8/8/11 Amy Update

So, here’s a quick update on how Amy’s doing.  Hard to believe its been almost a month since this happened.  Feels like we’re outside of time right now.  Anyway….back to Amy.  So, we were very glad to get into the Neurologist down in Sacramento today.  We spent about half an hour with him and got good information.

One pretty significant piece that we somehow missed amongst the chaos in the hospital was that Amy didn’t have two arterial dissections…she had THREE!  In three DIFFERENT arteries.  One in her left carotid, and then one in each of her Vertebrals.  The third one was much smaller, but was a dissection nevertheless.  The doctor said that Amy’s case came up at a recent Neuro Conference.  She’s a celebrity…and didn’t even get a chance to sign autographs!

Other than that piece, there wasn’t a lot of new information today.  They want to wait until her next MRI/MRA in September to make any real significant decisions about what the long term future holds.  Until then, they want her to stay the course - which at this point means limited activity, no driving, and no real lifting of even semi heavy or awkward objects…including putting Addie down in her crib or even bouncing her for that matter.  Our prayer is that when they do the MRI, they will find the clots dissipating/healing/disappearing.

With the exception of a few days, she’s been on top of her pain and nausea.  She has vomited a couple of times, but it was truly the most graceful episode of vomiting I’ve ever seen…and so it didn’t cause any more damage.  Her walks are getting longer (past the mail box that is  ), and her overall demeanor is getting better every day.  Still a long road ahead of us, but we’re moving in the right direction.

On a side note; it should be a standardized rule that kids are not allowed to be sick while mommy’s down!  Our boys have pretty much taken turns being sick…back and forth…for the past 8 days (including little Addie).  Daddy’s…even on our best days…are a far cry from mommy when your sick.  Thank God for Nanna’s…

The Official Press Release on Amy (Part 2 of 2)

Part 2

I’m not a writer.  I don’t have the skill or ability to adequately describe to you the mix emotions that were going on inside of that ER.  Amy, strapped to a backboard in tremendous pain, IV’s and wires coming from everywhere, this interaction with our kids, the confusion and chaos that seemed to be unleashed around us, just no words describe.  As a pastor, I know all the right things to say and do in that situation, but I couldn’t think of any of them.  There was no “right” answer.  There was nothing that could be said right then and there that was going to make any difference in the world.  We prayed with Amy just before she was loaded into the helicopter.  Amy’s parents, and a few family and friends stood by as we watched the helicopter lift off.  A very, very lonely and strange feeling.  Indescribable really.

After the helicopter was out of sight, all I could think about was getting there.  The pilot gave a strict talk about not racing down to the hospital.  (He assured me he would win).  He was right.  Everyone insisted on driving me, of which I was very grateful, but I really needed that time to myself.  I needed to be able to pray out loud, yell, and cry in the privacy of my truck.  I did a lot of each.

Its amazing how your prayers change when you’re truly desperate.  Though I don’t consider my self a “prayer warrior”, I talk to God a lot, and I pray consistently; but my prayers have never been so desperate.  I prayed the things that any husband or parent prays.  “Let me trade places”, and stuff like that.  All I could think about was how different this world would be if Amy were not in it.  Not just because of my family, but because of the incredible way in which she lives her life.  She has such a contagious way about her that everyone becomes her friend - almost as if they didn’t ever have a choice.  I’ve always been clear that the only reason people become friends with me is so that they can hang out with Amy - and its pretty much true.  It was almost like I was trying to remind God of how His Kingdom would not be able to move forward the same way if Amy were not here.  He could not afford to lose her!  That little one hour drive to Sacramento altered the way that I pray forever.

Before leaving Oroville, we did not know what they would do with her once they arrived at the hospital.  They believed that most likely she would go into surgery right away.  Unsure of what was happening, I finally arrived, and made my way to the Intensive Care Unit where she was.  They had not taken her to surgery.  Though this was far from over, I can’t even begin to tell you how good it was to see her face again, and hold her hand.

Immediately she was in great care.  I can’t say enough about the team of people at Mercy General.  She had a Neurologist, an Interventional Neuro Radiologist and a surgeon that immediately evaluated her condition.  Based on signs, her age, and level of responsiveness, they opted to not take her into surgery that night, start her on an IV blood thinner, and get an MRI/MRA in the morning.  Based on the results from the CT scan, they believed that she had a Carotid Dissection.

