Enjoying His Visitors

Aaron is still trying to fight off the infection. We pray that God will do what no medicine, at this point, has been able to. All things are possible with Christ who strengthens us.

Aaron looks good and they have the ventalator turned off so he is breathing on his own with some difficulty but he is fighting through it. When the nurse adjusted his position in his bed yesterday by lowering the head of the bed then pulling him up higher on the bed by pulling the sheets under him he got very congested which caused his heart rate to race and his fever to spike. She suctioned his lines and mouth out which, while no fun, seemed to calm him. Then she gave him a dose of Tylenol, some pain medication and something to relax him. Within the hour he was peaceful again and his heart rate and temperature came back down to normal.

By late afternoon Aaron was ready to see visitors other than John and I. His Granpa & Grama were here and are always a comfort to him. Kyle, Carrie and cousin Steve were telling him stories and even had him laughing. Angie, her Mom, Dana and Doug were all up north taking care of the kids. I talked to Taylor on the phone who sounded so old, but so good too.

Again we want to thank Susan and Tyler who have been taking such good care of the girls and Cay and Jill who are doing the same for Aidan. It is such a blessing to know that they are being cared for by such loving care takers during this difficult time. Dana had Aidan for a couple of days last week and Blake was delighted to have his buddy Aidan to play with again.

As most of you that know us know, we are not strangers to dealing with prolonged illness. We are all adjusting to the current circumstance and have faith that the good Lord that brought us to this will also bring us through it. Please pray for Aaron and we wish you a blessed Sunday.

Hugs,
Sue

Quick Update

Thank you all for continuing to check on Aaron. When I checked with the nurse last night after we got home from dinner he said that they were working on getting him off the ventalator and that he was doing well. Yesterday he was pretty much the same as the day before.

Virtue, Diligence, and Brotherly Love

Yesterday the Doctors were working on locating the infection that Aaron has. An X-ray of his sinus cavity didn't show any thing. Late in the afternoon they were going to change all of his many lines to see if any of those were sources of infection.

The skin on his arms is very red, he is very puffy from all the fluids that they had to give him, and his face and left ear show signs of the reaction that he had on Saturday. He looks very different from when I saw him looking so good before I got sick last Friday.

Please pray that they locate the infection and can find a treatment for it that does not cause another allergic reaction.

There are so many Thank Yous that we want to express to all of you that we don't even know how to begin. I just want the take a minute today to thank A & A's many, many Fraternity & Sorority brothers and sisters from all over the country that have spread the word of Aaron's struggle and have been upholding them in prayer, sent countless messages, cards, packages of encouraging gifts and gas cards for Angie. You so often hear about the negative of Fraternities & Sororities, but these people have been an amazing net work of supporters and I sincerely thank each and everyone of you today.

Oranges

We are pretty skeptical about taking medicine around here so we are going through bags of oranges to help cure our colds and it seems to be working. Today, weather permitting, I will go to the hospital.

It is getting very hard to keep up with the Doctors, God bless them, so it is also very hard to describe all that is going on with Aaron. They believe there is an infection some where, they think his set back was due to an allergic reaction, his left arm is still very red, he is now being fed again through the tube in his nose. Things seem to change very fast, then again not much at all.

Aaron was some what responsive yesterday but slept 99% of the time Angie was there. At about 5:30 she came home had some dinner and headed up to bed to fight off her cold symptoms.

We hope you are all well and appreciate your concern and prayers.

Still Waiting

Today, if all went well last night, the Doctor said that they would start to ween Aaron off of all his hook ups. Sorry for the non technical terms but I can't even keep up with everything they have him hooked up to.

Please continue to pray and I will try to post later when we know more.

Day of Rest

The Doctor said that they think his set back was a result of an allergic reaction and that it has not progressed so they will let him rest for the rest of the day and then tomorrow start to ween him off of everything.

Sorry, no news yet today

Thank you all for checking in today. I've been in bed fighting off a cold and have been waiting to hear from Angie from the hospital. The last word we had was at 2 am when his nurse said there had been no change but that he was more peaceful last light than the night before.

I'll update when we learn more.

Set Back

Yesterday Aaron had a set back. He had been listless and a bit unresponsive so they gave him something for it and he had a reaction. His skin got that beat red color and his blood pressure drop significantly. They discontinued what ever they were giving him and put him back on the respirator so that they could sedate him again and do what ever they needed to do to stabalize him.
It took about 20 minutes to get him stabalizes. The nurses said that these things happen and that he will not go into the full TENS again with the severe burning. They said that by today they will again start weening him off the respirator and he should be back where he was before in his progress.
Friday he was doing so well, he was kind of quiet but I attributed that to his resolve and determination to deal with the fact that he had not had anything to eat in any form since last week. Dana asked the nurse if they had fed him and she said no that they were going to start feeding him last night through the new line in his right arm that they had put in on Friday morning before he had the reaction yesterday.
Please pray for Aaron today Sunday's always seem to be good days for him.

