibly get it shown for prospective buyers if the market is good enough for that.  We also had to gather all of our tax information and papers so we could do our taxes in January!  Well, The Queen has her standards and they are very high so I dug into the work very early in the morning.  Don was not feeling well at all so I had to do everything except load the van by myself.  I also had to go to the bank to speak with our personal banker about address changes, getting a debit card for Donnie on our personal account, etc.  I had to get the van gassed up and ready for the trip to Mississippi.  By the time I got everything done and got the condo shut down for the Winter and everything packed we finally pulled out of the driveway at 7:02PM!!!!  Thirteen hours after I started working on the mess. Oh my Gosh!  Well, at least everything was done except for vacuuming which I could have someone do for me, if needed.  I was feeling pretty good but we had an 11 hour trip to my sister Ruthie's house.  Well, we only got a little over 2 hours away and Donnie spoke up saying that his pain was getting real bad and he needed to stop for the night.  Well, I checked the GPS for a Hampton Inn and we stopped there for the night.  It was in Franklin, Kentucky.  Yes, we didn't even make it out of the state.  I got the big oil kit out of the van and Donnie's massage equipment in to the hotel room and went to work on him.  He was feeling a head cold coming on and was all stuffed up and ached all over.  He was pretty miserable so I headed to the truck stop across the way to get him some daytime and nighttime cold medicine so he could get some sleep.  He did sleep a little that night and felt a little better in the morning.  We got going about 9AM Central Time and arrived at Ruthie's just as it was getting dark about 4:30PM or so.  Ruthie had an awesome chicken noodle soup dinner ready for us to sit down to and believe me...it tasted sooooooo good!  It is always so relaxing and restful at Ruthie's house!  She insists on us getting our rest.  We got up Sunday morning which was also Christmas morning and headed to church with Ruthie and Doug.  What a wonderful time that was!  The service, music and people were awesome!  Donnie cried as he was so overwhelmed with love from all of the people that came up and hugged and greeted him letting him know they had been praying for him and continue to pray from him.  Just the final touch and necessary stop on this awesome trip.  Donnie wanted so badly to meet the people in the Petal/Harvey Baptist Church that had not only supported us in prayer but in financial gifts and physical gifts as well.  God is so good!

 

The day after Christmas Donnie was not feeling very good.  He hadn't slept much the night before and just ached all over.  It was raining and miserable outside and we sat around relaxing until early afternoon.  Then we decided to take a drive down to the gulf to Gulfport, Mississippi and found a great seafood restaruant on the beach that Donnie really enjoyed.  Donnie was pretty sleepy so on the way down and back he dozed off for most of the trip.

 

Tuesday it was much better weather wise and Donnie felt a little better.  So he and Doug took off to look at tractors because Doug was going to be getting one to work in the yard with.  Ruthie and I went separately to town and did a little shopping and errands while the guys had some guy time doing guy stuff.  We relaxed the rest of that evening and started getting our things packed and ready for the trip back to Arizona.

 

We got on the road about noon on Wednesday and drove until about 11PM stopping frequently along the way until we reached Weatherford, Texas just west of Dallas.  We were back on the road by 11AM and made it back to Las Cruces, New Mexico and stayed at the same place we stayed on the first night of our trip.  We were back on the road by 10AM on Friday, December 30th and made it home to Mesa, Arizona by 4:30PM where it was 73 degrees and perfect sun!!!!  Wow did that feel good!   Since we left home at 3:03PM on December 13th we drove 4365 miles!  Now that is a marathon!  God was good, we got everything on our to-do list accomplished and now we can start rehabilitating Donnie back to strength, flexibility and health.  Donnie noticed that he is a little weaker than when we left because of not being able to do his regular exercises. 

 

New Year's Eve we attended my favorite pianist/psalmist's concert at a church in Scottsdale, Arizona as our evening out.  It started at 7PM and we were home just after 10PM.  His name is Marty Goetz and he was so annointed and amazing that night that we felt like we had a little taste of heaven!  If you have never heard him, check him out online and see him in concert in your area.  The concerts are free and it is absolutely awesome!

