CHANGED SURGERY DATE

They changed the surgery date AGAIN!  There is now a conflict on the doctor's schedule for August 2nd, so they moved it up to August 1st.  Fortunately, my work has been very understanding about these changes and I shouldn't have any trouble getting this new day off.  Unfortunately, Lisa may not be able to get off from work.  The bad part is, if there is another emergency that is more important than Josh's surgery, it will be postponed again.  Pray that there are no emergencies.

New Surgery Date

Josh's new surgery date is August 2nd. He is hanging in there in
the meantime. He is still on IV meds for the bone infection and
still has the wound vac. Josh is doing very well with his bed rest
too. Everyone's prayers are a blessing for us. :)

More Updates

6-15-12  Update on Josh - A home-nurse came again today and watched Josh change the meds for his IV. He is a pro now. He knows what to do and is doing pretty well today. He is back to normal, except for the pressure sore issue. We are hoping to get that second opinion from another Infectious Disease doctor concerning the amount of time needed before the flap surgery on the pressure sore.

Eric and I had a date night tonight. We went out for dinner. It was great to just relax and have a nice dinner out together. We brought home leftovers that were quickly polished off by our starving children that were left behind. :)

I heard a wonderful song on the way to work this morning. I did post it a couple hours ago here on FB. The Hurt and the Healer by MercyMe.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxqfDs-64I0&feature=share)   It brought tears to my eyes. They were actually tears of joy and thankfulness. We are the "hurt" and when we collide with the Healer (God), wonderful things happen...the hurt get well or blessed in some way. I am truly blessed. God is with us every step of the way helping us and even carrying us at times. He allows opportunities of trials in our lives so that we will grow closer to Him and also glorify Him. For all those who are hurting in your lives, I hope you collide with the Healer.

Keep the prayers coming. We still have a long road ahead. We are human and will definitely falter at times, but your prayer support will lift us back up during those times. Love you all,

Sue

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6-16-12   Still not sure if Josh will have his surgery next Tuesday. I hope they let us know soon.

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6-24-12  It looks like Josh's surgery will NOT take place this Tuesday. He has an appointment set up for Friday with the plastic surgeon. We will learn more at that time. It is probably good that they wait a bit before having the surgery to give the antibiotics time to work on the bone infection. We will keep you posted.

Update 6-14-12

Update on Josh - HE IS HOME!!! God is so good. Josh is in his bed all hooked up to IV's with heavy duty antibiotics. The home-nurse was here and hooked it all up and showed us how to care for Josh. They have a 24 hour phone line if we need any help. Josh will be taking other meds orally as well. He is set up with doctor visits in the near future to check on things. He will have blood drawn at times by the home-nurse. As I mentioned before, the infectious disease doctor said that Josh needs to be on these IV's for 6 weeks before he can have surgery and the wound doctor said it would be ok to have the surgery on time (June 26th). We are going to get a second opinion from another infectious disease doctor on this. I will keep you posted on the surgery date. Josh requested bratts on the grill for supper tonight. We were very happy to supply that meal to help fatten him up. ***THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS*** God has given me a wonderful Medical Case Manager through our auto insurance. I still have not met her in person, but she is going to help me with making sure the hospital and all the doctors involved bill our insurance companies correctly. Somehow they are not processing the bills properly and thus, they are not getting paid. And guess who is getting the bills and threats of collection. We have always done the proper thing and paid our insurance premiums and now they want to do this to us. We went through all of this 8 years ago. It is soooooo very frustrating when we are trying to just stay afloat with the medical issues at hand consuming our time. Among the many things that Jennifer (our case manager) is going to do for us, she will take all the bills and our insurance information and take that burden off my hands. She will contact each provider and help them understand what to do. She is a God-send. I can feel the weight lightening off my shoulders. When I finally meet Jennifer in person, she is getting the biggest hug ever.