~note~For some reason blogger won't let me upload pictures or activate spell check and I'm too tired to look up my misspellings...................

Glory To God

All glory and honor is yours dear Heavenly Father. Yesterday was the first day I was able to ask Aaron if he wanted me to pray with him and he nodded yes. What a blessed time it was praying with my son again.
The sacrifice that God made for us so that we might have salvation fills me with so much trembeling that it is almost inconceivable. When you go through something like this so much of God's word becomes even more visable. We have no answers to why some things happen to some and not others nor do we know the out come of our trials. The only thing we have is the promise of God to be with us through it all if we have faith. He tells us in His word that it only takes the faith of a mustard seed and at times that is all I've had but it is enough for today and for that I praise Him.
When we first got to the hospital Aaron didn't have any glasses with him because they were broke. He usually wears contacts but with his worsening condition couldn't wear them so we asked Dad to see if he could get him a pair from Walmart, where they had his prescription on file, so he did and brought them down to us. Yesterday he put those glasses to use and was sitting up in bed watching the tiny TV that is on a swing arm near his bed.
Last weekend some of us watched Doug LaBelle ll in the golf tournament. Today, God willing, at 3:00pm on CBS Aaron will be watching him too. Go Douggie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stormy Weather

Please pray for continued healing for Aaron and for strength for him to remain positive and peaceful. He is giving everyone lots of thumbs up and remaining very strong.

The weather is the big story around here today. John went into work early but will come home to get me so we can go up to the hospital if the weather permits. I called the hospital this morning and they said that there was no change with Aaron over the night and they assured us that they were taking good care of him.

God bless the workers that are busy keeping our streets clear and the people that have to be on the road today traveling.

Room With A View

Good morning. Aaron sat up in a chair yesterday for about two hours and stood up for about five minutes with the assistance of the physical therapists. He got his hair washed and Angie combed through it for him. He will need to have it buzz cut with in the next few days since some of the areas that are healing on his scalp have caused patches of hair to fall out. They have these little green sponge things on a stick that they dip in some kind of liquid that he uses to brush his teeth with. Hopefully today he will be able to take a shower.

Angie goes to the hospital first thing in the morning, around 9am and is with him all day until about 7pm. Feebly, I try to maintain Life At Home so head down to the hospital at around noon and try to leave before rush hour in the afternoon to get home to fix dinner. God bless the people that have to make these drives day in and day out five days a week. Today Kyle is coming down so I will stay home and catch up around here. This weekend Dana and Doug, and Mom and Dad will be down while Angie goes up north to see the kids.

Last night I started to get worried when it got past 7pm and Angie had not called to say she was on her way home. At about 7:20pm she called and said that Aaron had not slept and that she was worried about him so she had asked the nurse to check him out. They ran a blood test that came out good but Aaron did not want her to leave. As you can imagine it must be very unnerving to be lying in a bed unable to move or speak. She then taught him how to reach down and adjust his bead, gave him the buzzer to summon assistance and showed him how to put his finger over the opening of the treck so that if he needed to he could use his voice to call for assistance in an emergency. By that time it was about 8pm and it dawned on her that Valet parking closed at 7:30 so she had to get a guard to help her get her car out.

Hopefully, Aaron was able to get some rest last night. They kept asking him if he wanted something to help him sleep but he said no.

Aaron's room has a great view of down town. You can see Ford Field with the name on it, and to the right you can see Comerica Park. In the afternoon one of the nurses came in to look out the window and commented on the smoke coming from the city. We didn't hear any thing on the news about a fire. My fear is that the smoke may have come from fires built by the homeless in an attempt to keep warm in the freezing temperature that we have had recently. Please pray that these precious children of God that they find shelter from the cold.

Even through our trials we are so grateful for a warm soft place to lay our heads at night. Thank you Jesus and please hear our prayers for shelter from the cold for those who are without shelter.

Amen,
Sue

Get Well !

It was so good yesterday to spend some time with Aaron while he was alert. We propped his bed up to a sitting position, he put on his glasses and began to read some of the cards that he has been getting. He laughed at some that were funny, was reverent toward the prayerful ones and deeply moved by Susan's that spoke of the children.

