Sunday August 7, 2005

Sunday August 7, 2005 Last night I went home at 9:00 so Scott, the girls, Dylan and I could try to have some family time together. We sat on our neighbors deck and talked about Zack. Suddenly Scott decides he wants to go back to the hospital and spend the night. He felt that he needed to be there for Zack. When he arrived at the hospital shortly after midnight Zack was awake. Scott sat next to his bed and talked with him for a long time. Zack touched his face and mumbled. Scott tried to sleep but Zack kept sitting up and putting his feet on the floor, trying to get out of bed. At 4:30 A.M. Scott told the nurse he was afraid that he would fall asleep and Zack would try to get out of bed and hurt himself. They gave Zack Trazodone to help him sleep and had to use soft restraints to keep him in bed. Scott left at 8:00 A.M. when his Mom arrived (the bargain for me to take the rest of the family to church). They had to put a hand mitt on Zack’s left hand in order to keep him from scratching his head wound. They have increased his Bolus feedings to 300 cc so we hope to be putting some weight back on. At 11:30 Mary Beth (occupational therapist) stopped by to see how Zack was doing. She did some stretches with him and explained that a towel roll needed to be kept under his pillow on the left side in order to force him to face midline. He got very restless and kept trying to get out of bed. He was frustrated, mumbling and had tears in his eyes. Rita got Jennifer (day nurse) and asked her to help figure out what Zack wanted. They asked him several questions and when they asked if he wanted to go outside he said “yes”. When I arrived at Frazier, Rita had Zack in his wheelchair outside the front entrance. It was so good to see him in the sunshine, barefooted and waiting for us to arrive. All of us return to his room and it is very hot. The air conditioner was not working and with his helmet on it was even worse for Zack. I send Dylan, Kyle and Logan down to wait in the conference room. Several people have asked about Dylan so I’ll tell you why we don’t let him hang out at the hospital for very long. Three minutes later Kyle comes running back into the room saying that Dylan had broken the emergency eye wash station. Apparently Dylan decided to check it out, ignored the signs and was now flooding the hall (God bless him). He has too much energy for a hospital so Rita took the kids home. We started to get a lot of visitors and were sending them down to the conference room to wait. Since it was so hot in our room Jennifer (day nurse) thought it would be fine to take Zack down to the conference room in his wheelchair. There had to be a dozen of his friends there and he was fine for a while. He messed with a deck of cards and Cassie (one of the therapy dogs) came by to visit. It soon became apparent that Zack was tired and we returned to his room. He went to bed and was taking a nap when two of his friends, Allie and Ashley arrived and my sister-in-law and niece Erica. When Zack woke up Allie was messing around with his bear. She told Zack to kiss his bear and put it up to his face. He smiled, she did it again and he laughed. It was wonderful for all of us and of course I got another picture (soon to be on this site). Stephanie, one of our ICU nurses from University Hospital, came by. I was so glad she took time to see us and she was delighted with how well he looked (she hadn’t seen him in 12 days). At 9:00 P.M. Rick Thompson (a recent graduate from Christian Academy) and his cousin come by and we put Zack back in his wheelchair. We need him to stay awake as long as possible so that he sleeps tonight. Rick is good for Zack because he talks to him like he always did and before long Zack had his baseball glove on and was transferring the ball into his right hand. That is a big step in recovery because he is not using his right hand at all. Rick is very animated and at one point Zack leans back and says “right on”. We all look at each other and Zack grins. Before long Zack had to get back in bed in order to start his tube feed. After Rick leaves, the door opens and there is Linda. She is the lady that works at the patient information desk at University Hospital with the warm smile and contagious love of the Lord. The Friday night of Zack’s accident Scott had taken a walk and ended up in the lobby. He was very emotional and as he stood there he turned to this woman he had never met and told her “my sons is in critical condition in ICU”. He then apologized and told her he didn’t know why he even said that. Linda very confidently said she knew why. Zack needed prayer and she was our direct line to God. She prayed with Scott that night and reminded him that God says if we ask anything in his name, believing and not doubting, we will receive it. She prayed, Scott believed and she has been praying for Zack every day since. We are so blessed to have so many people praying for Zack. We experience the healing power of prayer first hand every day. Even those days when it seems Zack makes no progress we can feel Gods hand reaching out to us. When we start to miss Zack and think about the plans we had for him, we are reminded of our mission. We always said it didn’t matter if our children made lots of money, were successful, powerful or who they became when they grew up. It would mean nothing if they didn’t trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior. If they had all the world had to offer and lost their faith, they would have nothing. We still feel that way and pray that God honors that wish by creating in Zack an unshakable faith. He will accomplish great things but only through Christ who strengthens him. We ask for prayers that God will show His strength through Zack in the hard days ahead. We ask for prayers that Zack can sleep peacefully throughout the night so he will be energized for therapy in the morning. We thank you for all the prayers already said and the ones still yet to be prayed.