September 29th 1st post

Greetings,

Last night was a much better night for many reasons. The pain medications were more effective and given at closer intervals, my Mom was at his side all night and the room was super comfortable. My Mom said that he needed quite a bit of assistance all through the night as he is a light sleeper and he needs to be readjusted with all his pillows all the time. From 2AM to about 4:30AM it was a really tough time for him. He got to be real uncomfortable and nothing they did could ease his discomfort but after about 4:30AM he settled down and got a couple hours of good sleep. My Mom says that he only slept about 2 1/2 hours with the assistance of a sleeping pill that usually lasts 6-8 hours.

My Mom had him all bathed and sheets changed before I even got here this morning. She is real big about the TLC part of patient care. It not only keeps their circulation going but their feeling about themselves is so much better and they heal faster if they feel clean, dry and fresh.

We've been doing some dry skin brushing on him along with the healing Essential Oils and he is just loving it. It is really getting his circulation going and the bruising is improving because of it too.

The doctor came in about 1PM today and had a conference with Mom, Donnie and me. He said that even though Donnie has been on antibiotics and the wound vac (which is not keeping up with the wound output) his white blood cell count is continuing to go up which means there is infection in that big wound on his buttocks. The hole looks like it is about 2 inches in diameter from the outside but he said that the wound is much, much bigger on the inside and the infection is collecting in the tissue because the hole is not as big as the wound itself. He said it is a "deglove" wound and is extremely rare. The wound has to be cut open by slicing the sides of the hole and then wash it out good and then put the wound vac on to see if it will get it dried out so it can heal before reconstructive surgery can start. Tomorrow "late morning" is what they gave us for an estimated surgery time. Please be in prayer for the surgeons and for Donnie as he undergoes this surgery. We are applying the "pre-surgery protocol" with the Essential Oils which will prevent him from having inflammation and keep his white blood cell count from surging as it usually does during any surgery. This will eliminate any additional pain he may be suffering currently because inflammation = pain. We wish we could have been here before his first surgery so we wouldn't be fighting the pain so badly. We are so glad that this time we can have the oils in tact.

Don is in good spirits and is asking for more prayers. We appreciate all that you are doing on the intercession part.

It is a big job and it is very effective!

We love you all,

Surgery Update

Hello again,

I had sent out a mid-day update earlier today about Don being back from surgery. So this is the remaining update from today.

We have the wound vac working well tonight. We've had some challenges with trying to keep the line from being pinched off but we finally got him propped on his right side enough to keep the flow going. Tonight I am feeling very alert so before dark I mentioned to my Mom that I felt really good and thought she should take the night off to sleep since she only got about 2 hours of sleep between last night and the one hour during Donnie's surgery. She did not argue one bit and got her things ready and got on her way before the sun went down. I watched her walk all the way to the hotel from Don's room so I knew she was safe.

As I said earlier today, we have not heard from the surgeon so we don't know what he has to say but when I was propping Donnie on his side to get him comfortable I saw the surgical site because it is not covered by any gauze or bandage...just the wound vac. It took me back and it is a good thing I am not a fainter. I don't think Mom saw it or she would have said something. Obviously all of the flesh that was intact showing just the 2 inch hole was infected and must have not been salvageable because not he has a massive section about the size of my hand and 2-3 inches deep missing. The wound vac has this very dark grey, almost black, foam material that is stuffed in this massive hole and it is draining the wound. Once this heals (with your prayers and some time) then the plastic surgeon can start doing some reconstruction of the muscle and skin in the area. This section is located on the upper side of the buttocks which is good because it won't have to be sat on once he is able to sit.

He is on very frequent pain medication as you can imagine. He said that he felt much better tonight which really amazed me. Of course, that was after they got the pain down to something manageable. He is resting quite nicely right now so that makes me very happy. I am sitting right next to him writing this email so he is under very careful watch. The nurses are all awesome and they come to our aide in just a moments notice.

Please continue to pray against infection and for miraculous, quick healing! I will have my diffusers here on Saturday and will be diffusing Lemon and Thieves Essential Oils to kill any airborne bacteria in here. It will also provide extra healing, emotional support and immune boosting for all of us. We are depending on your continued and continuous prayers. Please keep those prayer chains going.

