October 15, 2011

 Hello Praying Friends,

Today we have some GREAT NEWS!

Donnie's words about his day today at about 3:00PM were, "Today I had a wonderful day!".  Those are encouraging words and we are going to hold on to them.  Thank you for your prayers and please continue to uphold us like never before!  We depend on it!

Last night was a very, very challenging night for Mom and Don.  His pain got totally out of control and by 3AM he was demanding that something be done because he could not stand it any longer.  Mom was totally working herself to death trying to make him comfortable but nothing was working.  We think that because sometimes he is sleeping at a time when he should be asking for pain meds that they don't wake him up to administer them to him and then the pain gets behind the meds and for about 4-5 hours he suffers beyond imagination.  The staff isn't allowed to just give pain meds on a schedule because of some rule so as a result I went to the store and bought him a timer that goes over 9 hours and we just set it for 4 hours every time he gets a Lortab so it will wake him up if needed.  Hopefully tonight we can avoid the valley of pain by keeping the dosage in his system.  The other thing that helped immensely is that they added Neurotin, a drug specifically for nerve damage, to his AM medications which seems to have taken a lot of his pain down.  He slept quite well today off an on which is a good sign.  He is in good spirits and is determined to fight this thing.

This morning I had to get up at 5AM so I could pick Mom up at the hospital and be on the road by 6AM to get her to the airport.  I just jumped in my clothes and was up in Don's room by 5:20AM.  They were just starting to get Don's pain to come down.  He was sitting up on the side of the bed when I arrived.  Mom and I fussed around with him and changed the bedding because the wound vac had a huge hole rubbed in it and was leaking out on the bed.  After we got him settled he got some more Dilaudid and drifted off to sleep.  So when Mom and I left at 6AM he was fast asleep.

The wound vac was scheduled to be totally redone this morning so that worked out great.  They changed it out in record time today once they got here.  The very encouraging news from the wound vac nurse was when Don asked if he thought they would be able to close the wound on Monday and he said emphatically, "Yes"!  So with that vote of confidence from his point of view, we were greatly encouraged about Monday's outcome from surgery.

Today marks exactly 4 weeks since Don arrived here after the accident.  Mom, Julie and I arrived at the hospital almost exactly at this time four Saturdays ago.  We have covered a lot of ground and have made wonderful progress.  Our journey is not over but we are glad to have as much of the path behind us.  Please pray for mercy from God on Donnie.  Tonight around 6PM his pain started kicking up again and he just begins to sweat something fierce.  I believe that on an unconscious level he remembers that it was just after supper in the evening around 7PM that he turned the wheel over to David and then a couple of hours later he went to bed in the sleeper and then the accident happened.  His brain remembers this and unconsciously he must have some fear that something bad will happen to him if he goes to sleep too deeply.  Also, the memory in his cells is trauma and pain.  I am going to work on finding out what we can do with prayers, essential oils and energy work to unlock the trauma in the DNA of his cells.  I had a very good prayer session with him just after 6:30PM tonight and it seemed to have a very powerful effect on his pain.  He just finished watching the Nascar race on TV and he is resting quietly.  I have a comedy movie in the DVD player for a little later to get him laughing and get his mind off of being in the bed.

Today we finished his 500 piece puzzle which was a fun thing.  Of course, I did most of it but he did quite a bit too considering he can only sit up for a short time.  I did let him put in the last piece though which made him feel like he accomplished a lot.

I have not left the hospital at all today and I am going to stay through the night.  I did get a nap from 4PM-6PM which has really refreshed me.  Hopefully tonight will be a great night of rest for Don and I will be able to sleep for a few hours at a time.  Again, we depend on your consistent and constant prayers every minute of the day.

We love you all,
Don and Carol Schirr