MONDAY NIGHT

What a great weekend, i took 3 naps on Saturday, rented a movie and put it in at 8pm, saw the first 15 minutes of it, and woke up at 10pm with the movie still playing and went to bed and slept until 8am. I guess I was tired. Now that I am rested and back in Wolverine country, I felt I needed to give you all a quick update. This is going to be short and sweet, but you can expect a more substantial post tomorrow afternoon. Molly also got a lot of much needed rest this weekend. As of today she is on "floor" satus which means that if it were not for the conscious sedation she needs for her dressing changes, she could be in a regular hospital bed. No pumps running, no need for the monitor, no machines, etc. She does still need dialysis 3 times per week, but her kidneys are showing signs of working. Also, the Mombo rounds were today and her skin grafts look awesome! That is a direct quote from one of the surgeons. It will be at least another week and maybe two until they graft her stumps. But they look great also. As one doc put it tonight, we have definately hit a triple that could turn into a homer. ( I thought this analogy was appropriate for open day). As I stated a minute ago, Molly could be moved if not for the wound care, but everyone loves her so much on the unit that unless the bed she is in is needed, they will more than likely let her stay. The nurses all fight over her, the docs stop in more often than they really need to and the therapists love coming to Molly's room. I'm sure it is to see me! Anyway, Molly continues to do great. Dialysis today went very well, they "pulled off" a liter of fluid and she tolerated it great. She only started to get light-headed in the final hour. Before she would feel bad the entire time. This in and of itself is great progress. Hopefully with her kidneys starting to show signs of working, she will only need dialysis a few more times. ONE BIG PRAYER AREA FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 1

• Molly has her swallowing evaluation at 9am. Results will determine if she can start eating and drinking on her own. PRAY for a positive result that will allow her to start eating and drinking, this will raise her spirits as well as get the last tube out, her feeding tube.

More tomorrow after the swallowing study.

God Bless you all!

Love,

Jamey & Molly

Saturday Morning

Good Morning from Ohio, I came home last evening to take care of some things here in the Buckeye State. While the Wolverines are great, it feels good to be back home, I can't wait until Molly is able to make the same journey with me. Remember to share the other blog site with others (or for new blog visitors) to have a better understanding about Molly's illness, etc. at http://www.mfrenchtreck.blogspot.com/. Also, feel free to email personal comments to jameyandmolly@gmail.com Anyway, yesterday was a little on the rough side. The surgery from Thursday had caught up with her and she was very tired. They also did regular dialysis on her and had some trouble with the IV line so they had to stop and "readjust" the line. This along with her being so tired and wore out and the dressing changes and putting in a new IV line in her right arm and so on and so on it was a hard day on her. Although the doctors told her and I that even though she did not feel good and seen it as a "bad" day, she had another GREAT day medically. She tolerated the dialysis fabulously, the dressing changes went great and overall continues to heal and get stronger. Also, her friend Debby was able to spend a couple of days in Ann Arbor and this really lifted her spirits. It was good for me to, Debby is such a good and special friend to both of us. Thanks Debby! Not a lot to report on other than that regarding her progress. Molly continues to get all her normal care: constant blood work, monitoring, dressing changes, changing IV lines (this is done to help fight infections as IV ports can over time become a source for infections that do not respond to the anitbiotics, so it is a precautionary step to stay ahead of possible infection sites). They will probably look at removing several of the lines and IV's in the nest day or two and put in a PIC line in her arm, a peripherally inserted central catheter- (PICC or PIC line) is a form of intravenous access that can be used for a prolonged period of time. This is a little bit of a procedure, but can be done at the bedside. So the hope is that they will be able to get that done soon and remove the rest of the lines other than the line used for the dialysis. AND, if her kidneys start working again, even that line will be able to come out. The staff caring for continues to amaze me. What a special bunch of people. After the "hard" day Molly had yesterday, in the evening Doctor Seybold, "Jeff" said, lets leave her alone tonight, pur her on "step down" status which means that they still monitor her just like before, but because she is doind well, they do not have to check her blood as often. He said, that way she can try to get some much needed rest this evening without us bothering as often. After they gave her her pain meds at 10pm last night she drifted off to sleep and I left around 11:30pm to come home. I got home around 2:30am and it felt great to sleep in our own bed, even if I only got enough of it for "one cheek" as the dog and cat used the rest. I had not realized how much I missed them, even the cat, Molly wont believe that! I plan to stay home unit tomorrow evening or even Monday morning. Mom and Dad left early this morning to spend the day and some of tomorrow with Molly. Molly was looking forward to seeing them. Keep them in your prayers for safe travels, and for Michelle and Karen as they are also going to see Molly later today. Overall, Molly continnues to do well, her spirits are still high, although I can tell she is starting to get "bored" and is sick and tired of being sick and tired, but her amazing strength keeps her going and is good for me to keep me going to. This and the countless prayers, thoughts, cards, comments on the blog and the emails keep us going too. Just so everyone knows, please keep the comments coming, but I still have not been able to show Molly the blog and comments as of yet, but I tell her how many comments come in, and give her a synopsis of them. She will be blown away when she is able to sit down and read them for herself. SPECIFIC PRAYER AREAS

• Continued overall healing and strength
• Kidney function to return (soon)
• Her spirits to remain high
• Returned function of her hands, especially her right hand so she can start to do some "normal" things for herself
• Swallowing evaluation on Tuesday, so she will be allowed to start eating and drinking, hopefully anything she wants. This will be good for her strenght as well as her spirits
• Pain control
• Her voice to return soon, again this is very frustrating for her and being heard will be a huge spirit lifter for her.
• Wound care, as the care team is faced with caring for three different types of wounds with three different approaches and specific care
• Travel safety for Mom & Dad, Michelle and Karen, Me, and all freinds and family as they travel to visit Molly
• Troy, I heard last night that he has kidney stones and is in a great deal of pain. Also, his car he uses for work "conked out" on him, so they need to replace it.
• The many trauma and burn patients that do not have the loving support and countless prayers Molly has to get them through their difficult times.
• The nurses, doctors, technicians, and everyone else a part of Molly's "care team". They area a special group of people, and seeing the types of trauma they see everyday can definately wear on a person, so praying for their well being and rejuvination on their days off.

God Bless you all. EAch and everyone of you who we know and those we do not know personally, will never know and understand how much your prayers and thought mean to Molly and I. We talk about it a lot, and without all of you praying for God's healing, we are not sure we would be able to make it through all this, yet we also know that we and especially Molly is going to be fine and stronger for the experience.

Pray Hard Daily and know that each of you are in Molly's and I's prayers daily as well.

