Hoppin' Dots
Hoppin Dots
Roanoke, VA 24018
ph: 5405259713
kmcintyr
God's Story, as told by Kate
PLEASE PRAY FOR THE CUPCAKE FAIRY!
7:32am on November 11
Hello again from the Cupcake Fairy. It's almost been a month since I last updated the story, which is hard to believe but time certainly does fly.
Yesterday I went in for a heart catherization. A relatively routine procedure for most heart patients, but I was still a little nervous. My mother and I arrived at RMH at 7am, registered and went up to my room. My doctor said I'd be the first, but it turns out it was not to be. I didn't go in until almost 2pm. It was a long wait especially since I wasn't allowed to eat or drink and hadn't had anything since 10pm the night before. Needless to say, my tongue was a sandpaper covered block of wood in my mouth. Delightful.
When it was finally my turn I kissed my husband and mom goodbye and hopped on my stretcher. I waited for another 20 minutes before all the staff were ready for me. And right before I crossed the threshold I heard one nurse in the hallway say- "Hold up one minute!"... and that's when God sent me a gift. Who came running around the corner but Dr. Joseph Rowe! The man who saved my life came to give me a hug and a word or reassurance before I went in! How amazingly cool is that? I was anxious and God knew just the man to send to make it all better. I wasn't supposed to come up off the stretcher, but I did. How could I not hug him? I can't tell you all enough how wonderful and caring this man is. I am very lucky in so many ways and having him around me and my family is just more proof of how great Life is.
After seeing Dr. Rowe I was truly ready for it to start. I wasn't worried anymore. 13 short minutes later I was done with a clean bill of health for my heart. No clogs, no tears, nothing. This procedure was the last stone unturned and thankfully, there was nothing to find.
I had to wait 6 hours before I could raise my head, or get out of bed. Fun. And when the nurse came and took the tube out of the artery in my leg, I bled. A lot. Like enough that she had to call for help. The worst part was I could feel the blood pumping out of my leg. Ug. A male nurse was called in and he said "I've gotta hurt you honey, to make this stop bleeding. I'm sorry." And then he put all of his weight down on the incision. Ouch. But, hey! It worked. Watching them change my sheets that were soaked with blood after was interesting. I have a new appreciation for the femoral artery. As in, I'll make sure I never get cut there on accident because bleeding out would take a matter of minutes. Scary, but eductational! So no driving until Friday, no lifting heavy object for a week and rest, rest, rest. And I promised my husband I would try. Its hard with kids and a dog, but I do need some sleep so I'll give it my all.
My potassium levels were on the low normal side- 3.5, normal levels are 4.5-5.8. And when I had my accident my potassium was at 3.0 which is a level unable to sustain life. So, I'm back on potassium pills. No biggie. My mom had an epiphany yesterday while I was trying to 7swallow the gigantic pills they gave me. See, last summer I noticed that when I ate fresh fruits and some nuts I would break out in hives, my mouth would itch and my breathing would become labored. It all started one day last Autumn when I was shopping at Kroger and was really hungry. I decided some almonds would be a healthy snack to munch on while I shopped. Within minutes I couldn't breathe. I abandoned my cart, ran to the med's aisle and busted open a box of Benedryl (no worries, I paid for it) and then headed home. I told my mom what had happened and she decided we should do a test. She also wanted to know where her Diet Coke was. Anyway, she washed an apple, cut it into pieces and peeled the skin off of 2 slices. While talking on the phone to my sister she handed me various chunks. I ate two and she told me to rub the 3rd piece on my lips. Well, ladies and gentleman...that was not a good idea. Within minutes I was heavily wheezing, my lips blew up like a balloon, the inside of my mouth itched, even my gums itched! After quickly getting off the phone, my mom ran and shoved 2 more Benedryl at me and suggested I see a dr. Before I went I did some online research and found OAS (Oral Allergy Syndrome) which is when your body processes the proteins in the fruit and vegetables you eat as if they were pollen from trees and bushes. So, my body was confused. What now? I saw my doc who agreed about the diagnosis and gave me a prescription for Epi pens and told me to stay away from all the fruit on that OAS list. Ok, um..it's every fruit imaginable. No more fresh from the tree apples? No more strawberries? No more walnuts or pecans? Really? Only if they have been cooked before I ate them. Bummer. But fast forward a year to me with dangerously low potassium which leads to my Sudden Cardiac Death. Perhaps they are related? I don't get enough potassium because I can't eat fresh fruits..Could that be a factor? We shall see. I have an appt with an allergist and we'll see what he says.
For now, I rest and try and get ready for the holidays. Even though it's usually madness out there I'm going to enjoy it all. I get to see another Christmas, what more could I want?!
12:15 on October 21.
Wow, so..it's been a long time, eh? First you should know that this update is coming to you courtesy of me- Kate :) Time has quickly passed us by and Tim has been working like a horse at all 3 jobs (RR Donnelly, The Hotel Roanoke, Hoppin' Dots) so the updates have taken a back seat for a while. Not that there isn't anything to tell, though! So, here I go.
Since the stress test I haven't had much pain. I did have an evening that was full of stress and thus full of what are called PVC's. Premature Ventricular Contractions. Whew, that's a mouthfull. Basically it's my heart getting ready to get out of a proper beat sequence and the ICD implant in my chest then kicks in and paces me until I am back on track. Most of the time, I don't feel either the PVC itself or the pacemaker doing it's job. But this night I felt it all. I had a series of 7 or 8 individual occurances where my pacemaker kicked in. And it didn't feel good.... Imagine being on the top of a skyscraper, teetering right on the edge and knowing you were going to fall.......... Did that get your heart skipping a bit faster? Well, that's what it feels like when my pacemaker kicks in except increase that woozy feeling about 100 times. It's not dangerous or life threatening but not fun either. So they keep monitoring and I keep goin'!
