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