Hand surgery scheduled for December 12th

Just wanted to let you know that Janet's hand surgery with Dr. Solomon is scheduled for December 12th.  Please be praying for Janet as she faces this.  We all take so much for granted with our health and our ability to function.  We get a papercut or a headache and we complain.  At least, I know I do.  We don't realize how much we use our hands and our fingers until something like a papercut calls attention to it.  Janet losing several tips of her fingers on her left hand is a really tough challenge she has to face.  She is facing it with grace and strength, but just keep her in your thoughts and prayers as she works through finding a new normal.  Even just the waiting to get this surgery behind her could be really tough as it is one more hard step looming ahead of her before she can get down to the business of healing.  Janet is our miracle and we are so grateful for her.  I know that many of us would lose a finger tip with her if we could, just so that she didn't have to do this alone.

Thank you to so many of you who are helping out with meals and cleaning and shopping.  It's crazy to realize that Thanksgiving is next week. We have help set up through the first full week of December.  Please contact me if you are willing to provide some help through the rest of December and/or anytime in January.  We want to continue to provide support for the Dickens while Janet is recovering from her hand surgery.  Just email me at praying4janet@gmail.com with whatever help you are willing and able to provide.  Thanks so much!  

I hope each of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving and that we all hold on to our loved ones a little tighter this year, remembering to be grateful for the moments that we have.

Note from Janet...

Just wanted to send out a little update after yesterday. The dr. found two kidney stones following the stent removal, so he got those out. Because of all that activity my kidney was quite inflamed, so he had to place another stent. It will just be in til next week and removal will be at a simple office visit. I slept alot the rest of the day, and Mike and Jeremy took good care of me. It was really nice to come right home afterward. I will rest a lot this weekend, and just keep getting my strength back.

Thank you for your prayers for my family and I.

Love, Janet

Pray on Friday!

Janet is scheduled to get her stent taken out of her kidney this coming Friday, November 9th in an outpatient procedure.  It should be fairly straightforward.  During the procedure, the urologist will also deal with whether or not Janet still has another kidney stone and will hopefully take care of that as well.  So please be praying!!!  Even though it shouldn't require a hospital stay, Janet will still have to deal with undergoing anesthesia and all the risks and side effects that go along with any procedure.  Pray that she gets good rest and recuperation this week so that she is feeling strong.  Also, Janet sees the hand surgeon on Thursday.  She will schedule her surgery for her left hand at that point.

Thank you!

Looking so great... still two surgeries ahead

Janet is continuing to be our own walking miracle.  She has gone to several follow-up appointments with doctors such as the hand specialist and the urologist.  Each of them has commented (as they just shake their head in wonder after reading her chart) on the fact that Janet is even here with us... that she looks so good, that she's talking and walking and... alive.  It has really helped give Janet such a grateful perspective in understanding the gravity and magnitude of what she has gone through and survived.  She is handling her recuperation with such grace and thankfulness. 

A huge blessing is that Janet was referred to Dr. Joel Solomon at OHSU for the treatment of her hand and fingers.  He is THE hand specialist in the area and is considered the most experienced brachial plexus surgeon in North America.  Here is an excerpt from his biography:

Dr. Joel Solomon is the chief of the hand surgery service within the Department of Surgery and the program director of the hand fellowship. Dr. Solomon is board certified in plastic surgery and holds a certificate of added qualification in surgery of the hand. He is broadly trained in the techniques of plastic and reconstructive surgery and has particular expertise in the surgical management of nerve injuries, reconstructive surgery of the hand and upper extremity, reconstructive microsurgery, brachial plexus, and occuloplastic surgery.

 

You can read more at http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/health/services/providers/solomojo.cfm. 

        

Janet will see Dr. Solomon again in two weeks and will schedule surgery for her hand at that point.  Unless she were to wake up to an utter miracle (which she is totally up for!), Janet will be losing some tissue from the tips of her fingers.  Although this is not what any of us wanted for her, as I mentioned before, Janet is handling this with a lot of grace.  Dr. Solomon is waiting as long as possible so that the viable tissue in her fingers is clearly demarcated from what is not viable anymore.  We are so grateful Janet feels at ease with this surgeon and is confident that Dr. Solomon has the experience and expertise to do what's absolutely best given her situation.  So definitely keep praying!!!

