October 4, 2011

Dear Friends,

Yesterday was a pretty good day overall and we felt like we really made some positive progress. Mom, Donnie and I were watching "Dancing with the Stars" together around his bed while I was typing out the update to you all for the day. Donnie was saying he thought his bowels were going to move but remember that his most extensive injuries are extremely close to this area. This is a great concern for the doctors not only because of the injuries but because of all the strong pain medication that is very constipating it could cause problems. They gave him Miralix on one shift and some kind of injection on the next shift plus he had taken a supplement called ComforTone which between all three of these things caused a bowel movement that relieved him in one way but caused extreme pain in another way. I did not get to go home to sleep until after midnight because I had to help Mom with Donnie and cleaning him up. He was complaining of extreme pain in his left buttocks and lower groin area after the bowel movement. He had a very rough night because of this. When I arrived in the morning he was in very bad pain. The Orthopedic surgeon had been in to see him early in the morning and Donnie explained the pain he was in and also told him that he had lost a lot of his strength and ability to maneuver in the bed. His legs were weak and he was worried about it. The Orthopedic surgeon explained that the injuries affected all of the ligaments, tendons and other connective tissue that holds his intestines in place and they have been torn and badly injured so when the bowel movement moved through with the amount and force that it did, all of those tissues were in a sense reinjured and inflammed. He said that this was one of his concerns about Don from the beginning due to the extent of his injuries. He ordered an X-ray of the pelvic area because of the severity of the pain he was experiencing.

Mom and I were going to bathe him before the X-ray but we had to hire a notary to witness Don's signatures on the titles of his truck and trailer. Of course, he showed up right about that time. There were quite a few people in here all at once with nurses, physical therapists, notary and even the social worker all showed up at one time. Also, outside the door was a long time friend of mine, Sue Bonney and a friend of hers Caroline that came over from St. George, Utah to be moral support for Mom and I. They brought us all kinds of awesome fresh fruits, berries, veggies and tons of healing supplements for Donnie too. Sue's husband, Jim Bonney, is my sponsor in Young Living and we used to attend the same church when we all lived in Wisconsin. They brought us two bottles of NingXia Red, Ortho Sport massage oil and lots of snacks and healthy things. Then they took Mom and I out to Sweet Tomatoes for a very healthy lunch. It was soooo good. Thank you Jim and Sue for your love and generosity!

Donnie called us just as we finished eating and asked when we would be back. He said that they came to x-ray him and he absolutely could not take the pain of putting that board under him so they had to change their plans. He was in extreme pain so we jumped in the car and came back immediately. The x-ray people actually pulled the wound vac loose so it wasn't working which complicated matters. We had to call the wound vac nurse to fix the damage before the x-ray people could come back. Once that was back in place the x-ray people came back and we were instructed to call the nurse to get a triple dose of Dilauded just so he could handle the pain of the x-ray. They gave him the shot and asked Mom and I to leave the room while they did the x-rays. Donnie said they started about 5 minutes too early because the Dilauded had not kicked in all the way so he experienced extreme pain once again. We got him fixed back up in bed and he went to sleep. We told him that I was taking Mom back to the hotel so she could get some sleep before the night and I made some coffee to fill the thermos for the night. I came back up and Donnie was eating supper. Mom was explaining to one of my sisters the situation here and she actually broke down crying for Donnie because she has such compassion for him. My Mom is a rock and hardly ever cries so that shows you how much we feel for Donnie.

Mom got to sleep about 4:50PM and I expected her to sleep until at least 9PM or 10PM and then call me to pick her up. Well she called at 7:30PM saying that the fire alarm went off in the hotel because someone left chicken on the stove and started smoking and the main fire alarms went off and everyone was coming out of their rooms. Well, nobody can sleep through that terrible noise so I went and got her by 8PM! She said that there was no way she could go back to sleep at that point and wanted to come back up here right away. Poor Mom, no sleep!

Donnie got his shot of Dilauded again just after I left to get my Mom so it was working well for us to give him a bath. We washed his hair and shaved him and got all his oils on along with the Ortho Sport massage oil so he felt so much better! He just hit another pain thresh-hold and was due for Lortabs but it doesn't kick in for about 30 minutes so he asked for a capsule of Valerian essential oil which works much faster. He now is sleeping and I am about to go home for the night.

That's all for today's update. Tomorrow morning (probably very early) the Orthopedic Surgeon will be in with the report from the x-ray so hopefully this will answer the question why there is such excruciating pain this late in the game.

Please pray for continued healing and creative miracles for Don. He is crying out to God for His help himself many times a day but he really depends on all of our prayers as his family.

With much love and gratitude,

Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)