EASTER MORNING

Yesterday was an awesome day! For not sleeping a single wink on Friday night after her amputation surgery, Molly was wide awake, alert and happy. She smiled and laughed and talked a lot all day yesterday. Her pain was kept under control all day, outside of her dressing change when they had to increase the pain meds and "dope" her up a little, she was truly herself. And "dope" may not be the correct medical term but it fits. One of her nurses told me that they know they patient is under the right amount of sedation when they "see" things that are not there and "say" outlandish things OR they scratch their nose a lot. It all wears off prtty quick and the patient remembers very little if anything about what could be a painful, aweful procedure. Molly had all three and was beginning to be aware that she wasn't making a lot of sense as it was wearing off, as she would say something, and then look at me and say "that's not right, is it?" I would shake my head 'no' and she would just smile and laugh a little, as to say "Oh well." It was great for Molly and her dad to visit yesterday. It was good for both of them. In fact Raymond said he wanted to stay an extra night, so they will be able to visit and see each other today on Easter as well. Really a spirit lifter for Molly, her dad and me to see them both happy and smiling. As far as progress yesterday, I have to say the number of cards we were able to get through and read. The number of cards she has been receiving borderlines the "ridiculous", but it is often to see the eternal card-giver to recieve so many cards, even from folks we do not know. I do not the the exact number, but the stack of "unread" cards was about 8" to 10" tall. We reduced it down to less than 3" tall. It took a couple of hours last night to read and open them all, but it was wonderful to see, and read all the wonderful prayers and thoughts from all over the world come pouring in to support Molly & I. In addition, I tell her about the number of comments on this Blog, and some specifics about them. The blog and comments will be wonderful for her to sit down and read when she is able to get out of bed and sit at a computer screen, which should be within a few days, at least for a little bit each day. Medically, yesterday was a slower paced day, they continued the CVVH (slower, continuous, mild dialysis), did a dressing change and gave her 3 popsicles. She is tolerating the dialysis well, doesn't remember much of the dressing change and thought the popsicles were, and I quote, "AWESOME!" Today, Easter, should be more of the same. A day to rest, relax, visit and be thankful. To start, here is a short list of everyone that comes to my immediate thought that I want to thank God for placing in our lives these past few weeks:

• Dr. Lynne Hawley
• Barb from Wayne's ER
• Holly, Jeannie, Amanda, Cheryl, Sue and the entire Good Sam ICU staff
• Dr's, Quadri & Malik at Good Sam
• Troy Emerick
• My Mom & Dad and My second parents, Peg & Keith (Troy's mom & dad)
• Michelle for staying at the house and taking care of the cat & dog
• University of Michigan (I know, I can't believe it either, God certainly does work in mysterious ways)
• Dr's Napolitano & Wang
• All the residents, fellows, and interns in the SICU & TBC at U of M
• Becca, Tara, Erica, John, Jerry, and Mike, the RN's in the SICU
• Jay, Laurie, Leo, Tammie and Kate, the RN's in the Trauma & Burn Center
• The countless of prayer warriors all over the world

SPECIFIC PRAYER AREAS

• Complete healing of Molly's stumps
• Kidney function to return (soon if possible)
• Overall skin condition and healing
• Hands, left - finger and thumb amputation to go well sometime this week and Right - for swelling to reduce and function to continue to get better.
• Eyes - still a little blurry, but getting better
• Vital signs - they are great, but have to battle with her heart rate and blood pressure from time to time
• Heart - while the doc's do not feel there is any damage, this has come to be a little concern as her heart rate get elevated, BP drops, and an EKG showed some little "blips"
• Voice & Throat - Still pretty whispery and not able to eat or drink to much until they are sure she will not choke. This will also allow them to remove the feeding tube and suction tube from her nose.
• Mind and mental health - while her spirits have been great the last few days, we all need to be prepared to support and pray for her when the "down" days hit.
• Me - I have been great, lacking a little sleep from time to time, but I know the "down" days will hit me as well, so keep me in your prayers as well.
• Travel safety - The requests are pouring in from family and friends to come visit. This is great, just ask everyone to pray for all the road warriors willing to brave the trek to Ann Arbor to keep them safe.

Have a blessed Easter & GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

Love,

Jamey & Molly