January 4, 2012

Happy New Year Everyone!,

 

Wow!  Who could believe we are already into another new year?  Time passes so quickly, doesn't it?  Speaking of time passing...a lot of time has passed since I last updated you and soooooo much has happened in that time.  I will do my best to update you on the most important things that have happened.

 

We first of all would like to thank each one of you for your continued prayers, your calls of encouragement and reminding us of your prayers, your love and support for us in this time of recovery.  Without your prayers and positive thoughts heading our way we would not be able to stay strong and continue to heal at the rate of speed that we are experiencing!  God Bless you all in your personal contributions toward us in thought, word, deed and prayers!

 

The last time we updated you we were anticipating a big cross country trip to accomplish some very important things for Don and I and it seemed like a huge amount of tasks, stops and encounters that needed to take place in a very short period of time, didn't it?  Well, we are happy to announce that literally everything on our "to do list" for the trip was accomplished, thanks to your prayer support.

 

We had originally planned on leaving the morning of December 14th to start on the first leg of the over 4000 mile trip we had planned.  Well, as most of you know, neither Don nor I are morning people and because of his sleepless nights mornings are even harder for us than ever before.  Many nights Don struggles with sleeplessness and pain and doesn't even get to sleep very well until 4AM-6AM so he is just sleeping the best until 9AM or 10AM most days.  So we talked about it and decided that if at all possible we would try to head out around noon on December 13th to give us an extra day to get to Tulsa which is 1105 miles from our doorstep here in Mesa, Arizona!  Under normal conditions we could just make it in two very long days of pushing hard but since Don needs to get out of the vehicle about every hour and a half to stretch and walk a bit that was going to add some time to the trip.  So we had that goal in mind and were anticipating getting a jump start on the trip.

 

Well since Don did not have a license anymore due to losing his wallet in the accident, my days were filled with running him from appointment to appointment and pharmacys on top of constantly having to massage his right foot and leg for sometimes up to 45 minutes at a time to help with the pain.  I was trying to keep up with regular living with meals, dishes, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, yard work, Christmas decorating (remember Donnie putting up icicle lights outside?) and trying to get all the stuff from the Las Vegas ordeal put up (a whole U-Haul full), that I was not seeing any possible way we could leave at all, let alone a half a day early!  Don was so uncomfortable and miserable most of the time that it was all I could do to try to help him get more comfortable with either essential oils, massages, drugs, food or whatever which left each day a little worse with the issue of not being organized or ready for the trip.  My anxiety was starting to really climb when I would look around and it seemed as if there was more stuff to deal with instead of less!!!  I wasn't getting adequate sleep and Don was having to wake me up in the nights to rub his feet.  I was so exhausted that sometimes when he would ask me to rub his feet in bed I would start to move toward his feet so my head would be at his feet and his head at my feet, that I would literally fall asleep half way down the bed.  Is that funny, or what?  Don used to sit up and move his head to the bottom of the bed but he moved so slow that I thought it would be better if I moved instead of him.  Well the first couple of nights that was ok but after that, I would drop off to sleep in the middle of the move.  Who ever heard of that?!  Well, Donnie would just go out on the couch and put his socks on and get the foot massager out and sit there for a long time having it massage his feet because I literally could not stay awake long enough to do it for him.

 

All of this was going on when all of a sudden just two days before we were wanting to leave Don had two of the worst days of pain and sleepless nights on the planet.  He was probably the worst I had seen him since we returned home.  Nothing at all would curb the pain and he could not sleep at all!  I had a talk with him about the wisdom of taking this huge trip with me getting interupted sleep and him no sleep and the house in shambles and nothing packed.  I told him that unless we see literally a miraculous turn around that it was impossible for us to take off on the 14th let alone by noon on the 13th.  I am a person that cannot leave my house in anykind of a mess or dirty in any stretch of the word so this meant that if we were to be able to go at all I would need a host of helping angels to come and work with me on this impossible project!  At 5AM on December 13th we sat knees to knees holding hands and prayed like we have never prayed before asking God to show us clearly what we were to do and for Him to send a host of helping angels and relief of Don's pain as well as miraculous restorative sleep and clarity as to what we were to do about the trip we had planned.  We cried together and held each other as we relinquished our personal wills to do what God would see fit as best for us to do.  Don cried out to God in the most pleading, childlike way for his help and deliverance from his pain and sleeplessness.  He poured out his heart to God telling Him that his heart's desire was to see his parents and get to Tulsa to get his license and attend the JCT 25th Anniversary/Christmas Party.  God wants us to be able to have our deepest hearts desire and Don was telling God what his hearts desire was.  Don went to bed to get some sleep and I looked around thinking it was impossible for us to leave that day.  I made a few phone calls to my sister Julie, my friends Sally and Dee and explained the situation and shared how hopeless it looked for our journey.  I started working on the impossible tasks and by 7:30AM, just 2 1/2 hours after he layed down, Don came out of the bedroom and announced that he felt energized, rested and amazingly different with almost no pain!  I was astonished.  Well, we both put our best foot forward in getting the trashed house together and packed our suitcases.  I even got everything in the house back in perfect order and only ran out of time to vacuum and mop the floors.  We aimed at getting on the road by noon but it was 3:03PM when we drove out of the gate.  This was truly a miracle in more ways than one!

 

We drove in driving rain and about 58 degrees which is freezing for Arizona.  We got to Globe, Arizona and had Don get out to walk, potty and get a sandwich before heading across the "no-man's land" of the desert.  We drove out of the rain by the time we hit the New Mexico border.  We drove to Las Cruses, New Mexico and got there about 10PM for the night.  The next day we got going about 10:30AM and made it to Clinton, Oklahoma just west of Oklahoma City after having a really sunny, dry beautiful day of driving.  Don actually drove for about 3 hours of the trip too.  (Sshhhhhhh, don't tell anyone because he didn't have his license back yet.)  We had to get up early (6AM) to get off to see his friend Virgie before heading off to Tulsa.  We had a nice but short visit with Virgie and he was so glad to see her for the first time in many years.  She is 82 years old and lives in a senior living duplex area and is very happy there.

 

We rushed on to Tulsa and immediately went to Sam's Club to get a small gift for the JCT Trucking Office Staff and continued on to the office before everyone was finished working for the day.  We arrived about 2:30PM and stayed until around 4:30PM.  What an emotional time that was for Donnie!!!!  He just cried and embrased so many of his friends and co-workers there at JCT.  He cried as he embrased John Christner his long time friend and boss there at JCT Trucking.  John and Don were able to sit down in John's office and talk business for over an hour.  Don is really wanting to get back in a truck and get to work.  He just has to realize that his body has to catch up with his mind.  He'll probably surprise us all at how quickly he does get back to work.  Don wants to stay here in Mesa, Arizona and drive more locally for JCT if that is possible.  Time will tell.  When we walked out of the JCT office Don said, "That really made my day, that is my family and it was so good to see them all."