We love you all!,

Don and Carol

Sept 28th, 2011

Hello Everyone,

I know you all are standing by with baited-breath wondering about the surgery this morning so today I am sending you a mid-day update. He was only in surgery about 90 minutes and we are awaiting a report from the surgeons. He was in terrible pain for about an hour or so after surgery. He is complaining of some bad pain in his right calf but there is no wound there and the main pain should be in his left buttocks. We put oils on his calf and did some skin brushing and massaging on it to try to relieve the pain. They got a shot of Dilaudid in him and within about 10 minutes he dropped off to sleep. He kept dozing and then waking up quite a bit. Then his lunch came and he ate most of it. I spoon fed him because I wanted to pamper him. He is so self-sufficient usually. I just wanted him to save all his energies for healing and I LOVE pampering my Sugar Bear! He has wires hanging all over him again and he hates that but to monitor his vital signs it is a must. Everything looks good from our standpoint and the wound vac is back at work and the output looks much healthier and happier.

Hopefully we will have an updated report for you tonight from the surgeon. Keep those awesome prayers going.

Love to you all!

P.S. A gorgeous orchid just arrived from the JCT (John Christner Trucking) family. Thank you so much for your kind thoughts, words, prayers and support. Your love is so much appreciated.

NOTE: For those of you who don't know, JCT is the company in Sapulpa, Oklahoma that Don has been a broker truck with for over 22 years and they are who Don gets his loads through. They are truly family to us!

September 23rd

Mom and I got up extra early today and got over to the hospital BEFORE 7AM. Now, anyone that knows me, knows that is a miracle.  Donnie had already tried to call us and he was on his cell phone when we arrived.  He says that he just gets lonely and needs to talk to someone.  So, we are going to try to get there even eariler tomorrow.  I hope it works!

I had a big surprise for him this morning!  His glasses showed up last night so I was able to greet him with those which he was so happy to get!  Thank you Dr. Fil Simpson and Simpson Optical for going the extra mile to get this accomplished in such a short time.

It was a jam-packed day for sure.  Right away in the morning the nurses came in to get him sitting on the edge of the bed!  That was something!  He got pain meds, his hit of morphine and muscle relaxing drugs about 30 minutes before to help him cope with this move.  They needed his legs to dangle down and he needed to set up.  He is very strong so he was able to help a lot with the trapeze set up he has on his bed.  He was dizzy for a while but he was able to stay up for about 20 minutes.  While he was sitting up we washed his hair and beard for him.  We found another pretty good superficial wound on the crown of his head that had not been noticed before because he is always laying down.  They debriaded it and put a dressing on that.  On the way to laying back down there was a lot of agonized yelling as you can imagine.  Then they had to take off the wound vac which has very sticky clear stuff to hold it on  that covers about 1/2 of his back.  Well, Donnie has a lot of body hair so he really screamed when the pulled that off!!!! They had several nurses in there and the doctor also came in during that time so Mom and I hit the cafeteria.  Whew!  When we got back they were still working on all his other wounds.  Many of them look so much better and some of them no longer require bandaging.  His right heal is still quite open but is looking much better.  It takes about 1 1/2 hours just to tend to all his wounds there are so many.

Donnie was waiting for his glasses to arrive before seeing the pictures of the remains of his truck.  He was blown away by them and actually asked for Mom and I to have prayer over him after seeing about 3 or 4 pictures.  He was talking with someone on the phone this evening and said that he cried inside more than he did on the outside.  Actually we saw no tears at all so he really cried on the inside only. I know it totally broke his heart. That was a tough reality but he realized that only God could have saved him from this accident.

He was pretty worn out from all this painful activity so he took a nap and Mom and I went back to the Hotel Suite to eat a bite of Julie's wonderful food and take a short nap.  We went back about 2 hours later.  He had a lot of phone calls today and some of them were a little too stressful so we had to take the phone from him because his blood pressure was going up.

Later in the afternoon a lady called from the Main Lobby that is the daughter of some friends of my sister, Ruthie in Mississippi that have been praying for us.  We personally did not know them but their sweet and beautiful daughter Emi came with a HUGE food and snack basket and a case of bottled water as a gift.  She visited with us for quite some time and we showed her the pictures which were beyond her belief.  What a sweet thing for her to do!  She also offered to take us anywhere if we needed a ride anytime.  God sends us angels everywhere!