Love,

Jamey & Molly

THURSDAY NIGHT

What a long day and a big big day for Molly. She did great, of course I, and I am sure all of you have come to expect nothing less from her. The surgery was quite lengthy, they took her to the OR around 10am this morning and did not get back to the room until around 4pm. With all the surgeons did, it took a long time, and was very tedious work. However, the good news is that is was all less invasive procedures and she bounced back very quickly. During surgery they debreeded some of the dead tissue on her wounds (very little, but what was necessary), graphed her thighs, and removed her index finger and part of her thumb on her left hand. The donor tissue for the graphs came from the outside of her thighs. This will feel like a bad rug burn for several days and will take abou 2 weeks to heal completely. she was quite groggy when she returned from the OR but was in good spirits and had only a little pain that her nurse Jay was able to get and keep under control quickly. Now that she has three different types of wounds that need care for, they each need different things to help them heal. She has her stump care, her new skin grafts, and the donor areas. Each requires different care, such as one must be kept dry, one requires soaking, and one requires some scrubbing. However, the Trauma Burn unit and the amazing team that is there deals with these types of things all the time (unfortunately) so they definately know what they are doing. The surgeons feel good about the procedures done today, but we will know for sure how the grafts will do in a day or two. during this critical time for the grafts to heal, she will need to remain in bed and as still as possible. On another note, she also had dialysis today, which she tolerated very well and the dialysis team was very pleased with the results, especially since she had just got back from a 5 hour surgery. Then, if this all was not enough they had to replace her feeding tube in her nose because it had slipped out of her intestines back into her stomach. they are not able to just push it back down (as I suggested) because it is very rubbery and to flexible. When they put it in place initially it has a stiffer guide wire inside the tube to give it some rigidity. She did great with this as well. Even though she should be able to start eating soon (this is another story I will get to in a minute) they will have to keep feeding her through the tube for quite some time to keep her caloric count up. In fact they are giving her over 3,000 calories a day. Of course, like everything else through this journey, they have to walk a fine line between too much of a good thing to "fix" one thing but cause problems in another area, The high calories cause her blood sugar to rise, so they have to give her insulin, because while she need the calories to provide her body to rebuild tissue and heal, the body does not heal well with elevated blood sugar. Now, with all this, they have new orders to only allow a few ice chips until Tuesday. This is because of her vocal cords not working quite right yet. The vocal cords help to protect us from aspirating (letting stuff other than air into the lungs) which can cause pnemonia, which would be a major set back at this point. The reason for letting her have ice cream, popsicles, pepsi, etc, then stopping it is due to now having a clear picture of what is actually going on with her vocal cords. On Tuesday they will do a swallowing evaluation with the "Cookie" test. which means that they actually give her something to eat "a cookie", but trust me it is not an Oreo, it is packed with chalky stuff that they can see on the special x-ray like screen as she eats and swallows. The results of this test will indicate if she can start eating/drinking or not. Two reason to wait until Tuesday, first is that is the first opening in the schedule, second is that with the fresh skin grafts, they do not want her to move to much and this test requires her to go to another department, get out of bed, sit in a very straight and hard chair, etc. So, Tuesday it is, and she understands, obviously disapointed, but ok with it. The chief residents and the attending physicians, interns, med students, therapists, nurses, and the list goes on and on, are amazed at Molly's progress. while they knew she was going to be ok and would make progress they are a little surprised at how quickly she is making that progress. While they are obviously very pleased as they would be with any patient, the whole unit has become like close family and friends and it is just amazing to watch and hear how much they have come to like and admire Molly. Again no surprise to me or anyone that knows Molly, but she has won them all over. Everyone as they pass by her room, even if they have not had her as a direct patient stops by to say "hi" and see how she is doing. Overall, Molly is doing great. We are both also realistic and understand the incredibly long road ahead of us yet to be traveld, but each day of progress, success, and the wonderful feeling of warmth we both feel from all the thoughts and prayers from each of you makes it easier to face each new day. Thank you all! SPECIFIC PRAYER AREAS

• Patience to wait until Tuesday for the swallowing eval, and to start getting out of bed again
• Positive result from Tuesday's swallowing eval so she can start eating/drinking
• Healing of all wounds and grafts
• Continued healing of her entire body
• Quick returned use and function of both hands so she can start doing things for herself (this will be a huge boost to her mental health)
• Clarity and guidance for Molly & I so we are sure what we are being called to do as a result of this experience
• Family and friends as they travel to Wolverine country to visit
• Pray for other trauma and burn patients. Not just at U of M, but all over. We have heard stories from the nurses that so many patients that they care for, including kids, are left in the unit with no visitors for days and even weeks on end. Their spirits are down which makes it harder for them to have a full and quick recovery. Molly and I would like for you to pray for their spirits and for frequent visitors from family and friends, or at least someone who genuinly cares about them.

Pray Hard Daily, it is amazing how powerful prayer is!

God Bless you all,

Love,

Jamey & Molly

Wednesday Night

Moly had another good day with everything starting to really stablize. Her friend Debby arrived this evening and will stay for a couple of days. Molly was really glad to see her. Molly also got to sit in the chair again for about 2 hours, she said that it really makes you start to feel human again. she also drank a pepsi and a sprite today. She said it was awesome! She stated that you dont realize how much you take little things for granted like ice, water, sitting in a chair. Her spririts are still high and she is starting to feel good and somewhat "normal" again, whatever "normal" is! Tomorrow is more surgery with some debreedment of some dead skin, skin graphs for her thighs and removing her finger and thumb on her left hand. Believe it or not, she is excited about the fingers because she said she would rather look at them gone instead of black and shriveled up. The surgeon said the surgery may take a few hours, but she should bounce back quicker because she is stonger and doesnt have her legs making her sicker and getting her blood chemistry out of whack. The doc did not use the terminology "out of whack" thats my terminology. Anyways, after surgery she will get a new line put in her neck or shoulder for her dialysis, and then will get dialysis tomorrow. So, tomorrow will be a big day with a lot going on and on the surface look like a slight set back, but in the big picture will be taking some great strides forward. PRAY HARD around 10am as this is when her surgery is scheduled, although being in constant prayer all day will be good as emergency cases come up frequently and could bump her back to a later slot. I will update the blog tomorrow after the surgery to let everyone know how it went, but could be later depending on when she actually goes to surgery. Thanks again for all your comments, cards, and especailly the prayers. We feel each and everyone and they mean a lot. God Bless you all, Love, Jamey & Molly

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

There is another blog set up to explain the first few days of Molly's illness and to give some clarity and explanation to the many procedures, etc that Molly has undergone: www.mfrenchtrek.blogspot.com Also, feel free to leave comments on the blog OR you can email Molly and I directly at: jameyandmolly@gmail.com Yesterday was a great day! Molly continues to impress everyone by showing off. The continuous dialysis (CVVH) was removed yesterday. Kate the RN asked her if she would like to sit up in a chair for a little bit, I thought Molly was going to leap out of bed into the chair on her own. She was able to sit up in the chair for almost 2 hours before she started getting tired. It was great to see her big smile and shining eyes as she sat was in the chair looking around. Almost everyone in the entire unit at some point stopped by to see her and tell her how good she looked sitting up. The also told her that she would be able to start drinking and eating soft solids. Her vocal cords will not be a choke factor for her. They wanted to wait until today because they wanted to make sure her stomach was ok. Normally our stomach produce about a liter of fluid a day and it just passes on through. Much of the fluid her stomach produces was just sitting in her stomach, so they had the Nasal-Gastric (NG) tube on constant suction to keep the fluid from sitting in her stomach and causing nausea. However, they capped the NG tube for the day to see if she got nauseated, or stomach pains. If she didn't then they would remove the NG tube and let her start eating soft solids, and liquids. As of this morning they did remove the tube and she will be able to start eating later today. The feeding tube down her nose will remain because of the high number of calories she needs to heal, she cannot eat that much on her own. They took her to the tub room this morning and she said it was pretty painful, but they did her hair, gave her a bath, and she feels a lot better right now. They also removed the VAC dressings from her stumps today, she said she didn't realize how uncomfortable they actually were, but they are gone completely now. Molly continues to be in great spirits and smiles a lot these last few days. This is great to see! Tomorrow they will be taking her back to the OR for some debreedment of the stumps and upper thighs and other areas. These are relatively minor and just part of the process. They may also do some skin graphs on her upper thighs tomorrow and remove her index finger and thumb on her left hand. If not, these will be done early next week. She will also recieve hemo-dialysis tomorrow after the surgery. So tomorrow will be a big day for her and very tiring, she will probably not get up in the chair tomorrow and may even be a little bit of a set back in how she feels, but the benefit is great so it is worth it. Overall, Molly continues to get stronger and healthier each day. Fewer tubes, machines, bags, medicines each day. In fact her room almost look bare without all the "stuff" in there and it is much quieter in the the room with out all the "stuff" making noise. The nurse told her yesterday that once the skin graphs are done she will have to remain in bed and fairly still while they take hold. However, after that she will get to rehab and they will kick her butt. She said "good, I'm bored, it will feel good to move around adn do something." The eye doctor as in yesterday and dialated her eyes but did not see anything that was of any concern. Beleive the blurriness is probably from the meds and/or the illness and will continue to get better. She said it is a little better each day. SPECIFIC PRAYER NEEDS Travel safety for her friend Debby Quick, safe and successful sugery tomorrow on her legs and fingers and a quick recovery Hemo-dialysis goes well, this tires her and makes her feel "funny" lightheaded, and dizzy. Coninued overall healing Strength in her arms to help compesate for her legs in transfering, etc. Pain control Thanks to each of you for your continued and constant prayers. God Bless each of you! Love, Jamey & Molly