The messages provoked questions that he was able to write out. First he wrote asking if the latch key people got their check on Friday or Monday. Then he wanted to know if my car was fixed. He asked how Joe T. was doing and if we had heard from him recently. His is so concerned about how every one is doing and very unconcerned about his own pain and suffering which is so typical of Aaron's character.

All of your encouraging messages are such a God sent blessing because just before we read them to him and he read some him self the nurse told us that he had developed pneumonia. He has not been able to eat anything because he can not swallow yet so they had to put the feeding tube back in his nose. After several attempts the nurse gave up because if kept hitting his treck tube and he couldn't get it into his stomach. He said they were going to take a break and have the Dr. come in later to try again but that we could go back in the room with him.

Praise God for making Aaron such a strong man. He asked Angie to move the hand pillows that he used to grip while they were attempting the procedure and pointed to the cards hanging on the wall and asked us to hand him some. Your messages took his mind off his troubles and gave him the peace to go back to sleep after reading them.

When Angie left last night they still had not been back in to attempt the feeding tube so we are not sure how that went. But we pray that the issue has been resolved and that his fever is under control and that his lungs are able to clear.

Thank you all for your offers of music, we are all set now. Cay is making a CD for him and will send it our way. Please continue to pray for Aaron.

Sincerely,
Sue

Hi Mom!

Yesterday I stayed home and was able to get some rest. Angie went to the hospital early in the morning. What a thrill it was for me at about 11:00 am to get a phone call form Angie saying that someone wanted to talk to me and the voice on the other end of the phone said "Hi Mom". Our God is an awesome God, our God is an awesome God! What a glorious sound it was to my ears to here Aaron speak my name and tell me he loved me.

The speech therapist had come in and put a cap on the trake ??? so that he could try to speak and it worked. It is very tiring for him to do because it requires specific breathing techniques to produce the sound so he was only able to do it for about an hour, but what a blessed hour that was.

The physical therapist was also in and they had him standing up for the first time too. Angie remarked that she was reminded of how tall he is. He didn't stand for long, but it is progress.

He is very tired and his eye lids are heavy so he needs a lot of rest but one of his nurses, that had not seen him over the weekend, casually remarked as she walked by his room that his recovery was progressing miraculously. Praise God and thank all of you for your prayers in all your Churches last Sunday. We have had reports that many of your Churches included prayers for Aaron in their services and we are witnessing God's power to hear our prayers right here in the inner city of Detroit.

Oh, also Angie asked Aaron if he wanted to watch TV or listen to the radio and he shook his head no. A few minutes later when she looked over at him he was dancing with his hands, you know how much he likes to dance. Then she asked if he wanted to listen to the radio and he nodded yes, so she smiled and turned on the radio but it only gets one country station and a sad song came on. He then mouthed to her "something more upbeat" which was impossible for her to find. So, if any body has a CD that he might like to listen too that is upbeat, if you could get it to him that would be great. There is a CD player in his room.

Thank you and we love you all so much,
the family of Aaron

Smiles

Praise God, Aaron's head has finally cleared from all of the sedation medicine. He still has the treck in his throat so he can't talk but he was able to write a few words. They have removed the restraints from his arms and he can move them with out pulling off the monitor lines. He is off all medication other than the breathing treatments.

There are still a lot of secretions coming out of his lungs that they have to suction off but his cough is getting stronger and soon will be able to clear his own throat. The nurse told him that he could start doing a couple of simple exercised like arm stretches and leg lifts so he was doing a lot of those through out the afternoon.

Today the speech therapist will be in to check his swallow reflex to see if he can start drinking fluids and begin eating. If all goes well they will cap off the treck so that he will be able to make sounds. When he was read some of the cards that his buddies have sent he even smiled and at some he even laughed out loud.

We hope everyone had a good weekend, we sure did! All glory and honor are yours dear Heavenly Father. Again we thank you for every bit of support that you all have given to Aaron and all of us through your prayers and gestures of good will.

Much love and God bless,
Aaron's family

Eph 6:13

Today is one of those days when we don't even know what to pray for. Aaron is very disoriented and needs to be constantly reoriented. That is what the nurse calls it any way. This is a very difficult time while he is coming out from under the effects of all the sedation. He is extremely agitated and trying pull off the things that are attached to his body.

We have a limited crew here that will be heading up to the hospital. Angie is up north with the kids, John has a sore throat and Carrie is all stuffed up. Kyle and I have been taking air born and so far so good. Mom and Dad are here and feeling fine too, God bless them.