 

On Friday, December 16th we got so many things done on our "to-do list" including getting Don's CDL license back, seeing his doctor there and many other things that we really felt good about everything.  We also had a little "open house" at our hotel for people we knew in the area there were not going to be at the JCT 25th Anniversary/Christmas Party on Saturday.  Our open house was from 4PM - 8PM but ended up being until 10PM.  Many people came and enjoyed some snacks and treats with us there in the hotel lobby.  It was so great to see everyone!  Our salesman, Lance Collins from MHC Kenworth where we bought our last truck came and the shop foreman from MHC Kenworth, Jessie came and brought a beautiful suede throw with fleece lining and the MHC Kenworth logo on it as a gift.  What a surprise that was!  It was so good to see them and of course, I had to take pictures!  That night was so good for Don to see all the friends and prayer warriors that have prayed us through all of this.  Many tears were shed and the love we both felt from everyone was so amazing!

 

Saturday we had to go to our camper and get several things out of it including most of Don's clothes and a few other things.  It had already been winterized for us by the awesome campground owners, Chad and Nancy Cline.  They have been more than wonderful to us with helping us with the camper and keeping our pickup truck at their private home while we are gone.  God has truly blessed us with that whole situation.  We just love the Warrior RV Park there in Tulsa and Chad and Nancy have been such great friends and angels to us, we could never thank them enough!

 

That night we headed off to the JCT Trucking Anniversary/Christmas Party.  Our insurance agent from Great West Casualty, Brenda Hood and her husband Mark drove down from Kansas City, Missouri to attend the party with us.  We had never met Brenda in person before but she has been an angel, arm of God and a true friend to us through all of this!  She has gone way beyond the call of duty in many areas and we could never thank her enough for going beyond the call of duty on our behalf.  It was truly a blessing to meet her in person!  She has the cutest Yorkie named "Molly" that she brought with her.  The dog lover in both of us was reignighted for sure!

 

Clifton and Donna Biggs of northern Oklahoma drove down to attend the JCT event as well.  If you remember, Clifton is David Terry's double cousin (the driver of the truck when the accident happened).

It was great to see them again too.  The JCT party was totally awesome!  There were over 500 people there at the convention center in Tulsa and one of the highlights was a new Freightliner Tractor with a Utility Trailer were in the dining room as gifts to John Christner for his 25th Anniversary in business.  They had a photographer there to take pictures of those that chose to go up the staircase they had at both sides of the tractor and sit in the drivers seat.  This was the first time Don was able to get into a tractor again.  It felt so good to him and he was so happy.  The whole night was totally awesome and it was great for me to get to know more about John Christner from over the years.  They had a great program with many competitor's owners on recording sharing the love they have for John Christner and the loving, supportive competition they have between themselves.  The integrity, stewardship and honor that was given to John that night was a great testimony of his character and good, honest and giving heart in all that he does.  He is truly a man of his word!  It is no wonder he has been so blessed and has been so successful.  God has honored him for his integrity!  Thank you, John!

 

Early Sunday morning we headed to Mt. Vernon, Illinois to stay the night before heading to Don's parent's in Iuka, Illinois.  Early Monday morning (in the rain) we headed to Mom and Dad's house.  That was another tearful reunion!  Don was so happy to see his parents!!!  This was a MUST DO on our to-do list for the trip.  I knew about this next surprise but had not said anything to you the readers or to Don about it.  That evening Don's family and extended family had put together a surprise dinner for Donnie.  His parent's and I talked about how we were going to get Donnie to go to Salem that night and they said they would just say they wanted to take us out to dinner.  It worked like a charm!  We got to Salem and turned right at this one corner.  Don was raised in this town and knew there weren't any restaurants in this area but I just kept admiring the christmas lights all around to distract him.  Then we made another turn and he leaned over to me and asked, "where are we going?".  I replied, "I have no idea".  I really didn't because I had never been there before and didn't know, right?!  Well we took a couple wrong turns evidentally but eventually ended up at this place his cousin works.  Don looked in the front window from the truck and saw his cousin's husband, Floyd sitting there and he said, "That's Floyd!!".  He immediately burst into tears because he realized that this was a surprise for him!  His family reunion had taken place on October 11th during the time Don was in the hospital which was very hard for him.  He is the MC of the event and of course couldn't be there.  So this was just like having the family reunion all over again.  This time there was a piano there so I was able to get out some of my stress, tension and other emotions as I played the piano all night.  I started out playing Christmas Carols and many family members joined in singing.  It was good background music for the night and I thoroughly enjoyed myself!  This whole evening totally made Donnie's Christmas!  He was so happy that words could not express it!

 

The next morning we returned to Mom and Dad's and spent some time with them and left about 1PM to head to Lexington.  It was raining (of course) so we drove all the way to the Kentucky state line before driving out of the rain.  We arrived at our condo about 8:15PM.  Our good friends, Frank and Sally Doub drove down from the Indianapolis area to see us and just got to their hotel about an hour before we got home.  They were staying only about 3 miles from our house so we invited them over to visit.  It was so nice and warm that we actually stayed out on our deck and visited without coats until almost midnight!  It was 57 degrees when we came in.  We had to have a little blanket thrown around our shoulders but it was not windy and very still and it felt very good! We had to get up early so we could get the oil changed in our van and have breakfast with our great friends, Stan and Phyllis Briggs.  That was a wonderful time too!  Then we had our good friends Sally and Frank Doub and Bob and Dee Edwards drive down from Indianapolis, Indiana to celebrate Dee's birthday which was actually on the 21st which was today's date so we had a great time together.  We all met at Sahara's Mediterranian Restaurant and had some wonderful food and then came back to our condo for a wonderful coconut birthday cake and gifts.  Bob didn't like coconut so luckily I had some red velvet mini cupcakes for him that we brought with us.  The cake was wonderful!  The time passed very quickly and Bob and Dee had to leave to drive back to Indy, yes here and back plus a party all in one day.  They are awesome people.  Frank and Sally stayed another night in the hotel and then took off the next morning.  Again, we had to sleep fast with so much to do the next day.  I had a much needed hair appointment with Tiny, my hairdresser and Donnie had to get his glasses adjusted at the same time.  We had a bunch of little things that had to be done while we were there in Lexington and we got them all done just in time to set up for our open house for people to come see us.  It was from 6-8:30PM and we had a blast.  The house was full of wonderful people and they came when they could and left as they needed to.  I asked Tina Coons to bring her adorable 1 year old minature Dachshund  "Daisy" with her and she followed through!  She is the cutest ever Dachshund and she loves "Aunt Carol"!!!!!  I just loved hugging and kissing on her and she was the star of the show.  She was so well behaved and the perfect little pup!!! That was a real highlight for The Queen, for sure!

