Tuesday Update

Yesterday was a good day for Jim. We got out early in the morning to go to breakfast and he came home and put in several hours of reading. After that, we went for a short shopping trip and spent some time with our granddaughter. Then it was dinner and off to church to hear Bob Dutko and Dr. Grady McMurtry. Stopped in for a late night snack at the coney island after church with our daughter and he still sleeping thru the night. Life is good and God is Great!

All your promises won't let go of me....
I am walking the path you have made
I am seeking the truth everyday

Monday Update

Today was a cool, breezy and rainy day which seemed to give Jim a headache for a majority of it. He got up, had some breakfast, went back to bed for a couple of hours and took it easy the rest of the day. We put him to work this evening cooking his awesome bacon for some BLT's while the tomatoes are still fresh from the garden.


I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain

Sunday Update

Today was a nice relaxing day for Jim. Went to church this morning and enjoyed a fantastic worship service and songs then went to lunch with some friends and came home and relaxed the rest of the day watching movies. Sure felt good to do nothing for once!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
and the things on earth
will grow strangely dim
in the light of his glory and grace

Saturday Update

Jim slept pretty good last night and slept in pretty late. Woke up with a nagging headache that didn't go away until more meds and a nap this afternoon. He woke up early afternoon feeling much better and was able to help prepare a roast beef dinner and enjoy an apple pie tonight with friends.

The only thing I need I already have
The fullness of Your mercy in my hand
The only One who loves me as I am

Friday Update

Jim didn't sleep so good Thursday night and we had a full day planned on Friday. We met the folks for breakfast again in the morning and a friend for lunch. During that lunch, we received a phone call that we had a Neurologist appt. in 45 minutes! Someone forgot to inform us that we had an appointment so we rushed out to Troy to see the Dr.

The Neurologist wants Jim to take an 8-Hour Sleep Deprived Video EEG since the regular EEG came back Normal. They want him to have a full day the day prior to the test, go to bed at the regular time and get up at 4:00 a.m. and come to the Main Hospital for this test. They have ordered this because they suspect he is having small seizures especially when he's "excited" the brain too much and this is the only way to find out. That will be some time in late October and will not interfere with the plan to get the bone flap back in. The Dr. said the bone flap was the number one priority.

The trip to Troy is the longest he has taken in a vehicle. He did fine on the way out, but on the way back we ran into some heavy traffic and it was stop and go on I-75 (what a surprise!). This caused Jim to have a MONSTER headache by the time I got him home and he spent the rest of the day in bed. We watched him carefully to make sure there were no issues with slurring, seizures and drooping on his left side. So far, so good!

Keep up the prayers, they definately work. This is such an unpredictable situation and we are still learning what brings on the headaches. We still believe that God will fully restore Jim and can't wait til he's back in front of people talking about how Awesome God is!

Lord You know our hearts don't deserve Your glory
Still You show a love we cannot afford

Thursday Update

Jim had a very busy day today being up and out and about. We met the folks for breakfast first thing in the morning and came home and spent some time with the girls. After that we took Jim for a haircut, he sat and read for a while and took a short nap. Then I got him out again and we went to dinner and then visited mom and dad for a cup of coffee. Hopefully he will sleep good again tonight!

Sleep has been so much better since Monday!!!! God is so good!!! Its an amazing difference when he rests. His voice is stronger and he's feeling so much stronger and confident about everything. We really see a daily difference now toward him getting stronger just on three nights of sleep. I just pray that this continues so when we see the Dr. in mid October to get approved for the bone flap going back in that its good news and immediate surgery.

Lord You know
Our hearts don't deserve Your glory
Still You show
A love we cannot afford

Wednesday Update

Jim had another good night's sleep last night! He woke up this morning feeling pretty good and made us all breakfast which he LOVES to do. After a little bit of reading, he laid down for a nap due to a small headache and ended up sleeping several hours! He woke up, ate some dinner and met with some of the men from church.

All in all a pretty good day! He's getting back to normal because he sent his daughter for a Taco Bell run a few minutes ago!

And still we praise our saviour
in spirit and in truth
For we cannot say enough about you

Tuesday Update

What a fantastic day this has been! Jim woke up from a pretty good nights sleep after taking the prescription for sleep that the Dr. suggested. It started out with Jim taking me out to breakfast for my birthday, then having lunch with friends. After that we visited his work to say hello to everyone which was great. Then he got to sit back and watch me baptize a good friend at church and ended the day eating our favorite chinese food from Shong Hey. Yum!

I received the most precious gift of all and that was time with my husband ALL DAY. I thank God that he's here to share it with me. I am tremendously blessed to be married to such an amazing and wonderful man.

Monday Update

Jim went to his Primary Dr today and he suggested a safe combination of meds to hopefully help him sleep. He was exhausted from very little sleep last night and the Dr. said he definitely needed something to help him sleep so he can heal.

He came home and took a nap for a few hours and felt very rested. He felt good enough to make some spaghetti for dinner and is currently making chocolate chip cookies! He's amazing!!

