Update on David

I just got back from the hospital where David remains in ICU so that they can monitor him closely because of the clot dissolving drug tPA that they administered this morning. The plan is to move him to a regular hospital room tomorrow.

SHORT VERSION:

He is showing progress - more and more each time I see him today.
The boys are doing well.

LONG VERSION:

We are so thankful for all the prayers being said for him and for us, and we are so thankful for our family and friends who have been and continue to be supportive in so many tangible ways. We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and the offers of help.

I think I'm still in too much shock tonight to be looking ahead more than one day, so I'm in the strange position of not knowing what to ask for, although I'm sure we will need some help, I just don't know what it is yet. We have the wonderful news that David is showing progress, but we have no idea what recovery will look like as time goes by. Right now I find I can't think beyond tomorrow in terms of what has to happen at home and with and for the boys. It seems piano lessons, soccer, school, teaching and grad work are all part of another universe that is very, very distant - and yet next week we'll have to figure out how to manage.

Although he remains numb on his entire left side (head, chest, arm, leg), he is now able to move his fingers and hand and raise his arm from the elbow. He can also move his foot and has some control of his knee. He still cannot move using his shoulder or hip, and the movement he can do is somewhat labored - for instance, I see his right hand doing what he is trying to get his left hand to do, as if he has to use the one to figure out how to do the other. Also, when he tries to move his left leg, his left arm and hand begin to move too because he's working so hard to get his left side to do something; somehow it seems he can't distinguish between arm and leg when he tries to use his leg.

He just really doesn't have the ability to make those limbs do what he wants them to do with any ease at all. However, the fact that he IS regaining movement is GREAT, GREAT, GREAT! It was really scary this morning when hours went by and that was not happening at all.

Thank you for your prayers not only for David but for our boys. They are doing so very well. It was really good this afternoon when my parents picked them up after school and brought them to see David - good for them and good for him. David had been particularly concerned about Anthony as Anthony is the one who found him and had to call 9-1-1.

They actually had kind of a funny exchange about it tonight. David was asking Anthony how he was doing and if he had been scared this morning. As they were talking it came out that the first thing David, as he lay on the floor, said to Anthony was, "I fell down."

Um . . . reasonably obvious.

They both had a good laugh over that tonight.

Anthony admitted being scared, so it was good they were able to laugh together tonight. David was lying on his left side when he fell, and he could feel something furry with his right foot. When he asked Anthony what it was, Anthony said, "That's your leg, Dad." Anthony said that was pretty much when he knew something was really not OK with Dad. They both laughed together over that too.

David is in good spirits and very positive - his normal self in that way.

When I wrote earlier today I said he had no risk factors - and he doesn't in terms of lifestyle or age or family history. He did have a TIA earlier this year (his first and only), which was also very scary, but so different from this that I didn't even think of it when I wrote earlier.

They ran a number of tests today. We don't really know anything about prognosis or course of recovery (I'm sure glad to be using that word, though! There were periods of time this morning where I hadn't been so sure that I was going to get to use it! - nor was David so sure - he spoke of thinking that he was going to be visiting his Dad today. His dad passed away 3 years ago this past Sunday). Tomorrow they will run an MRI and an MRA, which is an MRI with dye in the veins to see what is happening with brain flow in the brain. Hopefully we will know much more at that point.

I know I'm going on and on, but I want to share a really cool story before signing off.

This morning, when David had been in ER for 2 or 3 hours, Pastor Glenn showed up and prayed with David. Just after that prayer the nurse came in and did another check to see if he could squeeze her hand. It was the first time all morning he had been able to do so. His leg remained entirely paralyzed, however. Later in the day, Pastor Wen and his wife Dawn came to visit. That was just before 1pm. They also prayed with him, and just moments after they left the room, David's foot, which he had not been able to move for 7 hours, wiggled.

What wonderful answers to prayer!