I was able to convince my Dr. that putting me on a beta-blocker with my blood pressure was not anything I was going to sign up for. *I go to cardiac threapy 3times a week and my blood pressure at the highest is, like 88 over 60. There have been times where it was 80 over 50. And beta-blockers while they do lessen the risk of your heart having an event, also bring blood pressure way, way down. I'm tired enough as it is, I didn't need to be bed-ridden but heart healthy. I want to keep on livin'!
I have been having some right arm numbness which gets worse as I work out which concerned the nurses at Carilion. So, their suggestion was a heart cath. I thought, ok. Sure. Get it done while we're paid out for insurance. But then my Dr. kinda' scared me out of it. He told me the risks - 1 in 1000 risk for stroke, infection and much more. So, I opted out of it. I felt like, I'm well. I made it through a horrible experience when all the chances were against me. Why take another one? But I talked to my mother -a 30 year nurse, and others who have had the procedure done and I think I'll go ahead with it in November. Pray for me though!!! I'm nervous.
On October 25th my family and I will be participating in the Roanoke Regional Heart Walk, which is exciting. I get to wear that hot red survivors cap! It feels very surreal, but I'm happy that I get to wear it and that my family are not walking in rememberance of me instead. It's out at Green Hill Park in Salem. C'mon out and see, if you're around :)
At some point in November- close to Thanksgiving, I believe- Tim and I will be telling our testimony at our church, Fellowship Community Church out on Red Lane Ext. in Salem. We're very excited and we'd love to see you there. Come up and say hello, and let me know you keep up with my story on the website. It would mean the world to me!
And finally I am in the works on a book of my own. I had started to pick-up where I had left off on a book I started many years ago. And while I still intend to finish it, God is drawing me to write this new one. Pray for me, this is something that would make it all worth it. To let others know the extent of the pain me and my family went through but that through it all- God was at the center. And he is Mighty to Save.
6pm on 8/27.
Nuclear Stress Test...kind of sounds stressful if you ask me. Luckily, I didn't have to do it. Kate on the other hand, had a lovely afternoon of being injected with radioactive goop and getting pictures made of her heart in motion. Then she got the joy of running on a treadmill until her heart rate reached 160. Sounds like a nice way to spend a Friday afternoon, right?
Well...everything came back "normal". So, we still aren't any closer to an answer. Our new Cardiologist, Dr. Phillips, is suggesting beta blockers, but Kate is hesitant (and I agree) to undertake the side effects of those. She is tired enough already. Dr. Phillips is not ruling out Long Q-T syndrome, but just wants to observe her blood chemistry over a period of time. We've decided to hang up singing in church for a time. Kids' soccer schedules are in the way. Also, Kate still tightens up for a day or two after we sing. I don't know if they are related, but just in case, we've decided to lay off.
In positive news, a teenage girl at our church approached Kate on Sunday and asked Kate to be her mentor. What an awesome opportunity! Kate is really excited about it. Pray that God would be lifted up.
We went to the Decemberadio concert at the Jefferson Center last night. Their new song, "For Your Glory" really speaks to me. Give it a listen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKlWFwp6mkc
Noon on 8/15.
Well, I have been an absolute slug about keeping this updated, but we've just been keepin' on as it were since last I wrote. There have been some developments in the past few days that bear noting, so here goes...
We've switched Kate's care over to the Cardiology group at RMH. Nothing personal against Lewis Gale, but the personality and "bedside manner" of our Doctor over there just didn't jive with what we needed. Kate has been through another batch of bloodwork at RMH and is very pleased with her initial interactions there. Her new Cardiologist took one look at her Potassium level upon her admission to Lewis Gale ER and said, "That level won't support life. It's no wonder your heart stopped." So, it would seem that he's very convinced that we have some sort of intermittent Potassium problem. Her level yesterday was just fine. More testing...including a "Nuclear Stress Test". The name alone stresses me out, so I can't imagine what the test may be like. We're also probably slated for a heart catheterization to check for any blockages. He's thinking that Kate's ER visit back in June could have been related to a blockage.
So, no complete answers, but more information, and more "energy" around finding an answer than we had been experiencing.
Pray, pray, pray for Kate! She is going through a bit of the depression that all of the experts said would come our way. She's not laying in bed crying all day, but she has no energy and gets overwhelmed when she thinks about how much there is to do, and how much she's not getting done, etc. It's not much different from what you and I go through every day, but the filter that tells us, "It's going to be okay" doesn't seem to be functioning at optimum efficiency for Kate right now.
Kate has had a couple of speaking engagements and they've gone very well. She is addressing the employees of Shenandoah Life on September 9th. Pray that God will be lifted up through her speaking.
In other news...Hoppin' Dots itself is going through a bit of a transition as we decide whether or not to continue the business. Pray for God's wisdom as we look for a future direction.
8:30pm on 7/22.
Wow! It's amazing how quickly 11 days can go by when you are waiting on doctor's to give you answers. Sorry that I haven't updated in so long. Lots of stuff has happened, but honestly, there's not much to say. We finally got the results of Kate's blood tests back from Baylor. Negative for Inherited Long Q-T Syndrome.
While it's definitely a positive in that the kids and siblings don't have to worry about getting tested and the possibility of an implanted ICD, it's still nerve-wracking to not have a reason why all of this happened. We will schedule more tests and wait again.
Kate's first public speaking engagement is tomorrow, 7/23, with the Roanoke Chapter of the American Heart Association. She is not very nervous, and has prepared well. Pray for her that God will be lifted up through her story at every opportunity.
On another front, we continue to get LOTS of joy from sharing what God has done in our life, boldly, and to people whom we otherwise would not have the opportunity. God is blessing us richly in this regard.