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

Molly's Trek

Another blog site explaining in more detail Molly's jouney has been set up. It charts her illnessfrom the beginnning and how things have progressed. It includes links to more information about the many syndromes, conditions, terminology etc. she has faced so far during this unbelievable journey. http://mfrenchtrek.blogspot.com

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

SATURDAY MORNING - AFTER SURGERY

Good Morning, Molly's surgery went very very well. First and foremost, Molly's Dad & my Mom & Dad were able to make it in plenty of time before she left for surgery. We had prayer with Tommy the chaplain, and then again right prior to her going to surgery with everyone including Troy & Theresa and even the anesthesiologists and the techs. The main anesthesiologist said when we asked them to wait a minute while we prayed, "I pray with you", then Troy said we join hands when we pray and he said, "Great, thats the way we do it in our church." Molly was at peace and conformtable when she left for the OR. Dr. Wang was pleased with the results and was able to go a little lower on both legs than he thought he initially thought he could. Also, much of the muscle that he was unsure he could use to wrap the ends of the stumps with, he could use and feels really good about how well they will do. The surgery took about 31/2 hours as expected, however she did not go to surgery until around 6:30 pm. After we spoke to Dr. Wang, Molly's blood pressure dropped in recovery and her electrolytes got out of wack, so she was in recovery for a very long time. It was after midnight until she got back to her room. The worst part of all this is that in recovery their focus was on the BP, and did not want to give her anything to strong to help with the pain so she was in a lot of pain during recovery. When she finally got back to her room, her pain was on a definite 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. Jay, her nurse for the last two nights was awesome, he started working on her pain immediately and in about 30 minutes had it starting to feel a little better. within 2 hours it was very manageable and was able to maintain a constant 5-6 all night. I stayed in Molly's room last night and helped with changing her bed sheets and repositioning her. They also decided to restart the CVVH (continuous, mild form of dialysis) to get her fluids and electrolytes back in shape, and did not want to do regular Hemo as they weren't sure she would tolerate it well right after surgery. This was awesome to watch because the machine is very contrary and basically the whole TBC (trauma, burn center) team worked to get it up and running since no one from the dialysis department was available until later this morning. They got it running, but when they hooked it up, Molly's BP took a nose dive, so they rushed around getting it back where it needed to be, discontinued the CVVH and will start it again this morning. This has been a regular pattern since all this illness started, her BP drops significantly everytime they do anything with her. It is do to her being so ill, her body can not compensate for the fluid changes very well. However, I think this is something that is just Molly to a certain extent, in that I am sure the illness has made her more susceptible to quick fluctuations in BP, but when she is just ill at home she gets very light headed very quickly and has to lie down before she faints. Anyway, she is doing great, alert and awake with her pain managed pretty well. She and I have been up all night, so I am sure she will be sleeping quite a bit today, I know I will be. The game plan for the weekend is just regular dressing changes, CVVH, Occupational Therapy to re-evaluate her voice and swallowing to see how soon she can get off the tube feeds and eating and drinking on her own. Once those tubes are gone she will only have the arterial lines in for her dialysis, and one IV for her antibiotic and one for her pain meds. All the rest of the bags, pumps, tubes, machines, etc are gone. she is even off the nasal canula oxygen, she is just breathing room air and her oxygenation is great. Game plan for the upcoming week and weeks. Start getting a little Physical Therapy in bed to strengthen and tone upper body. Skin graft for stumps, and upper thigh on left leg. Continue skin care for other areas affected by the blood clots, which are already looking good. Surgery for her left thumb and index finger (she will loosing them as well). Then after about 2 weeks of wound, graft and skin care, she will be ready for some intense rehab. then a few weeks after that and her stumps are healed and not swollen, we will need to locate a prosthetist, a person who specializes in fitting prosthetics. Then it will be learning how to use them. Molly told me before surgery that she already has a goal. Of course due to her voice I thought she said she was cold and I started covering her up. She said NO, G - O - A - L! I said, OH, I get it, what? Troy is a runner and she said she is going to run with Troy sometime. I said that is a great GOAL, and I will help you get to that point so Theresa (Troy's wife) and I can sit on the porch and watch you guys run! On a serious note, when she said that, I had no doubts whatsoever that she and I will get through this just fine. SPECIFIC PRAYER NEEDS

• Complete healing of her stumps and other wounds with no infections
• Grafting to go well and to take
• Continued healing of her kidneys, lungs, skin, liver, eyes and throat
• Strength and perserverence to participate in therapy
• Mental health, the doctors indicated that she will go through post-traumatic stress syndrome, so prayers to help her through this when it comes.
• Raymond (her dad), it was good for Molly to see him and him to see her, but it was hard on him, and was a very very long day for him including the fact he is not usually a good "traveler" long distances. He did great and is doing great, but prayers for him. He is used to seeing Molly 2-3 times a week and talks with her almost everyday. Until he saw her yesterday, it had been over 3 weeks since he saw or spoke to her. The long times between visits will be hard on him.
• Molly & I's families and friends as they travel to and from Ann Arbor over the next several weeks to visit.

God Is Good, and continues to answer prayers in Molly & I's lives. Keep Praying and Pray Hard!

FRIDAY MORNING

We spoke to Doctor Wang today (he is one of the best trauma surgeons around and is in charge of the entire state of Michigan's trauma and burn teams), and after his assessment and those of 3 other disciplines, they have strongly recommended a below the knee amputation of both of Molly's legs. Molly and I are both ok with this and we both know there is a bigger purpose for all this. Molly is worried and does want to see her Dad and my Mom & Dad before surgery. With this being Easter weekend, a snow storm approaching the Detroit area, Mondays after Holidays being swamped, and the increased risk of infection in her legs by waiting, we have decided to have the surgery done today. It will probably happen sometime this afternoon as she is currently on the dialysis machine which will take 3-4 hours and then for the OR to open up so we have a window of time for our parents to get here on time. This is the reason for the decision for the amputations. She has very little muscle tone to control her ankles and she has lost some nerves to feel her ankles. Also, with much of her skin being damaged and gone, not sure they would be able to cover the wounds even if they decided to save her legs. This would be a continuous infection risk. Then on top of all this, have little control of her ankles and feet and reduced feeling could cause her to have more injury to them without her knowing it and causing more risks down the road. Funtionally, she will be much better off, and the doctors feel very confident that she will be able to use prosthetics very well and live a VERY normal life. SPECIFIC PRAYER NEEDS

• Sugery to go well and for both legs to be a below knee amputation
• Her Dad and my Mom & Dad to have safe travels and to arrive before she goes to surgery
• Molly's peace of mind before, during and after the surgery
• Continued healing of the rest of her body (lungs, kidneys, liver, eyes, skin, hands and fingers, voice and anything else I have forgotten

I will update the blog after surgery, but will be late tonight as they will not take her to surgery until afternoon at the earliest, and surgery and recovery will take 4-7 hours.