 

January 3rd Donnie had two doctor's appointments; one at the Desert Pain Institute in the morning and the other with the Neurologist for a Nerve Study in the afternoon.  Well, he did not sleep at all the night before so he was worn out before we even left the house.  We had to get up very early to get to our early appointment at the pain institute.  The determination was to add a new pain reliever just at night so he could sleep better, hopefully.  Also, the doctor said that the MRI results showed the pinched nerve in the SI joint and he is now scheduled for a cortizone shot this Friday.  The nerve study showed another pinched nerve in Donnie's right knee that is causing his right toes to be numb.  So now we have to schedule another MRI for his right knee.  It gets to be very draining and endless but we keep going!  Please keep praying.

 

Last night Donnie was so sore and tired that I just put him on the massage table and massaged many, many essential oils, massage oils and massage lotions into every inch of his body and worked out the soreness.  He got up and said, "I feel tremendously better and energized."  Well he stayed up for about another hour and then when he hit the pillow he slept very well until 5AM!  This is awesome for him!  He got up for a little while and went back to sleep from 7:30AM - 9:30AM, thank you Jesus!!!!  Hopefully today will be a better day!  The sun is high in the sky and it is supposed to be in the high 70's.  We have so much work to do in the house and out in the sheds but at least Donnie feels like helping with that so it will go faster. 

 

We love you all and thank you for your prayers and love!,

Don and Carol Schirr

Mega Road Trip

Hello Everyone,

 

Thank you for all of your prayers and love that continue to pour out on our behalf!  Everyday is showing evidence of Divine Miracles that are a direct result of your prayers and God hearing and answering those prayers.

 

We were miraculously able to leave Mesa, Arizona on our Mega Trek across the country with the huge itinerary that was outlined in the last email that was sent.  We actually got a head start on our trek back east and left Mesa, Arizona on Tuesday, December 13th at 3PM Arizona Time.  We were able to make it to Las Cruses, New Mexico where we spent the first night.  I mentioned that it was a miracle that we left because the two days and nights leading up to our departure was extremely bad for Don!  His pain level day and night was almost unbearable!  We were praying for God to give us clear signs as to what we should do and asking Him for wisdom.  To the human eye it looked like there was no way we could possibly go because of the extreme discomfort 24/7 Don was experiencing.  The night before we left I could see no way possible for this trip to start.  Don was literally crying out to God for relief of his pain and for His blessing to make this very important trip.  By morning his pain level was almost gone and he felt very rested which had to be divine because from a natural standpoint both of these things were impossible.  Don even had the energy to help me get the remainder of our things together and in the van so we could get on the road.  Don really feels strongly that he MUST see his parents at this time.  The sense of urgency is so great that it is totally consuming.  He also needs to get his license back and the only way to do it is to return to Tulsa.

 

When we left Mesa, Arizona it was pouring rain and very cold.  We took the southern route as it was snowing very heavily in Flag Staff, Arizona, in fact it snowed over 24 inches there that day!  We drove out of the rain about 2 hours after leaving home.  We stopped every hour and had Don walk around and do some stretches so he would not get too stiff.  We have a special air cushion for his seat and the van is really comfortable so he was really quite comfortable.  However, by the time it was night and we got to the hotel he was ready to get out and rest.

 

The second day was quite long as we had over 650 miles to go that day.  The first day we made it 333 miles but we didn't leave until afternoon either.   The second day we got on the road by 9:15AM which helped.  We were hoping to make it to Oklahoma City for the night but only made it to Clinton, Oklahoma which is about 85 miles west of Oklahoma City.  We got there about 11PM and got up at 6AM so we could get to his friend Vergie's for a quick visit. We picked her up at 10:15AM and went for a quick breakfast.  We then headed to Tulsa and arrived at 1:30PM.  We immediately went to JCT Trucking to make Don's first appearance at the offices where all of the driver managers, dispatchers and all the suppporting, praying, loving staff that we call family are.  What a wonderful time we had.  There were tears of joy and appreciation and lots of hugs!  We brought a small Christmas gift for the staff to enjoy as well.  I took lots of pictures of the tearful and loving hugs from many of the staff.  We stayed there for about 2 1/2 hours visiting most of the staff there.  We even had a very nice visit with John Christner, the owner of JCT Trucking, in his office just before we left.   Without the love and support from John Christner and his wife Gloria and all their wonderful staff and other drivers, we would never have made it!  Don has enjoyed having JCT as his family for over 22 years now.  He said it felt good to be "home".  This was very healing to Don and it was so special to see the genuine love from everyone there.  Don said, "that really made my day and my Christmas to be able to go home and see my family at JCT."  It was worth every mile of the 1148 miles that I drove to get him there to hear him say that.  I would do it all over again if it would help him in his recovery.