Now, if you’re like me, that means nothing to you.  The short description is that the arteries have many layers to the outer wall.  A dissection happens when the layers tear and pull apart and blood begins to seep in between the layers.  Think of it like a big blood blister - but on the inside of the artery, which ends up blocking the flow of blood, and creating blood clots that can cause strokes.  They said the only reason that she did not have a severe stroke was because the other arteries in the back of the neck (the vertebral arteries) were so strong that they were compensating for the loss of blood to her brain from the Carotid.

The next morning they took her away to run the rest of the tests.  The MRI, and the MRA, and various other scans.  They could not believe the results.  The images clearly showed that not only did she have a tear in her carotid artery (which is not uncommon), but she also had a dissection of the Right Vertebral artery which was almost completely closed off.  The result was mini stokes on both sides of her brain, but primarily the left side.  They looked at us with amazement.  This was incredibly rare, and the doctors along with the rest of the nurses made it clear that she was absolutely lucky to be alive.  For us, we saw it as nothing short of an absolute miracle of God.

As a result of the unique nature of this case, they brought on a team of doctors with different areas of expertise in order to adequately diagnose and treat Amy.  They opted to stay the course with the blood thinner as long as she did not develop any new symptoms.  If she did, than we would have to go the surgical route.  Over the course of the next few days we had a couple of scares, as she experienced different types of pain that resembled that of a new stroke, but the scans all came back negative.  In the end, the only damage done was some loss of fine motor function in her right arm, and some dullness in sensation on the left temporal part of her face.  They anticipate a full recovery for her arm.

After a week in the hospital, they have now released her.  It’s for moments like this that I wished I were a writer or a poet or something, because there is just no way to describe the joy of being able to take Amy home from the hospital back to her home and her family.  Perspective changes everything.  The trees were greener, mountains were taller, the sky was bluer, and our God was much, much bigger, and yet much more personal all at the same time.  A mommy’s rightful place is with her family, and I can think of few things more beautiful that my boys getting to hug and kiss their mommy, and baby Addalyn putting her little hands on Amy’s face and grinning in only the way that she can.  Truly priceless.

Life will look quite different for some time, and will be different forever in some ways.  They say that she will still experience significant pain while the dissections heal, which they anticipate will take about 6 months.  She’s on all kinds of different meds that require a strict schedule, and keep her in a fairly consistent state of sleep and grogginess.  Nausea and dizziness still get the best of her at times.  She will of course be on a Coumadin treatment for the next 6 months that require her to severely restrict her lifestyle and diet during that time, as well as frequent blood draws to monitor levels.  They say that while she will make a full recovery, that she will always need to be cautious when putting any real kind of stress on her neck and shoulder region again.  She will receive another MRI in two months that will give us a better idea of how she’s healing, and we’ll just “figure it out” from there.

I have a BA in Biblical studies, philosophy and theology, that suggests I should be able to explain why certain things happen the way they do; but I’ll be honest, I don’t have clear answers for this.  The oldest question recorded in scriptures is why do bad things happen to good people.  I can’t tell you why it seems as though God answers some prayers and not others.  People say kind, but often very theologically incorrect things during a crisis.  We did not know if Amy would pull through this, and there is absolutely nothing in Gods Word that guarantees she would.  What it does say, is that He loves us more than we could ever even begin to understand, in spite of our circumstances.  That we can trust God with our whole hearts, and when we do, He will help us figure it out.  That when really really bad circumstances come our way, that regardless of the apparent outcome, that He can take the pieces and work them for the good of those who love Him.  These truths, kept us standing firm.