Please pray for what ever God puts on your hearts today. We are putting on the armor of The Lord and heading out.

Baby Blue Eyes (Nemphita insignis)

Thank you all for your prayers for peace yesterday for Aaron. The good Lord heard your requests and granted him a peaceful day of sleep after his dressing change that took over 2hours. During that time they also were able to transfer him to a regular hospital bed and get him off of the water bed feeling sand bed that they had had him on while he was sedated. The sand bed was good at regulating the moisture level needed for his wounds to heal but not so good at letting him feel grounded while coming out from under the sedation.

Most of the afternoon he spent peacefully asleep. When he was awake his vision seemed, how do I say it????, unfocused. The nurse said that his depth perception was most likely compromised by the sedation drugs. He seemed to be reaching for the cards that are across from the foot of his bed strung on several rows of floral wire attached to the wall.

When Angie got home last night she said that your prayers for sleep had been answered and she asked that we request prayers for his eyes today. So, dear ones, we ask that when you pray today for Aaron please ask God in Jesus name to continue to heal his eyes. The flowers above are called Baby Blue Eyes and are about the same color as Aaron's eyes.

Dear God we give you all the glory and praise for the work you are doing in Aaron. Praise to you oh Lord, we worship and adore you.

Amen,
Sue and family

Peace

Dad and John are going up to the hospital this morning to help with Aaron. After being taken off the sedation he is understandably agitated. I won't go into all the details but you can imagine how frightening it must be. Aaron is 6'3" tall and very strong even in his condition and little Angie, his nurse and I were very busy yesterday. He wants Angie with him all the time so it was very hard for her to leave last night when visiting hours were over.

We ask that in your prayers today for Aaron you would ask our heavenly Father for peace for him so that he can sleep and that his body would heal.

Aaron's room is filled with pictures, posters, cards and a huge stack of e-mail's and your blog comments. Early yesterday morning, before she went to the hospital, Angie went to Meijer's and made big posters with pictures of the kids and bought a 3 ring note book for us to put all your messages and prayers in. I have been trying to keep up with printing them all out each night so that when Aaron is able he will know how many people were pulling for his recovery. Please know that every one of your messages of encouragement and offers for assistance are so precious to all of us and all of your prayers are what is getting Aaron through each and every day.

Most sincerely,
Sue and Family

Words Are Not Enough

They put Aaron back on some sedation because he was becoming agitated, now they will reduce it gradually. The main IV line that is going into his leg seems to be bothering him the most so today they will move it to his other leg after they do his dressing changes.

He is now able to communicate a bit with hand gestures and facial expression. When his cousin Steve stopped by for a visit yesterday Angie said that he was able to get a little smile out of him. He has a lot of medicine in his eyes, but he did have them open some yesterday and he was looking right at Angie for quite a while when she would talk to him and his eyes would follow movement which is a very good sign.

I wish I could come up with other words to thank all of you because mere words do not convey our gratitude and belief that were it not for all of your prayers we might be facing a very different outcome to all of this. Thank you, thank you, thank you..........................................................................
God bless you all,
Sue

Strength

Good morning. Yesterday they turned off Aaron's sedation but the pain medication that he is getting still kept him pretty groggy. He was able to nod his head in response to a couple simple questions that Angie asked him. One of the questions she asked him was if he was in any pain and he nodded no, thank God.

The respiratory therapist was in and gave him a breathing treatment which was the first time for that. He is breathing on his own now so they will be focusing on strengthening his lungs with these treatments.

While they were changing his dressings yesterday the nurse said that from his movements she was surprised at how strong he still was even after being in bed for the better part of two weeks now. The Dr. said that by the end of the week they hope to have him in rehabilitation. We are not sure exactly what kind of rehabilitation.

Your prayers are so helpful to Aaron, and again, we so appreciate all of them. Lynn at Raising Little Shoots has a lovely post about strength. That is where I got the above picture.

God bless,
Sue and family

Praise God!

When Angie spoke with Dr. White yesterday he told her that they were going to work toward getting Aaron off of the 'trake' because they have lowered the oxygen they are giving him and he is breathing pretty much on his own now, praise God. They will also lower his sedation gradually and by the end of the week they hope to have him in rehabilitation. All glory and honor are yours dear heavenly Father.