We are moving Kate's ongoing Cardiac care to Roanoke Memorial. Lewis-Gale has done a tremendous job, but we feel a bit more tied to RMH due in part to Dr. Rowe's CPR, but also due to Sheila and Kate's familiarity with the whole Carilion system. Plus, that place is just so shiny!
Pray for Kate that she will sense God's direction and that He will give her discernment with regard to direction. Pray the same for Tim.
We will get a chance to share our testimony at Fellowship Community Church in an upcoming service and are very excited about that. We'll give you the dates when we know more.
11:15 on 7/11.
We had an extensive appointment with Dr. Vivian today, who is our Cardiac EP, or Electrophysicist. It went very well. He is definitely leaning toward Long Q-T Syndrome, which if identified positively through blood work, will mean that we will have her children tested, as well as her siblings. If anyone tests positive, they would be a strong candidate (that's an understatement in Dr. Vivian's words) for an ICD like the one Kate already has. Dr. Vivian did shoot down our idea of a tattoo over Kate's surgical wound that said, "CPR Saved My Life". He didn't think that was such a cool idea as we did, so we're going to take his advice.
After our appointment with Dr. Vivian, we went over to Roanoke Memorial and finally met Dr. Rowe. He's an amazing man, and very humble. Kate is somewhat of a Rock Star over at RMH and every time she was introduced to someone new, jaws were dropping open. It is truly a miracle. Several of the EMS guys were referring to "the one" you get in your career. Kate is that "one" for several of those guys.
There is a strong possibility that Kate will have an ongoing opportunity to do some public speaking about CPR. It's not often that you can find a 32-year old survivor of a catastrophic heart event like the one she suffered, and even more rare to find one so animated, lively and excited about CPR. Dr. Rowe commented several times today about how, "It's not just that she's alive. It's HOW alive she is that amazes me."
7:30 am on 7/8.
It's been a while since my last update. That generally means that things are going very well. Kate is down to her last week of speech therapy, and then we move into the phase of "routine" doctor visits, etc. We still don't have any answers about the recent bouts with chest pain, and even though they've been much less severe, Kate is still dealing with that to some extent. We've been asked to share our story at church sometime in the next few weeks. We're very much looking forward to that.
Last Sunday (7/6) Kate was approached by a woman who was on the edge of tears. She told us how she works at the daycare center across the street from where Kate went down. She was outside at the time and noticed Kate riding toward the bridge. She commented how normally upon seeing a cyclist she simply would have turned back to whatever she was doing, but for some reason on that day she felt compelled to watch Kate. Sure enough, Kate fell over and the woman bolted inside the building to get some assistance and call 911 if needed. By the time she got someone else's attention, it was obvious that Kate was already getting assistance. I'm still blown away by the layers and layers of protection God had around Kate that day. He had back-up plans!
7:00 am on 7/3.
Kate had a very favorable Neurology appointment yesterday with Dr. Elechi. His synopsis was that she, "Has made astonishing progress since I last saw her in the ICU." She doesn't need to go back to the Neurologist for 4 to 6 months. Sometime between now and then, she'll probably do another assessment with the doctors from Virginia Tech (that's the one that took 5 hours her first day of therapy). That way they can get a good read on progress from that first baseline assessment until now. It's fun to watch the doctor's reactions. Kate will be alongside Janet and I on July 4th at River's Edge for "Music for Americans". Stop by and say "Hey" to the cupcake fairy. Oh yeah, and buy something! We got bills!
1:30 pm on 6/28.
Kate's pain level is much more manageable, so we are just waiting it out, basically. The doctors all say that there is nothing wrong with her physically, and that the pain will continue to subside. Sleeping is still a bit of a challenge, but that's improving as well. The biggest thing is trying to keep Kate from doing too much. She feels very good, unless she is bending over or lying down, so it's difficult for her to rest or just sit still. She feels like she should be doing something. Right now, she's out with Avery and Annie at a children's birthday party. I don't anticipate any more hospital visits beyond the appointments we have coming up.
I was able to share Kate's story with some cyclists this morning on a group ride. It's still fun watching people's jaw drop open.
9:20 pm on 6/25.
Back home again after picking Avery and Annie up from Day Camp. Kate has been resting since we got back home around 6:30. Her pain level was "10" when we got home. That means it hurt...a lot. In all of our stay in the hospital, she never put pain above an 8. After about an hour (and some Hydrocodone) she said it had calmed down to about a 7. She's having trouble finding a comfortable position to rest, but she did get some sleep until it was time to put the kids in bed. They both wanted a kiss good night and made enough noise to wake Kate up. Oh well. I tried. Pain is no fun, and waiting pain out with no real answers is even less fun. Pray for Kate that God would grant her patience during this time.
3:00 pm on 6/25.
Well...minor setback. We're sitting in the ER as I write this. Kate had been complaining of what I'll call "mild" chest pains, but today it got markedly worse, until she was brought into Lewis Gale ER at about 1:00 pm this afternoon. So far, they've done a ton of blood testing, EKG, and chest CT. Blood work and EKG are all normal. Chest CT results just came back and are fine. They were looking for a pulmonary embolism, just to rule it out. She's on morphine for the pain, but it's still pretty intense, as I'm looking at her grimace at me. For once, I don't think it's my face.
Everyone in the ER has been wonderful. They're sort of torn between happy to see she's doing so well, and sorry to see her again under these circumstances. Part of what we're dealing with here is the basic lack of data when it comes to recovering from the physical aspects of what Kate has been through. Generally, the hospital stays, the unconscious state, the lack of ability to speak last longer than the physical pain, so there's not a lot of knowledge around how much chest pain is appropriate after this much trauma (the compressions from CPR, the defribulator shocks, the surgical wound for her ICD).