When we returned to Donnie's room they had discovered that his wound vac was leaking somehow so Mom, the nurse (Sue) and I worked over Donnie for quite a while.  We never got it perfectly sealed and they will have to order a new dressing and do it all over again tomorrow...poor Donnie!  The wound vacs usually last 3-4 days before changing them so my heart goes out to him just knowing that tomorrow it has to be redone!  Of course, everytime we work on this he has to roll over on his side so we can have his back exposed.  This is a lot of work for him and not the most comfortable.  Then we have to work like crazy to get him very gently placed back in the right position on his back.  Let's agree together in prayer that tomorrow the new wound vac will be put on correctly and that Donnie will have as little pain as possible!

Donnie has a very great and positive attitude and his will to get through this as quickly as possible is always what he focuses on and together we are going to make it just fine.  Together meaning Donnie and I and all of your wonderful and earnst prayers!

We love each and every one of you!,
Don and Carol Schirr

September 22nd

 Friday, September 23, 2011:

For the last day and 1/2 Don has had extreme difficulty getting comfortable and sleeping because of the intense pain everywhere.  He called us this morning at 7:18 AM just as we were about to leave the hotel wondering where we were and begging us to come because he was in so much pain.  We just about ran the couple blocks to get there and he just wanted me to hold his hand and comfort him.  We got another new nurse, Sue, that was one of the best for knowing how to curb the pain.  She got him on muscle relaxants and also gave him some Lortabs.  He had not had Lortabs for almost 24 hours and that is why he was suffering so much.  The wound nurse was there right after we got there and does such a marvelous job tending to all of his wounds and getting them cleaned up, trimmed, remedicated and rebandaged.  She is very helpful in so many ways.  She told Don that when he is stressed because of the pain it actually slows down his healing because his energies are spent on the stress and trauma rather than the healing.  He wants to just "take it like a man" and also doesn't like drugs in general but that really made sense to him.  The result of adding Robaxin to the other pain meds was his blood pressure has come down to almost normal, he slept for quite a bit at a time rather than waking up every 5-10 minutes and trying to get comfortable, and his face looked much more like my "Sugar Bear" because he was not in so much pain and stressed.  He slept so soundly that the normal noises of the machines and the helicopter landing above us did not even rouse him.  Mom and I were able to leave tonight with his blessing at about 7:15PM which will allow us to get to bed earlier so we can get up there well before 6AM so he is not so anxious about when we can get up there.  With him sleeping so soundly and actually getting in some healing time, we are expecting a much better day tomorrow.  Please keep the prayers for a speedy recovery coming!

There was concern with all of the staff about him being horizontal too much because it can cause him extreme dizziness in later days when he is able to put weight on his legs and stand, he would be very wobbly because the inner ear would think he is supposed to be horizontal.  So they consulted with the doctor and with the surgeon that did the surgery on his buttocks and he said that NO WAY could they sit him on the side of the bed because of the risk of tearing loose the wound vac and damaging that wound.  So they put the bed in a sitting position and he did get a little dizzy.  It was very painful for him but he had to stay that way for 15 minutes.  He made it and the pain actually subsided some by the end because the Lortabs were kicking in.  He will have to do the same thing tomorrow but because of him getting some good rest tonight and the pain meds being administered more regularly, it should be easier.  The problem with the pain meds is that he has to actually request them.  They cannot just administer them on a regular basis like an antibiotic.  So, believe me, he is asking more often.  He does not want the pain to get advanced before doing something about it.

Today he received a balloon bouquet with the cutest bear that had a cast, a bandaide and a thermometer  in his mouth.  Donnie said, "He's pouting, I don't want to pout."  But that is what makes the bear so cute!  I just love him anyway!  Also, Young Living Essential Oils sent a bouquet of flowers that he was not supposed to have in his room but the nurse Sue said that she could see no reason why he couldn't have them in his room.  Of course there isn't very much room in the room but the one bouquet fits just fine.  I love flowers so it is a wonderful addition to the atmosphere.