 

Today is Friday, December 16th and we have a jammed packed day with appointments with his doctor, trips to the drivers license and tag agency, CPA and many other important stops.  Tonight we are having a little get-together for people we know in the area that are not associated with our JCT Trucking family so we will have the opportunity to see them outside of the JCT 25th Anniversary/Christmas Party that we are attending tomorrow night.  We want to see as many of our prayer supporters as possible and let them see the miracle that Don is! 

 

So far everything is going extremely well and the weather has been clear for driving.  The weather couldn't have been better for driving with sunny skies and 55-60 degrees during the day.  Please pray that it continues to be good for the rest of our trip.

 

Sunday we will head up to his parent's house in Iuka, Illinois.  It is a 10 hour trip so we won't actually see them until Monday.  That will be the only full day we can see them and we will cherish every moment of that day.  Tuesday early afternoon we will head to Lexington, Kentucky so be praying for us as we go.

 

I will try to keep you updated with the exciting activities of the trip but my Internet time will be limited because of the long days that are jammed with important activities.

 

Hugs to you all!,

Don and Carol Schirr

New News!

Hello Everyone!,

Thank you for your patience in getting new information out to you.  It has been very busy just trying to keep up with everything here.  Now I have more work to do than ever before.  It has been a little bit of a roller coaster but things are definitely improving overall.  I will try to recap some of the main events and you can fill in the gaps for yourself.  Here we go...

As you remember we returned home on Saturday, November 12th at about 9PM.  It was an eventful trip but we made it home about a month ahead of schedule which was a miracle.  Don had come home without any medications of any kind and he paid a big price in pain suffering and sleeplessness because of it.  By Sunday, November 20th we found ourselves in the Emergency Room because the pain was so bad that he was beside himself.  They were able to get him a shot of Dilaudid and get him a prescription of a 2mg pill form of it and also some Perkiset (sp?) as well.  We had our first doctor's appointment three days after that event and we really liked the doctor.  He ordered some advanced blood work which included checking Don's hormone levels as well as several key vitamins on top of the regular CBC and other blood panels that are routinely taken.  He also ordered an MRI of his back to see where the pain and damage is so we can make better decisions on medications and treatments to get him back up and running better.

As a side note, after about a week from the Emergency Room visit Don was trying to push himself to "do something" besides sit around.  He is a very active and productive man so sitting around trying to heal was not making him happy.  One day my friend Mel and I went out for about 2-3 hours to shop while Don rested from being exhausted because he had just had his blood taken.  Remember, he has been fighting Anemia because of having so much blood loss in the accident.  Well, after his blood was drawn for testing he was so exhausted that Mel and I gave him some orange juice, Rehemogen (blood builder) and some water and tucked him in on the recliner.  He said he was so tired that he needed to take a nap.  So Mel affirmed to him to not do anything until we get back.  He assured us he wasn't going to do a thing because he was real tired and he was going to be sitting right there.  Well he must have gotten a big nap in real fast because when Mel and I turned the corner to come back to the house here stood Don on a ladder at the end of the driveway putting up icicle lights around the roofline!!!!  He has to use a cane to walk but he could get up on a ladder and hang lights?!!  Mel just about chewed him a new one and told him how bad he was and to be doing that without anyone there he could fall and nobody would be there to help, etc.  Donnie just smiled and took the tongue lashing from Mel and kept hanging lights.  We were just beside ourselves!  He blew it off and smiled at Mel and said, "Well I have to do something, I can't just sit around all the time, it's driving me nuts."  Then he took a breath and in the next sentence he asks Mel, "Do you and Al happen to have a bigger ladder, like a 6 foot or 8 foot ladder?  I need a taller ladder to get the front of the house strung with lights."  Mel just about fell over!  She just threw her hands up in amazement knowing that we could never stop him.  Then he looks at this HUGE cactus we have that suddenly grew a 12-14 foot stock out of the middle of it that is about 4 inches in diameter and takes two man sized hands to fit around it and says that he is going to cut the stalk down!  I said, "You can't do that!  That stalk is like a tree, I mean it is like wood and is huge and heavy.  Plus I wanted to take a picture of it now that it bloomed out."  Donnie just replies saying, "Well you better get a picture of it now because I am cutting it down soon."  So I got my camera and took a picture of it right away.  I helped Donnie a little with the lights he was putting up and then suddenly realized I had to get to the club house to pick up a package that was delivered there for me.  So I jumped in the car real quick and went to the club house.  I was only gone 15-20 minutes and when I came back...there was Donnie with a hand saw and he was cutting down the tree-like stalk out of the cactus.  I screamed out the window, "Donnie!  What are you doing?!"  Just as I put the car in park...BAM!!!!  The stalk hits the street!  Oh my Gosh!  It was a big thud and then Donnie just bends over (remember his back is split open, right?!) and he is cutting the huge tree-like stalk in half because just the part he cut down was over 12 feet long!  I am running from the car yelling, "Donnie, what do you think you are doing?  You are going to kill yourself.  That thing is full of razor blades and could cut you to pieces."  Well we had to haul that huge thing on the back of my car and take it to the dumpter.  It barely fit in the huge dumpster.  He had just cut it exactly the right length that the two pieces just barely fit in there.