 

The last guests left about 9:30PM and we were bushed!!!! I mean bushed beyond bushed!  The house was trashed and I just didn't have any more strength to do anything about it so we went to bed without doing a thing!  I told Donnie that it was totally and completely impossible for us to leave by noon the next day which was our plan.  We had to get the house put back together and fixed up from my sister Julie being there, bathrooms cleaned from the party, 4 loads of laundry to do and the stuff we brought to put back there and anything that was undone from my fast exodus from when I got the call about Donnie's accident back on September 17th!  Whew!  All this on top of trying to get the place in a position of being able to have an appraiser come in and possibly get it shown for prospective buyers if the market is good enough for that.  We also had to gather all of our tax information and papers so we could do our taxes in January!  Well, The Queen has her standards and they are very high so I dug into the work very early in the morning.  Don was not feeling well at all so I had to do everything except load the van by myself.  I also had to go to the bank to speak with our personal banker about address changes, getting a debit card for Donnie on our personal account, etc.  I had to get the van gassed up and ready for the trip to Mississippi.  By the time I got everything done and got the condo shut down for the Winter and everything packed we finally pulled out of the driveway at 7:02PM!!!!  Thirteen hours after I started working on the mess. Oh my Gosh!  Well, at least everything was done except for vacuuming which I could have someone do for me, if needed.  I was feeling pretty good but we had an 11 hour trip to my sister Ruthie's house.  Well, we only got a little over 2 hours away and Donnie spoke up saying that his pain was getting real bad and he needed to stop for the night.  Well, I checked the GPS for a Hampton Inn and we stopped there for the night.  It was in Franklin, Kentucky.  Yes, we didn't even make it out of the state.  I got the big oil kit out of the van and Donnie's massage equipment in to the hotel room and went to work on him.  He was feeling a head cold coming on and was all stuffed up and ached all over.  He was pretty miserable so I headed to the truck stop across the way to get him some daytime and nighttime cold medicine so he could get some sleep.  He did sleep a little that night and felt a little better in the morning.  We got going about 9AM Central Time and arrived at Ruthie's just as it was getting dark about 4:30PM or so.  Ruthie had an awesome chicken noodle soup dinner ready for us to sit down to and believe me...it tasted sooooooo good!  It is always so relaxing and restful at Ruthie's house!  She insists on us getting our rest.  We got up Sunday morning which was also Christmas morning and headed to church with Ruthie and Doug.  What a wonderful time that was!  The service, music and people were awesome!  Donnie cried as he was so overwhelmed with love from all of the people that came up and hugged and greeted him letting him know they had been praying for him and continue to pray from him.  Just the final touch and necessary stop on this awesome trip.  Donnie wanted so badly to meet the people in the Petal/Harvey Baptist Church that had not only supported us in prayer but in financial gifts and physical gifts as well.  God is so good!

 

The day after Christmas Donnie was not feeling very good.  He hadn't slept much the night before and just ached all over.  It was raining and miserable outside and we sat around relaxing until early afternoon.  Then we decided to take a drive down to the gulf to Gulfport, Mississippi and found a great seafood restaruant on the beach that Donnie really enjoyed.  Donnie was pretty sleepy so on the way down and back he dozed off for most of the trip.

 

Tuesday it was much better weather wise and Donnie felt a little better.  So he and Doug took off to look at tractors because Doug was going to be getting one to work in the yard with.  Ruthie and I went separately to town and did a little shopping and errands while the guys had some guy time doing guy stuff.  We relaxed the rest of that evening and started getting our things packed and ready for the trip back to Arizona.

 

We got on the road about noon on Wednesday and drove until about 11PM stopping frequently along the way until we reached Weatherford, Texas just west of Dallas.  We were back on the road by 11AM and made it back to Las Cruces, New Mexico and stayed at the same place we stayed on the first night of our trip.  We were back on the road by 10AM on Friday, December 30th and made it home to Mesa, Arizona by 4:30PM where it was 73 degrees and perfect sun!!!!  Wow did that feel good!   Since we left home at 3:03PM on December 13th we drove 4365 miles!  Now that is a marathon!  God was good, we got everything on our to-do list accomplished and now we can start rehabilitating Donnie back to strength, flexibility and health.  Donnie noticed that he is a little weaker than when we left because of not being able to do his regular exercises. 

 

New Year's Eve we attended my favorite pianist/psalmist's concert at a church in Scottsdale, Arizona as our evening out.  It started at 7PM and we were home just after 10PM.  His name is Marty Goetz and he was so annointed and amazing that night that we felt like we had a little taste of heaven!  If you have never heard him, check him out online and see him in concert in your area.  The concerts are free and it is absolutely awesome!

 

January 3rd Donnie had two doctor's appointments; one at the Desert Pain Institute in the morning and the other with the Neurologist for a Nerve Study in the afternoon.  Well, he did not sleep at all the night before so he was worn out before we even left the house.  We had to get up very early to get to our early appointment at the pain institute.  The determination was to add a new pain reliever just at night so he could sleep better, hopefully.  Also, the doctor said that the MRI results showed the pinched nerve in the SI joint and he is now scheduled for a cortizone shot this Friday.  The nerve study showed another pinched nerve in Donnie's right knee that is causing his right toes to be numb.  So now we have to schedule another MRI for his right knee.  It gets to be very draining and endless but we keep going!  Please keep praying.

 

Last night Donnie was so sore and tired that I just put him on the massage table and massaged many, many essential oils, massage oils and massage lotions into every inch of his body and worked out the soreness.  He got up and said, "I feel tremendously better and energized."  Well he stayed up for about another hour and then when he hit the pillow he slept very well until 5AM!  This is awesome for him!  He got up for a little while and went back to sleep from 7:30AM - 9:30AM, thank you Jesus!!!!  Hopefully today will be a better day!  The sun is high in the sky and it is supposed to be in the high 70's.  We have so much work to do in the house and out in the sheds but at least Donnie feels like helping with that so it will go faster. 

 

We love you all and thank you for your prayers and love!,

Don and Carol Schirr

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

Home Again!

Hello Everyone,

 

We hope you are still all praying earnestly for us because we still need it desparately!

We made it home Saturday, November 12th about 8:50PM.  We had stopped in Kingman, Arizona so Don could meet the man that rescued him from the wreck, Officer Ryan Timmerman.  It was a grand event.  He brought his beautiful wife, Lisa with him and his gorgeous 3 month old daughter, Hailey.  We visited for well over an hour at Denny's there at the Flying J.  I did not want to eat there but Kingman is a very small town so I was forced to eat there.  I got a wrap with avacado on it and it tasted like it was bad so instead of returning it I just took the rest of the avacado out of it and finished it.  Well, as a result, I got food poisoning pretty bad so the rest of the 225 miles was miserable.  I had to keep stopping to use the restroom and I was so nauseated and on the verge of  throwing up that I could hardly drive.  I was pulling a small U-Haul so Mel did not want to try to drive so I just kept going as best as I could.  I had a bottle of Peppermint oil up to my nose inhaleing it constantly to keep from throwing up.  Donnie was getting very nervous about what was happening.  He just couldn't wait to get home!

