Claude Strauch has congestive heart failure and other heart related problems in Minnesota. He had a successful pacemaker implant the morning of Wednesday 10 February 2010, and is doing very well. Please give thanks for the great result and pray for Claude and his family, that they might put their care and worry on God’s back so they can do their best for each other.
Vicky developed a brain aneurysm, which ruptured the morning of 28 October 2009. She made it through seven hours of surgery and the drug induced coma in a Denver hospital. She regained consciousness, and is in a long term acute care hospital. Her husband and sons have been by her the entire time, so she has never been alone. Please read the latest from her husband:
Today - two weeks after the latest "procedure" to determine the cause and probable fix to Vicky's airway blockage, we have a commited game plan.
Dr. Opperman saw Vicky yesterday and has pulled together a team of surgeons who will conduct the surgery next Tuesday, February 16 at Rose Hospital in Denver. They intend to remove the damaged section of her trachea and then re-attach it to her throat. This is delicate surgery. As Opperman pointed out, any number of things can go wrong including damage to the nerves that signal her vocal chords or in interrupting the flow of blood to the area that is needed for healing. Of all people, I sure know there are no certainties, absolutes or guarantees in life. I just wish there were fewer obstacles.
In direct conflict with all these plans, Vicky has had a difficult time keeping food down. While she's being fed nightly with use of the tube in her stomach the function of getting her to swallow is part and parcel to the overall recovery process. After all, when she eventually gets to Craig Rehab they full well intend to get her to feed herself as she's been doing for a couple weeks already. If she continues to have her lunch coming back up once her airway is surgically corrected, she runs the high risk of asperating and getting pneumonia. It is not my primary objective to be a thorn in the hospital's side, but I do believe this should be addressed and resolved before next Tuesday - not afterward. I do believe they would be willing to just let nature take it's course and just deal with this if and when they must. After a month of wrestling with this problem, it's become a must.
Anyway, let's think positively. This is finally a passage away from where we've been stuck for a month. Once she's healed and ready to move on, there is a chance we can have her moved directly to Craig. No telling how long that might take, but we're closer.
The boys gave her some movies and the initial year of the TV series "LOST". When I play them for her on the lap-top she literally becomes lost in the story. It's all I can do to distract her for anything else. She brushed her own teeth last night and is pretty convincing that she knows what's being planned. I ask her about things that happened a day or two before and she does remember those events and the people involved. Fortunately, I think she's pretty much blocked out most of the past three months.
Sometimes it gets really hard for me not to go to Denver daily to see Vicky. The 140 mile round-trip really eats into my day. Still, I always see a change in her when I get there. The nurses do as well. It's got to be even harder to be so helpless and so vulnerable. I so much want to get her out of the quagmire she's in. It's got to be like jail. Well, maybe not - in jail if you can't keep your food down, they'll do something about it. Or, if they don't, you can scream for help.
Take good care and keep up the good thoughts and prayers.
Doug
Please pray for Vicky’s recovery and for peace of mind for her family, that they might keep their trust in the Lord.
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