Well guess what?!!  Donnie paid for doing all this unbelievable work for about 3 days.  I had to massage his poor aching body three times more than normal because his muscles have wasted so much and they could not handle the extreme work he just made them do.  Oh well, I was very proud of him for attempting such great things and the house never looked this good in the 7 years I have lived here.  He decided that the whole house needed the icicles on it so we had to go buy a bunch more to make it all the way around.  It is very nice to come home on these dark nights to the inviting lights!!!

So in one week we went from the ER to the ladder!  Now I call that progress, don't you?

It seems as though all we do is go from one appointment to another.  I am glad that I know my way around down here and that most of the stuff is in an area right together.  The acupuncturist and chiropractor are about 15-20 miles away but all the doctor stuff is just about 6 miles from the house.

So this week we had the results of the blood work, the MRI, the wound care clinic follow up visit and a doctor follow-up visit as well as an appointment with the Neurologist on top of seeing the Acupuncturist twice and the Chiropractor once.  Do you see why I haven't been able to update you?  I can barely get meals done and dishes and clothes washed.

The blood work showed that his cholesterol and triglycerides are too high and that his Vitamin D and Testosterone levels are way too low.  The good news is that he is not anemic anymore but his Testosterone is only 69 and needs to be at a minimum of 358 according to the doctor.  No wonder his muscles are wasteing and his energy is not up to par.  So we are using more oils and taking more oils and supplements to help the Vitamin D and Testosterone levels.  Diet is another thing that needs to be adjusted even more for the cholesterol and triglycerides.  Our schedules are so jammed with appointments that his exercise time is really limited and sometimes he is just way too bushed to exercise so he is going to have to exercise more to help all these issues as well.

Donnie has been able to sleep most of the nights in bed.  Some nights he sleeps really well and then others the pain in his feet keeps him up.  He only has to get me up a few times a week now instead of every night to massage his feet.

Lately we have been putting him on the massage table at night just before bed and getting oils on his back and rubbing out the muscles in the back of his legs and feet quite a bit so he can sleep better.

Today the Neurologist said that the MRI showed that he has a pinched nerve in his SI joint that is causing the pain in his feet.  He ordered a nerve study to be done to determine where it is being pinched and how much it is being pinched.  He also trippled the dose of Neurotin Donnie is taking because he said the pain should not be as strong as it is.  So here we are anticipating another test.  I just never seems to end.

We are planning on taking a very long road trip to accomplish a lot of business that needs to be taken care of for Donnie.  Please pray for us as we take this huge trip that Don will have less pain and that the weather will cooperate and be nice while we are on the road.  Here is our itinerary:

December 14th - leave from Mesa, Arizona and head toward Tulsa, Oklahoma
December 15th - continue to Tulsa, Oklahoma

While in Oklahoma Don needs to get his drivers license back because he lost his in the wreck and there is no other way to get it without going back to Tulsa.
Don needs to see his regular doctor.
Don needs to see his CPA and close his trucking business.
We are attending the 25th Anniversary/Christmas Party for JCT.