God Bless and PRAY HARD TODAY!!!

Thursday Night

LOOOOOONG DAY, today. Molly was supposed to go to the tubroom around noon today, and did not end up going until around 3:30pm. This is hard on her as it is painful and not something to look forward to, so being told over and over that it will be in an hour, and then being 3 1/2 hours is tough. Then is took 3 hours for the tubbing as they have to monitor her sedation and pain level during and if they need to give her more medication then they have to stop and wait for it to kick in. Anyway, results of the tubbing are same as before with no changes. They did notice her tummy is a little distended and want to have an Xray taken just to rule out any blockages, etc. She is also going to get a CT scan of her head, throat and upper chest to make sure that there is nothing going on to be causing her not to be able to talk yet. they do not expect to find anything with either scan, but just ruling things out at this point. Better saffe than sorry. These will be happening some time tonight, so she will probably have another night of very little sleep. I have always heard that you can't sleep in a hospital, i am seeing first hand and Molly is experiencing first hand how true that actually is. She is scheduled for more debreedment surgery in the morning (Friday) first thing to give the surgeons, doctors and others another chance to see how her legs are looking and what the next step is going to be. Along these lines the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation team stopped by yesterday and looked at her legs and asked her a lot of questions. They discussed with her the possibility of amputation and gave us some booklets to look at. Her and I had a long discussion about that afterwards and if it does come to that, I believe we are ready for the challenge. She told me she was just happy to be alive, and that if she has to wear prosthetics, then so be it. She did tell me she was a little scared, but was ok with the possibility. In fact she was more worried about me than herself. Anyway, I share that with you all so you know that her spirits are good and so are mine. Even in her condition, can't hardly talk, in pain, sleepy and confused at times, she still makes me feel ok with her strength. Lastly, on the lighter side, she does get a little confused especailly when they give her the pain meds, but she is learning how she feels and can kinda tell when she says something not accurate, because she will look at me and say "thats not right is it?" and I'll tell her "no" and she will just smile and say, "ok, I won't tell you the rest then." Her sense of humor is back too, along with her spirits. Keep praying as we can ad Newfoundland and Iraq to those prayer abroad and Viginia her in the states. SPECIFIC PRAYER NEEDS

• Legs, feet and toes, and left hand and thumb & index finger
• Right hand as it is still a little swollen and difficult for her to use it
• Eyes, she is still blurry in both of them
• Tummy & Throat, that they do not find anything in the x-rays and scans
• Voice - to be strong (but not to strong :) )
• Lungs, liver and kidneys to keep coming back strong and healthy
• Heart - no overly concerned but they did notice a small "blip" in her last EKG and has asked cardiology to take a look just to be safe and not miss something.
• Spirits - we are now going on three weeks since she first went to the Convenient Care, and has basically been inside, in bed for those 3 weeks, it will start to wear on her, so prayer for her mind and spirit will be important.

God Bless you all and thanks so much for the prayers, cards, thoughts, emails, comments, phone calls, gift & gas cards, cash, etc, etc, etc. You are all very special and in our thoughts and prayers everyday. This journey would be unbearable without each and every one of you sharing the load with us and lifting Molly's health to God the Great Physician!

Wednesday Afternoon

First and foremost I appologize for the delay in getting the next posting up on the blog. I went home Monday afternoon and did not get back 'till last evening, so I did not have a lot to post and even less time to do so, but, with Molly's amazing progress, at this time no news is good news. OK, enough about my complaining and on to the important stuff. Bravin, our dog :) OK, lets talk about Molly. She is doing great. The CVVH (continuous dialysis) has been stopped and she is receiving regular hemo-dialysis as needed (3 times per week). She had that today and tolerated it very very well. Overall she is doing great with her breathing, blood pressure, etc. They have had a little trouble keeping her blood sugar regulated, but is not drastic fluctuations, but they check it every hour to keep an ey on it. She is wide awake and very alert and asking questions about what all has happened. Her spirits are high and has been smiling alot and answering questions of the doctors and nurses. It is wonderful to have her back. Although the pain meds are quite powerful and she does get a little confused and says some things that does not make sense, but that is to be expected. As Lena, her primary doctor (and one of the most impressive, special, caring, gifted physicians I have ever met) (We are so thankful to have her on our team) said, the lights are on almost all the time, always being woke up, moved from room to room, unit to unit, being under anesthesia, strong pain meds, sedation, not to mention the illness itself, can make anyone confused. We talked at length earlier today about her legs and she completly understands how bad they are and the potential of amputation. She is obviously worried and a little scared at the thought of that, but understands and I truly believe is ok with it if it does come to that. Based on the Doctor Wang's evaluation of the surgery yesterday that some her legs are a little better than expected and some were a little worse than expected. He is highly admired by Lena and many other doctors and he has asked for Medical Rehab to take a look at her in addition to plastic surgery and orthopedics. they were in today and talked to Molly about her legs and her activities, job, etc. They left us a lot of information about amputions, support groups, etc. For right now, we are still in a "wait and see" formation. they will probably do another surgery on Friday to see how things are progressing. After that, my guess would be that we will start to see what direction we will be going. They just want to start to prepare Molly and I if amputation is necessary. SPECIFIC PRAYER NEEDS Molly's legs - for total healing and full usefulness. Molly's mental health - for her to not be anxious, worried and scared, and to clearly understand everything that is going on (which I beleive she does). Overall Health - lungs, liver, kidneys, etc. Eyes - She has indicated that her left eye is a blurry. Voice - Her voice is still not back, she speaks in a whisper and this is frustrating to her as she can't get people attention, and everyone has to lean over her to hear her and usually has to ask her to repeat everything. Although, from my perspective her this is a nice little break, lol! I told her that and she just rolled her eyes again. I am starting to know what that feels like as I am geting a taste of my own medicine. Additional places praying for Molly England, Quebec, Peurto Rico God Bless you all and keep the prayer coming! Also, cards only are allowed in the Trauma Burn Center, and cards can be sent to: Molly French TBC University of Michigan Hospital 1500 E. Medical Center Dr. Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Monday Morning After MONDO Rounds

