Thank you all so much for your prayers for Matthew. In my last update, I mentioned that he was in severe pain, remaining at an 8 out of 10 almost the entire day, with spikes up to 9. Today, he was mostly at a 4 out of 10, with occasional spikes higher. Thank you for lifting him up in prayer. The medical team increased the dosage of one of his medications, the frequency of another, and also added another drug.
Today, Matthew feels like a new man. Not only did they adjust his pain medication, but they also took off his wound VAC. That is a huge answer to prayer. This means that the skin graft on his arm is taking, and he no longer needs the flushing provided by the wound VAC. It also means he is no longer tethered to the pole, which held the wound VAC.
Additionally, the occupational therapists made some adjustments to his hand split and brought in a shoulder sling. As I write this, he is walking the halls with Pam, Daniel, and Ariela (see picture above), on his own (right after listening to Newsboys' "I am Free"!) He doesn't even have to push the IV pole since he can be off the IV for a while between IV pain killer dosages.
His right arm and shoulder are allowing more movement, too, which is encouraging. His skin graft donor sites on his legs are scabbing up as they should. We also realized that his neck brace was upside down (!), so it is no wonder that it was so uncomfortable. To help with the right shoulder muscle and nerve pain, we are no applying Icy Hot. He'll get a shave, too, which will help with the scratching on his neck against the neck brace.
You all have been so generous in giving. The GoFundMe account is over $34,000! Thank you, thank you, thank you! We have no idea how much the final cost and expenses will be. Some of the charges from the hospitals and doctors have started coming in. Thank the Lord that Pioneers has good insurance (shout out to Aetna)! In truth, his medical treatment will probably take 12-18 more months, so it isn't very easy to estimate all the costs. We'll take things a day, week, and month at a time, continue to pray and keep you all informed. Thank you for being there for Matthew and our entire family.
You all have been so kind and supportive in so many ways. A generous friend provided money on GrubHub so we could order a nice gyro supper to be delivered to the hospital last evening. Matthew, Jonathan, Pam, Daniel, Ariela and I all enjoyed it.
Jonathan has been great coming to visit after work and running errands of getting the police report, etc. Daniel and Ariela have been real troopers, spending most of each day at the hospital.
Pam has been spending the nights with Matthew in his hospital room but will go back to the church guest cottage with us tonight to get a good night of sleep. Please pray for Matthew since nights alone are discouraging.
Unfortunately, I scraped the paint from the bumper of the rental car when I backed into a concrete support in the hospital parking garage. :( The crunching sound was not a happy sound. When I first rented the car, I had purchased insurance on it, but when I extended the rental two more times, it was through a different rental service, and I didn't think about the insurance not being renewed. I will be contacting our credit card and our car insurance company to verify coverage for the damage. Just one more thing to take care of! :) Pray that will be covered and will require minimal run-around.
Matthew is getting closer to discharge, and I will be following up on what we need to do to arrange for his appointments for nerve therapy and occupational and physical therapy. Please continue to pray for those details to come together, as well as for the best housing arrangement for Matthew and me, which we will need for several weeks until he finishes his treatment in San Francisco, and before we move him back to Kansas City.
Kirsten has her Spring Break from BFA Germany during the first half of April. The dorms will be closed, so she must stay somewhere else. Of course, before the accident, we had planned for her to be home with us in Croatia. But now it looks like Pam, Daniel and Ariela will have gone back to the States to start our Stateside assignment by the time of Kirsten's Spring Break, so we need wisdom and to work out the logistics, either for her to fly to the States for her Spring Break, or to stay with friends in Europe.
We are encouraged with all the answers to prayer since yesterday. Thank you all!
Todd