 

If that wasn't bad enough, when we got to Wickenburg, Arizona we stopped of course to go to the restroom, right?  Well, it was dark and I noticed that I couldn't see my running lights reflecting off of the trailer when I was driving so when we stopped I checked and sure enough, there was a short in the U-Haul trailer lights and now we had no running lights and it was pitch dark!  My brake lights and turn signals worked on both the trailer and the van but neither one had running lights!!!!!!!!  If you remember from the last email it took the U-Haul dealer almost 2 hours to get the lights working right and fixed fuses, etc.  So this was no surprise that something happened eventually with the lights.  As a result we had to drive the last 95 miles of the trip with our flashers on.

 

Just wait...it gets worse!  Well, I kept getting these waves of nausea and I kept fighting it just hoping to get home.  We made it to 10 miles before the exit for University Drive and I had to whip the van across several lanes and just got off the shoulder slamming it into park and just got one foot out the door before everything emptied out of my stomach!  I had to go to the back of the van after the first go round and just kept losing it!!! Geez that was terrible!  I had Mel call her husband to make sure he opened the house and turned the lights on in the bathroom by the back door so I could just run in and hit the bathroom.  I was so sick and felt so terrible!  Of course, Donnie was having such pain in the night that night and absolutely could not sleep in bed for more than a minute or two.  He really needed me but I was so sick and was just moaning out and begging God to deliver me from this horrible nausea all night.  Donnie just had to fend for himself.  I could not help it.  Well, again it gets worse...by 4AM Donnie started with the runs and man it was bad!  He can't move very fast so all day I cleaned up after him even though I felt like 900 pounds of homemade sin myself!  Donnie went through all 4 sets of his clothes in one day.  I was doing laundry as fast as I could to keep up.  Plus I had to go shopping for us as there was no food in this house and he had such pain I had to try to pick up some over the counter pain meds to help him and get some bandages for his wound on his back.  Oh, and I had to go to Auto Zone to get fuses to fix the lights on my van.  Ugh!  I felt so terrible the whole time but I just kept dragging through the day and kept putting one foot in front of the other.  I know this is probably unbelievable and I really wish it weren't true but you will be on the floor laughing when you hear this next twist to the story!!!!  Envision my van in the driveway backed in with a small U-Haul attached to it.  Then I have a Toyota Camry with a license plate that just expired on 10-31-2011. 

No kidding!!!  I always make it back here by the end of October to renew the license plate but guess what?!...I couldn't make it here because of Donnie.   So here I am running around town in a car with expired tags and my other vehicle without running lights!  Some days you just wonder, don't you?

 

This week has been a real challenge.  Many things I cannot even tell you or you would have to quit your full time job just to read the details of this journey!  We have had to take Donnie to the Acupuncturist and Chiropractor to get his pain under control and it worked fabulously the first time.  On Monday night we went to bed at 7PM and we both stayed in bed and Donnie actually slept until 6AM!!!! This was truly a miracle.  Well his pain has slowly returned so we have been back to the Acupuncturist Wednesday and Thursday in hopes of keeping his nerves intact.  He has had some horrible nights and the last two have been out of this world.  Please, please pray for him and that we will get some answers!

 

We love you all and hope to get more emails out after I get my bomb of a house put back together inbetween taking Donnie all over the county to appointments, trying to do laundry, make meals, clean up and keep his supplements and everything going. 

 

Thanks again,

Don and Carol Schirr

 

Celebration!

Hello Everyone!,

Today is 11-11-11, a very powerful day and a day of miracles for us!!!!!!  We are so overwhelmed by the power of all of your prayers and love and we have some very, very exciting news to share with you!  Just to catch you up on things a bit, Tuesday, November 8th on a gurney in a medical transport van to the TLC Care Center nursing home in Henderson, Nevada.  One big step in the process of getting home!

Before we share the exciting news I would like to let you know that we will be holding a LIVE conference call that you can dial into from anywhere in the world at the end of November.  Donnie and I will be sharing LIVE and in person some of the secrets of how Donnie was able to heal in quantum leaps!  Have your pens and paper ready because we will be giving you our Essential Oil and supplement tips and tricks that help us through not only healing but trauma, stress and nutritional deficiencies caused by trauma and stress.  Donnie wants to greet each of you and personally thank you for your faithful and constant prayers that have been the foundation of this journey.  You will be hearing from my Mom, Vallorie Judd and several others that were able to come out here to Las Vegas to see Donnie and to help with his care.  This will be a day of rejoicing in what God has done through your faithfulness to bring about many, many miracles.  Please be watching your emails for the announcement of this conference call once we are able to establish a date and time.

THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
Don had the "no weight bearing" restriction lifted on Tuesday evening.  Wednesday he was able to stand up, a little shaky of course but he stood with no problem!  That same afternoon he was given a walker and after gaining his balance he slowly started taking steps a little at a time.  He proceeded down the hall, around the nurses station, around the block of rooms behind the nurses station, back around the block of rooms and the nurses station and back down the hall to his room.  This was approximately 40 yards of distance!!!!!!  This is truly a miracle! By the time he was coming back down the hall his steps were much more sure, stable and smoother!  The physical therapists were totally amazed that he did so well.  So, Thursday morning it was off to the gym to see what else he could do.  He was at Physical Therapy for 1 1/2 hours straight and was able to do everything he was asked...including small stairs!!!  He even did bicycle petals for 30 minutes straight!  Can you believe it?!  He was so proud of himself that he would cry tears of joy.

Friday, 11-11-11, he went to 2 hours of therapy and did everything he was asked including a set of 5 stairs, going up and down 3 different times!  Of course, he is probably overdoing it and muscle soreness is going to be there but he wants to go home!  He was told when he arrived that he needed to be able to do two steps up and down to their satisfaction before they could release him from the Physical Therapy Department to go home.

At 3PM we had an appointment at the office of the plastic surgeon, Dr. Sohn, to see how the wound was doing. I actually drove Donnie in my own van to the appointment!!  He easily got in the back seat through the sliding door and off we went!   Donnie just loved being out rolling down the road again.  He just couldn't believe how good it felt!  We stopped a couple blocks from the nursing home at a Walgreens and picked up a walker for him and off we went.

Dr. Sohn was totally and completely floored at what Donnie looked like and that he was only on a walker!   He couldn't believe he could stand let alone walk!  He thought he was still on the weight restriction.  He just gasped when he saw him and you could see the joy in his face!  Everything on the wound was looking great except one small corner that is about the size of the tip of a man's finger that has "delayed healing".  Donnie begged him to release him to go home.  Well, Dr. Sohn said that I could easily treat this one small spot myself and redress it everyday myself.  He gave us the full release to go home to continue physical therapy there in our home with no restrictions!!!  Donnie just cried with joy and hugged Dr. Sohn thanking him for saving his life and for releasing him.  Dr. Sohn was so tender and so personal with us...it was a very special moment! Dr. Sohn ordered his nurse to remove the staples and stitches and dress the small spot with special gauze and a bandage.  Now only that spot has a bandage and the rest of the surgical site is open!  Of course I was taking pictures the whole time!

