Tuesday Noon

I know, I know, I can hear all the grumbling out there; "When's Jamey going to update Molly's blog?" All I can say is 'Sorry', but you all know patience is a virtue, :>) Before I start Molly wanted to tell all of you directly from her: "Thank you for all your prayers, cards and thoughts. I love you all!" Here is the update! Molly continues to do great! Easter Sunday she did sleep a quite a bit, but is completely understandable due to the very little sleep she had the two days prior. Even though, she still was in good spirits and continued to show signs of improvement and had very few pain issues. I also got a good amount of sleep on Sunday. Mom & Dad left with Molly's Dad around 2pm after the gave her some meds to help her sleep to prepare her for her dressing changes. I took that opportunity to head to the hotel and go about a 31/2 hour nap. Went back to the hospital and spent a few hours and went back to the hotel and was asleep around 10:30pm. Got up early to be at the hospital for the MOMBO rounds on Monday morning. The weekend as a whole was good for Molly, her Dad, my parents and me, as she showed us all how strong and positive she is. Monday, the MOMBO rounds went well. They are very pleased with her overall progress and with the results of her amputation surgery. Her stumps look good and should be able to take the pressure-vac dressings off in the next few days and dress them just normally. The pressure-vac dreesings are spnges that wrap around the end of her stumps and are covered with what resembles seran wrap. This is then hooked up to tubes that are connected to pumps to create a suction to keep the tissue on the stumps tight and to pull off any fluids. While these are not overly painful, they are quite annoying and uncomfortable to her. She should be coming off the continuous dialysis in the next day to two. They have been able to increase the volume of fluids they have been removing with the CVVH for nearly two days now and she has tolerated it very well. Once removed they will go back to the regular hemo-dialysis. This is good as it will continue to encourage her kidneys to start working again. Her eyes are starting to clear up and are less blurry, so it is probably due to some swelling, but they will continue to keep an eye (no pun intended) on her eyes. The doctors and nurses are just amazed and extremely excited about how fast she is progressing and have very little if any set backs in her recovery. Usually with these types of cases, there are 2-3 steps forward and then 1-2 steps back. We have had very little of this. Yesterday, Molly's teaching freinds from Piqua spent the day with her, this was good for Molly to see freinds and visit, and good for me as I was able to get away for several hours and just do nothing. I sat in a Friday's, had lunch and watched ESPN for over an hour. I also just drove around and ended up several miles south of Ann Arbor, was nice to just listen to the radio and have no agenda. Thanks to Teresa, Pat and Fran for giving Molly & I this much needed time. This week should be pretty calm, as no specific procedures are planned. Just continuing to provide general care and let her body start healing itself. Next week will proably be a big week as she will more than likely get the skin graphs, remove her finger and thumb on her left hand and start some more rigorous therapy for her upper body and arms. Couple of concerns, her voice is still not back and Olarnygology (Head, Ears and Throat) looked at her throat with a scope and found that one of her vocal cords is a little damaged probably from the ventilator tube and one is just not working. These will probably start working and heal on their own, but may require a procedure later on as well. This continues to frustrate her so pray for quick healing of her voice. This also raises another concern in that until they are sure that the troubles with her vocal cords will not cause a choking issues they have quick letting her have any liquids or ice chips period, which also means that she cannot have ice cream, sherbert or popsicles either. These were the one things she would look forwar to each day. So pray also that even if her voice doesn't come back immediately, they will determine that is will not create a choking hazard and she continue to have liquids and icecream, etc. On another note, several of you have asked about setting up a fund or an account for Molly & I as well as doind some sort of fundraiser. For right now, please do not move forward with any plans or please pause any plans already in motion. Molly and I have talked a little about this and are ok with it, however, we want to make sure that we are doing it for the right reasons and that all efforts are coordinated into one effort instead of many smaller efforts. Also, Molly and I see this as an opportunity to help educate others about sepsis, ampuations, seriousness of strep throat, etc. Also, if done right, the money raised could be used to set up a fund or foundation to help others not just Molly and I. Because of her and I seeing a much bigger effort and picture for all of this, we do not want to jump into anything to quickly. So, for right now we want to think, share and pray about what is the right thing to do and how to do it. However, input and offers to help will be greatly appreciated now and in the future. If you have ideas etc, please send them to jameyandmolly@gmail.com SPECIFIC PRAYER AREAS

• Continued overall healing (lungs, kidneys, liver, skin)
• Mental health
• Right hand for reduced swelling and returned full function
• Voice and swallowing
• Stump healing
• Raymond, Molly's dad for peace
• Safe travel for friends and family
• 23 year old patient in same unit with Molly. He fell 2 months ago and hit his head, thought it was just a bump and went on about his day. Next day did not wake up. He is improving to the point he is not appropriate for the TBC unit anymore, but not ready for the acute rehab. Dilema for his family is to try the acute rehab or put him in a nursing home until he is ready. Pray for them and their peace of mind to make the right decision on his behalf.

God bless you all and I promise to keep the blog update more regularly. Love, Jamey & Molly