This morning my sister Julie arrived at our condo in Lexington, Kentucky so tomorrow she will get things packed up and start heading to Tulsa, Oklahoma to get more of our things from our 5th Wheel and then head to the West Coast.

I am still fielding quite a few phone calls and emails from various insurance agencies and other truck related stuff that needs to get handled and for the most part I am able to come up with the information needed quite rapidly.  Since I knew nothing about trucking when I married Don just 2 years ago, I am happy to say that I had his important things down and could actually be a help to him on the legal and detail end of things.  I have not had to bother him with most of the things and he has no idea about much of it.  He is always thinking and I want him to focus on his healing.  I can truly say I feel your prayers at work for me as well because it seems that no matter what the question that comes up in the above mentioned matters, I easily and quickly am able to come up with the information.  That is truly a God thing!

That's all I have for tonight.  Tomorrow will be a much better day!

September 2011

Howdy,
Today Donnie called at 7:25AM wondering when we were coming over because he missed us.  He had a very rough day yesterday with pain and did not hardly sleep last night.  He slept off an on most of the day today and said that by afternoon he felt a lot better than he did.  Of course, the pain meds were pumped up and he was put on another antibiotic because a culture on the huge wound on his buttocks came back with bacteria in it.  Of course, with being dragged through the dirt it is to be expected.  He is getting breathing treatments 4 times a day because of his inactivity he is wheezing and coughing some.  My mother that is an RN said she would categorize his lung condition as "scary".  Now coming from my Mom that is alarming because she is an RN and is very non emotional.  Please pray that he will keep from getting pnemonia.

My sister Juile made a ton of awesome foods again today and literally filled the refrigerator and freezer with home made foods for us to eat so we don't have to eat out all the time.  Saves money and a lot of unnecessary calories.  Donnie just loves the food although the food at this hospital is exceptionally good.

The nurse today was the same as yesterday, however she seemed to be in a totally different mode...for the better.  She will not be coming back for a while as she only works 2 days at a time.  Your prayers were answered on that subject.

The X-ray from yesterday on Donnie's pelvis showed that it is fractured in several places but it is in alignment.  He is not to have any weight bearing on his feet for at least a month.  This means he cannot get out of bed at all which increases his chance of pnemonia.  He is doing his breathing exercises many times throughout the day to keep his lungs expanding.

A special wound nurse came in today and went over him very carefully and thoroughly.  Both my Mom and Donnie were very impressed with the amount of detail she went through in getting his wounds taken care of.  He had one on his left arm and one on his left leg that were "tunneling" which means they were healing on the top and not from the inside out.  They had to have special gause stuffed in them to cause them to heal from deep down and then on to the top.  My Mom said this type of gause works excellent on wounds of this type.  She also very carefully trimmed away the dead tissues from his "road rash" that really cleaned things up nicely.  His deeper wound on the back of his right heel is showing healing but it is much deeper than the rest of his wounds and is going to take more time.

Tonight they are going to give him some sleeping pill because he is so tired and he needs to get some rest.  It is weird but the hospital is not a place where you get much rest.  I wish you could bottle it up and just apply sleep like oils but it doesn't work that way.  They bother you so often it is extremely difficult to rest properly.

Tonight we left around 8PM because we had to get Julie to the airport so she could fly back to Lexington, Kentucky and get my van, some important things, and her own belongings she has there and drive my van back to Mesa, Arizona where she will pick up my Toyota Camry and with a friend of ours, drive both vehicles up here to Las Vegas so I can have my van.  This way when Donnie is ready to go home with me I will have a vehicle that he could get into and even be laid down for the trip if necessary.  Then Julie and our friend will drive my Camry back to Mesa, Arizona and build a ramp into the house and do some painting for us in preparation of Donnie's return home.  Please pray for Julie's safety and sanity as she helps us out in the many behind-the-scenes work that is so very important.

