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