Blake's Breathing Tube Has Been Removed

The breathing tube has been removed and Blake is breathing on his own. He is aware of his surroundings, but doesn't quite know what he is doing in a hospital. As always, the patient is the last to know. He will continue to be weaned off the medication and tested to see if there are any neurological problems from the disease. At the moment, there does not seem to be any. Praise be to God Almighty for his enduring love and grace and I thank all of you who have lifted him up in prayer and kept his name constantly before the Lord.

Barring any complications, Blake should be home in a week or so. The doctors want him to remain on IV administered antibiotics that long to make sure whatever it was that caused this is graveyard dead.

Bill

Tonya's infection Source Still a Mystery

Well,
Today the doc came in and said he still doesn't know where the fever is coming from. He said Tonya is not going home until at least Thursday. He told us of a test he wants to do called a "Indium Scan". That is where they take some blood from Tonya, place some radioactive meds in it and put it back into her body. Then they watch it under a scanner to see where the medicine goes. He said the medicine would go to where the inflamation is and show them what is wrong. The only problem with that is the small hospital where she is doesn't have the medication on site. They will have to order it and can't do so until Monday. After it is ordered it has a 48 hour turn over. So it wont be at the hospital until Wed. and then they will do the scan on Thursday. They are also talking about doing another T.E.E. on Monday where they look at the heart valve with a scope they put down your throat. She had one of those before.

The one thing that came to my mind today is that the pain pump itself may be infected causing this whole mess. There is a catheter that carries medicine to the spinal canal that leads from the pump and it is possible that could be the source of the trouble. If this is the case, it will mean the pump has to come out and that will done in Huntsville by the doctor who put it in. Tonya is going to mention that to the doctor in the morning and see what he says. Maybe I'll know some more by church time tomorrow.

Also, I am planning on taking the students to see Tonya tomorrow night. We are going to leave the church around 4 or 4:30. If you would like to go let me know in the morning and you can ride with us on the church van.

See you in the morning,
Brian

Blake

They tried to take Blake off the ventilator last night, but it was too soon yet. They will try later today. I pray that he heals completely and quickly before I worry myself to death over him. I won't believe he is out of the woods until he calls and says, "Hi, Papa. Whatchadoing."

CALIFORNIA FIRES V

This morning from Toni:



Dear Family

It is with the biggest sigh of relief ever and with great thanks to God that I tell you that we now appear to be safe. The fire is still raging- was at 6,000 acres last night but, it is moving towards 154- San Marcos Pass. ( just as Brian said ). NOW, I will give you the map which shows where it is...Los Carneros Rd is not listed on the map, but is right between Glen Annie and La Patera. The fire originated in the hills about 5 miles above us. That's as close as I ever want it to be.

There are about 1700 homes that have been evactuated- all on the mountain side of Cathedral Oaks- but still no structures have been burned. These firefighters are just terrific and working very hard to hold the line and keep it from entering Goleta or burning any structures. They are now up to over 1000 firefighters

The air is terrible....ash is very thick on our deck and still falling. But, we are safe. I'm still not ready to unpack the bags and stuff but maybe by tonight I will. Remember that I am NOT the logical one here.
Please keep the prayers coming as the firefighters and other residents of the city still need it. The worst appears to be over for us but there are many for whom the nightmare is continuing.





Thank you for everyone who has been praying for my family. Please continue to pray until these fires are out and everyone is safe.

Mamie

Blake Is Better! PTL!

I got a call about a half hour ago. Blake's temperature has broken. Near the effective end of his pain medication he woke up in a fright, his father took hold of him and told him it was all right, he was in the hospital and the family was there with him and Blake calmed down so he is processing information. They will be weaning him off of the ventilator tonight and will run tests tomorrow to see if there is any residual neural or mental damage. I would have written sooner, but I had a lot of thanking God to do. Now I am praying for his complete recovery. I deeply appreciate your prayers that brought this about and your continued prayers that will bring him home like new. Bill

Tonya To Stay In Hospital.

Hello again,
Well, as you probably guessed by now, Tonya is not coming home today. Her temp went up to 100.9 last night so the doctor came in this morning he said, "discharge plans are cancelled today". The doc said he is going to start the blood work over again and do some other stuff. He said they may have to repeat the T.E.E. again. That is where they go into her esophagus with a camera and look at her heart to see if there is an infection. If there is, that is called "endocarditis". That is a heart infection and he told us last time if that is detected it requires 14 days of IV antibiotics. That however, can be done at home on home health. He said we have to put our finger on what's keeping the fever up before she can go home. Since she has a "can't miss" pain pump appt. on Tuesday, the doc said he could put a pic line in and let her go to the appt. and come back. It looks like that is what we might have to do. I don't know what the plans are for the rest of the weekend other than this. On the plus side Tonya's doctor is on call so we will be seeing him this whole weekend. I don't know how much he can get done over the holidays though. Probably won't know anything else until tomorrow now.
Brian