God is good all the time and he is STILL in control!!

Sunday Update

Jim started out the day feeling good from a restful nights sleep with help from a sleeping aid. He was able to go to church and worship and reconnect with some of his friends. After church he went down for a short nap and then spent the evening at my surprise birthday party! I didn't know he could keep secrets! What a blessing it is to have such a wonderful family. God has truly blessed us!

Saturday Update

The day started out with exhaustion from no sleep the night before. He even took an Ambien and that didn't even help. Frustrating! He spent most of the day in bed trying to fight feeling tired and a headache. He finally perked up about the dinner hour and we kept him busy grilling burgers and dogs. We're hoping for a good night sleep tonight!!!

Thanks for the prayers and continued love and support.

Thursday / Friday Update

Jim has had a few days of no headaches, thank God! We've started a new routine of walking a few times a day and keeping him busy during the day more. He tires easier because of this, but he will get use to it and get stronger. We've enjoyed our daily walks together with our granddaughter and the beautiful weather.

He tried Benadryl for a sleep aid and that didn't work at all and last night Ambien didn't work either! He slept one hour on Thursday afternoon and that was a thoroughly restful sleep, but the sleep at night is patchy and down very few hours. We will get a handle on this eventually!! We're going to go ahead with keeping him busy during the day and eventually he will have a good nights sleep.

We appreciate your prayers for continued healing and sleep and know that God will resolve this as he always does, if we let him.

Wednesday Update

Today we started a new routine to help Jim tire throughout the day. I woke him up around 8:30 a.m. and we ate breakfast and then went for a walk. After that he became dizzy from his seizure pill which is new and took a short nap. Then he sat and read for a while and then had lunch and then we went for another walk. He sat and read some more until the dinner hour and finished the evening out on the phone with several friends.

All in all a pretty good day and a good start for the new routine.

Choose to be thankful in all circumstances, and God will give you peace. God deserves your very best praises!

Back Home Again!

Jim came home last night after they did an echo of the heart. They are leaning more towards a seizure and want him to follow up with Neurology for a full seizure work up outpatient. He is now on seizure medicine just in case until the work up is complete. Sometimes you can have small seizures in your sleep and not be aware of them which is what they suspect has happened.

The Dr. truly feels that sleep deprivation was the main factor for the setback and decided to give him a sleeping aid. Thank God! It was also stressed that we need to develop a routine to train the body to be up for a certain amount of time and down for several hours of sleep. So we will work on developing that plan today.

Each time Jim goes to the hospital we get good information from the tests and doctors and get more educated. They said within the next 3 to 4 weeks there should be no problems putting the bone flap back in based on what they saw. So when he goes for his appointment in October, it should be good news to set a date to do that.

Thanks again for your diligent prayers, love and support! God is real, He is Awesome and has never let us down. I love how we're all praying so much for this healing and hopefully some of us are developing that habit of praying more every day.

Sunday and Monday Update

Jim had an awesome and emotional time on Sunday at church. He spoke at both services and then we both baptized our youngest daughter that we've been praying about for over a year. What an incredibly blessed day we had!

After church we enjoyed some food, talked with our youngest about her New Life and Jim went down for a 2 1/2 hour nap. He woke up around 6:30 said he felt rested and was excited that he slept for that long. Around 7:15 he noticed his speech began to slur and he had some drooping on the left side of his face. I immediately called the Dr. and was connected with the Neurosurgery Dept at Henry Ford. They advised me to bring Jim in to get some tests on him to see if they could determine what was going on. Within a few minutes of being at the hospital, one of the Dr.s that worked on Jim when he came in on 7/19 was on call and ordered tests STAT. Within 45 minutes we knew it was not a leaker from the original clips or another aneurysm. He began to improve within an hour and the slurring was gone. They ordered an MRI, found nothing and decided to admit him for further testing in the morning.

On Monday, they did an EEG and another Angiongram which were both normal. This verified that there was no seizure, stroke or spasms. We questioned what had caused this and the Dr. feels that sleep deprivation is a large part of it because the body needs sleep to heal. We asked if his talk over the weekend was the cause of this episode and they didn't feel it was. They said if he felt fine while he was speaking and immediately after then this was not the cause of this setback.

They informed us that drooping of the face was a normal thing that they see and its the body saying I need more rest but when its accompanied with slurring then its a possible seizure or stroke. He is hoping to come home tomorrow as long as his potassium levels are back to normal.

We appreciate the continued prayers and love and support. God is still on the throne, he is still amazing and he is still in control of Jim's healing. We are believing that Jim will be fully restored and continue to talk about God's Glory!

Back to Church!

All together, Jim had a great day. This afternoon he had a pretty bad headache after his haircut, but he recovered just in time for church! He did a FANTASTIC job and we are extremely proud of him!!

Jim got a chance to meet some of the paramedics that helped save him on July 19th and got a chance to publicly honor them. He also recognized the Medical Response Team at church and the 2 people that performed CPR. It was very emotional for everyone to see him on stage for the first time and also emotional for him, not a dry eye in the house! He ended his talk with a prayer, and this time, he said AMEN!!