We are so excited that we can hardly stand ourselves!  We still have our neighbor Mel Ehlers with us and she can't believe we are actually going home tomorrow!  We took Donnie to Marie Callenders restaurant to celebrate and have a meal with him outside the nursing home.  He couldn't believe how great the food tasted.  We just had to call his parents and my parents to tell them that we were going home tomorrow, in our own van and with no restrictions!  Everyone is crying tears of joy!

So when you are praying today, please send many prayers of thanksgiving to Our Heavenly Father for showing His miracles to us and answering our cries!  Please keep us in your prayers especially as we drive the 6 hour trek from Las Vegas, NV to Mesa, AZ.  We will have to stop a few times for sure but Donnie is sure he can make it.  He just wants to be HOME!  We need lots and lots of prayers as Donnie has a lot of physical therapy and occupational therapy to do.  He has lost 25 lbs of muscle since we got here 8 weeks ago.  He kept his upper body muscles with the trapeze but the legs and buttocks will need much work to bring the muscles back.

In a few days I will be catching you up on some of the details of the past week but for now I must get packing as Donnie has probably been up all night waiting for us to come get him.

With love and adoration!,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mel Ehlers

November 5-7, 2011

Hello Everyone,

 

I bet you are wondering what is going on out here in Las Vegas, right?  Well, I will have to give you a general overview for the past few days.

 

Mel Ehlers has been here and has been a tremendous help and comfort to both Don and I.  It helps us to feel like we are home since she is our good neighbor from Mesa, Arizona.

 

So much has happened and most of it is good.  It has been very busy around here and it seems we are running all the time.  Don is improving a little each day.  We have had our ups and downs, that's for sure, but all in all he is moving up and getting ready to move out of here.  Speaking of moving, we have been standing by in anticipation of moving him to a place called TLC Care Center as I mentioned earlier.  We have had nothing but a waiting game.  The insurance company is holding the ball in their court right now.  We thought we were for sure moving today but nothing came through.  So here we are another day waiting.

 

Saturday, November 5th, our great friend Vallorie Judd from Utah came to help us with her expertise in Young Living Essential Oils to help both Don and I with not only physical issues but emotional ones as well.  She has given of herself and her time to be of help to us during this long and involved process.  Both of us feel tremendously better and we could never thank her enough for all she has done to get us back on track.  She helped us with special healing foods, suggestions for eating, drinking and oil and supplement schdules.  It has all been such a huge help.

 

Right now Don is free of all of his external hardware.  They took the PIC line out several days ago and of course you knew the catheter was gone so all he has is two bandages on his right ankle and foot and the big bandage over his back. 

 

We are headed to bed for tonight but we wanted to give you a quick update at least for the moment.  Please keep praying and we will give you some more exciting details about these last three days in one of the upcoming emails.

 

We love you all!,

Don and Carol Schirr, Mel Ehlers and Vallorie Judd

November 2, and 3

Hello,

 

The roller coaster we are on is picking up speed and increasing in intensity!  Remember when I said that if you don't get an update that things are probably intense?  Well, if you are into roller coaster rides, get your belts fastened and shoulder bars secured because the tight curves and upside down cork screw part of the roller coaster is coming up!

 

When I left the blog last, I believe I was telling you that our friend Mel was flying in from Phoenix on Wednesday morning.  Well, since Don was not feeling well on Tuesday, he did not want to get washed up and get his hair done so we got up bright and early Wednesday morning so I could get him all washed up, bed changed, hair done and shaving job done so when Mel arrived he would feel as good as possible.  Of course, Don did not know that Mel was coming and I wanted to keep that a big secret and surprise to cheer him up.  I was able to get all of his personal care done and easily get out the door to pick Mel up shortly after 9AM.  I told Don I had to run a couple of errands and that I would be back in a very short while.  Just as I was finishing getting Don cleaned up and dressed his parents called. He only said a couple of words to them and attempted to tell them how badly he felt and how depressed he was and he started to cry and could not finish his conversation.  As soon as he heard his Mom's voice he lost it completely and handed me the phone asking me to tell them he couldn't talk.  He just sobbed and of course, I started crying too and explained that his emotions were just all over the place.  I explained that it was probably due to the drug withdrawal and that he was just struggling right now.  They quickly got off the phone and said they would talk with him later in the evening.  I felt so bad that they had to end the call that way.  I know they are suffering just knowing that Don is so far away and that he is hurting so badly.  They told me that they don't sleep nights and that they shed a lot of tears just knowing Don is in such turmoil.  Please pray for Junior and Dorothy Schirr as they too have a big burden to bear.

 

When Mel and I got back here I had Mel wait in the hallway until I was sure Don wasn't in the middle of something.  Well, he was sitting up on the side of the bed which faces the door which was good and he was just finishing up a call.  He was looking very depressed and down so I asked him if he would like a good surprise.  He said he would so I told him I had one I would like to give him.  So I stepped out in the hallway and got Mel my by the hand and brought her to him.  He immediately burst into tears of joy and grabbed her and hugged her very tightly and for a long period of time and said, "Mel, it is so good to see you!  I am so glad you came!"  He just kept saying that and sobbing at length.  It really made Mel's day and she realized how much we really needed her.  Don could not believe that she would come and stay to help for a length of time but he was so glad that she would.

 

Just before lunch we got Don up in the wheelchair and got his new hoodie sweatshirt and sweat pants on and tried to go outside.  It was only like 56 degrees and there was a strong cold north wind.  Don could only stand it for a few minutes so we just sat in the nice sitting area in the Main Lobby for most of his wheelchair time.  His emotions were so fragile and he would cry so easily about everything.  While we were sitting in the Main Lobby Mel said she wanted to step in the gift shop and she came out with the cutest Ty black and white fuzzy puppy named "Bo" for Donnie and a beautiful bouquet of the most beautiful color of purple orchids and a praying angel for me.  When Mel gave Donnie the puppy he just broke out crying and thanked Mel for the kind gesture.  Don got a phone call from his daughter and they talked for at least 15 minutes while we were still in the Lobby.  All of a sudden at the end of their conversation he got all teary and crying and handed me the phone to end the conversation for him.  I was talking with Mel so I had no idea what they were talking about.  I just apologized to Mindy for Don and explained that he just could not control his emotions and that he was probably experiencing withdrawal.  Don immediately wanted to go back to the room and get put back in bed.  So we hurried up and got him up there and back in bed without the help of the Physical Therapist.  He just wanted to take a rest so I tucked him in and then Mel and I had to get a couple of errands done for Don and then I just dropped Mel back off here while I went to get a short nap and take a shower to get back here for the night.  Don called me just as I was about to come back and explained that during the 3 hours I was gone that he had 4 very loose episodes which Mel had to get the nurses to help with 2 of the 4 episodes.  I felt so bad for Mel that this happened especially since she just got here.  Oh well, that's reality I guess.  Also, the time came to remover the catheter which is a little stressful even under the best conditions.  Mel also convinced Don to call his parent's back during the time I was at the hotel so they wouldn't worry about him and he did pretty good talking with them this time.

 

When I got back to the hospital Mel and Don were playing Phase 10 and Don seemed pretty content and normal.  Well it wasn't very long before Don started taking a turn for the worse, as they say.  He was very uncomfortable bladder wise and was stressing about not being to eliminate much.  He would get super cold and i would put several blankets around him and hug and hold him while he would chatter his teeth and moan.  Then within a minute or two he would throw everything off and be too hot.   Then he would want to lie down on the bed.  We would help and cover him up again and within a minute or two he would want to sit up on the side of the bed and he would try to urinate.  This went on for 2 1/2 hours.  We called the nurse and asked for his oral morphine because we were sure it was withdrawal.  Well she had just got on duty and checked the records and Don had not taken any of his dosages for over 12 hours.  She knew it was withdrawal then. She was alarmed at his drastic, aparent change and asked if he had any new pains or chest pains.  He said no so she checked his breathing and listened to his heart.  Well, Don was increasingly agitated and literally almost climbing out of his skin by all these weird gyrations and shivering, stomping his feet very rapidly, shaking his legs, etc.  It was scary to watch and Mel and I were totally beside ourselves trying to help him.  Mel just kept shaking her head in disbelief of what she was witnessing.  The nurse got his nausea medicine ( which kinda calms him down) and his 20 mg. dose of morphone down .  I of course got several oils on him that were relevant and tried to calm him down.  He was so miserable.  I told him to just cry out to God outloud.  He did cry out and asked God to help him and that he was desparate for God to deliver him from this situation.  Within 30 seconds he started to show signs of calming down.  I was gently rubbing his lower legs and feet which he asked me to do and finally after about 40 minutes he started to drift off to sleep.  I snuck out with Mel to get her to the hotel but it was already way past 10PM.  I got Mel back to the hotel safely and flew back to the hospital.  When I got back he was awake and said he finally was feeling a little better.  He talked with the nurse and they agreed that every 3 hours he would get 20 mg. of morphine to keep from crashing by going off of it too quickly.  About 30 minutes after I got back Don asked if I would play cards with him to help pass the time.  I was shocked but I agreed to and so we played until about 1AM.  We went to bed and Don only had to get me up one time during the night.

 

November 3, 2011

 

This morning we got up with the coffee run about 7AM.  Neither one of us was moving very fast and so after the coffee we both decided to take a second nap.  That felt pretty good!  Around 9AM we hadn't heard from Mel yet so I called the hotel and Mel was still sleeping.  She couldn't believe it.  Well, she had had a very short night and a long day with packing at the last moment and having to get up so terribly early to get to the airport.  Then to have all the stressful things happen here in the hospital while she was here, she was pooped!  I went to get some more shopping done and picked up Mel about 11AM.  I took Mel to Denny's since she hadn't gotten to eat yet then we went up to the hospital.  Don was sitting up in a regular chair but he was already needing to get transfered back to the bed so we helped him with that.

 

The Pain Managment Team came back again and gave Don some words of encouragement and confirmed that he needs to take the morphine some to keep from crashing!  Donnie agreed as he felt like he was in hell yesterday.

 

Later today Dr. Kim came in and confirmed that Dr. Silverberg is the doctor that wants Donnie off his feet.  He also said that soon we would be moved to another facility soon as soon as the issue with Don's special bed.

 

Later in the afternoon the case manager nurse came in and told us that we were only approved to be in this hospital until the 4th which is tomorrow!!!  Also, she mentioned that the Kindred Hospital did not have a bed for Don and that we would have to find another facility for him.  She said that TLC Care Center could take him and that it would probably be tomorrow that he moves. If she couldn't get it arranged tomorrow it would probably be Monday.  Well since it was almost 5PM Mel and I decided we better go check this place out before we actually have to go there.  We jumped in the van and got the GPS loaded with the address.  The facility is in Henderson and is 10.5 miles away from here.  It is very nice but it is nothing like Sunrise Hospital.  The visiting hours are from 10AM to 8PM so there will be no way I can be with him during the difficult, long nights!!  This is going to be a major adjustment for him in many ways so please pray that he is able to get moving on his rehabilitation quickly.  Of course, we still have 12 more days of no weight bearing and we hope we get the green light after that so we can get Don on his feet and back to Mesa.  I have decided to just stay at the hotel where I am and travel back and forth because of the good deal I am getting for one and because I have so much stuff between Don's personal effects from the truck wreck and my Winter stuff that my sister gathered up from Tulsa and Kentucky and it is way too much work to move that many more times.

 

Well, if that isn't enough twists and turns for you in one day then you need to go to Six Flags or Disney World to get some more thrills.  We have to get to bed earlier tonight so we can get up earlier in the morning to get everything packed up here to make the major move across the valley to another town.  God will be with us and with your prayers we will make it, one day at a time.

 

Thanks for your prayers!,

Don and Carol Schirr (Mel too)

November 1, 2011

Greetings!,

Last night I decided to stay the night here in the hospital with Don because he was not feeling well at all.  I was not comfortable leaving him alone when he was feeling that poorly.  I had only had 4 hours of sleep the night before so I was pretty tired but at least I would be here if he needed me.  Earlier in the evening he was tired of laying down so he forced himself to get up on the side of the bed and asked if I could play cards for a while to get his mind off of his dilemma.  Finally at 11:30PM I insisted that we go to bed because I was just so very tired. Don did not get me up at all so I slept until 5:45AM when Barb, the charge nurse, came bounding in the room announcing, "Good Morning!! Is everyone ready for coffee?".  UGH!  Anyone that knows me knows that I am not a morning person but I got up and put my shoes on and in a flash she had two steaming cups of hot coffee there.  Don was feeling much better this morning but in no way was he 100%. He complains of nausea, has no appetite and says that the food just doesn't taste real good like it used to.  I think the food is great and I taste it and it has plenty of taste.  He is taking some kind of meds for nausea so hopefully in time he will get rid of that feeling.  I had him smell Peppermint oil and put Valor on his feet, legs and shoulders to try to balance him out.  He usually likes to be bathed and have his hair washed but he keeps getting chilled and then too hot so he asked if we could pass on that part this morning.  He barely ate anything for breakfast at all and was pretty out of it.  I went to the hotel just a little after 8AM so I could take a nap and get showered and changed because we were going to have special company come in from Mississippi today.  I laid down and asked The Lord to give me supernatural sleep that would make me feel like I slept for a long time and He answered.  I slept for 1 hour and 45 minutes and woke up feeling very refreshed!  I returned to the hospital just after 11AM.

Dr. Sohn had come in while I was gone to redress the wound and check it out.  He told Don that he would not be coming in until Friday to see him now and that he would put in a written order for the nurses to check and change the bandage the rest of the week.  This must mean things are looking pretty stable to him.