I have been asked where to send cards or flowers.  In ICU nobody can receive flowers.   With Donnie being in ICU for a month this will not be something that can be done for him.  What would be better than flowers would be like a gift card that can be used anywhere for gas or merchandise like a pre-paid VISA or a Target Card or something along these lines.  Cards can be received by patients in ICU but that is it for now.  I will have to update you when he changes to a regular room.  That will be a day of celebration, for sure.  If you would like to send cards with gift cards in lieu of flowers this would be where to send them:

Sunrise Medical Center
Tramua ICU - Don Schirr
3186 S. Maryland Parkway
Las Vegas, NV 89109

If you need to send anything to Carol directly I am staying across the street from the hospital.  The address for me is:

Homestead Studio Suites - Midtown
3045 S. Maryland Parkway
Room 115 - Carol Schirr
Las Vegas, NV 39109

We thank you for your continued support in prayer and your love and concern!  Your prayers for speedy recovery are greatly appreciated.  Please keep them coming.

September 21st

 Howdy,

Today was a pretty rough day.  Donnie was in quite a bit of pain and very uncomfortable all around.  A doctor came in and made the determination that he needed a "wound vac" put on the wound on his buttocks.   They came in at like 8AM and said they were going to do the wound vac and never got it on until after 4PM!  Julie had been in the hotel room making home made stew that was to die for.  We took some over to Donnie and he just raved about it.  Tonight was the first time he could have real food.  Now we need to pray that he does not go through the roof when he needs to move his bowels!!! That wound and all the trauma that part of his body went through will be a critical thing when the bowels move.  Please pray that he is spared from too much pain!

I got to get some Trauma Life, Frankincense, Copiabia and Relieve It on him today.  I also got a whole capsule of Frankincense in him and one Life 5 along with a NingXia Red packet.  He just loves all of that.  I did a couple of energy treatments on him also.   One to stop bleeding and another one to lower fluid build up.

Let's pray that tomorrow is a better day for him.  He really needs it.

That's all for now,
Queenie

Tuesday Sept 20

Just got in from tucking Donnie in for the night.  Today was another day of running my tail off with details for Donnie.

He was bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning when I arrived.  I arrived a little later than I wanted but we had to change hotel rooms to have two beds instead of one because there are already three of us and Donnie's daughter, Mindy, was flying in tonight plus trying to get a few important emails answered was critical and I had to order a few products from Young Living for Donnie.  I also had about a 20 minute conversation with the owner of JCT Trucking (the trucking company Donnie gets his load dispatches from in Tulsa, Oklahoma) about whether or not I should tell Donnie about David dying or not especially since he keeps asking questions about him all the time.  John Christner told me I absolutely HAD to tell him and that not telling him was making it worse for me and him.  So I arrived at the hospital and the first thing he asked me was, "Am I allowed to know any details yet?"  I said he probably could as he was doing so great.  He immediately said, "I need to know about David." And then he looked at me with very strong eyes like he meant it.  I held his hand and very gently and quietly said, "Honey, I know. Um, well...David was killed instantly."  Donnie took it pretty hard and his heart started pounding pretty hard.  I just kept consoling him and he just kept gasping and fidgiting in the bed.  I told him that John Christner would like to talk to him on the phone but Donnie had to wait about 30 minutes before he gave me permission to put John on the phone with him.  John is a very wise business man and he has had to do things around this type of thing many times as he has a fleet of over 900 trucks!  Whatever he said to Donnie helped him quite a bit.  After that call Mom and I held Donnie's hand on either side of the bed and prayed with him.  He is so appreciative of prayers!  He said that helped him a lot!  After that he looked at me and asked, "May I ask if we still have a truck?"  I said, "No Baby, no more truck."   He again took that pretty hard but he said he needed to accept all of this and move on.

I had a lot of details to iron out for Donnie today so I could not stay long.  I had to cancel his credit cards because his wallet was not found.  I had to go buy a couple of big totes to put all the things that were recovered from the truck in and coordinate one of the JCT's 900 trucks to pick up all of the things that were recovered so we could empty the rental car and get it returned by 6PM.

Julie was back at the motel room changing all of our stuff from one room to another. So Mom and I went and got the totes, came back to the motel and then Mom walked back to see Donnie while Julie and I took off to the TA Truck Stop to meet the JCT driver that was contacted by the home office with our situation.  Traffic was terrible today so all this took much longer than it should have.  We took the two big totes and the two very large tool boxes that we salvaged from the wreckage to the truck stop and met the driver and got that unloaded from the car.