Holly Cow! That was amazing watching 30 people from every medical discipline you can imagine putting their heads together, observe, read the chart, ask questions all about Molly and everyone adding their opinion, advice, recommendations, questioning each other. Amazing to watch. Molly said it didn't bother her, but her heart rate did go up while they were all in the room, but she is ok now. The nurses are putting her dressings on right now, so I am updating the blog. Regarding her legs, no decision has been made yet, but three trauma surgeons, burn surgeon, orthopedic surgeon, plastic surgeon, physical therapy, occupational thereapy, all beleive another trip to the OR tomorrow is a good idea to debreed a little more of the dead tissue and use a device that causes the muscles to contract to determine muscle quality, how much is still viable and the function of what is left. After that the BIG decision will probably be made. The surgeons preliminarily told me after the rounds that the muscle and tissue does not look very good, but we will know for sure after tomorrow. A couple of things they said we have to keep in mind is that while there is no infection in the tissue right now, the longer it is open the more opportunity there is for infection to start, this will pretty make the decision as it could start jeopardizing Molly's overall health. Also, even without infection, if the tissue and muscle continues (even at a slow rate) to die, eventually it could effect where the amputation would occur, ie: above knee or below knee. So, while we are daling with trying to save her legs, we are alos dealing with in the long-term what will be best for Molly and provide her the most function and normal activity. Molly did overhear the comments of the surgeons today, so I talked with her about the possible outcomes. She understood and told me that whatever has to be, has to be. I told her again how all this happened and she understood and remembered most of it from me telling her yesterday. I know she is still somewhat medicated, and confused, but I beleive she understands and while a little anxious, is truly ok with everything right now. I told the doc's that from now on all conversations about her care, etc. will need to include her and I together. Outside of her legs, she is still doing AWESOME!!!! Vitals signs are great, breathing great, they will be discontinuing the CVVH (continuous dialysis) later today or tomorrow morning and going back to the regular hemo-dialysis every 2-3 days. This will hopefully get her kidneys to realize their vacation is over. Liver & lungs are still sick, but recovering well. Keep praying for her overall health, specifically her legs. Also, pray for her health care team that they look at every possible option before making a decision and/or forming an opinion. Lastly, pray for Molly & I as we together may have to make some very difficult decisions and the we make those decisions together, with all the information, options and wisdom to make the right decision, and then the peace to live with the decision. God Bless, more later today or tomorrow for sure!

Sunday Night

WOW, WOW, WOW! That about sums up Molly's day! The VENT is gone! She is breathing completely on her own and when I left the oxygen being given her was only through a nasal canula at only 2liters, which is awesome and her vitals are great!!!!!!! Praise God for all the healing he has done in the past weeks and especially in the past few days. She is wide awake and still unable to tak due to the tube being down her throat for nearly 2 weeks, but she can whisper a little and said she was very confused so I sat down and explained everything to her about her illness, the ARDS, the compartment syndrome in her legs, how sick she really was, her plane ride, how Dr. Hawley, Nurses and Doc's at Good Sam and especially Troy saved her life. This all surprised her ans was a lot to take in, but she understood. I also told her how many people all over the world are praying for her. At my last count we have the phillipines, china, indonesia, south africa, ireland, canada, england praying abroad, and nearly every state in the usa. This made her smile and a little teary! I also told her that I was going to go home tomorrow and she said it was OK, I also told her now that she is ready to start talking I needed to get away, she just smiled and rolled her eyes. Since I do that to her all the time, I guess its ok for her to roll her eyes at me! With all this wonderful news we still have HUGE prayer needs. Tomorrow is the "MOMBO" rounds were every discipline, nurses, docs, therapists etc. make rounds and will take a look at Molly's legs and start to make some preliminary decisions about the best course of action with them. SPECIFICALLY: Her legs have been ravaged by the toxins and have been debreeded 2 times. During each debreedment they had to remove a substantial amount of muscle in her calves. Bottomline: Prayer is needed to ask for healing so her legs can be saved. Other prayer needs: Travel mercies for me as I will be heading home after the big rounds tomorrow and back on Tuesday. Travel mercies for my Mom & Dad as the are coming up to stay with Molly while I am gone. Continued recovery and healing of her lungs, liver and kidneys. Also, as Molly continues to get her thoughts around what has happened to her and the long road of recovery and rehab ahead of her, she will need a lot of love, prayer and thoughts to keep her spirits up. The doctor told me to expect anger, confusion, depression, etc. as she comes to terms with all this. God Bless you all for your continued prayer, I have seen amazing answered prayer already and I know that Molly's recover will be whole eventually, but we all need to keep praying and giving thanks for what God has already done for her and I. I will update again tomorrow about the results of the rounds.

Saturday Night

Wow, what another big day. Molly did great in surgery, her first "tubbing" which means they took her to the big bathtub to clean her up and scrub her legs and do a dressing change. With all this her blood pressure did drop a little as it was a big day and they gave her some pain medication. But it is starting to go back up. Add to the already big day another IV line (that makes a total of 5) for the to continue running the CVVH (continuous dialysis). Soon some of these lines will be coming out, but for now they want to keep all the access points. I was struck today at the number of pump machines at her bed side, she has 4 double pumps, while this sounds like a lot, when she got here to the U of M Hospital she had 14 double pumps running full steam, plus the oscillator, Nitrous Oxide, Dialysis, etc, etc, etc. To be down to only 4 pumps, a regular ventilator and the dialysis is amazing progress. I told her she is doing great and how proud I am of her, she just shakes her head and tries to smile. We had visitors today, Aunt Marty & Ashley and Michelle and Stacy. Not sure how much Molly knew was going on at the time as she had just returned from surgery, but she did respond a little and opened her eyes a little. If nothing else I knew they were all here and lifted my spirits. Tomorrow should be a resting day for Molly, the only thing on the schedule is for her to be "tubbed" again. but other than that she should get the opportunity to rest and regain some strength and let her body continue to heal itself. SPECIFIC PRAYER NEEDS (same as before)

• Pray for strong, continued oxygenated blood flow to cell in her toes, feet and legs, fingers hands and arms.
• Liver to continue to recover and grow stonger
• Kidney function to return
• Lungs to continue to clear and grow stonger
• Mental health and spirit

While Molly grows stronger everyday and is showing us all how resiliant the human body actually is, we have to remember how fragile is can be also. If anything can be learned from all this is take control of your own health and demand a strep test even if your doctor or urgent care health professional says it is something else. While we do not know if Molly's journey could have been prevented by a throat swab, for a few dollars and a 10 minutes, it can be a good preventative action.

God Bless everyone for the continued prayer, comments, cards, calls, etc. They are all felt and appreciated. Speaking of comments, I have had a few calls from folks trying to leave comments but cannot. Here is a quick tutorial:

Click on the "comments" at the bottom of a posting. On the right hand side is a blank box to type your comment. To verify, type the funny looking letters/numbers in the box, then enter your google id and password OR click on anonymous. If you click anonymous and you want Molly and I to know who it is from, be sure to include your name in the comment.

God Bless you all!

Saturday After Surgery

Molly got out of surgery and is doing very well. Her vital's are looking great, strong blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen levels, etc. She should bounce back from this surgery much quicker than she did from thursday's surgery. We were able to go back to her room for a few minutes to see her, she was out but did respond some to our voices and opened her eyes just a little. Regarding her legs. We are still in a wait and see mode, they did have to remove more of the muscle in her legs at it was dead, but did find that some of the muscle is alive and healthy. On Monday Ortho, plastic surgery, and burn surgery will evaluate her to determine how she can best be served for the long-term. If continued debreedments are needed it is a good chance that she will loose much of her lower leg functions which may lead her being better served with an amputation, however we will not know for a while yet. The good news is that there is viable muscle in her legs, her feet are healthy and it the muscle needed removed is all below her knee. Keep praying for her overall health (liver, kidneys, lungs etc.) but specifically keep praying hard for the health of her legs to keep the oxygen filled blood flowing to every cell in her legs, feet and toes. This will be her best chance of being able to keep her legs. Thanks for all your support, prayers, and thoughts. We feel them all! God Bless each and everyone of you!

Saturday Morning

Recieved a call from the Nurse at 6:30am this morning letting me know that Molly was first on the list for surgery and they would be in around 7am. I lept out of bed rushed to the hospital to find out they had an emergency case and she would be delayed. It is now 9:45 and they are now taking her to the OR. Too bad to, because she was resting about as well as she has in a few days. Her blood pressure, O2, heart rate etc. all look great this morning. Just keep the surgeons and support staff in your prayers as they make the right decisions during surgery and keep praying for healing of her muscle, tissues and skin on her legs, feet and toes, that they may be saved. Lastly, I spoke to the surgeon and made sure he was happy, well rested and sober, just like I like my pilots, and he assured me he was all three, :) God bless and keep praying, I will post again after surgery.

Friday Afternoon

Molly's condition is about the same as yesterday, but I got the chance to speak with the doctors at length today. Basically, her legs are at great risk right now. They are walking such a fine line between keeping her overall health safe and keeping her legs safe. The doctor indicated that because of the great progress earlier in the week that we have the luxury to put her organs and overall health at risk by giving her more fluids, keeping her off medications to constrict her blood vessels, etc, to keep the blood flowing to her legs. The fine line they are walking is that as the fluid builds up in her system, it makes it harder for her lungs to function and exchange oxygen, and not constricting her blood vessels let her blodd pressure to fall and so on and so on. The bottom line is this, they can allow her to get "sicker" to give as much chance of saving her legs for only so long, at some point she will get "sick" enough that they will have to go the other way and put her legs at risk. They will be doing more debreedment surgery tomorrow (saturday) morning and have already said that they will have to remove more muscle in her calfs that has died. Regardless of how much they keep focusing on saving her legs and the blood flow to them, if too much muscle is removed she will loose function of her lower legs. Right now we need prayers focused on saving her legs! As I mentioned earlier in this post, we have the luxury to let her get "sicker" but only to a point. But this means that she is still on the vent, the dialysis, and is sedated so she is back to being unresponsive for the most part. I know this feels like a step backwards, but without the amazing progress our prayers afforded her ealier in the week, the doctors would not be able to do what they are doing now for her legs. Tomorrow the surgeon will debreed her legs again and have some other disciplines in the OR with him to be an extra set of eyes to look for all options. Be praying for the doctors during the surgery, and be praying for Molly's legs that the muscles, tissue and skin begin to regain viability and can be salvaged and saved this to include her entire legs, feet, and toes, left and right side. Also, keep her lungs, liver, kidneys, and skin all over to continue to be abl to take the necessary "hits" to keep her legs healthy. And that the Doctors will make the right decisions with her overall well being and health. Keep the prayer coming! God Bless!

Thursday Night

WOW what a long day. Molly was restless and agitated all night last night. This morning Mom & Dad drove up early to be with Molly and I as sher prepared for surgery at 8:30am. Molly continued to be agitated and a little scared, but we prayed for her surgery and her peace of mind and she was better. About an hour into the surgery the surgeon came out and talk with us about the surgery. Molly did well during the surgery, but the news about her legs was not great. They had to debreed not only skin but also some muscle in her calfs. This is a big concern as it will definately cause a lot more rehab challenges at the least. On the negative side, it may be a sign that the muscle is dying and may require additional debreedments. If this becomes the case, there is a threat of having little to no use of her legs or even the possibility of losing them all together. We will not know the ultimate outcome for at least several days, probably weeks and could even be months until we know for sure. The good news to all of this is that it is all confined below the knees. During the surgery they also took a look at her left hand and performed a fasciotomy like they did on her legs last week. This was to look at the muscle there. It looked better than the muscle in her legs, but not completely healthy. No debreedment was necessary on her hand muscles, but they will be keeping a close eye on her hands and fingers as well. After the the surgery they did admit her to the Trauma & Burn Center as her legs are more like a burn than anything else and will require daily trips to the "tub" to scrub her legs and re-wrap them. Also, after the surgery her blood pressure was quite low so they needed to give some fluids but was concerned that this would inhibit her oxygen exchange and cause some puffiness again, so instead of administering the hemo-dialysis they decided to hook her back up to the CVVH machine that she was on earlier in the week that is a mild form of dialysis and will be able to keep the fluid off her as they continue to give her fluids. I know this sounds like pouring water into a screen door, but is is waht she needs to get her blood pressure up. When I left her blood pressure had increased significantly. they will probably keep the CVVH on for a few days. They decided that sincer her blood pressure was low and she was really sedated due to the surgery that the vent would stay on until tomorrow. All in all, not the day we were hoping for, however, she does continue to make progress with her lungs, oxygen exchange, and liver function. the slight setbacks today when looking at the big picture were to be expected and are minor compared to getting her legs in the best shape possible and to give them the best chance to survive. I am not discouarged with todays news or outcomes, it is just one small step in a very long journey. I still know without a doubt that Molly is going to be ok and have a full recovery. I have known and felt this confidence and peace since making the decision to send her to U of M. I was very tired today and a little grumpy and the news did not settle with me well at first, but having had a chance to reflect, pray and relax a bit, I am as confident as ever. Keep the prayers coming, I have seen some amazing answers to prayers thus far in this journey and know more and more prayer will continue to be answered. We all have to just keep sending them up! MOLLY'S SPECIFIC PRAYER NEEDS

• Legs - Strong oxygenated blood flow to every cell in her legs, feet and toes to keep further tissue, muscle and skin from dying
• Left hand - Strong oxygenated blood flow to every cell in her hand and fingers to keep further tissue, muscle and skin from dying
• Toes & fingers - the doctor has already indicated that she will loose toes and tips of some fingers, however, God performs amazing miracles and can heal anything, please pray that these become one of his miracles and she doesn't lose any of them
• Right hand - Still very swollen and difficult for her to use, no tissue death on the hand now, pray for continued blood supply and swelling to go down.
• Ventilator - Pray for her to get off the ventilator and do well with her breathing and oxygen exchange so she will not have to go back on.
• Pain management - her legs specifically, but her entire body hurts, and the "tubbing" will be very traumatic and painful as these procedure begin tomorrow.
• Kidney function - Pray for her to get off the CVVH machine asap and back to the Hemo Dialysis and ultimately fully functioning kidneys
• Liver - Her liver is returning to normal, but not there yet, pray for full liver function
• Lungs - continued clearing of her lungs and no lung damage
• Mental health - As she begins to be more aware of her condition and the horrific trauma her body has received due to the bacteria's toxins, she will need time to be angry, sad, depressed, etc, etc, etc. Just pray for comfort and peace of mind.
• ME - I am doing great and am confident, but I do feel myself getting tired earlier each day. Molly is going to need me more as the journey progresses and my strength will become more and more important. Please pray for God to give me all the strength I need to help and support Molly and her dad.

God bless you all, you will never know how comforting the prayers are and how good it feels to know that hundreds of thousands if not millions of people around the world are praying for Molly and her healing.

Thank you all and PRAY HARD!!!

Wednesday Night

Molly had another good day today, was busy with an MRI and dressing changes on her legs. Karen, Olivia and Jerry visited today. They did not get to spend to much time with her due to all the stuff going on, and she was sedated a little during each of these procedures so she was not overly alert while they were here, but she did know they were here and it did help to lift her spirits. Overall, she made progress in all areas today and was very tired tonight and a little agitated this evening before I left. They gave her some pain medication and something help her sleep. The ventilator was put on the support setting all day today so she was basically breathing on her own all day and this is great news, but also tiring for her. The doctors and surgeons were in today and they will be doing surgery on her legs tomorrow (thursday) morning first thing around 8:30am. this is to debreed the dead skin on her legs and possibly do some skin graphs, but they will decide when they get her in the operating room to decide exactly what they will do. The surgery will take 2-4 hours and we need constant prayer during this procedure to guide the surgeons hands and for them to make the right decisions. also pray for peace of mind for Molly as she says she is not worried or scared but i beleive part of her uneasiness tonight is due to her being concerned about the surgery. she has contracted a GI tract infection that is common to patients in ICU, and not a big concern, but they do have to be careful not to pass it from patient to patient so the staff is wearing gowns ans such when they ener the room. Visitors do not need to were the gowns, but are required to wash their hands before leaving the room. They also performed the hemo-dialysis today and she did great and they were pleased with the amount of fluid they were able to extract. Legs, toes, fingers are still major concerns and need prayer. Liver is starting to function better, but not fully yet, keep praying for her liver function. Kidneys have not started to work yet, so continue to pray for them The ventilator should come off tomorrow after the surgery, so pray that this is possible and she tolerates breathing on her own well. Lastly, as she is becoming more and more alert, pray for her peace of mind and not to worry or be scared. Lastly, after the vent is removed and she is doing well, they will move her to the burn unit as they will be more equipped to work on her legs. The surgeon stated today that fundamentally her legs are just like a severe burn and will need to be treated as such. Keep Molly in your constant prayer for total healing. God Bless you all!

Tuesday Evening

Molly had another great day making progress today. Before I tell you about her progress I want to tell you about this hospital. This place is amazing, I have never experienced anything like this place. Besides the tremendous care, cutting edge technology, caring staff, the building itself is unbelievable. It takes over 6 minutes of walking at a good pace to reach the elevators to go to SICU. that does not include the walk from the parking lot to the entrance. And here is the amazing part, that is only about 1/3 - 1/2 of the way through the hospital. There are clinics, childrens hospital, womens hospital, cancer hospital, cardiovascular hosptial and critical care hospital all under one roof. It blows me away every day I walk in. On to Molly. She continues to make progress and the doc's, nurses, and respiratory therapists are pleased if not a little surprised at the great progress. Yesterday she was fitted with hand splints to help keep her muscle tone and prevent her hands and fingers from curling under. Today, they fitted her feet with splints as well to keep her feet from dropping. These are very uncomfortable and frustrating to her, but the will play a big role in her therapy later on so her hands and feet will not diminish to much while in bed. They continue to sedate her and up the pain meds when they do dresssing changes on her legs. She is scheduled to go the the operating room on Thursday to debreed her legs and possibly do some skin graphs. Because of that they did not extabate (take out) the ventilator tube today. They were planning on doing it today, but will wait until after the surgery on Thursday. While I know she was ready because of the tests they ran on her, I am a bit relieved that they are going to wait. This will greatly reduce the chances of them having to put it back in if she does not tolerate the surgery well. Liver function seems to be picking up as do the clearing of her lungs. Praise God for his healing in these areas! She is alos off the dialysis and will only receive the hemo aevery few days until her kidneys "wake up" This could be soon, could be weeks, months or never. Only time will tell about the kidneys, but the nurses have said that after a huge trauma like this sometimes the kidneys take a long time to realize that they need to get back to work. Pray for them to get the message to start working sooner than later :) She continues to be fiesty and moves all over the bed and the nurses and techs have to continually reposition her. In fact, Ron the one tech said she inspired him for an invention, because many patients tryi to get out of bed or pull out tubes the need to be restrained, but Molly is just being Molly, always on the move and is not trying to get out of bed or pulling tubes, he thinks a blow-up tube (kinda like the tubes they use for kids at the bowling alley, and for me if you have ever seen me bowl) to just keep them in the middle of the bed. He said he would send Molly and I some royalties since she gave him the inspiration. We'll see?! They are putting a PIC line in her arm tonight, this will be much more stable for intravenous over a longer period of time then just a regular IV. She is going to have so many holes in her she is going to leak when she finally drinks something. Her arms look like she is a drug addict. (Actually she said taht to me Last Tuesday before they sedated her to put her on the vent) PRAYER NEEDS

• Keep praying for her legs, they are painful and require graphs and surgery.
• Tips of toes and fingertips; that the blood flow will continue and they will recover so they will not require surgery or amputation.
• Kidney function to return.
• Liver function to continue coming back
• Lungs to continue to clear.

God bless you all. Molly and I feel each and every prayer and they are comforting.

Monday Night

Well, i did not get to see much of Molly today as I traveled home to take care of things there. Believe it or not the bank, DP&L and others want our money too, lol! Anyway, Molly had a good day even though I was not there. She continues to make progress and there is a chance she may get off the ventilator in the next day or two. While this is awesome news, it does concern me, I just do not want the Docs to go to far to fast, but I trust there judgment, but please pray for them to make the right decisions at the right time. They are also stopping the "mild" dialysis tonight to see how she tolerates it, they beleive her vitals are strong and will do well. this means that every few days she will need regulary hemo-dialysis until her kidneys wake up, so pray that she tolerates this well and her kidneys start functioning so she will not need the hemo. She was placed on a special bed today that they use for recovering burn victims. This will help support her better to reduce the skin breakdown and also be benificial for her legs and feet. They are still a major concern as they are bleeding and need changed everyday. This is very painful and right now her sedation helps to keep her from feeling the pain, but they are reducing the sedation so she will start feeling the pain more in the next few days. Please pray for her pain. They have found a pulse in all the extremeties, Praise God!, yet several toes and fingers are still a concern in that they had went a long time with out blood flow, so continue to pray for her to be able to keep them all. Also along those same lines, there is a good chance she will need some plastic surgery and skin grafts on her legs so continue to pray that her skin on her legs will be able to recover on their own and not need the graphs. Another answered prayer is her lungs continue to clear and are looking very very good. Keep praying that they continue to clear and that we do not have any backsliding as the vent and being bed ridden can cause a different type of pneumonia that they may need to address. She is showing signs of her liver starting to repair itself, this is great news, thank God! but keep praying until we know for sure. She continues to show some alertness and is "fiesty" as the nurses put it, this makes it difficult for them to provide care, but is also a blessing that she is fighting and is strong. (Of course this is not news to me, I've known that for a long time.) In general, Molly is making incredible progress and I know it is due to the grace of God and countless prayers around the world, Keep Them Coming! Prayer Update: This is were I know for sure people are praying for Molly: South Carolina, Florida, Texas, California, Washington, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Quebec Canada, Ontario Canada, south Africa, Dublin Ireland, China. I believe and feel that there are over a million people worldwide praying for Molly and I. I have come to understand the feel the power of prayer, in that I have not felt the first minute of fear, anxiety or worry since praying for the wisdom and strength to make the right decision about Molly's care. since I told Holly, the RN at Good Sam "send her to Michigan" I have had peace and I truly know without doubt that Molly is going to be OK and fully recover with no long-term affects from her ordeal. God Bless You all and keep praying and sharing with each other on the comments. More tomorrow after she has another day of progress!

Sunday Night

WOW! What a day. Molly, the overachiever she is, does nothing but continue to surprise us and her doctors, nurses and other caregivers. After she transitioned to the traditional ventilator, she then continued make additional progress today. 1st, they were able to reduce the amount of oxygen provider to her by the vent down to 35%. This a great as it means she is requiring less oxygen. 2nd, they set the ventilator to provide so many breaths per minute, but the ventilator also recognizes when she tries to take a breath on her own and then supports that breath. She is regularly trying to take 3-5 additional breaths on her own beyond what the ventilator provides. This means that she it in a sense "fighting" the ventilator, which will greatly reduce her dependency on it and that her body wants to breath on its own. 3rd, THIS IS THE BIG NEWS for the day, she started to respond to our voices, and responded appropriately. when I asked her if she could hear me, she nodded her head up and down. We continued to ask her a lot of questions through out the day and she would nod yes or no appropriately. Also, her childhood friend Debby (Shamberg) Garland visited from Chicago today and asked Molly to open her eyes and she opened them 1/2 to 2/3 and looked at Debby. This is wonderful news because it indicates that her brain function is ok. Now, the reality check, Molly is still in critical condition and has a long long way to go. We are probably looking at 2-3 months for her to even return to Ohio, but she has moved past the life threatening stages. Please keep praying as she still has many areas that need healing:

• Kidney & liver function
• Legs (do to the sepsis, her legs are very similar to a severe burn victim and being treated the same) She may need skin grafts, etc
• Skin condition all over due to being in bed, her skin is fragile and breaks down easily.
• Thumb and index finger on her left hand, due to reduce blood flow, these fingers have moderate to severe tissue damage and there is a good chance of loosing them
• Lungs to continue to clear of pneumonia and bacteria
• Wound care, the fasiotomy that was performed to help with the compartment syndrome in her legs have left large deep incisions on her calfs that are left open to drain, these are severe wounds and always the fear of infection with them being open.

As you can see the list of things needing prayer is lengthy and as the days and weeks continue there will be additional prayer needs. Keep checking daily or more often to see how Molly is doing and to see what needs she specifically needs prayer for.

Also keep my Mom and Dad and me in your prayers as I will be driving home tomorrow to take care of things and get clean clothes and other errands and then will drive back to Ann Arbor tomorrow evening. Mom and dad will stay during the day to be with Molly and leave for home tomorrow afternoon.

Prayer update: We know for sure that there are prayer chains in Ohio, Illinois, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Washington, California, Ontario Canada, New York, and South Africa. In addition to the locations we also know that the Jewish Community in Chicago is praying for Molly. "Toda raba"

Again, keep them coming and making comments as I share them with Molly and now that she is responding to our voices, this is great to share with her.

Lastly, cards are welcome and encouraged, send them to: MollyFrench, SICU 1500 East Medical Center Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

I would have never thought i would be saying these words, but THANK GOD for The University of Michigan!!!!!!!

Sunday Noon Update

GREAT NEWS! Molly was transitioned off the oscilator (specialized ventilator) to a traditional ventilator. This is a huge step forward. Her vital signs and other indicators are stable and she continues to show progress overall. The next steps will be to slowly (VERY SLOWLY) ween her off the vent and slowly (VERY SLOWLY) ween her off much of the medications. The still sedate her daily as they provide wound care and debreedment on her legs. Outside of this the sedation will be removed during the rest of the day, so we should start to see signs of her waking up. Pain medication will remain constant as her arms and legs are quite painful due to the incisions and degraded condition of her skin. We still have a long road ahead of us (months not weeks) to get her home and functioning normal again, but gettting her on the traditional vent is a great sign that things are going the right way and that we may (I stress MAY) have turned the corner with her. Please continue the prayers! We feel each and everyone one of them and they truly help. It is so comforting to know that there are so many people praying for Molly and all of us. Keep them up! Specific Areas for Prayer: Her legs & feet for complete recovery and pain control Her Thumb and Index finger on her left hand Kidney & Liver function Skin condition Lungs to continue to clear of pnemonia God Bless each and everyone of you. Continue praying and posting comments.

Saturday Morning Update

Molly had a good night, all the progress made yesterday continued through the night. Her blood oxygen levels continue to climb at the same time they are lowering the amount of oxygen they are giving her. Blood pressure is probably better than mine (especially the past few days, lol) and her heart rate is great. The special ventilator that she is on is slowly being reduced with a possibility of getting her on a conventional ventilator later today or tomorrow. Overall she is making great improvments, yet remains in critical condition so prayers need to continue to flow over her for continuous improvement and for no long-term damage to her organs, brain, hands and feet. Providing Molly continuous to make improvements, I will start to describe Molly's entire journey and all the amazing things that have happened (good & bad) over the past week! God Bless each of you for your continued prayers! Jamey

First 24 Hours at U of M Hospital

Today was a good day for Molly and the rest of us. We started our day around 3:30 am when my cell phone rang and Dr. Brian the “Fellow Physician” was on the line telling me about their concern with Molly’s feet. She is so swollen and puffy along with several other complications are making it difficult for her feet to get the necessary blood supply. He asked me for my consent to perform a procedure to help relieve the pressure by making incisions in her lower legs. This seemed to help as a light pulse was felt in both feet. There was similar concern for her hands as well, but know procedure was performed. They continue to pull off 150cc's of fluid from her body via a mild form of dialysis. In general, her condition is improving from head to toe. Specifically, her blood/oxygen level is 130, compared to 50 yesterday. To give you an idea of how sick Molly is, a normal healthy person’s level is 400-450. She was being given 100% oxygen, that has been reduced to 50%, so that means that her lungs are absorbing more oxygen into her bloodstream with less oxygen being provided. Her heart rate around 77 and her blood pressure is around 100/60. These are great numbers. She continues to be supported with bag after bag of medicine, fluids, antibiotics, etc. and some of the most highly advanced machines available. All of this along with a strong team approach with over 30 people monitoring her and offering suggestions, ideas and “what to do next.” By some of the best health care providers on the planet. This is not to say that Molly is out of the woods as her condition is still critical and will remain critical for several days, however, her improvements are great signs that she is improving and getting better. She still remains sedated, so no response from her is expected, but I believe she can hear us so we talk to her all the time. I tell her about things back home and that her Dad is ok and so is Bravin and Rascal (our dog and cat). I just want her to know there is nothing for her to worry about so she can focus all her attention and energy on getting better. Specific things to pray for: She and I as well as her dad and my family & friends (Raymond Null), (Steve & Nina French), (Troy & Theresa Emrick), (Peg & Keith Emrick), (Jen & Aaron Gaff) still need your frequent thoughts and prayers for our travels, our health and strength, etc. For Molly, pray specifically for God’s healing power with blood flow to her feet and hands, returned kidney function, liver function, reduction of pneumonia in her lungs and no brain damage due to the reduced oxygen levels over time. For me, please pray for me to make informed and good decisions for Molly. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Update from Ken Kurz 3-7-08

Just spoke with Jamey and Molly is making very positive strides at this point. Jamey said he can actually feel the prayers (KEEP THEM UP) from everyone. Molly is still in very serious condition but improving. Her PO (blood gas-blood oxygen level – 100 is great) levels last night were 50 – which according to Jamey is the minimum to still be alive. She made the plane trip and just over 12 hours ago got to the U of M Medical Center. The treatments they have her on are working at this point. Her PO level is up to 72!!!! Praise God!!!! Her blood pressure is improving and her pulse rate has dropped from 160 to 100!!!! The area of concern is still the fluid she is retaining. They are doing bedside dialysis which is helping reduce the amount of fluid in her blood. They did a ephasiotomy (SP??) in which they slit open her calves to relive the pressure in her legs because she was not getting good circulation to her feet – which remain purple and swollen. There is some concern that without improvement there, she may risk amputation. Her hands are also affected, but not as severely. They also are concerned with the oxygen level in her blood, so continue to pray that her brain receives the necessary oxygen.

Blog for Molly and Jamey

Jamey asked me to set this blog up so he could keep friends, family and loved ones updated on Molly's condition. If you want to receive an email that notifies you when new information is posted to this blog, enter your email address in the E-mail Feed box below. You will simply receive an e-mail whenever something new has been posted to this blog. (You will have to respond to a couple verification e-mails.) Anyone who has a google account can post to this blog. Go to https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount to create an account. Please continue to keep them in your prayers. Jim Hill