Update 6-13-12

Update on Josh - Was hoping he could maybe come home today, but no such luck. He is still on IV meds for the bone infection. The infectious disease doctors said that Josh will have to wait 6 weeks before having his surgery (which is set just 2 weeks away right now). They want to let the the meds work on the infection. The wound doctor told Josh that he should be able to keep that surgery date for June 26th and that the surgeon will just scrape off all the infected part of the bone during the surgery. So....which way is it??? I asked the nurse if the two sets of doctors could discuss Josh's case together and come up with a plan. She said she would talk to both doctors and get them together. If that happens, it will be great. But I have been promised things by the nurses and they never really happened. If nothing happens by tomorrow afternoon, the doctors will hear from me in person. Josh does need to put some meat on his bones before the surgery too. His protein levels are way down, just like when he was in the hospital in March. Lisa brought him some food for dinner tonight and he ate more than I have seen him eat in a long time. I commented on his big appetite, but he then let me know that he wasn't really hungry at all, but knew he needed to eat as much as possible so he could have the surgery. He didn't feel well a few minutes after eating all the food. So, he will have to learn to graze throughout the day and make sure the food is full of protein. From what I understand, Josh will be able to come home with the IV's and Isaiah (brother) will help him with everyday needs. Josh will still be on full bed rest until the surgery and will need someone to do everything for him and even help him transfer to his wheelchair to shower or use the bathroom. Enough for now. Time for bed. Thank you everyone for your prayers. God is listening and answering.

Update 6-12-12

Update on Josh - I am writing this from a hospital computer. I called Josh on my lunch break today and he sounded GREAT. He sounded like he was back to normal. I asked if he could come home tonight. He thought maybe he could since he was doing so well. I called again on my way up to see him after work and he said he could not come home tonight. They are watching his kidney function. It was on the abnormal side and they want to keep an eye on it a little longer. The bone biopsy came back and he does have an infeciton in the bone. They are giving him antibiotics for that. The infectious desease doctor is supposed to come up tonight to go over some things but we haven't see him yet. Maybe tomorrow....of course I will be at work. I will have to ask that they give me a report by phone or in written form. This computer is really slow. I will maybe type more when I get home.

Update 6-11-12

Josh update: I think we are starting to move in the right direction now. Josh hasn't been running temperatures. He is still cold all the time, but I think anyone would when you are stationary all the time. When I went up to the hospital after work tonight, the nurse said that we probably wouldn't hear anything about the wound culture or bone biopsy for about a week. He did drink some more apple Ensure nutrition drinks today with lots of ice of course. I called Josh on my way up to the hospital to see what sounded good to eat. With a little coaxing, he finally said he would eat an Arby's roast beef sandwich and a blue slushy from Meijers. He did eat the whole sandwich, which I know he forced himself to eat. That is progress. Before, he couldn't even force himself to eat anything due to the nausea. Since he was doing better, I decided to leave around 6:30ish so that Josh and Lisa Wojciechowski could have some time alone together. Hopefully Josh will be able to come home soon. Thank you everyone for your prayers. They are working!!!  His hemoglobin is still quite low, but hopefully the iron pills will do the trick.