I'll update her condition again today when we get more information, but below is the update that I should have uploaded yesterday.
We have moved Kate's therapy from Lewis Gale outpatient to Friendship Manor. We have some church friends that are the Speech Therapists over there. We're not knocking Lewis Gale at all, but it was definitely different and better to be dealing with people that know Kate already and who are personally invested in her care. We're looking forward to good things from her therapy sessions. She's only had two so far, but they've been very productive. Life is slowly returning to normal. Kate is progressing very well, but is frustrated with the fact that she doesn't feel 100%, even though there's nothing physically wrong with her. She said it would almost be easier for her to take if she had gotten more injured in the "incident" because at least then she would understand why she doesn't feel right. It upsets her when we're driving through neighborhoods she knows she should recognize but doesn't. Keep praying. God is moving and we are lucky enough to get to watch.
7:00 am on 6/23.
Sorry that updates are taking so long. Real life is hard! You get protected from a lot of stuff in the hospital, and now that the kids are back with us, we're being pulled in several directions at once.
We attended church all three services this weekend and had the privilege on singing with the choir on a special that we had been practicing for a long time. Kate heard that this weekend was the performance and very much wanted to be a part of it. I asked her if she thought she remembered the song and then put it in the CD player of our car. She knew every single little nuance! It was a lot of fun singing with everyone. I hope you liked it if you were there!
Kate has an appointment with Dr. Vivian, our Cardio Electrophysicist today at 2:45pm. Just routine, but I'll be interested to hear how he feels she is progressing. She's been struggling with quite a bit of pain in her chest whenever she coughs, and her blood pressure has been extremely low during her daily checks (like 88 over 58). Please keep praying!
I'm compiling a (hopefully) coherent version of the story from end to end. Look for a link to it soon!
3:00 pm on 6/20.
Shhhhhh. Don't tell anyone, but Kate drove to the mall last night (with me in the passenger seat, holding on pretty tightly, I must admit). She did wonderful, but don't tell her doctors. They would have me summarily shot, I'm quite sure. I don't think that Kate needs much more in the way of supervision, but we'll keep it up through next week, just to be very sure. Part of the problem for the doctors is that Kate is so far outside of the normal recovery envelope that they are having trouble keeping pace with her recovery and devising a treatment plan than can keep up.
God is great! Our story (God's story) is featured in a section of the Roanoke Times today. I believe it's the Southwest County section. I'm not sure. I've seen the story and it is very faithful and accurate with regard to events and to the miraculous nature of God's provision. Join us and pray that many lives would be touched. It's not about us. It's about Him. There is a picture of the EMS team that worked on Kate in the article. It's the first time I've seen them all together. I can't wait to meet them all very soon.
We're also going to change the word "supervision" to "hangin' with Kate". It makes her feel better.
6:00 am on 6/17.
Kate is really struggling with being "Supervised" all of the time. I know she reads this page once in a while, so I'll hear about this update...Kate feels fine, wants to drive and get her freedom back. We're trying to work out a compromise that doesn't drive her crazy, but still gets us the results the doctors say are available to us. You only get one chance to recover, and it is very difficult for me not to be ultra-conservative in treatment decisions. We are going to move her therapy to Friendship Manor, where some friends of ours are Speech Therapists. I feel like we would be better served by therapists that are more invested in Kate personally. That change should happen on Monday, June 23, if we can get a schedule worked out.
Church on Sunday was amazing! We had a special guest musical team from Cedarville University. They are truly talented. One of the songs they led us in was "Everlasting God". It was perfect for us.
Our strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord...
Hope you know the rest. I can't get it out of my head! That's a good thing.
Pastor Ken started talking about a special guest that he just became aware of...I started leaning into Kate and whispered, "I bet he's talking about you." She was in disbelief when he asked us both to stand. The church erupted into applause because of how great our God is. Ken says he's going to ask us to tell a little of our story in the next few weeks. I can't wait, but I know I'd better say something profound in the first six words, because that's about as far as I think I'll get before I start crying.
My brother Keith wrote me a quick e-mail yesterday. My answer was one more chance for us to lift God's name high in all of this. Pray for Keith. He's not a believer, but God can work through this.
9:00 am on 6/14.
We had a great time at the Galax Leaf and String Festival. By all accounts, attendance was down due to the dip in the economy, but God still provided for us. We chose to come back on Friday night for a 10pm - midnight square dance, and we were the only vendor! We did more business in two hours that the rest of that day! Kate was sentenced to bed rest, so she missed it, but our friend Janet (thanks Cupcake Sprite!) and I served milkshakes and sodas about as fast as we could for 2 hours. Kate did very well both days. We will be at church at FCC at the 11am service, for Kate's first church outing. I am hoping that all the interaction won't be too overwhelming.
9:30 on 6/12.
Truck is all loaded for the Galax Leaf and String Festival. Part of me can't believe we're going, and wonders if it's the wisest thing. Another part of me is excited that Kate is already itching to get back at things. I'll have to keep a close eye on her, because she won't sit down if there's stuff to do. Hopefully, some of you will be able to stop by in Galax and see us. If you do, be sure and tell me that you've seen our web page! It's been wonderful to hear from all over the place.
Just an update on Kate's function. It's been pointed out to me that I haven't said much about her physical functionality. That's mostly because it's perfectly normal! I had a friend of the family inquire if they came over to help out whether or not Kate could feed herself, dress herself, etc. These are all natural questions under the circumstances, but because Kate is so "normal" (at least as far as she ever was) it escaped me that people would want to know that. So...Kate is done with Occupational and Physical therapy and has a clean bill of health in those departments. She is totally able to take care of herself. The only reason for supervision is because she can still get lost when trying to find a destination, and sometimes gets derailed in the middle of a task and can't remember what she was doing. Other than those small things, you'd never know what has happened to her. Praise God! It's been very interesting as I have been sharing our story to hear others who have had similar events happen in their families. In every case, their loved one did not survive. God has truly worked a miracle for us, and I am very much looking forward to see what He has in store for us moving forward.