After I returned from the hotel Physical Therapy came in with the wheelchair for Don's one hour break to freedom.  His lunch came during the time we were transfering him into the wheelchair so I had him eat first thing before we went outside.  It was so pretty outside today.  A little windy but nice.  We stayed out for almost an hour.  We were waiting for our guests to come but they got tied up in traffic so we ended getting Don back up in bed and then they called to say they were here.  I went down to the Main Lobby and escorted them up to our room.  They were Ken and Sally West from Petal, Mississippi and their daughter Emi that lives here in Henderson, Nevada.  Ken and Sally are friends of my sister Ruthie and her husband Doug.  They also live in Petal, Mississippi.  The first day or so we were in our regular room at the hospital this wonderful couple sent their daughter over with a huge, beautiful snack basket and a case of drinking water as a get well and also help for Julie, Mom and I as care givers.  This was so sweet especially since we had never met any of them in our lives!

We had such a great visit with them and they were very inquisitive of all the wonderful oils we have lined up and the smells.  They kept asking questions about them and how they work for different ailments and of course, Don had to tell his herniated disc story.  Well Ken wanted to see the Essential Oil Reference Book that I have with me and before I knew it he and his wife Sally wanted to get set up with a Wholesale Customer account with Young Living right away.  So I quickly helped them open their account with a Start Living With Everyday Oils Kit.  They are so excited to get started.

Just before the three of them left the charge nurse for the day came in to let us know that she was here to help answer any questions we might have.  Well we inquired about Don's restriction on weight bearing and if he is now able to stand at all.  She said that Dr. Kim (our main doctor) had written an order today 11-01-2011 for two more weeks of NO WEIGHT BEARING.  We were devastated by this announcement as Don has worked so hard and diligently to get to this 6 week mark from the beginning.   He just started sobbing and could not help himself.  He was sitting on the side of the bed visiting with the guests and I quickly got next to him and just held him as he cried.  I teared up and just rocked him for a minute.  Don is a person that does not cry and especially in front of people he doesn't know.  So to see him this broken was really bad for me because I knew how deep the pain of this new "sentence" went for him.  He said, "I just want to get out of this bed!  I just want to go home.  These walls are starting to climb in on me."  My heart just breaks for him!  I assured him that I would be here with him and that we would get through this together.  He just continued to sobb and apologize for it.  I told him that he needed to cry and to mourn the loss of his freedom and loss of reward for the work he had done.  Once he could mourn then he could move on and face this next challenge.  He asked me to go out to the charge nurse and ask if we could at least have a wheelchair in here so he could get out of the bed a few times a day and also ask to see if we could get a bedside potty chair and possibly get off the catheter.   She came back a while later and all of his requests were denied but she had explanations as to why, of course.  He cried again with this news.  It is so hard to see him so defeated.  He said he just needs to get over the hard part and then he'll be ok but he just isn't handling it very well today.  He tried to call his parents at supper time but shortly into the conversation he lost his composure again and handed the phone to me and said to tell them he would talk to them tomorrow.  I just explained that he was having a very difficult time handling this information and that 14 more days in the bed is like a sentence to him.  They were very sympathetic and also felt his pain.

I decided that I will stay the night again over here to be of comfort to Don.  He was so thankful that I decided to stay and not go to the hotel.  I just took a 20 minute run over to the hotel before dark to clean up, wash my makeup off and change clothes so I would be more comfortable for the night.  I dashed back and Don wanted to play Phase 10 again.  While we were playing the male nurse announced that the doctor's orders just came in to take out the catheter.  We insisted that he have bladder training which is to kink off the tube for 1 to 2 hours at a time and then release it and keep doing that for about 24 hours to retrain the bladder to hold liquid again.  Yes, I know you just read that they denied our request to get off the catheter but here we are a few hours later with a doctor's order for it.  Go figure!  The first hour was started.  At the 45 minute mark he started sweating and getting very uncomfortable and called for the nurse to come release the line.  We started him taking a fabulous product from Young Living Essential Oils called K&B Tincture just about 5 minutes before they released the tubing.  This product has herbs and essential oils in it to strengthen and tone the kidneys and bladder.  Well, the next hour was a breeze with over double the output and now he is on his third session and it is already just past the 2 hour mark and he is totally comfortable!!!!!!!!!!  This K&B Tincture is a little miracle!  He has only taken two doses of it and he is already without any discomfort!  If you would like to read a little about this product just click on this link:  http://oilqueen.younglivingworld.com/products/ProductPopup_Main.asp?ProductID=77

While I was at the hotel getting ready for the night I called a very good friend of mine in Mesa, Arizona, Mel Ehlers.  Her and her husband Al have done so much for us over the years with watching over and taking care of our property there in Mesa and getting the mail, car license tags and the list goes on.  I told her of Donnie's new no weight bearing sentence and she felt so terrible for Donnie.  I just asked one time, "Mel do you think you could come up here?"  She immediately said, "Name the time, and I'll be there.  Can you find me a flight for tonight?"  Well, I actually found one for her but she would only have one hour to get to the airport so we opted for a flight tomorrow morning.  She is packing now and getting ready to come.  She will be staying until November 15th!  Isn't that wonderful?  Donnie does NOT know she is coming.  I want to save that surprise for the morning to brighten his day.  Mel has worked in hospitals and is wonderful company and knows all that we are up against on a daily basis.  She knows how to care for people in Donnie's situation and it will do both of us so much good to have the moral support, the help and have something new to do to pass the time.  I cannot wait to see his surprise when she comes.  I know he will cry when he finds out how much time she has agreed to sacrifice to help out.  Please put Al and Mel Ehlers on your prayer list as well.  Al will have to "batch it" while Mel is gone and I know Mel will miss Al terribly as they are not used to being apart much.  Donnie would do the same thing if the roles were reversed.  He is such a giving, caring and loving person and now that he is in desparate need his kindnesses are returning to him 10 fold!  We are just overwhelmed with the love and support so many of you have shown us in countless ways.  Yes, these are difficult days to say the least but when you have so many friends praying and pulling for you it sure helps get you through the valleys when they come.

We thank you again for your continued prayers and ask that you really beef them up to the max these next couple of weeks.  We love each and everyone of you that are reading these updates.

Until tomorrow, we say, "Good night",
Don and Carol Schirr

October 31, 2011

Hello Again,

What an action-packed, roller coaster day!

Last night was kind of long for Mom and I.  We had to help Don with bathroom duties as we talked about on yesterday's update.  I ended being here at the hospital until 1AM working on the update for you all and getting thank you cards sent out through the Internet.  I got to bed at the hotel about 1:20AM and set the wake up call for 6AM so I could get Mom to the airport.  Well, Sugar Bear called me at 5:20AM with a bright and cheery voice telling me I had to get up.  I begged for another 30 minutes of sleep so he called me back in 30 minutes.  I don't do real good with only 4 hours or so of sleep but today I just had to do it.  I got up at 6AM and got the coffee going and got in the shower.  Just before I got in the shower Don called me again to be sure I didn't fall back asleep.  He knows me pretty well, doesn't he?

