Tuesday July, 26, 2005

Tuesday July 26, 2005 When I arrived this morning Zack had a shave, his hair washed (what is still left) and a bath. He looked so good. He was holding the teddy bear that Dan’s little sister sent him. Stephanie (night nurse) said that although he had slept most of the night at one point he held her hand tightly and didn’t want to let it go. She needed to tend to her other patients so she put the bear in his hand. He held it all night and still had it in his hand when I arrived. He had no fever but his white count was up to 16. Jennifer Gallaway with Frazier came by and said everything was set up for our move except that we had to be sure that this white count didn’t indicate any new infection. She explained that I needed to bring him shorts, t-shirts, socks and tennis shoes because he will be dressed every day. She also told me that Dr. LaRossa couldn’t be his doctor at Frazier because she was just diagnosed with cancer. She is the doctor that works wonders with pediatric brain injury patients and loves her work. We ask for prayers that she will be healed and back giving hope to other children. In the meantime I’m sure that Dr. Mook will take good care of Zack. Dr Raff (I.D.) came with his residents and wasn’t worried at all about the white count. He explained that many things could cause it to fluctuate so they would check out a few possible sites for infection. They pulled his main line and drew blood there. They changed the type of catheter and checked for a urinary infection. They drew blood again. For the next 2 hours he became a human pincushion. They checked his white count and it was back down to 11 so Dr. Raff was right…no problems. Now they had to put a PICC (peripheral inserted central catheter) line back in so they could continue his antibiotics. He has to stay on Linezolid for 28 days and we only started it on July 18^th. At 3:30 Mr. Greener (Christian Academy High School Principal) came by for a visit. Zack was asleep but that’s how Mr. Greener was used to seeing him in study hall. Since they were going to x-ray to be sure his PICC line was in the right place, Donna and I finally find time to eat lunch at 4:30. As we walk down to the cafeteria I think that it would be better to just wait and go to Frazier in the morning. Then we get a phone call from Jennifer saying since it would be 6:00 PM before they could get him to Frazier they decided to wait until tomorrow. I smile knowing that God had already made that decision. I think he needed us here one more night for Nia, the girl in the room next to Zack. She is 20 years old with a brain tumor. She had surgery today and they discovered it was cancer. They are also strong Christians and over the last few days we have been lifting each other up. God decided to keep us together one more night. At 6:00 PM the staples were removed from Zack’s head. Now he doesn’t have such a Frankenstein appearance from that side. It will still be about 2 months before the swelling is down enough to put his bone flap back on. I got to spend a little time with my girls in the 2^nd floor waiting room and Scott got some alone time with Zack. When I came back up to the room at 7:00 he was sitting on the side of the bed. Zack was lifting his head off his pillow about a foot. He moved his own hand to Scott’s chest and was fingering his chest hair. Scott was beside himself joy. Shortly after he left the phone rang in our room. It was Scott and he told me that he was crying as he pulled out of the parking garage. He was so overcome that he pulled over to the side of the street, got out of his truck and fell to his knees on the concrete thanking God for all he has given us. His faith has grown so strong. At 8:30 we move Zack into his chair and put in the C.D. from the Vine that a Southeast volunteer had brought us earlier in the day. We feel so blessed to see Zack intently staring at the steeple outside his window again and listening to rockin’ worship music. At 11:30 Fatima (our nurses aid since we have been here) comes to say good-bye to Zack. She knows tomorrow we will be gone and she is emotional as she talks with Zack. She hugs us and promises to be at Frazier to see his progress. It will be bitter sweet to leave here but we know great things lie ahead. Please pray for all the staff we leave behind that those that don’t know Jesus will see a glimpse of him in our hope for Zack. Yolanda (day nurse) asks for information on Southeast service times. She wants to come to the Vine. Please pray for Nia and Dr LaRossa. And never cease praying for Zack so he will recover quickly and God will be glorified.

Zack will be in room 408 at Frazier by noon. Visiting hours are 5:00 – 9:00 Mon – Fri

12:00 – 9:00 on the weekends. See you there!