Come see us in Galax and ask about a Cubano sandwich! They are awesome!
5:30 pm on 6/10.
Sorry for the delay in this latest update. You would think that getting our lives somewhat back to normal would allow more time for this sort of thing, but the opposite is true. I returned to work today. It's been tough to focus on work things, but I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. Kate returned home last night. It was mighty good to sleep in our own bed last night. Hospital beds are made for easy access by healthcare workers, not for comfort. Kate is very tired most of the time and has been ordered to nap (by the doctor, and by me) in order to keep her energy up.
She had a full day today, just getting used to the house again. My father has been gracious enough to stay with us this week. Kate requires full time (24 hr) supervision for the next two months. If anyone wants to help me coordinate that, I'd appreciate it! She has daily therapy appointments to get to, but mostly it's just hanging out and making sure nothing unsafe happens. I seriously doubt that it will last for two months, but we need to make a plan just the same. We will be at the Galax Leaf and String Festival on 6/13 and 6/14, and we'll be at church at FCC on 6/15. I'm very much looking forward to that!
2:30 pm on 6/8.
We have just finished the afternoon round of therapy. They are having much trouble finding therapies that challenge Kate enough. We think that the Occupational and Physical Therapy programs are about done. She will continue to do Speech Therapy on an outpatient basis for a long while. Tonight will be our last night in the hospital. Hard to believe, but very welcome. Now the long process of reacquainting Kate with real life. You lose a bit while in the hospital, just because it's such a sheltered environment.
We had a lengthy interview with a newspaper reporter last night. The story will probably surface on Friday, 6/20. Our goal in that story is first and foremost to lift high the name of Jesus Christ, and secondly, to make sure that all of the players who helped to save Kate's life are recognized. I finally have a name for the condition Kate is being treated for. It is Anoxic Encephalopathy, which basically means "injury to the brain, due to lack of oxygen." As we closed out the interview, the reporter said, "It's been a while since I've thought about church. Maybe I should give it a try." So, of course, we invited her to FCC! God is at work!
8:00 am on 6/7.
I don't have wireless access upstairs, so it has become more difficult to write updates, as Kate needs 24 hour supervision. This is the point where we will appeal for help. Kate will need 24 hour supervision for the next two months, so we will be assembling an army of help for that.
We had an appointment with the Neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Harrison, and while I wouldn't call him a killjoy, he did bring us back to earth a little bit. His professional opinion was that Kate needs a month more of inpatient therapy, followed by months of outpatient therapy. Obviously, Cigna won't pay for that, but beyond that, with the progress we're seeing Kate would be bored to tears long before a month goes by. Where does God figure in? Of course, we feel that God has brought us this far and He is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us." (Ephesians 3:20) Dr. Harrison is known to be very conservative in his treatment plans. He did encourage us by telling us that Kate is not behaving at all like an Anoxia patient. Most degrade steadily from the first until you are left with not very much. Kate's progression is steeply up, and because of this he is very hopeful for a full recovery. That was huge to me, because he seems like the kind of doctor that plays "worst case scenario". That way, any news you get after that will be good news.
Kate is scheduled for six hours of therapy today, tomorrow and Monday, and then we'll be moving home. Then the real work begins. We are going to keep our commitment to the Galax Leaf and String Festival with some help from a dear friend of Kate's named Janet. She's a saint, loves Kate and makes a mean Bubble Tea! Thanks Janet!
8:00 am on 6/6.
Therapy is proceeding well, but it is tiring Kate out. She is sleeping very well, but is getting a little annoyed at being awoken from a sound sleep at 5:00 am, then immediately being peppered with questions from a Neurologist like, "Who is the Governor of Virginia?" and "Name 10 major US cities". I'm betting most of you couldn't tell me who the Governor of your state is at 5:00 in the morning. We have a meeting today at 1pm with a Neuropsychiatrist. I continue to discover specialties I didn't know existed. He will tell us which portions of her brain have been affected and what our treatment plan needs to be going forward. Please pray for this meeting, as it will go a long way toward telling us her potential functional level, and give us a rough time line.
Update!!!!
The cupcake fairy will be back in action at the Galax Leaf and String Festival on June 13 and 14. Kate remembered that we had something scheduled and she is committed to doing it. We have an army of volunteer help, so if she doesn't feel up to it at the time, I will run the festival and she will soak up the sunshine and tell everyone how great God is. Can you believe how far we've come?
People continue to bless us by sharing how God is moving through this whole ordeal. Lives are being changed, and that is the ultimate goal. To bring God more glory through sharing how He changes and saves lives. What a privilege to be on His team! He is moving, and He wants us to help.
8:00 am on 6/5.
God continues to shower His mercy down on us. Kate woke up this morning in her new room and knew what hospital she was in, what floor we were on, and why we were in a new room. Previously, sleep had been sort of like erasing the blackboard, but this morning she was able to recall several things that had happened the night before. She is scheduled for a full day of therapy, three hours in the morning and three more in the afternoon. Today will be my first day back at work. I'm sure I'll have hundreds of emails to answer and I am suffering from a bit of separation anxiety. I'm not ready to let other people watch her. It's not a lack of trust in the professionals at all. They have been great. It's just been a week since I've spent any time away from her and I feel like I might be missing the miraculous if I'm not there. Kate will remain in the hospital until Monday evening at which time she'll come home for good. We're probably going to relax a bit and allow some visitors. I know many of you want to see her. I would ask that you would call me first, just so that we don't have a dozen people in there at once. I have a very strong inclination that our leaving the hospital will only serve to mark the beginning of the real heart of God's story in all of this. We have already seen many, many people influenced for Christ. I know for absolute certain that there have been families reconciled after several years of conflict because of the love they share for Kate. I wouldn't have volunteered to be used by God in this way, but that's why he knows the future and I don't. Blessed be the name of the Lord!
