January 11

Tom's surgery was rescheduled for January 25th.

Please continue to pray for hope and peace as they wait 2 weeks.

Thanks for your prayers,

Brenna

January 10

Tom finished his therapy at the Homewood facility.  The therapists recommended for him to continue 8 more weeks of therapy at a facility that is close to home.  Please pray for the transition to this new place.  He does not understand why he is changing therapists at this point, and is frustrated.  He has made progress, but the time at this place has ended.

He will be having cataract surgery on his left eye on Wednesday morning.  It is a pretty common procedure, which will result in his vision being perfect in his left eye.  He has not seen clearly out of that eye since the aneurysm, so we are excited for his vision to restored, and be even better than before!

Please pray for a smooth surgery and smooth recovery.  Because of the brain injury, surgeries can set him back a bit.  Please pray for the recovery to be quick, and for the improvement in vision to give him hope for getting back to normal soon.  Pray for Nancy as she cares for him.

Thanks again for praying with us,

Brenna

December 13

It has been almost 2 months since I have updated.  Tom continues to improve.  His therapy at the current facility ends in the next week, and he will continue with some more outpatient therapy at another facility closer to home. 

He has been meeting with his primary care doctor now, and that has been a blessing for Tom and Nancy.  He brings another perspective to the situation, and has known Tom and the family for years.

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, Tom (and Bryan and Nancy) met with the neuro doctors from Loyola.  Again, everyone was amazed as to how far he has come since he was last at Loyola.  The doctors said it could take up to a year for him to get back to "normal," with his cognition issues, but again they were hopeful.

We had a great time at Thanksgiving with the whole family.  It was amazing to have the whole family together and have Tom pray for the meal for all of us.  It was the best time we have had together as a family for a long time.  A wonderful new memory as we move forward, and Tom continues to improve.

Please continue to pray for Tom and Nancy.  Progress continues, but it is slow, and some days are better than others.  Please pray for both of them as they transition to a new facility, and a new schedule for therapy.  Please continue to pray for hope and encouragement for Tom, as some days are very frustrating for him. 

Thanks for your continued prayers,

Brenna

October 28

Thanks for praying!  Tom did not have issues with the clots in his arm the past 24 hours!  He went to see the eye doctor this morning, and everything seems to be healing as it should.  Nancy was able to get the medications Tom needs, because the eye doctor was able to talk to the doctor at Loyola.  I believe Tom is not able to get into Loyola for an appointment until December or later now, but at least the doctors were able to talk and figure things out for the time being.

Please continue to pray for a smooth recovery for his eye and continued progress in his therapies.

Thanks for praying,

Brenna

October 27

Thank you for praying!  The surgery went very well.  Please pray for sleep tonight, as he is in some pain.

Please pray for the next 24 hours that the blood clots that have been in his left arm would not cause any issue.  One of the nurses did not read his chart carefully, and took his blood pressure from his left arm the WHOLE TIME. He has had strict instructions NOT to draw blood or do blood pressure on his left arm since late August, when they found a blood clot.  There were signs all over each hospital room he was in.

Bryan got there when she was checking his blood pressure.  They were  concerned that it was high.  Bryan asked if they had been checking on his left arm, and the nurse went white, switched to the other arm, and apologized and apologized.  Obviously, it could be very dangerous if the clot moved. 

The doctor put him on 24 hour watch, and Nancy will closely monitor him tonight.  Please pray that it will be an uneventful night over there!

We are SO thankful that Bryan got there at the right time to notice the error, and that the eye surgery went well.

Thanks for your prayers,

Brenna



October 26

Tom continues to make slow progress with his outpatient therapy.  Thank you for your continued prayers for him and the family.

I am writing tonight to ask you to pray for Tom tomorrow at 9 AM.  He had a recheck at the eye clinic today, and they found that he has a detached retina.  Bryan heard that it is 1/4 detached, which may be why he has not mentioned it as a problem.  We are so thankful it was caught early.  He will have surgery to repair it tomorrow at 9 AM.  Please pray for wisdom for the doctors, and for a smooth repair and recovery.

Tomorrow Tom was supposed to meet with his doctor from Loyola, whom he has not seen since he left there, still in a coma.  We were all looking forward to this appointment I think, since this was the one doctor who gave us a glimmer of hope in August when Tom was not responding well.  We were also hoping for further direction on all the medications that he has been taking this past month that may no longer be necessary.  Please pray that another appointment with this doctor will open up soon -- it was hard to schedule it in the first place!

Thanks again for your prayers,

Brenna

October 9

Tom started therapy last Tuesday with an evaluation by the therapists at the new facility.  Apparently, the speech therapist from Marianjoy (the rehab hospital he just left) had such detailed information about Tom, that the new therapist was excited to work with him.  His therapy schedule was adjusted so he could meet regularly with this new speech therapist!  We are so thankful for the amazing care he has received in each place he has been in the past (almost) 3 months.  Thank you for your prayers for his therapy.

He will have therapy 3 days a week for the next 3 months.  Please continue to pray for improvement in his cognition.  He is doing well, but does get confused when he is tired.  He does get frustrated that he gets confused sometimes too.

This past Saturday,  Tom, Bryan and Max went out to breakfast for a belated celebration of Max's birthday.  (Max's birthday was July 16th, the day of the aneursym, but we were out of town, so they were planning on celebrating later anyway).  They had a nice time at breakfast.  They did a few errands at Walmart and Petsmart as well.  It was just like a normal Saturday breakfast date with Grandpa, though Bryan is now a part of their visit.

Tom spent most of the day at our house, playing chess and uno, sitting in the backyard watching the boys rake leaves, and just visiting.  We all took a walk down the new bike path that was just put in down the block.  Watching Bryan and his dad walk down the bike path in front of me was amazing, knowing that 2 months before he was in a hospital bed at Loyola, not responding well enough for the doctors to give him much hope. 

Please continue to pray for the transition home, especially for Nancy.  She has the new role of 24/7 caregiver at this point, and it can get exhausting, especially when Tom is tired and does not have a good day.  He has had more good days than bad since he has been home, but of course it will take time for things to get back to "normal," whatever that will be at the end of 3 months of therapy.  We are hopeful, but we all do appreciate your prayers.

Tom  has wanted to express his thanks to all of you who have been praying for him.  Someday, I hope to have him write something to all of you.  For now, know he is very grateful for all of your prayers for him.

Thanks again for caring enough to check the blog or ask personally how Tom is doing.  It means a lot to us.

Grateful for your continued prayers for complete healing,

Brenna