Blake

Blake is stable and heavily sedated as of this morning. There was no sign of his organs beginning to shut down. Thank God for His mercy and grace. He is not out of the woods yet so continued prayers are appreciated. Bill

Tonya Update

Hey again,
Tonya just called me and said her temp in now 101.2. We don't know what is wrong and I don't know what the next plan is yet. Maybe we will know something later today but I doubt it.
Brian

CALIFORNIA FIRES IV

From Toni this morning:

Dear Family

I would have to say that last night was the scariest so far. Many evacauations were ordered and the fire is barreling down to areas very close to us. We're about 4 miles away from it- but it is in the foothills- in the Camino Cielo area. It would have to burn down the hillside and cross Cathedral Oaks to reach us. Fortunately, there are many orchards in that area which would serve as a barrier, but we all remember the Painted Cave fire was fueled by sundowners and crossed the freeway Last night it headed towards San Marcos Pass and is now threatening the same homes that were burned years ago in that fire. There have been NO homes or any structures lost to date.
The smoke and ash are thick- as in- it's snowing ash. Masks are being given to residents and we have all been told to stay inside.
Power fluctuations continue and when it goes out completely- especially at night- it makes everything look even worse than it is.
Brian is doing his very best to stay logical (!) and keep me calm. He continues to remind me of the direction that the fire is going. But it's pretty hard to stay calm when you have scenes like these outside your bedroom window. We have emegency bags packed and a few papers put together should we need to evacauate to Mia's house. I refuse to pack up the entire house and he assures me that I don't need to.

It has now burned 3000 acres and has been declared the # 1priority in the state because of the potential for loss of homes.
The wind has been calm ( thank you for those prayers!) but did kick up a bit last night. There are over 300 firefighters here but the key is the helicopters and planes which have already started up again this morning.

Fourth of July activities in Goleta have been cancelled (big duh!) so we will have a quiet day.
Keep those prayers coming for the firefighters, the residents and for lack of wind! Today will be a critical day.

And 20 minutes later, this:

Already a change....it has burned 5500 acres- and we now have 800 firefighters who are working 24 hour shifts.

Tonya Update

Hi All,
The doc came in today and Tonya asked to go home. He said maybe tomorrow. The nurse told us the doc had written on the chart possible discharge on 7-4. However, and you knew there would be a however because we are talking about Tonya, when I arrived at the hospital at 1 pm today she said her temp was 100.2. This is not good and according to the nurse it could delay Tonya's homecoming for another day or two. She is still sick at her stomach and I don't know what we are going to do about that and neither do the doctors. We will just have to wait and see how things go tomorrow. The doc will probably be in sometime in the morning and he will decide then if Tonya can come home or not.
We will see what tomorrow brings.

Brian

Blake

My grandson, Blake, was taken to the hospital today and diagnosed with bacterial menengitis. He is in the pediatric ICU at the University of Baltimore. Please pray for him. The next 48 hours are critical. Bill

CALIFORNIA FIRES III

From Toni this morning:



We made it through another night! Lost all power at 7:15 --as in all of Goleta and a good deal of SB- about 150,000 people- because the power lines are right in the fire's path.
However, the good news is- and this IS good news- there was NO WIND last night. Like none. Zip. Nada. God really heard and answered our prayers!

So although the fire grew in size yesterday from 300 acres to 1600---it stayed in the hills vs coming down into the city! So we are grateful. Very grateful. It appears to be moving North of us now . Tankers and helicopters are already going overhead and making their drops.

Thank you for the prayers....keep em coming! God is listening!

CALIFORNIA FIRES II

I have not heard from Toni yet this morning (Thursday 7/3), but here is her update from yesterday afternoon.


It's getting better. Lots of helicopter drops. They have a basket and they scoop up ocean water! and drop it. Also borate drops in DC3s and C130s. They're making progress
Prayers are working!

"The primary thing that will drive this fire into residential neighborhoods- is Sundowner winds. These are unique winds that come up after sundown and blow the opposite direction! Fire will naturally burn UP a hill, sundowners make it burn downhill. ( See below for the technical description of them **)

The last time that happened here, the fire flew down the mountain, burned several hundred homes and then crossed the freeway and burned businesses in SB. Scary stuff.
So, please ask for prayers for the absence of wind in general and the absence of sundowners in particular.

The view this afternoon....now we can't see anything because of the smoke and I kinda like it better that way!"

**Called Sundowner winds because they often begin in the late afternoon or early evening, their onset is typically associated with a rapid rise in temperature and decrease in relative humidity. In the most extreme Sundowner wind events, wind speeds can be of gale force or higher, and temperatures over the coastal plain, and even at the coast itself, can rise significantly above 37.8°C (100°F). In addition to causing a dramatic change from the more typical marine-influenced local weather conditions, Sundowner wind episodes have resulted in significant property and agricultural damage, as well as extreme fire danger. They have, in fact, been associated with many of the most destructive conflagrations that have occurred in the Santa Barbara region.