Please pray that they are able to manage Aaron's pain as he comes out for under the sedation. His wounds are healing well and we have faith that he is truly in the palm of the Lord's hands. We pray that the Lord our God through his son Jesus Christ would bless all of you prayer warriors abundantly for your vigilant commitment to prayer for Aaron's healing and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

There are two things that I am grateful are planted in my heart for times like these. First and foremost is the Word of God and second is the FlyLady. For those of you familiar with FlyLady you will understand. Today is Monday so the house is being blessed and the bed sheets are in the washer. Marla, if something brings you here, thank you.

Praise God for hearing the prayers of your saints and guiding us through all of this to your glorious conclusion. I love you with all my heart.

Blessings,
Sue

Sunday Morning

Yesterday Aaron's face looked so good after they did his dressing changes. His temperature was up a bit to 101 and his heart rate was 140 but the nurses were not too concerned and said that his wounds looked really good when they did his dressing change.

Kyle and Doug were at the hospital early yesterday morning and Dana and I were with him in the afternoon. My throat is scratchy and I'm sneezing so I didn't want to sit too long in his room and potentially spread any bugs so we left the hospital at about 3:00. It was hard not being there with him but my Mom's intuition told me to go home.

John and Angie will be back today which I'm looking forward too. They both had some much needed time with the children and hopefully were able to rest up a bit even though there thoughts were no doubt with Aaron.

Please keep Aaron in your prayers today as you head off to your Church services. I so wish that we had a Church family down here.

Much love and God bless,
Sue

Faith

Yesterday was another busy day for Aaron. They changed his dressings and reported that there was no infection and the wounds looked like they were continuing to heal. His heart rate came down which means the fever had subsided. He needed to have is IV lines changed too to prevent infection around the old sites. We felt like it was a good day all in all.

As a little update I just want to add that he is still fully sedated and unable to communicate but he does seem peaceful looking in his sleep. The sand bed that he is resting on is really helping to keep him comfortable. Since they took the respirator tube out of his mouth and put in the treak (I don't know how to spell it) we can better see his face and they say that it makes him more comfortable too which of course is my primary concern.

Doug, Dana, Blake and Kyle all came down yesterday and have been a big help. Today after going to the hospital this morning Angie is heading up north to see the kids which though a lot of travel should be good for her and the babe's. Kyle and Doug are at the hospital now and will come back here for lunch and Dana and I will take the next shift.

Again, thank you all for your prayers, comments, e-mails and cards that mean so much to all of us and to Aaron most of all.

God bless you,
Sue and family

Only By His Grace

Yesterday was a bit trying. Aaron's heart rate was up to a little over 140 and he was running a fever. Angie asked his nurse if he could get worse and she said yes, they have to be vigilant about keeping the wounds from infection and they are watching his lungs very carefully and of course his eyes are still very fragile.

After they said he had apparently reached his peak we took a sigh of relief but we still have a long way to go. We were warned of this but it is still very hard to consider. In Dana's Mom's group they discussed praying for specifics so we are asking you to pray specifically for his wounds to heal, his lungs to clear up and protection for his eyes. We also ask you to pray for strength and good health for us.

Today we have reinforcements coming in and we are truly grateful for that. Dana, Doug and Blake will be here some time today, it is Doug's birthday so we hope to be able to get out to celebrate tonight with a nice dinner in a restaurant. Kyle and his troops will be here early today too. He has 'the guys' coming in from all over the country. Aunt Donna will be here from the UP today or tomorrow.

The Guy's are Aaron and Kyle's fraternity and high school buddies and their cards, letters and packages have started coming in. Their humor did lighten the mood of the somber hospital room yesterday and for that I am so grateful. Trent's package caused quite a commotion, I did see it and I forgive you ;).

Angie would like to get up north to see the kids sometime this weekend but I know it will be hard for her to leave. She has been at Aaron's side from morning to night through all of this. Please pray for her strength and for the little ones who are really missing their Mom & Dad.

I want to thank Vince and Nadine who sent us enough food to last us all week. Thank you so much for the weeks worth of groceries. We just finished off all the delicious desserts and are still eating the Honey Baked Ham that you so kindly brought.

I can't remember if I thanked Ryan and Vanessa earlier for all the food they brought by earlier in the week, but if I didn't, please except our gratitude and appreciation. We have been well taken care of by the people who are near us with food and prayers and by phone calls, prayers and messages from people who are far away that have fed our souls.

So many have offered assistance in so much and we appreciate every offer and want you all to know that we are fine, by the grace of God, and will not hesitate to ask if and when a need arises.

My rock, my husband John, is in Colorado with Bernie, Cathy and the kids and I miss him terribly. We had both planned to visit them this week but with Aaron's illness we didn't feel like it would be possible but when we heard that Aaron may have reached his peak we decided that he would still go. John, the nurses and I miss you very much but I am glad that you are able to see the Grand's and I send all of you my love. John is an early bird so first thing every morning he would be out the door and by Aaron's side so the rest of us could get a shower and eat something. He takes baked goods to the nurses like a good Italian does and makes sure everyone if fed at all times. I miss you and look forward to your return on Sunday and rest assured that we will not starve.

Thank you and may God's grace be upon you,
Sue and family

The above picture is from the blog 152insightintomysoul.blogspot.com.

Peak of the Bell Curve

We are guardedly optimistic that Aaron may have hit the peak of the bell curve. With a few days under our belts with out further eruptions of the burns the Doctor says that he may have peaked. The nurse that was attending to him for the last two days said that she could see an improvement in the burn wounds from Tuesday to Wednesday. They may start reducing the oxygen that they have been giving him and they are pleased with the progress of the lungs.

I have printed out your prayers and e-mails to add to the batch and again I want to thank you all for your kind support and ask that you continue to pray for Aaron. The high point of our day is coming home and reading all of your encouraging messages, it somehow makes us feel less isolated and alone in this very rare situation. We know that God is responding to all of your prayers and we can't thank you enough.

Love and God bless,
Sue

Matthew 16:1-12

Aaron is still fighting and had another good night. Yesterday was another busy day for him. They put in a new central port and changed his dressings again. We couldn't get in to see him very much because they were busy working on him most of the day. It is very hard to see my child in this condition as you can imagine, but one thing that I am so grateful for and have looked upon as a sign from God that he will bring him through this is the fact that his hands and feet have been spared the ravages of this horrific syndrome. Matthew 16:1-12 talks about recognizing the Lords signs and they have been plentiful from the very beginning.

Last night I stopped and got more ink for my printer and printed off a huge stack of e-mails and blog comments to add to the others. Angie went to the hospital early this morning and John and I will head up later today with all of your prayers and well wishes and read them to him.

Again, we can't thank you enough for your encouragement and ask that you continue to pray for Aaron.

All our love,
Sue and family

Care Givers and Other Brothers

Words can not express our gratitude for the loving care that Aaron's girls are receiving from their Nana or that Aidan is receiving from Kay. Nana is Aaron's step Mother and is filling in for Aaron and Angie with Taylor and Riley. It is such a blessing to them to be able to have the peace of knowing that their girls are being cared for by someone that loves them from the bottom of their heart.

Kay has babysat for all the grand's at one point or another and they all adore here. Blake always wants to go to Kay's even when Dana has no need for a babysitter. She is taking wonderful care of Aidan and we are all so grateful to her for stepping in during this difficult time. Aaron's cousin Jill is taking care of Aidan at night now and we are greatful to her for helping out.

We have a big extended family and his other brothers are all praying for Aaron's healing even though they are seperated by distance and we are appreciating their prayers and encouragement. His little other brother Tyler has been here and at his young age has been a huge help to all of us. Thank you Tyler for all your help to Grampa and all of us. He is coming down today with Kyle and we pray for their safe travel on this snowy morning.

Yesterday Aaron had his dressings changed for the first time in two days and the Doctor reported that it looks like the rash has not spread any further. Glory be to the Father! They have put Aaron on a sand bed which is very high tech and apparently something like being on a water bed. Angie asked him if it was comfy and he nodded yes. The bed is able to absorbe moisture and be regulated to cool him when his temperature spikes.

Update

This morning after a good nights sleep might be a good time to provide more information. I pray that God would guide me in communication.

Aaron was first diagnosed with Steven-Johnson syndrome (SJS) which is a little-known disorder which is an extreme allergic reaction usually to a drug. Since being in the hospital they have upgraded his condition to TEN - which is a detachment of more than 30% body surface area (BSA). There is information all over the Internet about both of these conditions so I won't go into any more of a description about the specifics.

This all started when we were all up north over the Christmas break. Aaron developed a sore throat the day before New Years Eve. By NYE he was really hurting so he went to a ready med. type place in Harbor Springs to be checked out. They determined that he had strep throat and gave him a long lasting injection of penicillin and sent him home. Aaron then packed up Taylor, Riley and Aidan and headed home.

He started to feel better for a while but then went down hill again to the point where his local Dr. sent us to the hospital last Wednesday. Miraculously, and I mean really miraculously, the ER Dr. at Midland hospital almost immediately diagnosed Aaron with SJS. We know that God lead us to Midland hospital via his faith filled local Dr. to the ER Dr. in Midland because the Midland ER Dr. had a best friend who had been afflicted with SJS............the chances of having the diagnosis so early are about 1,000,000 to 1 because this is such a rare condition.

With in minutes things were set in motion to locate the best place for treatment which also miraculously came together by the grace of God. Every hospital that had a burn unit around the whole Mid-West was full to capacity and could not take him. Finally Detroit Receiving said that they would take him. As it turns out this is absolutely the best place that he could have come to. They have every specialist needed to support recovery right there under one Detroit Medical Center location.

We are convinced that our primary Dr. lives at the hospital, he has been so diligent. There are dermatologists, eye Doctors and every other kind of support that we need. A friend of our family is on the board of DMC and has provided the family with everything that they can to ease our stay. No one can say for sure and it is a one day at a time situation but we are being given reason to believe that though this will be a long drawn out journey, Aaron can come out of this intact. They are ok with the treatment they are giving him for his vision and working very hard to prevent infection of the skin.

We are so grateful to all of you for your prayers, cards and well wishes and are firmly convinced that your prayers and faith are integral in Aaron's journey. Angie read all of your e-mails to him yesterday so he knows you are all pulling for him. We will take a new batch of them into him today. So many of you have asked what you can do and we really want to ask you all to continue praying at this point.

I am confident that Jesus has my little lamb in the palm of his hands.

Thank you and we love you all with all our hearts.
Hugs and blessings,
Sue and family

Thanks

Aaron had a good day yesterday. They were able to do a major cleaning of his body while he was sidated enough to be as comfortable as possible. He rested well the rest of the day and the report this morning from his nurse was that he had a good night which makes two in a row now.
We have printed out the e-mails that we have received to the point of running out of ink and Angie took them to the hospital with her this morning to read to him.
Well I really need to get going but I so want to thank you all and especially Karen and Andy for bring over a delicious meal to feed us.
Hugs and God bless,
Sue and family

Aaron's Battle Update

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of Aaron with his two daughters at Kyle & Carrie's wedding last year.
I'm going to post updates here for all the Saints that are praying so fervently for Aaron. There are no words to express our gratitude for your prayers which from the e-mail's that I have received are going up to heaven from all across the USA and quite possible the world. The way I visualize it is like the opening of the old Christmas movie It's A Wonderful Life where so many people are praying for George Bailey.
Aaron had a busy day yesterday while all the wonderful Doctors and Nurses worked very hard on him. They had to put him on the respirator and getting that regulated was quite a chore. Most of the day we could not get into see him because they were cleaning him up which took a very long time because the burned area now covers almost his entire body except his hands and feet. Today they will take him to the OR to clean him up more because with the respirator in place they are able to sedate him a little more with less chance of his breathing stopping.

The Dr's. and Nurses told us that the progression of what is going on can be viewed as a bell curve. What we are waiting for is for the progression to get to the top of the curve which they tell us has not happened yet.

Before we came home last night, because they make us leave so that the family will be rested, fed and showered to help prevent germs, the Nurse came out and talked to us and explained that he is awake though sedated as much as possible and unable to talk because of the respirator, but that we can bring in cards and pictures to read to him and show him but no flowers. When we got home I printed e-mail prayers, well wishes and blessings that we will take with us today to read to him if we can after the surgery.

We are putting on the full armor of God around here and we are so grateful for all of your support and ask that you continue to pray for Aaron.

Again, thank you, and we will continue to keep you updated here. It has been such a blessing hearing from you all.

Hugs,
Sue

Edited ~Thank you Jenn & Jacqui for providing the It's A Wonderful Life's main characters name of George Bailey. xoxoxoxxo

Praying Hands

Thank you all who have been praying for Aaron. As an update; last night they did not have to put him on a respirator. Thank you prayers.

~Dream Homes & Real Life~

This morning Melissa at The Inspired Room did a post on dream homes that is very thought provoking if you are up for a bit of brain creativity this morning you might want to take a look.

Aaron is sick so I'm at his house trying to get him nursed back to health. Very scary around here. He is having an allergic reaction to penicillin. He has never been allergic to it before.

The house above is a rendition of my favorite dream home style. I like all versions of this style, Georgian, Colonial, Federal, what ever you want to call it, from tiny, perfectly proportioned cottages, to the White House in Washington DC, either in clapboard or sturdy brick. When I can think straighter I'll explain my Father of the Bride style further but for now I'm just asking all of you sweet praying blogger to please pray for Aaron with me. Dream houses and sick kid's, isn't that what life at home is really all about? Thank you God in Jesus name I pray for giving us peace, love and joy even through difficult times.

~Ruffles~

Ever since I was little ruffles were one of my favorite things. Growing up in the 60's didn't allow many opportunities for expression of my ruffle passion, or really any thing very feminine, but now I take every opportunity to celebrate the lovely gift of femininity that God has blessed me with.

These pictures of my ruffled dishes collection were on my file and brought a smile to my face this morning when I was looking for something to write about. I hope they bring a smile to your pretty face as well.

Have a blessed Sunday,
Sue

~ The Pink Living Room ~

These are pictures of our little living room in the front of the house. This room is much less cluttered now but I have to admit that clutter suits me and I'm missing it a bit.


This little room has a southern exposure that lets in the prettiest light at almost all times of the day and allow for the use of this strong color. In a darker room this color would be over whelming but in here it works for me and there is plenty of white and neutral space to rest the eye.

Dana and I painted this room and the dining room on a whim one afternoon and all though it has been fun it may get lightened up a bit in the future. You can see by the bay window where we didn't even paint the beige area around the window but we did do a pretty good job of keeping the hot pink off the white trim don't you think? We choose this color to go with the MacKenzie-Child's lamp in the bay window. This lamp was in my store but I just couldn't part with it when we sold off all of our inventory so it ended up moving down here with me. This girly room is where I sit and read or where Sheryl sleeps when we have a full house and my grand's love to play house and use the coasters as little dishes. The white lamps with rose bud bases are now up in our bedroom and my more formal gold ones with chunky roses are now back in here and now that Christmas is only a memory now the bunny couple will come back up stairs after hibernating in the basement through the fall and early winter. The velvet and needlepoint pillow on the couch, as well as the plaid one on the other end with the needlepoint center medallion were show gifts from the Atlanta Gift Show that Dana & I used to go to twice a year. The top picture shows two green silk pillows that I use for summer but my first love for pillows is needlepoint because it lends such a hand made touch of texture to a room and I love the human touch.


This close up of my junk shop secretary shows some of my favorite things; little enamel boxes, ceramic fruit and vegetables, silky tassels, sparkly crystal, rose bud vases, pretty little books, French wall paper and pink and white roses~~~~~~~~~~

~ Shower Planning ~

One of the very fun things about life at home is the luxury of time. Time to help plan a shower for a lovely young lady and her love is an example of just such a luxury. They are being married this coming St. Valentines Day weekend in Florida so those of us included in the festivities will be traveling to our destination. These Vera Bradley luggage tags will be given to the shower guests as favors at the shower here in Michigan next weekend.

The theme colors for the wedding are navy and fuchia but I couldn't find anything in our price range to match those colors so instead went for a similar high contrasting look in these cute tags.
I hope they like them ~
I just ordered these Stephen Bonanno, Emma Monogram Classic sandals for the bride in navy and fuscha with her soon to be initials. These are in black and fuchsia but give you a good idea of what they will be like. Sweet Vivian just called me to say that they would be able to have them to us in time. These will be perfect especially because the wedding is taking place in Stuart Florida where Bonanno's is located.
Well, it has been fun thinking about sunny Florida on this freezing winter day here, but I better go switch another load of laundry and take some fish out of the freezer to start thawing for dinner. I still need to do my Thursday errands; car wash, cleaners, & the bank but those things just may have to wait until tomorrow.

Take care.
Hugs,
Sue

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a happy New Years eve and day. In northern Michigan we had an old fashioned snow storm like we haven't seen in years. The fresh snow brought out the skiers in droves.
This is the drive way of the Chalet looking up at the ski hills at 7 am. By 10 am we had cars all the way down here and farther down the road. The ski resorts in the area had record amounts of skiers all during the Christmas week break.
Inside Dana works on the design for the remodel after meeting with the builder who advised us that our original plan was too ambitious.
Uncle Kyle with his ski bunny PJ clad nieces and Sponge Bob nephew.
Above are Carrie and Doug with their snowboards then Kyle, Blake and I on our ski's. Finally, John and I relaxing after a day on the slopes.

We had a great time up north with the family but it is really nice to be home. When you aren't used to a house full of kids it is a bit exhausting even though delightful and so much fun. John is off work today so he will have another day to rest up while I attempt to get unpacked and fluff up the house as well as myself.

Thanks every one for stopping by. As soon as we get settled back in I hope to get around to visiting my blog friends and seeing what every one is up to in 2008. We have a couple of projects here at Greenbrier that need attention and work on the guest house continues along with the Chalet project so it should be a busy year here.

Take care and God bless us all as we start this lovely new year.

xoxo,
Sue