I hurried up and just left without eating anything and got up to the room by 7:10AM.  Donnie still felt nauseated a little and not quite up to par.  He had somewhat of a restless night and he still refused all of his pain medication.  The nurse from last night was Alicia and she is a super sweet, awesome nurse.  This is the first time we have had her and she loves oils and wanted to know more about NingXia Red so I had to bring her information about NingXia Red before she left at 7:30AM.  I have Christmas Spirit going in our diffuser and everyone just loves how it smells and they always ask about it.  I just got the new TheraPro Diffuser this week because it is so quiet and has so many more features.  It is totally awesome and the nurses all want one now.

I whisked Mom out of here and to the hotel so she could take a very quick shower and get her suitcases to the van and off to the airport.  We are only 3 1/2 miles from the airport so it is really easy and quick to get there.  We got her to the airport in plenty of time so that was good.  We booked her a nonstop flight and so it only took her 4 hours to get to Tampa, Florida.  That is so amazing!  She texted when she landed so we knew she was safe and sound.  It was much easier to let her go this time knowing that Donnie is not in such a bad way and needing so much help at night.

When I returned to the hospital I had to quickly get Don's clothes on so he could get up in the wheelchair again with the Physical Therapist.  Just before Physical Therapy came in Dr. Sohn flashed in for about 3 minutes to check out the wound and put on the new bandages.  He let me take an updated picture and it looks pretty good.  There are just two spots still that are taking more time to heal completely.  The staples are still in and we don't know when they can come out.  We asked about the possible updating of his activity level but we did not hear anything from the other doctors today at all about it so the orders are still "NO WEIGHT BEARING".  We got Don into the wheelchair and off we went outside in the gorgeous weather.  I walked him out in the sun across the parking lot and back.  Then we sat for about 10 minutes in this really nice area that has a roof over it and nice benches.  After that I decided to walk him through the hospital all the way to the Trauma Emergency entrance to show him how far we would have to come to see him if we came in after 8PM and where we used to be for the first 12 days here at Sunrise Hospital.  Then I took him up the elevator to the Trauma ICU to show him where he started out.  The wound nurse, Marcia was just coming out of the ICU door when we walked up.  She was thrilled to see him in a wheelchair and we chatted for couple of minutes.  We headed back through all the halls back to the Main Entrance where we got on the elevator to go up to Don's room.  He was complaining of having a "Hot Flash" and was feeling quite uncomfortable and nauseated.  I quickly got him back to the room and within 5 minutes he wanted me to hit the call button to get the Physical Therapist back in here to get him back to the bed.  When he got laid down he said he felt dizzy.  Then suddenly he was real chilled and wanted a double blanket on him.  This is totally unlike him as he is usually very warm and complains of sweating all the time.  He got real still and just did not want to talk or move for at least 2 hours.  He was just not himself at all.  His abdomen was very tender and his eyes looked like a child's eyes do when they are real sick.  He just kept saying that he was having a down day and needed to rest.  The Pain Management Team representative came in and we talked about if Don could get some other type of pain medication that isn't morphine.  Well that didn't get anywhere.  They just lowered the dosage again to 40 mg. instead of 100 mg. per dose.  I just want him to have something that doesn't have the side effects of morphine.

Then the substitute for the case worker came in and asked what our plan was because, "Don doesn't really fit the criteria for the hospital anymore."  Well, that was music to our ears in one way for sure.  We explained the bed situation and the fact that he cannot have weight bearing and she flew out the door to see what she could find out.  We waited for about 30 minutes or so and then I decided to go out and look at some of the places we could possibly be sent to for the LTAC (Long Term Acute Care).  Our case worker is on vacation this week (of course) and this other lady was taking her place.  I got a list of 5 different places from her.  She could not legally tell me which places she would pick over another and just said I would have to look them over and make a judgment call.  Well on the way out the front door, here sits the lady that came in saying we didn't fit hospital care criteria.  I stopped and talked with her at length and asked her recommendation on a place.  She at least gave me the different categories that the places were and I headed out the door.  When I just got my van started and put in reverse my cell rang and it was Donnie!!!!  I couldn't believe it.  He said someone was in the room that wanted to talk to me.  It was Iris, the substitue for our case worker.  She just found out that we were accepted to Kindred Hospital for the LTAC.  She said to come back to the room.  I came back up and she told us that Blue Cross Blue Shield is holding up our case because they have a back log of patients right now that need approvals and they couldn't look at our case for a couple of days.  Well we found out that they are paying $5000.00 per day base rate on this room before the nursing care and drugs, food and everything else are added on!  That is a ton, I think.  She also told us that Dr. Sohn has orders in for a contiunation of no weight bearing.  We will have to verify that with him in the morning.  Maybe he feels the wound would come open or something if he stood up.  We definitely need clarification on that with him in person.

Well, a little while later I took off again to go to check out Kindred Hospital which is only about 2 1/2 miles from here.  Don was feeling terrible and looked sick and did not want any lights or sounds in the room so it was a perfect time for me to go there.  It is really nice and kinda reminds me of an updated hospital with a slight nursing home feel.  It will work out just fine until we can get him home.  I stopped at the mall to pick up a sweat jacket and some tee shirts for Don and then went to the hotel for about 1 1 /2 hours to nap and rest a little.  Don called just as I was getting into the hotel room and said he had another serious BM that the nurses had to come help him with.  He said, "No wonder I have been feeling sick today."

When I returned about 6PM he looked so sick.  I couldn't figure out what was wrong.  They checked his temperature and everything was normal so it wasn't that he picked up a bug or anything.  My feeling is that he may be experiencing some withdrawal from the pain drugs since he is just skipping them altogether and with the combination of all the laxatives, stool softeners and such he is just getting too much of that and his bowels are totally upset.  I had a long talk with the nurses and said for them to cut out the senicot pills and let his bowels get settled down.  I told Donnie that he was probably having withdrawal and that we would just have to work through this and to get off the senicot.  I put Frankincense and JuvaFlex oils over his liver area and then put Valor, Frankincense and Lavender on his feet and massaged them.  He is just completely irritable and not real cooperative even with the oils which he normally loves and begs for.  He is just not himself at all!  Of course, this would happen the day Mom leaves...ugh!

He wanted to get up on the side of the bed for a change of position so I helped him with that.  Then he wanted to play Skip-Bo to try to get his mind off of his misery.  He called for his morphine and nausea medication and the night nurse, Alicia came in and she really feels that his problem today is more the excessive bowel management meds more than the withdrawal issue.  However, we both believe they are both part of the problem right now.  When she went to get the meds suddenly Donnie had to have another very loose BM which it is so good to get this poison out of him.  I got everything back together before the nurse returned with the meds.

After this very long roller coaster of a day, Don fell asleep by 9:30PM and is sleeping soundly.  I have chosen to stay the night here because he is just not feeling well enough for me to go to the hotel tonight.  I feel he is like a sick little boy that needs a lot of TLC and comforting so I am in for the night.  I am looking for a much better day tomorrow and for the return of my Sugar Bear!

Please continue to uphold us both in prayer not only for health and healing but for the many, many decisions and changes we must face during the remainder of this week and into next month.

Thank you for all the cards, gifts and prayers,
Don and Carol Schirr