December 18th - Travel from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Iuka, Illinois to see Donnie's parents.
Donnie's Dad has been in the hospital for the past 3 days. Donnie has not seen his parents at all since June and he feels great urgency to see them.

December 20th - Travel from Iuka, Illinois to Lexington, Kentucky
We need to get our condo on the market to sell and get out tax papers together so we can get our taxes done since we are not returning to Lexington until the Summer time.
We need to see our eye doctor and a few other important appointments.

December 23rd - Travel from Lexington, Kentucky to Petal, Mississippi to spend Christmas with my sister Ruthie and her husband Doug.  We are going to rest a couple of extra days before heading back to Mesa, Arizona.

December 27th or 28th - Leave Petal, Mississippi and head back to Mesa, Arizona.

We should arrive back in Mesa, Arizona by the 30th of December.

We plan on spending the remainder of the winter here in warm, sunny Arizona!  Please put us at the top of your prayer lists and we will be in touch with you via email from time to time.  We could never make it without all your love and prayers.

That's all I have for now, Donnie needs his night time oils put on and we are off to bed.

Hugs and much love,
Donnie and Carol Schirr

Home Again!

Hello Everyone,

 

We hope you are still all praying earnestly for us because we still need it desparately!

We made it home Saturday, November 12th about 8:50PM.  We had stopped in Kingman, Arizona so Don could meet the man that rescued him from the wreck, Officer Ryan Timmerman.  It was a grand event.  He brought his beautiful wife, Lisa with him and his gorgeous 3 month old daughter, Hailey.  We visited for well over an hour at Denny's there at the Flying J.  I did not want to eat there but Kingman is a very small town so I was forced to eat there.  I got a wrap with avacado on it and it tasted like it was bad so instead of returning it I just took the rest of the avacado out of it and finished it.  Well, as a result, I got food poisoning pretty bad so the rest of the 225 miles was miserable.  I had to keep stopping to use the restroom and I was so nauseated and on the verge of  throwing up that I could hardly drive.  I was pulling a small U-Haul so Mel did not want to try to drive so I just kept going as best as I could.  I had a bottle of Peppermint oil up to my nose inhaleing it constantly to keep from throwing up.  Donnie was getting very nervous about what was happening.  He just couldn't wait to get home!

 

If that wasn't bad enough, when we got to Wickenburg, Arizona we stopped of course to go to the restroom, right?  Well, it was dark and I noticed that I couldn't see my running lights reflecting off of the trailer when I was driving so when we stopped I checked and sure enough, there was a short in the U-Haul trailer lights and now we had no running lights and it was pitch dark!  My brake lights and turn signals worked on both the trailer and the van but neither one had running lights!!!!!!!!  If you remember from the last email it took the U-Haul dealer almost 2 hours to get the lights working right and fixed fuses, etc.  So this was no surprise that something happened eventually with the lights.  As a result we had to drive the last 95 miles of the trip with our flashers on.

 

Just wait...it gets worse!  Well, I kept getting these waves of nausea and I kept fighting it just hoping to get home.  We made it to 10 miles before the exit for University Drive and I had to whip the van across several lanes and just got off the shoulder slamming it into park and just got one foot out the door before everything emptied out of my stomach!  I had to go to the back of the van after the first go round and just kept losing it!!! Geez that was terrible!  I had Mel call her husband to make sure he opened the house and turned the lights on in the bathroom by the back door so I could just run in and hit the bathroom.  I was so sick and felt so terrible!  Of course, Donnie was having such pain in the night that night and absolutely could not sleep in bed for more than a minute or two.  He really needed me but I was so sick and was just moaning out and begging God to deliver me from this horrible nausea all night.  Donnie just had to fend for himself.  I could not help it.  Well, again it gets worse...by 4AM Donnie started with the runs and man it was bad!  He can't move very fast so all day I cleaned up after him even though I felt like 900 pounds of homemade sin myself!  Donnie went through all 4 sets of his clothes in one day.  I was doing laundry as fast as I could to keep up.  Plus I had to go shopping for us as there was no food in this house and he had such pain I had to try to pick up some over the counter pain meds to help him and get some bandages for his wound on his back.  Oh, and I had to go to Auto Zone to get fuses to fix the lights on my van.  Ugh!  I felt so terrible the whole time but I just kept dragging through the day and kept putting one foot in front of the other.  I know this is probably unbelievable and I really wish it weren't true but you will be on the floor laughing when you hear this next twist to the story!!!!  Envision my van in the driveway backed in with a small U-Haul attached to it.  Then I have a Toyota Camry with a license plate that just expired on 10-31-2011. 