One of the first things Kate did when we got our Hoppin' Dots truck a couple of weeks ago was to find a plaque of a particular verse she loves and put it on the dashboard. Any guesses as to which verse it is?
Jeremiah 29:11:
11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Goose bumps...
2:30 pm on 6/4.
In case anyone had any doubts, God has provided us with all of the information to further close our window of risk. We have finally caught up with an eye-witness to the incident and have a definitive time line for events. A motorist saw Kate fall down and knows absolutely that 911 was called within 30 seconds of her fall. He and another woman stopped (the woman dialed 911) and began attempts at rescue breathing. From the time Kate fell until Dr. Roe came on seen was no more than 2-1/2 minutes. That is our total window of risk. Much better than the 8 minutes we had been working with. God is so good to us. Kate is scheduled to move upstairs to the rehab floor for at least a week of therapy. Her progress continues to astound us. Her brain is definitely starting to come back to life. Her sense of humor is already all the way back. I've never laughed so hard in all my life. I'm seriously contemplating writing a book. Maybe it wouldn't be so funny to everyone else, but I think it would. As soon as I can get back to my home computer, I'll upload a couple of pictures that will bring tears to your eyes (in a good way). I know it's not playing fair to toy with your emotions like that, but I want to share the whole picture of how wonderful a Savior we have. He doesn't just save our souls. Sometimes He saves our very lives.
10:30 am on 6/4.
We had a wonderful night together (little bit of funny business). Sheila went home to get a real night's rest, so Kate and I had the whole spacious suite to ourself. Ha! Well, except for the nurses and techs, we were alone. Kate's brain is starting to relax it's grip and she is clearly beginning to retain bits and pieces of information. She has been medically released, but we are still awaiting our Therapy consult with Dr. Ball. Sometime today is all they could tell us. So, now we are in a holding pattern. We've had many more opportunities to share the story and lift His name high! I've never been so bold about my faith in my whole life. I've found that even someone who doesn't give a hoot about God is pretty interested in a medical drama. Maybe ER should start spreading the gospel and their ratings would go back up! Eventually, this page of the website will get converted into a more formal (meaning spelled right, and with better grammar) page called, "God's Story, as told by Kate McIntyre". What a privilege for us to be included in His plan. I get goose bumps when I think about bringing Kate to church the first time. I'll be a basket case, but in a good way. God has been so good to us. What I've been able to feebly capture here doesn't even scratch the surface.
Kate's ICD implant went very well, but she is having a considerable amount of chest pain, between the CPR compressions, and the ICD procedure. She's a trooper. They woke us up at 4:45 this morning and she was so cheerful. It was amazing. I commented to her about it later when Sheila said, "That's amazing because you are not a morning person." Kate said, "Oh, I feel like crap, but it wouldn't be polite to treat the nurse like that just because it's how I feel."
Throughout this whole ordeal, Kate has continuously asked two questions, over and over. "Who has my kids?", and "Where are my rings?" I certainly was humbled to realize that when you boil life down to its essence, it's about relationships. My kids and my spouse. Hug 'em both tonight. You aren't guaranteed tomorrow.
7:45pm on 6/3.
Scotland has joined the party. Come on folks, the water is fine. Whew, what a ride! Kate had her ICD today and got back upstairs to her room by 6:35 pm tonight. She is sore, but we're happy to have the device in that will prevent this from ever happening again. We met another one of the EMS team members today and he gave us another nugget. They were returning to the station from a regularly scheduled meeting (in their ambulance) when the call came in. They were A BLOCK AWAY FROM KATE WHEN THE CALL CAME IN! They had to turn around. It's actually possible that they passed her while she was still riding. We also know for certain that someone actually saw her go down. The "window" for how long she was down has shrunk considerably. We still think that CPR was being administered for at least 8 minutes. It's getting to the point where I can hardly stand it when we meet a new player in this drama, because I know with all my heart that they have some tidbit of information that only strengthens my view that God moved dozens of people into the exact position he wanted them to deal with this before it happened.
What now? Kate is ready medically to be released tomorrow (6/4). However, we still have many questions about a therapy strategy going forward. We need to decide between inpatient therapy, which means delaying her exit for a while longer (perhaps two weeks), or outpatient therapy which would allow her to come home. The selfish side of me wants to bring her home, but if it's better in the long run, we will make the hard choice to leave her in. Thank you all for your e-mails and cards. They have been a huge encouragement to Kate. She is beginning to understand how monumental this all is. It's a bit overwhelming for her at times. Keep praying!
7:45 am on 6/3.
Add Slovakia to the list of countries that are following the epic saga of the Cupcake Fairy. I have a cousin there and she is praying and spreading the word. We had a fantastic night of sleep. It was the best by far in that category. No Ambien!!! We all (Sheila, Kate and myself) slept soundly from around 11pm until 6:30am this morning. Kate woke up very refreshed, but immediately started in with the normal questions about why she's in a hospital, what happened, etc. Looks like our ICD procedure is probably not going to happen until tomorrow now. So we won't be leaving until Thursday. We are probably headed for an extended therapy session which will test cognition and Kate's ability to retain new information. She is making strides in that area, but she is becoming very frustrated with her inability to remember what we're telling her. So, not much to say this morning, but it will be a busy day.
10:00 pm on 6/2.