Please keep praying!

Mamie

Tonya Update

Hello again,
Last week we thought Tonya was going to get a pic line. However, they decided against it because they didn't want her to get another infection so they managed to get an IV in her left EJ. For those of you who are not medically knowledgeable that is an IV in the neck (External Juglar). It got infected and that line was pulled and a central line started.

After the infection control doc checked the IV site he determined it was infected and felt a lump where the catherter had been so he ordered an ultra sound of Tonya's neck. He then said he wanted a surgeon to come and check on the site to see if the lump needed to be removed by surgery. Luckily the surgeon said keep warm compresses on it and it should go away in a few days. Whew!!! One bullet dodged.

Tonya's temp is still running about 99.7 at night and her primary care doc said this morning, "I still see you have a low grade fever". I suppose this means she will have to stay a couple more days. She said she is going to ask the infection control doc in the morning if she can go home on home health since her temp is down. Her primary care doc said when she goes home is up to the infection control doc so maybe he will give us the green light tomorrow. If not maybe by Friday. She said she does not want to lay there another weekend and not get anything done for her. She also has to be at the pain clinic Tuesday at 3:15.

Of course my vacation ends Sunday night and I have to go back to work Monday and Tuesday. Anyone want to go to Huntsville Tuesday? LOL.

Hopefully when you hear from me tomorrow I can tell you we are home. I hope.

I know God has a plan for all this crap and I wish He would reveal it to me so all this will be over. Come on God, since I don't take subtle hints, hit me over the head and show me what's up.

Until tomorrow,
Brian

FIRES IN CALIFORNIA

I just heard from my sister Toni in Santa Barbara, California. They are now able to see the flames from their bedroom window. The picture is the view from their window and deck.

She says they SHOULD be all right, and she will keep me posted and told me NOT to turn on the news!

Please pray for the situation in California in general, and my family in particular.

Thank you,
Mamie

Tonya Better!

Hi again,
Well, as I told you last night, I would not send another email unless there was a change in Tonya's condition. So, you guessed it, there was a change today. Her temp stayed around 100.2 last night and the doc seemed pretty happy with that. Around 6 pm tonight her temp was 98.9. Yes this is not a typo. I wrote 98.9. This is a great thing if it stays this way all night. This will mean the 3 anitbiotics are working.
This morning Tonya told the doctor she had to be out by Thursday because she had to get her pain pump refilled. He said that's not possible call and change your appt. So she did. He told her she had a blood stream infection and she wasn't going anywhere as long as she had a fever.
Even though she has a normal temp now, that doesn't mean it will be normal all night. Even if it is, she still has to go 48 continuous hours without spiking a fever. Otherwise, we may be there until kingdom come. Who knows, maybe God will come and this crap will all be over.
Hopefully, I will have more good news to report tomorrow.

Looking toward the eastern sky,
Brian

Tonya Update

Hi Everyone,
I sure will be glad when I don't have to do this anymore, won't you?
The infection control doc came in this morning. He was somewhat surprised to see that Tonya still had what he called a low grade fever of 102 during the night. He checked Tonya's IV site and saw that it too was infected. He pulled it out and the surgeon came in about 4 and started a central line. The doc also added another antibiotic in conjunction with the one already on board. The additional one comes 4 times day, however, since it was so late this evening before she got the line replaced she won't actually get 4 doses today. We are guaranteed another 48 hours minimum stay at the hospital. It doesn't look like she will get to come home until at least Friday or Saturday if then.
Tonya's primary care doc was back today. He asked me if I talked to the infection control doc and I said yes. He said since Tonya has such a bad infection he has turned over the managment of the infection to the infection control doc. They both will be stopping by, but I guess the infection control doc is the one in charge right now. That's about it for now. I'll let you know of any changes tomorrow, if there are any. If you don't hear from me tomorrow, you'll know nothing changed. Hopefully, by Wed., we will see some improvement and I will have some good news for a change.
Brian

Tonya Little Change

About 8:30 tonight Tonya's temp was 102. The doctor came in but, it was the on call doc covering for the regular doctor, and you know they don't usually do anything. Tonya still has a fever after 10 days of being on an antibiotic. I don't think she is taking the correct one to combat the infection. We are going to talk to her doctor in the morning and see if he will do something different. Pretty much Tonya has said she is not feeling any better at all. She is still sick at her stomach and runs a fever for whatever reason. Maybe since her regular doc will be back in the morning we will see a change soon. I'll let you know tomorrow what happens. Check your email around 9 pm or so tomorrow night and I'll try to have the latest out by then.
Brian