No kidding!!!  I always make it back here by the end of October to renew the license plate but guess what?!...I couldn't make it here because of Donnie.   So here I am running around town in a car with expired tags and my other vehicle without running lights!  Some days you just wonder, don't you?

 

This week has been a real challenge.  Many things I cannot even tell you or you would have to quit your full time job just to read the details of this journey!  We have had to take Donnie to the Acupuncturist and Chiropractor to get his pain under control and it worked fabulously the first time.  On Monday night we went to bed at 7PM and we both stayed in bed and Donnie actually slept until 6AM!!!! This was truly a miracle.  Well his pain has slowly returned so we have been back to the Acupuncturist Wednesday and Thursday in hopes of keeping his nerves intact.  He has had some horrible nights and the last two have been out of this world.  Please, please pray for him and that we will get some answers!

 

We love you all and hope to get more emails out after I get my bomb of a house put back together inbetween taking Donnie all over the county to appointments, trying to do laundry, make meals, clean up and keep his supplements and everything going. 

 

Thanks again,

Don and Carol Schirr

 

Celebration!

Hello Everyone!,

Today is 11-11-11, a very powerful day and a day of miracles for us!!!!!!  We are so overwhelmed by the power of all of your prayers and love and we have some very, very exciting news to share with you!  Just to catch you up on things a bit, Tuesday, November 8th on a gurney in a medical transport van to the TLC Care Center nursing home in Henderson, Nevada.  One big step in the process of getting home!

Before we share the exciting news I would like to let you know that we will be holding a LIVE conference call that you can dial into from anywhere in the world at the end of November.  Donnie and I will be sharing LIVE and in person some of the secrets of how Donnie was able to heal in quantum leaps!  Have your pens and paper ready because we will be giving you our Essential Oil and supplement tips and tricks that help us through not only healing but trauma, stress and nutritional deficiencies caused by trauma and stress.  Donnie wants to greet each of you and personally thank you for your faithful and constant prayers that have been the foundation of this journey.  You will be hearing from my Mom, Vallorie Judd and several others that were able to come out here to Las Vegas to see Donnie and to help with his care.  This will be a day of rejoicing in what God has done through your faithfulness to bring about many, many miracles.  Please be watching your emails for the announcement of this conference call once we are able to establish a date and time.

THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
Don had the "no weight bearing" restriction lifted on Tuesday evening.  Wednesday he was able to stand up, a little shaky of course but he stood with no problem!  That same afternoon he was given a walker and after gaining his balance he slowly started taking steps a little at a time.  He proceeded down the hall, around the nurses station, around the block of rooms behind the nurses station, back around the block of rooms and the nurses station and back down the hall to his room.  This was approximately 40 yards of distance!!!!!!  This is truly a miracle! By the time he was coming back down the hall his steps were much more sure, stable and smoother!  The physical therapists were totally amazed that he did so well.  So, Thursday morning it was off to the gym to see what else he could do.  He was at Physical Therapy for 1 1/2 hours straight and was able to do everything he was asked...including small stairs!!!  He even did bicycle petals for 30 minutes straight!  Can you believe it?!  He was so proud of himself that he would cry tears of joy.

Friday, 11-11-11, he went to 2 hours of therapy and did everything he was asked including a set of 5 stairs, going up and down 3 different times!  Of course, he is probably overdoing it and muscle soreness is going to be there but he wants to go home!  He was told when he arrived that he needed to be able to do two steps up and down to their satisfaction before they could release him from the Physical Therapy Department to go home.