After that we finally got to eat a meal and then went to the grocery store to get some things Julie could cook up and have on hand so we don't have to eat out for every meal.  We have a kitchenette in our hotel room.  Julie also did up our laundry and is building a web page so everyone can get updated everyday.  She has been such a huge help behind the scenes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  As soon as we got all the groceries unloaded and put away, we headed back to the car rental place to return the car before it got charged for another day.

I rushed back up to see Donnie as it was now approaching 5PM!!!  I was just running and panting!  Donnie wanted to immediately call Kay Terry (the widow of the driver, David Terry).  He was tormented about not speaking to her after knowing about David's demise.  She was very kind and sweet to Donnie and I know it was so very hard for him to do it.  That was so very healing for both of them.  I got to stay with Mom and we kept adjusting him for comfort as he requested and helped the nursing staff with changing bandages and underpads on the bed for Donnie.  He is in total bed rest and is not being made to get up at all due to the extent of his wounds.  We just got him comfortable again when I got a call from Dr. Gary Young's personal assistant, Vallory Judd who helps run the Young Living Clinic in Ecuador.  She was horrified of this news and sent me some great oil recipies for Don's pain.  During the call Mom and I decided to walk to the motel so we could eat supper and get some specific oils Donnie wanted us to apply for him.

After dinner Julie and I walked back to the hospital to see Donnie and his daughter, Mindy, was already there!  He was so very happy and Mindy, Julie and I stayed and visited with Donnie and helped him with a few things.  Julie also brought her camera up there so we could photo shoot some of the trauma ICU nurses that are totally awesome so we can put them on the blog.  She also took a picture of the dirty "Sugar Bear" bear with Donnie to post on the blog and then we will wash "Sugar Bear" and photo him again when Donnie is all better.

That's all I have for today.  That's enough!

Saturday morning, September 16, 2011 the phone awakens me at 6:40AM.  The question asked, "Who am I speaking with?"  I answer back, "Umm, who are you?"  They answer, "I am Officer Timmerman of the Arizona Department of Transportation, do you know a Leon David Terry?"  I answer, "Well, I guess I do, I just did not know his first name was Leon, I know him as David Terry, why?"  He answered,  "There's been an accident and I need to get in touch with his family."  I immediately asked, "An accident!!!  What about Don Schirr?"  He asks, "How do you know Don?"  I said, "I am his wife."  He said, "He was flown by helicopter to Las Vegas, Nevada and is in critical condition, do you have any contact information, a phone number or an address for Leon David Terry?"  I began to shake and my breathing became very rapid and my heart started pounding.  I searched and searched for over an hour to find any information for Mr. Terry but was unsuccessful.  After just 30 minutes of searching for the information I called my Mother in Winter Haven, Florida and said, "Mom, I am so scared (I was starting to hyper ventilate) I don't know what to do, I just got a call from the Arizona Department of Transportation and they said Donnie and his friend got in a bad accident and Donnie is in critical condition in Las Vegas, Nevada!!  I can't find any information about David Terry and I need to get to Las Vegas, Nevada...I am so scared...I don't know what to do!"

My Mom replied, "What do you want me to do, I'll go anywhere, I'll do anything!"  I just asked her to find me a flight as soon as possible and I would continue to search for the information that Officer Timmerman neeeded.  She called back within 40 minutes with flight information and an email confirmation.  She booked herself a flight and we were to arrive within 10 minutes of each other...by 7PM Pacific Time.  When we arrived at the Sunrise Medical Trama Center about 8PM we were informed that Don had just been taken to surgery to stop the bleeding coming from his right buttocks.  We proceeded to check into a hotel across the street from the Trauma Center and get a bite to eat at Denny's and then returned to ICU.  Don was still heavily sedated at that time.  He had multiple serious wounds and was trying to come out of anesthesia.  When he opened his swollen and purple eyes, he was so glad to see me!  He could talk but not move very much.  He had tons of staples all over his head, in his hair, along the sides of his face and across his forehead.  When he arrived at the hospital from his flight he was covered in blood and dirt!  He was almost totally bandaged from the neck to his toes because of road rash and multiple wounds.   He could talk some but it was a struggle.