As I tried to convey on Facebook, your continued prayers and support have meant more to us than you could ever know.  The way our family, both blood and church, immediately jumped into action, was beyond what anyone could ever ask or expect.  People have anticipated, and continue to anticipate our every need before we could even ask.  Truly amazing.  The Body of Christ flexed its muscle, and it is something to behold.  I doubt we will have the chance to ever fully communicate how grateful we are to everyone in person, though I pray we get that chance.  Amy has read every post and message that has come our way, and has felt incredibly loved.  While still in the hospital, I asked God to let me feel the prayers that were being prayed; I asked that He would allow me to get a glimpse of what it looked like to have so many people praying.  The image I have is a beautiful one.  It’s of heaven, but the ground is shaking.  Almost as to the beat of a heavy bass drum, or the feel of artillery shells being dropped on the ground.  Gods Word tells us that the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective, and I’m convinced your prayers literally shook the heavens.

Though I pray this would never happen to us or anyone ever again, we know that it surely will.  Uncertainty will strike, and it will never be convenient or welcome.  However, its our prayer that through this circumstance, that the Kingdom of God has and will move forward.  Amy and I pray that everyone in your life is that much more valuable today than yesterday, that your conversations with God would be more frequent and personal, and that regardless of what life throws at you, that you find yourself being caught up in the great mystery, wonder, and fullness of a life lived with Christ at the center.

The Official Press Release on Amy (Part 1 of 2)

Well, since I’ve only given information about this in short Facebook Updates, I figured I’d dust off our blog, and actually give you a better idea about what has transpired in our world these past 7 days.  Plus, it will probably be good for me just to walk through it myself.  Though its only been a week, it feels like we’ve just lived through two lifetimes.

Last Tuesday I received a call from a friend of ours that said Amy was experiencing some pain, and needs to go to the ER.  I didn’t ask too many questions at the time, just dropped what I was doing, jumped in the truck and tried to remain calm and pray while I drove to meet her.  When I arrived, Amy was lying down, but was conscious and alert.  She had experienced some stroke like symptoms that mostly resolved themselves within short time, but had some significant pain.  We called an ambulance and they strapped her down to a c-spine board, and transported her to Oroville’s ER.

The ER Doc was great, and everyone was relatively calm given the circumstances, but we were definitely on edge.  They wanted to take some routine precautions and run a CT scan just to make sure everything was okay.  We were hanging out in the ER exam room trying to make light of the situation, and talking about how this means we probably weren’t going to go see the Transformers movie later that night.  We were absolutely not prepared for what was about to happen next.

The moment the Doc walked into the room, I knew things were about to change.  She grabbed the chair and told me to sit down (not a good sign).  She said the tests came back positive, and that Amy was going to need to go to another hospital to get the treatment she needed.  I followed her out of the exam room to ask more questions.  “Do you mean she needs to go see another doctor sometime this week, this month, this year?”.  She looked up for a moment and told me that she was ordering a helicopter and that she needed to go now.  The look on her face alone filled in all the necessary details about how serious this was.

That’s when everything went into extreme slow motion for me.  “What did she just say”, “what did she mean”, “are we really here”, “is this really happening?”.  Trying to get our head around what was really going on, Amidst the chaos, Amy and I were trying to figure out whether we have the kids come before she leaves.  We were told that it would be good for them to come before she goes.  That’s when it felt like an Elephant just sat on me.  “I can’t believe this is really happening”.  Loosely holding it together, I had to get on the phone and make the call to Amy’s mom and sister that they needed to bring the kids down now.  I can’t even begin to describe with words right now how incredibly overwhelming it was to be saying the things I was.  Even though it was never said explicitly, everyone understood that we had to get the kids here because they might not see mommy again, something noone should ever have to think about or do.

The next hour felt like an eternity.  Watching our boys walk into the ER, unsure about why they were there and what was going on.  We were trying to maintain composure so that we didn’t add to their fear, which I felt like I was able to do as long as I didn’t have to look anyone in the eye or answer too many questions.  We held and kissed little Addie, and the boys asked some questions, but it was as if they knew just enough to know that this wasn’t good, and didn’t want to ask too much.

We sent the boys on their way just before the flight crew arrived ……

In the words of Robin…

HOLY WATERFALLS BATMAN!  So…todays adventure is literally (sorry Pastor Ed), beyond words.  We got home, looked at the pictures, and realized that they didn’t even come close to doing justice to what we saw and experienced today.  So, since we know we can’t describe it well, we’ll give you the facts.