We've learned some more details. Our original info that said Dr. Roe (one of the first responders) was a Neurosurgeon is incorrect. He's actually a cardiac surgeon. I should have just assumed God sent us a cardiac surgeon, I guess. We also had a visit from one of the Salem EMS guys. That shed more light on details of the "incident". Salem EMS has had universal praise for the marathon CPR session that Dr. Roe conducted. Estimates vary between 8 and 10 minutes of continuous CPR by one person, Dr. Roe. Anyone who has ever performed CPR will tell you that 3 or 4 minutes feels like forever, so 8 to 10 really is forever. I haven't met Dr. Roe yet, but I'm told he's very athletic. Hey God! Please send us an athletic Cardiac Surgeon, just in case we need a bunch of CPR. Thanks!!! Kate is being scheduled for an ICD device tomorrow. It stands for something like Internal Cardio Defribulator, and it will monitor and shock her heart if it's ever necessary. It's about an hour long procedure, and it will delay our exit by a day or two. We're looking to Thursday. Physically, she's ready to go, but in the words of her Cardiac Electrophysicist..."It would be an incredibly small, but incredibly needless risk to leave the hospital without that device." My goal is to take Dr. Roe and all of the EMS guys out to dinner so they can meet Kate and we can all give them a big hug. Keep praying. Kate is scared of the surgery and keeps calling it heart surgery, even though it's not that serious. We love you all, and now we can add Ecuador and Guatemala to the list of countries that have at least heard about this miracle. I have no doubt that we're just getting started with getting the word out about how great our God is. I have been calling this whole thing a miracle, and that is accurate, but it also sounds like it was a surprise, and it's not. It's not that my faith is that big, it's that my God is. My faith was kind of wobbly during parts of this, but my God does not falter or waver, does he? No, He doesn't. We love you. Kate's memory is still getting stronger, but it is a long road.
12:45pm on 6/2.
Kate passed her swallowing test with flying colors and is eating her first solid food as I write this. I'm in the Hospital cafeteria where I'm eating delicious grilled chicken breast with Tuscan vegetables. It's actually pretty good, and some of Kate's diet tech friends gave us a bunch of comps, so it's free. Hospital food for free somehow tastes a little better than when you have to pay for it. The main Doctor that is repsonsible for Kate's care just got done with a consult and is seriously considering releasing her...tomorrow. My knees about buckled when he said it. She certainly has a ton of testing ahead of her, but they're talking like we can do that on an outpatient kind of schedule. On my way into the hospital this morning I ran into one of the ER docs that first treated her. He recognized me and asked how we were doing. I told her she was walking around upstairs in the step down unit and his jaw dropped open and he began to cry. Tell me the medical community doesn't believe in miracles. That's been a pretty common reaction from the professionals that have asked to be kept in the loop on her condition. Utter disbelief, but then a realization that although she has been getting excellent care, this isn't about a really good hospital visit. This is about a really good God. Keep praying. We're not out of the woods yet, but I can see the One who knows the way out. He's a big, big God.
7:05am on 6/2.
Very, very good night. We have determined that at least some of her delusion in the evening is attributable to the Ambien sleep aid they have given her. Although she was in a great mood last night, soon after they gave her Ambien, she began seeing things, becoming very mistrustful and fearful that we would all be killed at any moment. First it was Chinese, then Russian and German, then finally Aliens that were going to get us. The problem for me was that she was hilarious to listen to, and could clearly tell that she knew she wasn't making any sense. She was just so sure of herself, she couldn't give up on the idea and sleep. Kate and I shared the same bed last night (no funny business) and slept very well from about 12:30am until 5:00 am when they drew blood, etc. I left the hospital to come put kids on buses at around 6:35 and she was still sleeping soundly. We've had well wishes from TX, PA, NJ, VA, NC, CO, FL, IL and somebody from Africa. Who knows how far God's reach is? I sure have a better perspective. Kate had her first physical therapy session last night and was fantastic. She has full use of her gross motor skills, but tires out pretty quick. She was very dismayed to hear she's on a liquid diet. Having served enough of that stuff she knew it was, "Jello, juice and soup, soup, soup!" We have been hammering home the same set of facts to her, and it seems like we're making progress. She never fully retains information, but several times she filled in a blank in the story while I was telling it, and that's a new phenomenon. For instance, she knew she was at Lewis Gale about 30 minutes after I had told her. Soon after that the info was gone, but any progress in this department is very encouraging. Keep praying. God is waiting to unleash our best! We just need to keep asking! Tim
4:50 on 6/1.
Kate is out of MICU and has moved to a step-down unit. Her room number is 348, but please, please, please respect our privacy right now. She is very reactive to her level of rest and visitors not only tire her out, but it has a snowball effect at night to where she really loses her bearings and becomes very suspicious and brooding. We are learning how to manage it, but you can help us by just e-mailing well wishes. I am exhausted and spell check only catches words that aren't really words, and not nonsense that is spelled correctly, so I ask forgiveness if my stuff seems to ramble. Rest assured that it all looks good to me, so if it's not, that's how tired I am.
Kate's ability for retaining facts has not changed, which is to say it still is zero. She still can't hang on to why she's here or why she can't leave now. Her speech has cleared up pretty well, but she's dealing with a damaged throat from all of the tubes. It's really bugging her and she won't believe that it's just a sore throat. Her current favorite accusation is that it's some sort of baby sea animal stuck in her throat. (Recent attempts at explanation have been dolphin fin, baby ray, jellyfish, and worm). Explaining things logically has no effect, so we've taken to just repeating certain phrases and trying to drive them home.
Survivability for this type of injury is 17%. So, we are already way, waaaayyyy above average. The doctors are dumbstruck with her progress. I am not. We are still far from coming home, but it's looking possible for the tail end of this week. More to come. Love to all. Your prayers are being answered. I learned in church this morning to say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord" in situations like this, so if there's anything positive to be said, it goes straight to Him.