6-10-12 Update

Update on Josh - I was so encouraged that Josh was able to drink (and keep down) the Ensure nutrition drink last night. Today, he didn't want anything for breakfast, and then tried a chocolate Ensure for lunch. It was warm and he ended up throwing it all up. I don't think he will ever drink chocolate Ensure ever again. He did eat 2 small BBQ boneless chicken wings and kept that down this afternoon. At dinner time they tried an Apple Ensure nutrition drink. It was warm, so I got some ice in a cup and poured the drink in that. He was able to drink it and keep it down. He is still very nauseous all the time. I hope that goes away as he gets better and gets used to having food in his stomach again. Josh's kidney lab report showed some slight abnormalities and they are keeping an eye on that. They did an ultrasound on his bladder and kidneys today. We are also waiting on results from the wound culture and bone biopsy (bone inside the wound). I keep missing the doctor when he makes his rounds. He comes early in the morning and I just don't get there in time. I did ask the nurse if the doctor could give me a call. I finally talked to him about an hour ago. He said that the ultrasound of the bladder and kidneys look good. Josh is anemic and they are starting him on iron pills. They started a different kind of antibiotic now that they know what kind of bacteria is causing the bladder infection (E. Coli). They keep giving him anti-nausea medicine, but he remains nauseous anyway and then has to deal with the side effects (drowsiness). He must have weird dreams when on those meds; he moves around a lot while in a deep sleep. Josh's hemoglobin count is low. They are watching that too. The doctor is hoping that if all goes well with the new antibiotic, Josh will hopefully come home Tuesday or Wednesday. If the wound culture or bone biopsy come back positive for infection, then there will be more time at the hospital to deal with that. Josh was still feeling pretty crappy today, but I think I saw a teeny little bit of improvement. Thank you everyone for your prayers. God is good and we are resting and trusting in His promises.

Hospital

Josh was admitted into the hospital (Metro in Grand Rapids, MI) on Thursday and is still there.  He had been having high temperatures on and off for a couple weeks. Recently, his whole body has started to ache, especially the joints in his arms and wrists.  I am sure it doesn't help that hes has to lay in bed all the time since he was ordered to strict bed rest.  He had also become extremely lethargic, to the point of sleeping all the time and not even being able to carry on a conversation without dozing off in mid-sentence.  He even seemed disoriented at times.

The verdict so far is that he has a severe bladder infection and I even heard a nurse say that he had a slight blood infection.  The doctor never mentioned it though.  Josh did have a slight elevation in his white blood cell count, so maybe that is what she meant.

The wound doctor came in to see Josh yesterday.  While inspecting the wound, he had found small pieces of bone in it.  Recently Josh had fallen when transferring from his bed to his chair and probably hit something hard to cause this.  Josh has lost all his strength from the constant bed rest and infection in his body.  He is not able to be independent with anything right now.  He will need constant care until the surgery and recovery is done.  It is just so hard to see an active and athletic young man go downhill like this.

As I learn more, I will keep you posted.  I also put updates on my Facebook page (Susan Stricker Holt).

Thank you everyone for your prayers.  God can work a miracle!

Pressure Sore Update 4-27-12

Went to see the plastic surgeon today for the surgery consultation. When they took the wound vac off, the skin around the pressure sore was very irritated. She said it looked like a yeast infection. So, now the wound vac is put on hold and we have to clear up the yeast infection. We will need to go back to packing the wound, which needs to be done twice a day.

As I mentioned before, the wound is about the size of a quarter on the outside, but very large and very deep on the inside. The surgeon was even wondering if the bone might be infected too. Josh has had this pressure sore for quite a while without knowing that it had tunneled as deep as it has. More blood work was ordered and we got that done today. I had to run all over town to get the proper supplies for packing the wound. This doctor used different supplies and we wanted to keep with what she suggested.

So far, no date has been set for surgery. The surgery will involve taking fat from his upper thigh to flap up to the area of the sore. He doesn't have any fat to spare and she is wondering if that would be a good idea to take fat from that area (if she can find any) and risk getting a pressure sore there. I offered my fat for the surgery, but I don't think that is how this works...I would love to be a fat donor. I have PLENTY to spare. LOL Hey, anything for my son!

Josh has never been a big eater. He usually isn't hungry and just has to force himself to eat. The doctor said he was way too thin and so now we have to fatten him up...and he needs lots of protein for the healing process. When he first went into the hospital at the end of March, they said his protein levels were dangerously low. I went to the store and got protein shakes, cheese, eggs, and meat. He ate two helpings of supper tonight and I know he was forcing himself to do that. He told the doctor to tell him what he needed to do and he would do it. I can see that he is doing just that.

We are in the process of getting a stand-up wheelchair for Josh. He has to be up-right each day. This helps with circulation and helps keep the pressure off his butt.