 

Janet still has the stent in her kidney that will be removed in an out-patient surgery sometime after her hand surgery.  Once she gets beyond these two procedures, I know she will feel a huge relief in being able to just fully concentrate on healing and getting well.
 

Thank you to all of you who volunteered so willing to help out. We have shopping, cleaning, and meals covered through December 12th. Yea! If you volunteered, I will try to send out a reminder email when your date come closer. As we know more about Janet's hand surgery, we will keep you updated on ways you can help. We will probably need to continue to have volunteers through January at least.

Blessings!
 

In the process of organizing help...

Thank you to all of you who responded and are so willing to help out Janet while she is continuing to recuperate! We are in the process of putting together a schedule of volunteers for things like errands, meals, cleaning, shopping, etc. (It isn't too late to add your name to the list! You can contact us at praying4janet@gmail.com.) Anyway, expect an email of a tentative schedule by Thursday, October 25th. You can let us know if it will work for you; it will probably be something like once every other week.

Janet is continuing to do well at home!  She went to her follow up appointment with her urologist last week and found out that the procedure to remove the stent in her kidney is a straight-forward outpatient procedure.  Also, she won't have to have this procedure done for a couple months.  This is good news since Janet will have some good time to regain her strength.  Please continue to pray for her recovery.  She has been so amazingly upbeat and grateful and positive through all of this.  I just know that sometimes trying to find a new normal over the long haul can be a daunting process... physically and emotionally.  Please remember to pray for her spirit along with everything else. 

Blessings!

Home sweet home! 

Just a quick post to let you know that Janet is now recuperating at home, away from all the distractions and interruptions of the hospital.  Hooray!  (If any of you have been in the hospital lately, you know it's a terrible place to try to get any rest).  In the next week or so, we are going to be putting together some sort of plan/schedule for how we can help now that Janet is home.  She won't be driving for a while, and definitely still needs to rest while her body continues to recover and regain its strength. 

If you are interested in helping out in some tangible way, please let us know by replying to praying4janet@gmail.com or you can also call or text Kris Esau at (360)798-6144.  I will be visiting with Janet tomorrow and hopefully will get more of an idea of some sort of plan that would be helpful for their family.  Please think about whether you want to provide a one-time meal or maybe you can donate a specific chunk of time to help out once a week until Janet gets on her feet again. 

Right now, we are thinking we can be helpful by:
*Providing meals or homemade goodies or even Subway or pizza gift cards
*Running errands
*Grocery shopping (you would shop and the Dickens would reimburse you)
*Cleaning
*Staying with Janet for chunks of time whenever Mike goes back to work

I understand that Janet and Mike's home church (Kessid) will be providing dinners at least through October 25th or so.  I'm sure dinners will continue to be appreciated! (I will be asking Janet what her family's favorite foods are!) 

I think if we all just pitch in together to provide what we each of us can easily offer, it will add up to a huge blessing for the Dickens.  They have come through this acute-ICU-hospital phase of this journey, but we want to continue to support them as they work toward getting back to normal.

Mike is off work for now and will be taking Janet to her follow-up appointments.  Again, keep praying for those appointments and especially for her left hand and arm.  Pray that she finds the right doctors and that she receives the very best care.

Plan = HOME!

Janet was transferred out of PCU yesterday to room 301.  This should be her last step before being discharged today sometime.  Janet's whole hospital journey started exactly two weeks ago.  In some ways, we can hardly believe it's been that long; in other ways, it feels like the days before all this happened was a lifetime ago.  I know we are all inexpressibly grateful for the miracle of Janet's recovery.  Please continue to pray for her and her family in the coming days as she continues to rest and recuperate and gain her full strength back.  Also pray as she follows up with her hand.  Janet has some decisions to make as far as which doctor to listen to and trust.  She will also have to follow up with the urologist.  Pray for that as well.  Thank you!

I just put the compilation of emails together in one letter for Janet to read.  Thank you for your thoughts.  If you didn't get a chance to contribute, I'm sorry!  You certainly can still email a note, and I will make sure she gets it.