Mike Update

Hello All,

As I stated in my last post I would keep you updated as to Mike's progress. Each day is a new journey, that gives us hope. Yesterday was Mike's best day yet. Today a few baby steps backward, but tomarrow one leap forward we hope. Mike was given the chance to try breathing on his own yesterday with no vent support. He did great and was able to go 6 hours by himself. He was the most awake he has been this entire 9 days as well. That was both a blessing and a curse for us because he was trying to communicate with us, but we do not know what he was saying or motioning too. Everytime we leave the room he reaches for us too (that is tough)!

I was able to talk with him for the first time yesterday with him understanding me. He was very restless yesterday and he kept making terrible faces like he was in pain. I asked him if he was in to pain to squeeze my hand and he did not. I asked him if he was hot and he did squeeze my hand. My brother is always hot and sweats like a beast. So we got his room temp lowered and he seemed to do much better with that. The other great thing that happened yesterday was he cracked a half smile for the first time. A female co-worker came to visit Mike and he only had a sheet on and it was only coving him in the "import places" and she said "Mike are you trying to flash me?" and he cracked a half smile like he got the joke. We can see that our Mike is in "their" and wants to come out, but it is going to be a slow process. The doctors also told us yesterday that he will be in ICU for at least another two weeks. The long range plan is to move him to Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids for a 3 month stay for intensive rehab. Then another 9 months of out patient re-hab. We are so grateful for the progress he has made, and we know he is a fighter and will contiue to fight to get well. We thank everyone who has said a prayer for him, and ask if you can to keep praying for him. We know that God is making a diffrence and we know that God can heal Mike, in His own time. I will post again the end of next week as I will be seeing him again then. I have to start back to work this week, so I am not as free to see him as I was before.

Thank-you,

Christy

Continued Prayer

To all of you whom have been praying for my brother I cannot thank-you enough. It means so much to our family that complete strangers would take time to pray for someone they do not know personally. I have been printing out your post and giving them to Mike's wife and my parents to read.

The prayers are working! The doctors are calling Mike the miracle man. He is opening his eyes for brief periods of time and he can do commands like squeeze your wife hand. He has movement in three of his extremities, but his left arm does not move at all. He gives the thumbs up he can feel it, but still no movement. He had a halo put on today to secure his two broken vertibra in his neck. Now we call him our "angel". He will have to wear that for 90 days. He is still on a vent that breathes for him. Tomarrow they are taking him off of all of the sedititves to see what happens. Please pray he tolerates it. I guess from what we hear when you get woke up and you are on a vent it feels like you are breathing through a straw and you get the sensation you are sufficating, when you really are getting enough oyxgen.

God has been so good to our family these last few days and we owe Him all of the Glory!

Thank-you again from the bottom of my heart. <3

If you would like to read daily updates on Mike you can go to:www.carepages.com enter (uppercase) MIKETISDALE (no spaces) in the box.

Christy

Prayer

This is a picture of my brother Mike. He is 36 years old and is married with two children ages 5 and 7. On Thursday August 20th he was in a car accident. He and his daughter were headed to the store to get her a fishing hat and supplies for their daddy daughter fishing weekend. They were struck by a semi truck who ran a red light. His daughter escaped with minor injuries. Mike had to be extracted from the car with the jaws of life. He was then air lifted to the nearest trauma center. He is in critical condition. He has severe brain trauma, a broken neck at vertibra 2 and 3, a broken sternum and other various minor injuries. He is in a coma and is on a ventilator.

I ask for you to please pray for him and our family. We know that God can do great things and we have asked God to surround Mike with His healing hands.

Thank-you in avance for your prayers,

Christy

A new look for the end of Summer

ahhh................it has suddenly dawned on me that our dear friend summer is coming to an end. The vacations are over, the fairs have ended, and it is the time when we start looking forward to going back to school and to our friend Fall. The winds are getting cooler, the birds are headed south, and the mums are in bloom. I look back and I am thank-ful for the times I have shared with family and friends these last few weeks. The laughter, the jokes, the memories..................I will hold them in my heart and treasure them.
I hope all of you have had the same joys in your life these last few weeks. Time to look forward to the new challenges, and changes that life brings our way.

Blessings to you all,
Christy