We were hoping a surgery date would be set, but that will have to wait til Josh's health in a little better and they figure out the extent of infection in this pressure sore. We will keep you posted when we learn what comes next.

We appreciate prayers. God is good and will help us through this as well.

Pressure Sore

Josh has had trouble with pressure sores over the past few years since his accident. He has one on his sitting bone of the right side of his bottom. This area has been a problem for quite some time and he has had some minor surgeries to take care of fistulas that have tunneled from that area. On the outside, it is about the size of a quarter. In the last few weeks we found out that it has developed into a baseball-sized sore further in that we were all unaware of. It is quite deep and definitely not a good thing.

He was admitted into the hospital on March 24th with high temperatures and nausea, and stayed the weekend. He hadn't been eating well for a few weeks before this due to the infection in his body. His protein levels were dangerously low...and you need protein to heal. During this hospital stay was when we found out about the larger pressure sore. Josh has seen the wound doctor a couple times since then. He is on total bed rest and can only be up 1 - 2 hours a day. He is actually doing pretty well with that, considering he is a very active young man. He has a TV, video game system, and access to cable and Netflix. His friends come to visit, and that helps too.

A nurse had been coming to our house every-other-day to change the packing in the wound. The nurse only comes once a week now and we have to change his packing daily. Lisa helps out with this too.

We just had a wound vac delivered to our house. Josh will take that with him to his next doctor visit at the wound clinic on Tuesday. The doctor will put it into the wound and hopefully we are able to handle what needs to be done after that at our house. I guess that will help keep the wound clean since it is so deep.

April 27th he has a consultation with a plastic surgeon for reconstructive surgery to fill in the area of the pressure sore. I took the day off from work to go with him, so that I can learn more about what will be done.

I will keep you posted as things progress. Prayers are much appreciated. God will help us get through this just like he has these past 8 years since the accident. It will be 8 years on May 9th.

Lead Me (Acoustic - with lyrics) by Sanctus Real

This is a great song. This is for all you married men and great advice for Josh as he contemplates marriage. This is dedicated to the men in my life...Eric, Caleb, Josh, Isaiah and Vic.   Love you guys with all my heart. This is for you...

CONGRATULATIONS!

Lisa's Graduation from Western Michigan University  (8-13-10)

She is now a Physician's Assistant!

ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT
Last Friday, February 5th, Josh proposed to Lisa...and Lisa said "YES!"  I will keep you posted on details as they arise.  I'm assuming the big day will be sometime next year.  I am one EXCITED mom!  They are so perfect for each other!!!      

For wedding details and the story of how they 

met and how Josh proposed click on the link:
Josh and Lisa

Newspaper Article of Josh's 
Adventures in North Dakota

            (Click on the pictures to enlarge them)

Elk Hunting in North Dakota

Elk Creek Ranch

Rhame, ND

September 17 - 24, 2009

Josh and his elk.

 Ken and Verna Berens with Josh. 

The Berens took Josh out to N. Dakota to hunt.

Ken and Verna are in the back.   Our ANGELS!!!

N. Dakota where the elk are plentiful.

  

The Lodge

What a wonderful week!

Now it is time to rest.

Thank you Ken and Verna for taking Josh to North Dakota for a hunt of a lifetime.  Also a huge thank you to Craig and Bobbie Egeland for opening your hearts and ranch to Josh and the Berens.  For those that don't know, people pay huge bucks to hunt at this ranch and the Egelands allowed one disabled youth to hunt for FREE.  And you know who that lucky youth was.   There are GREAT people still left on this earth and we are truly privileged to have met them. 

You are our heros and ANGELS!!!

Hunting news again!

Josh got an 11-point buck on opening day! He's in his glory again.

Also wanted to let everyone know that he HAS A JOB!!!! He is a saleman for Centennial Wireless. If you need a cell phone and phone plan, he's your man! He and one of his friends (who has Centennial experience) are opening their own store on the NE side of Grand Rapids. This is exciting. We were so worried that Josh wouldn't be able to get a job. He has tired and has been turned down. He can still fit in his physical therapy 3 days a week for 3 hours each of those days. That makes it hard to get a job too, but this is the perfect solution.

He is talking about moving out and getting his own apartment. My Joshy is growing up! Can't call him that any more. He's a grown young man and he wants to set out on his own.

As most of you know, he has a girlfriend too. Things are going very well in that department and we think she is a sweetheart. They have been seeing each other for about a year now. The two make a pretty nice pair. I'm not biased or anything!

Pictures of the River Bank Run

Grand Rapids, MI (5-10-08)

Josh finished the 15K hand-cycle race in 1 hour and 28 minutes. Nice job! He came in 15th out of 18 racers. Not bad for his first race. Even though there were only 18 participants in the hand-cycle division, there were over 2000 people participating in the whole event, which included 25K and 10K runners, 5K walkers, 15K hand-cyclists, and a wheelchair division (special racing chair). It is a big event in Grand Rapids each May.

Keep going...

Fifth Third River Bank Run
Grand Rapids, MI
May 10, 2008

Josh participated in the 15K hand-cycle race. He finished 15th out of 18. That is great, since that was his first time competing. He finished in 1 hour and 28 mins. If you want to see some pictures you may click on the link below. Great job Josh!

http://www.backprint.com/view_user_event.asp?PID=bp%18yG&EVENTID=37335&PWD=&BIB=7860


HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY, JOSH!!!

PERSEVERANCE and BLESSINGS!

On Monday, Jan. 28, 2008 Josh and I shared our life-story of perseverance with the students at Cross Creek Charter Academy where I work. We gladly accepted the invitation to speak last November, but as the date grew closer we started to wonder why we had agreed to speak to a group of over 700 people. Josh and I would rather be a part of the audience than be the main event.

Perseverance was the Moral Focus word of the month at Cross Creek and we knew we could share how we persevered through Josh's paralysis, his emotions, and how it effected the family. We started out by painting a picture of Josh's very active life before the accident. Then I related the details of the accident, hospital and Mary Fee Bed Rehabilitation hospital stays, and the difficult circumstances when Josh couldn't go home to a house that needed to be modified for him. We both shared how we persevered through all of that.

I could not believe the overwhelming responses. Several parents came up to me and said that our story has inspired their children. Their children couldn't stop talking about Josh that evening. I think they were excited about Josh's basketball skills (dribbling and spinning the ball on his finger). Even teachers were inspired as well. Now I know why God had us say "yes" last November to speak at this assembly. When you learn something, I feel that we are obligated to share it, especially when it can help others. And sometimes we have to come out of our comfort zone to do it.

I am also amazed at how our everyday "do-what-needed-to-be-done" actions turned out to be so inspiring. We took things one day at a time and did what needed to be done that day. We just wanted to make it through the ordeal. We didn't want to be destroyed by it. That's just a matter of survival, I guess. But I also didn't want Satan to win. He would have loved to see us fail. We failed many days, and even months at a time, but we got back up and kept going. We got back up because we didn't like it down there. We knew we had to get back on track and beat this thing.

Josh's determination to walk is awesome! He loved to be active before the accident and now, that love has kept him going. He knows he needs to keep busy with the things he likes so he doesn't get depressed about it all. Josh loved staying physically fit before and that desire is now helping him work hard toward his goal of walking. He has physical therapy three times a week for three hours each. Since he loves working out, this schedule seems like FUN to him. I don't think I would feel the same desire to work that hard. Josh is young and full of energy. Josh is just doing what he needs to do to get back to a "normal" life and it just surprises us that people are inspired by that. We just feel that everyone would do the same, so what is the big deal! But I guess it must be a big deal.

I truly feel that God is using this bad situation for so much good. God gets all the credit for our perseverance and for the guts it took to talk to a gym-full of students, teachers, and parents. I KNOW I couldn't have done that on my own! It turned out to be a powerful message and God wanted it heard.

Praise God from whom all bessings flow!

Sue