We pulled over on the side of the road (way to Hana), snuck across private property, climbed over a barbwire fence, through a bamboo forest, negotiated slippery cliffs, scaled sheer rock faces and swam up streams to get to the absolutely most incredible set of waterfalls and settings ever imagined…at least by us.  I know it sounds a bit dramatic, but doesn’t even describe what actually happened.  Honestly, it was truly amazing, indescribable, and can’t wait to try and tell you all in person.  For now, you’ll have to settle for a couple of our lame pics.

Sunsets…

So on our honeymoon…10 YEARS AGO…we took a picture that many of you have seen of us on a sunset cruise.  It was super cloudy that day, didn’t think it was gonna happen, but at the last minute, we had an incredible sunset.  We’ll, 10 years later, we (God) did it again.  Cloudy all day - very little real sun, and thanks to Ang we had a sunset cruise to go on. Thought we would be skunked for sure, and then BAAM!  Incredible.  God loves us or something!

Hitt’n the road to Hana tomorrow, can’t wait.  Missing our boys like crazy!!!!!  Thank you everyone back home…you all are truly incredible!!

Pupu’s & Pancakes

If we knew one thing when we came to Maui, it was this “GO THEE TO THE GAZEBO FOR THE BEST PANCAKES THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN”. I’m not sure if the picture does it justice, but the island famous macadamia nut pancakes did NOT disappoint (Thank you, Rick and Amber!). Neither Shawn nor I could finish our heaping plates, complete with secret topping. This was coming hard on the heels of last night’s Flaming Pupu’s (Hawaiian for appetizer) the renowned appetizer platter at the Pupu Lounge, down the street from our condo. Does it taste better because of the ocean air, or the amazing view? Frankly, who cares? I’m talking seriously good eats, and y’all know I love my food!

The Goat Adventure

So what was planned as a small adventure to a semi remote snorkeling place turned into a LARGE adventure to a very remote snorkeling place.  We found this little place in our book south of Wailea that required some hiking, but apparently had some of (if not the) best snorkeling on the island.  So we went to go look for it, only to find out it had been completely closed off.  So, we made a new plan that left from the same area, supposedly excellent snorkeling, but required a couple mile hike over a lava field.

Soooo….off we went. Long story short, we (I) didn’t pay as much attention to the map as I should have, and we ended up WAY off the trail literally crawling over lava rock sometimes feet from the ocean cliffs.  We quickly realized we weren’t in Kansas any more toto…but were committed to see it through.  We got jumped by goats a couple of times, but ended up making it to the beach.  It was a beautiful black and white beach, completely empty.  The fish were incredible colors from above, and we could see a turtle from the cliffs, but the waves were way too high to get it.  Suffice it to say…we DIDN’T go back the same way.

Slack’n…

Sorry…slack’n a little bit.  You kind of loose track of time while laying on the beach all day (sorry, didn’t mean to rub that in…mostly)   So, a couple of days ago we drove to the north side of West Maui.  The road was seriously one lane a lot of the time, and has 3 of absolutely the tightest hairpin turns in the world!!  We went to this place called the Olivine Pools.  Incredible!

Yesterday morning we rolled out at 3 something in the AM to watch the sunrise from the summit of Haleakala.  10,000 feet up, crazy cold, but absolutely incredible.

Ready, Set…Relax

WE MADE IT!!  After having Amy’s hair products confiscated because they found out about our plan to take over the plane with a bottle of hair conditioner…we actually made it.  Matter of fact, flights were being cancelled to Hawaii, but somehow ours made it.  In short, we unpacked, took a nap, watched the ocean from our balcony (sorry…Lanai), went for a quick swim in the ocean, and ate some kick’n mexican food.  Life is good.  No pics today…stay tuned.

SO CLOSE

Well…we finally got out of town and made it here to San Fran before flying out at 0′ Dark 30 in the morning.  Leaving our boys was WAY harder than we thought.  (THANK YOU to everyone that is helping to take care of them while gone!!!)  We already miss them like crazy, but we know in the end it was the right thing.  We’ll grab a couple hours of sleep before heading to the airport so we can emotionally cope with the trauma of airport security.  Hoping to get through without getting xrayed or tasered.  Hopefully we’ll be on the ground in Maui just in time for a late lunch.  CRAZY!