At 3PM we had an appointment at the office of the plastic surgeon, Dr. Sohn, to see how the wound was doing. I actually drove Donnie in my own van to the appointment!!  He easily got in the back seat through the sliding door and off we went!   Donnie just loved being out rolling down the road again.  He just couldn't believe how good it felt!  We stopped a couple blocks from the nursing home at a Walgreens and picked up a walker for him and off we went.

Dr. Sohn was totally and completely floored at what Donnie looked like and that he was only on a walker!   He couldn't believe he could stand let alone walk!  He thought he was still on the weight restriction.  He just gasped when he saw him and you could see the joy in his face!  Everything on the wound was looking great except one small corner that is about the size of the tip of a man's finger that has "delayed healing".  Donnie begged him to release him to go home.  Well, Dr. Sohn said that I could easily treat this one small spot myself and redress it everyday myself.  He gave us the full release to go home to continue physical therapy there in our home with no restrictions!!!  Donnie just cried with joy and hugged Dr. Sohn thanking him for saving his life and for releasing him.  Dr. Sohn was so tender and so personal with us...it was a very special moment! Dr. Sohn ordered his nurse to remove the staples and stitches and dress the small spot with special gauze and a bandage.  Now only that spot has a bandage and the rest of the surgical site is open!  Of course I was taking pictures the whole time!

We are so excited that we can hardly stand ourselves!  We still have our neighbor Mel Ehlers with us and she can't believe we are actually going home tomorrow!  We took Donnie to Marie Callenders restaurant to celebrate and have a meal with him outside the nursing home.  He couldn't believe how great the food tasted.  We just had to call his parents and my parents to tell them that we were going home tomorrow, in our own van and with no restrictions!  Everyone is crying tears of joy!

So when you are praying today, please send many prayers of thanksgiving to Our Heavenly Father for showing His miracles to us and answering our cries!  Please keep us in your prayers especially as we drive the 6 hour trek from Las Vegas, NV to Mesa, AZ.  We will have to stop a few times for sure but Donnie is sure he can make it.  He just wants to be HOME!  We need lots and lots of prayers as Donnie has a lot of physical therapy and occupational therapy to do.  He has lost 25 lbs of muscle since we got here 8 weeks ago.  He kept his upper body muscles with the trapeze but the legs and buttocks will need much work to bring the muscles back.

In a few days I will be catching you up on some of the details of the past week but for now I must get packing as Donnie has probably been up all night waiting for us to come get him.

With love and adoration!,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mel Ehlers

November 5-7, 2011

Hello Everyone,

 

I bet you are wondering what is going on out here in Las Vegas, right?  Well, I will have to give you a general overview for the past few days.

 

Mel Ehlers has been here and has been a tremendous help and comfort to both Don and I.  It helps us to feel like we are home since she is our good neighbor from Mesa, Arizona.

 

So much has happened and most of it is good.  It has been very busy around here and it seems we are running all the time.  Don is improving a little each day.  We have had our ups and downs, that's for sure, but all in all he is moving up and getting ready to move out of here.  Speaking of moving, we have been standing by in anticipation of moving him to a place called TLC Care Center as I mentioned earlier.  We have had nothing but a waiting game.  The insurance company is holding the ball in their court right now.  We thought we were for sure moving today but nothing came through.  So here we are another day waiting.

 

Saturday, November 5th, our great friend Vallorie Judd from Utah came to help us with her expertise in Young Living Essential Oils to help both Don and I with not only physical issues but emotional ones as well.  She has given of herself and her time to be of help to us during this long and involved process.  Both of us feel tremendously better and we could never thank her enough for all she has done to get us back on track.  She helped us with special healing foods, suggestions for eating, drinking and oil and supplement schdules.  It has all been such a huge help.

 

Right now Don is free of all of his external hardware.  They took the PIC line out several days ago and of course you knew the catheter was gone so all he has is two bandages on his right ankle and foot and the big bandage over his back. 

 

We are headed to bed for tonight but we wanted to give you a quick update at least for the moment.  Please keep praying and we will give you some more exciting details about these last three days in one of the upcoming emails.

 

We love you all!,

Don and Carol Schirr, Mel Ehlers and Vallorie Judd