5:30 pm on 5/31.
Kate has gotten out of bed, taken a couple of steps and sat in a chair. I know it sounds simple, but believe me, she was exhausted after all that work. She is very conversant and has used some lovely words like, "nauseous" and "fashion plate". Her sense of humor is intact. Her long term memory seems totally intact, although recall can be difficult and slow at times. She is struggling with names of some very familiar people face to face. She remembers her sister Kristin when we talk about her, but couldn't remember her name when Kristin came in the room. Her ability to retain new facts is zero. We have spent much of the day answering the same 3 questions: "What happened to me", "When can I go home" and "What's up with my hair". She has no recollection at all of whatever events led up to her incident and we are not pushing. God is truly awesome. Kate has progressed farther and faster than I could have possibly hoped for. I plan to be at church tomorrow morning at 9:30 and look forward to being fed spiritually. I'll be happy to give a general update, but I don't want to get stuck at church for an hour answering everyone's questions. I hope you'll understand. Thanks for all of your prayers and keep them coming!
Update! Kate is completely off the ventilator and breathing completely on her own. Her heart rhythms are good, and she is getting adequate oxygen to the brain without any assistance. She was brought out of her induced coma at around 5:30pm on 5/30 and was immediately combative, due most likely to confusion. She was very upset, but responsive when I firmly called her name and asked her to sit still. She listened for about 2 minutes as I described what happened. She hates the tube that is in her nose and grabs for it every chance she gets. She has responded by nodding or shaking her head on three separate occasions. Praise to God! I asked God why He would choose to do this, and He immediately put the answer in my mind. "To bring glory to Myself." And so, let it be! Glory to God for putting the right people in place to save Kate's life and for bringing her this far, this fast. We have a long, long way to go, but I already know the outcome. God will be glorified. What a ride. Keep praying. There are literally thousands of you praying for her, and that is why we are where we are. Thank you all!
Next Update! 8:35am - 5/31
Kate slept through the night after some initial struggle keeping stuff down. Once they started suctioning her stomach again, she fell right asleep and slept until morning pretty peacefully. Upon waking up, she immediately starting asking for water. She called me by name and knows I am her husband. She's frustrated that we can't just give her a big drink. Right now it's just a wet sponge. She asked, "Why is it green?" whereupon her mother and I burst into tears. She looked at us like we're from Mars. She's still easily upset and continually asks to go home. Progress is amazing, but it's still way too easy to race ahead and ask her a million questions about what she remembers. She's still somewhat sedated, and I think she's not a big fan of the 20 questions game right now. Keep checking back. This website has become the easiest way to get information out without remembering 100 e-mail addresses. Tell everybody in your group (FCC, NCCC, Springtree, etc.) to check out the website for updates.
3:00pm on 5/30
As of about 3pm, we have made some significant progress in creating a time line which helps us establish a pretty good guess of how long Kate was without oxygen. Our best guess at this time is between 2-3 minutes before a Neurosurgeon happened by the scene and started administering effective CPR. The Salem EMS responded 8 minutes later and within 3 more minutes had established good heart rhythms. Kate was hypoxic (very blue skin tone due to a lack of oxygen in the blood) and totally unresponsive with no heart or breath sounds, no pulse. The Doctor's initial assessment was that she was dead, but due to her age he didn't want to give up that easy and started CPR. This decision most certainly saved her life.
Where are we today?
Chest CT, Head CT and Spine CT are all negative. There are no brain lesions, and no evidence of pulmonary embolism. Her first EEG only serves to establish a baseline and we are awaiting the second one at this time. She had an EKG this morning in an attempt to establish some basis for cause, but it was inconclusive. More testing is scheduled to help us figure out what started the whole thing. Kate has exhibited some responsiveness to different people in the room. Her heart and breathing rates generally increase noticably when she hears a familiar voice, and then settles back into a regular rhythm within a minute or two. Last night, she was on a ventilator at 100% oxygen. As of right now, she is breathing on her own and only using 40% oxygen. This is good. We had heard this morning that she opened her eyes for just a moment, but I haven't seen that happen, so I am cautious to be too hopeful about that. I spoke with the Neurosurgeon who responded on Colorado this morning. He actually went to the trouble of tracking me down. I had no doubts in my mind that whenever I spoke with him, I would discover that he is a Christian. I had no doubts about this, and of course, he is. He called to let me know that he and his family are praying for us, and although I'm not sure he understood me, I tried to express my gratitude through tears. He was very vocal in his praise for Salem EMS, so if you know one of those guys, give them a hug from me. We have been unable so far to determine which crew were the responders, but I'm still working on it. I'm sure that I'll find them sooner or later.
How am I doing?
I look rough, but I actually feel okay. God is still God, and I fully
believe that He will work this out for my good. How he is going to do that
is an exciting mystery. I got about 3-4 hours of sleep in the hospital last
night, and figure I'm looking forward to another night about like that.
How are the kids?
Avery (9) and Annabella (5) have been given pretty limited information and
are certainly concerned, but are okay trusting that they will be taken care
of. Josh (12) and Katie (15) can handle a bit more detail and are very
concerned. None of the children have visited Kate, and they probably won't any time soon.
The Latest
Kate should be coming off the ventilator within about 2 hours. After she stabilizes again, they will resume testing, and perhaps will move her out of MICU and up to a monitored floor. More info to come.
Praise God because we are His,
Tim
p.s. Please distribute this information as you see fit. I'm not trying to
hide anything. At this time, we would ask to keep visitors to a minimum, and please call me first. We only get a limited amount of time with her, and for the time being, I'm going to be pretty selfish about it.
Hoppin Dots
Roanoke, VA 24018
ph: 5405259713
kmcintyr