He is excited about the 2 services tomorrow and can't wait to see everyone.
Hope you can all make it!!

After some nice family time, it took Jim forever to get himself to sleep last night. So today wasn't a very active day for him. He took about a 3 hour nap this afternoon and woke up with a headache. It finally went away after some time.

On a lighter note... Jim had some awesome Chinese tonight, again, and loved every bite of it!!

The family can't wait to see every one this weekend at church!

Thursday Update

JIM GOT 7 1/2 HOURS OF SLEEP!!!!!!

We were so grateful to God for allowing him to FINALLY get some rest. Before he fell asleep, we talked about the frustration of not being able to sleep thru the night and how he needed be thankful for each minute God allowed him to sleep. We reminded him that God is giving him what he needs and to utilize the time awake for God's purpose. Its amazing what happens when we fully submit our problems to God and BELIEVE he will take care of it.

Jim walked almost a half mile tonight with his daughter and granddaughter!!! What amazing strides he is making!! We are tremendously blessed by God's Grace! So, we're hoping that all of this activity makes him tired enough tonight to sleep good again.

Thanks for all the prayers, love and support!!

Wednesday Update

Jim had a rough time trying to sleep last night. His biggest hurdle is still insomnia at this point. He's averaging about 4 hours a night which results in long days. He was up most of the day today trying to relax as much as possible and grilled some awesome chicken for dinner. Yum! Still hasn't lost his touch!

Unfortunately, the Dr. won't allow Jim to have any sleep aids or benadryl or tylenol p.m. or anything due to the severity of his surgery! Warm showers wake him up, he hates warm tea and warm milk. We ask for continued prayers that he gets over this hurdle soon and has at least a six hour sleep.

The whole family is excited about the weekend as Jim prepares his thoughts to Honor the Medical Team at church on Saturday @ 6:00 p.m. and Sunday @ 9:45 and 11:30 a.m. Hope to see you all there!

Tuesday Update

Today was a day of headaches from the moment Jim got up until late afternoon. He spent the entire day in bed but finally was able to shake it. We're wondering if the weather has something to do with it. Hmmm.

Monday Update

Jim had a couple of good days and has enjoyed some wonderful home cooked meals. He received a special treat which tasted good, a Cherry Arctic Freeze from DQ!

He has done well riding in a vehicle over the past few days, so things are progressing forward! Still learning how to manage the headaches, but we're getting better at doing so.

Hope everyone had a safe holiday. We are grateful that Jim spent it with us!

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.....

Saturday Update

What a great day Jim had today!

He didn't sleep very well at all last night, but rested a majority of the morning and early afternoon. We took a walk around the block after he woke up and rested some more. He felt well enough to go to church this evening and enjoy the awesome music from the praise band and wonderful teaching from Pastor Brett. He was thrilled to see so many of the people he had been missing for too many weeks.

We are so grateful for how God continues to heal Jim and allow him to progress forward a little every day. He is looking forward to returning next week and being able to honor the team of people that saved his life.

God is so good!

Small friday night update

Last night, Jim had the longest night sleep since he has been home. Unfortunately, he developed a small headache in the morning and went back to bed for a few hours. He woke up and felt much better in the afternoon.
Jim didn't feel like getting out for a walk today at all and we are hoping that it will not interfere with his sleep tonight. Other than that he had a restful day, some good Chinese food and is taking another headache pill and heading off to bed!

Again, words can't express how touched Jim is with all of the love and support given by family and friends.

"You hold my life
You know my heart and you call me by name
I Live To Say, God You Reign!"

Thursday Update

Well Jim increased his activity today by walking around the block rather than just four houses like he has been. He did great and no headache or weird feeling at all. Yeah!!

Jim has a goal now to feel better so he can be at church the weekend of 9/12 and 9/13 to Honor the Medical Response Team that saved his life. His goal is to be stronger and be able to endure the car ride to church which is 20 minutes. This is very important to us all and we are behind him all the way to push himself, but not too much, and be able to get back to church.

Mark your calender!!

Wednesday Update

Jim had a pretty good day yesterday with some relaxing, tv, reading and sitting outside for a bit and enjoying this awesome weather.

His current battle is sleeping thru the night. He hasn't been able to do that for some time and we can't give him sleep aids because its a neurological issue. He doesn't drink tea, so thats not an option and his activity is limited. Frustrating to say the least!

So, we appreciate all your prayers especially for this battle because lack of sleep brings on those monster headaches. Thanks for all you do!

I'm waiting
waiting on you Lord and I am hopeful
Waiting on you Lord though it is painful
but patiently I will wait....

Tuesday Update

Sorry I forgot to post last night! Jim had a good day with a morning visit from a friend, afternoon nap, short walk, more relaxing, reading, dinner and THEN a five minute car ride! I got up to 25 mph with no headache or dizziness. I know it sounds silly, but these are great strides forward for Jim.

The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures......