All's Well That Ends Well

When you get to the end of a day, your evaluation of it might be the sum of all its events or it may just be what happened last. If your days are routine, then each day may simply be compared to those preceding it. Each day may just be a means to get to something better. Sometimes we work at jobs to pay the bills in hopes that for 2 weeks each summer we can escape the mundane of our lives to relax or have fun or do something exciting.

Our lives have been anything but mundane. For three months we have traveled and seen new sights. We have tried new foods and experienced new things. We have met new people, made new friends and experienced things we never imagined. We have learned about the wonders of modern medicine.

Our eyes have been opened to a new world and our perspective on life has changed.

Today was anything but boring.

The day started out with out many complications, but late in the morning the doctor expressed concern about Josh not being very responsive after reducing the medications that are keeping him sedated. The goal was to get him to begin opening his eyes and responding to things so that we can gage how well he is improving.

After about 5 hours with no improvement, the doctor was concerned that there was swelling on the brain or possibly damage to his brain from lack of oxygen or infection. The CT scan showed no abnormalities and the EEG showed normal. By then Josh began showing some movement. He moved his eyes when I called his name and then responded to the tech's command when he told him to move his foot.

As the afternoon progressed, he continued to respond to Ilene and my voice and even moved his head and opened his eyes a few times.

For his safety, the Dr decided to sedate him for the night so that he could get some sleep and so he wouldn't hurt himself by pulling out his ventilator or any of hi IV lines. At about 8 PM, before they had a chance to increase his medications, Josh sat up and started trying to pull his ventilator out. He panicked and started swinging his arms trying to get a breath. The more he struggled, the harder it was for him to breath. Ilene and I and 2 nurses worked at holding him down. He was actually able to knock his vent tube off which made it so he couldn't breath for a few seconds.

The nurse finally got him some additional medication to calm him down and he went back to sleep. At that point, mom and dad were ready for some medication to take away their anxiety. But we were also very happy to see him so responsive.

All in all, as scary and emotional as the day was, we are glad at the end of the day that Josh is still fighting. 

Through out the day we had many visitors that prayed with us and encouraged us and brought us meals. We are so very blessed to have so may people who are a part of this journey. We continue to be blessed by the comments to the blog and look forward to Josh being awake so that he can read them. 

He has also received a number of emails from some young ladies that he has left an impression on. 

Thank you for your prayers. Many of you have offered to do what ever you can to help. The best thing you can do is continue to pray, and tell people about Josh's journey and share with them about how your life has been changed by what God is doing through Josh.

A friend of ours commented on how easy it is to get complacent in our lives and live like life is designed to make us happy. When we lose sight of our purpose, what we were designed to do, then life loses meaning.

Live each day the way God designed you to live. Live like you believe you are the child of a king and be a world changed. Change your world for Christ.

Today ended well.