Merry Christmas

Hello all,
If anyone is still tracking the blog I wanted to take the time to wish you all a very merry, Christ filled Christmas. Aidan and I are doing well. Christmas was Melisa's favorite time of year and she definately passed that on to her child. Aidan has had a fascination with Melisa's santa collection for years. She had 20 or so and Aidan adopted a dozen of them and named them after members of Melisa's family. I told him the other day that they were all his to care for now that mom was gone. He cares for them more carefully now than he did when Melisa was around. He still rearranges them five times a day in every room in the house.
Christmas is hard without her since it did mean so much to her but she is having Christmas with Jesus. What more could I want for my angel?

I love you all. Happy new year.

As most of you know Melisa passed away yesterday around 7:45AM. She went very peacefully. I love her, I will miss her and she will never leave my heart; but, I know she will never have to worry about chemo, pains, bad news or a clumsy pestering husband.

Service arrangements will be:
Today, Monday 12-14-09 - visitation at Welch funeral home from 5:00-8:00PM
Tomorrow, Tuesday 12-15-09 - funeral at First United Methodist Church, Starkville starting at 10:00AM. There will be visitation from 9:00-10:00.

Memorial domations may be made to First United Methodist Church Children's Ministry, 200 W. Lampkin St. Starkville, MS 39759.

There is an online guestbook at www.welchfuneralhomes.com.

Thank you all for your undying support and love over the past few weeks

Good morning to you all...
I am going to make this one short and sweet. Melisa is now officially cancer and pain free for the first time in two years...so be careful what you do and say because now there is another angel watching over you :)

-Kenley

Good afternoon all. Melisa is still about the same. I rolled her over on her side so she can look out the window for a while. She appears to be bvery content and comfortable.

Many of you know about Aidans obession with inflatable Christmas toys. Well this is a picture of our campsite in Jackson. The sad thing about this picture is knowing there are another six or eight back home in Starkville.

Also, for those of you wondering if Melisa was in good hands down here in Jackson, let me place your minds at ease. Bobby Jones is here watching over us. Bobby is the little red guy in the second picture. He is our Elf on a Shelf and he watches over momma during the day before flying home to the North Pole to report to Santa.

Good morning everybody. She is still holding strong. Her breathing has slowed a little more and it is considerably more shallow; but, she is not about to give up. Don't know why the Lord is keeping her here but there is a reason. We are having good family time with her father and brothers and my mom and dad and sister and all their families. Also, the friends that have come in to laugh and cry. To me that is the most beautiful part of the grieving process.

We love you guys

Hello everyone.

I have created a new blog and new google account info. the blog is remembermelisa.blogspot.com.

To log into remembermelisa.blogspot.com and post a front page blog the login is 4mymel@gmail.com and password is boocefuss.

Please go to the page and tell us something about Melisa you think the rest of the world should know.

This little woman is strong. When Dr. Young came in at 7:30 this morning she said Melisa's organs were all shutting down and that it wouldn't be much longer. It has been about 9 hours and Melisa hasn't declined much at all. Her breathing has stayed steady. It is still very shallow and she is only taking about four or five breathes a minute but it is steady.

Congrats Brian and Karen Templeton. A new bulldog lifer enters the world. I'm sure JD is precious and I can't wait to meet him. Ya'll make sure LT doesn't spoil that boy.

Hello everyone

Once again I am sorry about not blogging yesterday. I am so happy to know that all of you get unhappy when I skip a day. I know you care about my beautiful bride.

Yesterday was a difficult day and a fabulous day. She had several visitors yesterday and the day before. It is very gratifying to see all of them come in and show her so much love. I have always known how amazing she was but I had no idea what an impact she has had on so many people. She will be missed but she has passed down so much love, knowledge and ideals to so many folks that as they pay it forward her inspiration will live on and on.

The bad of yesterday was that we didn't think she would make it through the night. Her breathing became very slow and shallow about 8:00 last night and her BP went to 57/40. She has fought ever since and continues to.

I will have a few more blogs here, I'm sure, but soon I intend to create a new blog and give all of you access to post your thoughts and feelings. I will give that info on this blog.

love you all and thank you from the depths of both our souls.

Psalm 55

Mel Thurlow text it to me today and it really hammers home what our god promises us in times like this.

Listen to my prayer, O God.
Do not ignore my cry for help!
Please listen and answer me,
for I am overwhelmed by my troubles.
My enemies shout at me,
making loud and wicked threats.
They bring trouble on me,
hunting me down in their anger.

My heart is in anguish.
The terror of death overpowers me.
Fear and trembling overwhelm me.
I can't stop shaking.
Oh, how I wish I had wings like a dove:
then I would fly away and rest!
I would fly far away
to the quiet of the wilderness.
How quickly I would escape-far away from this wild storm of hatred.

What a glorious god we have. I think David knew God was listening to him but he just needed this prayer to remind himself God is with us when we are fearful. Especially as death approaches.

As for my Mel. Today much the same. I didn't get back from Starkville until about 11:00 so I missed the doctors first rounds. Ms Dot and Melia's brother Steve were here this morning and they said she stopped breathing for several seconds. Dr. Young came in a few seconds after and they asked her what had ust happened. Dr. Young said it was a symptom of multiple organs starting to fail. Most of her vital signs are still strong but her breathing is getting much more labored and there is more delay between breaths.

I brought her the prayer quilt the church gave her and it looks very pretty on her bed. I am so thankful for that ministry.

Going to drive to the camper now for a little sleep.

Love you all

hey all...Dr. Young called Boo this morning after checking on Mel and said that she no longer suggests Melisa being transferred back to OCH. Dr. Young said that Melisa was just too weak to make the trip and even if she did survive the drive that it would be too painful on her to be worth it. So Mel is still at Baptist in room 5118...
She didn't respond to anyone or anything today that I know of other than squinting her eyes closed a couple of times but she is looking at everyone that is in and out of her room and I know she is hearing everything that we are saying to her (and about her for that matter). I am sure Boo will update again later tonight with more to say about how great and wonderful each of you are and how extremely special Melisa is to our family (he is currently in route to starkvegas so that Aidan can go to school some this week but is returning to Jackson in the morning)

-Kenley

Today has been about the same. She has appeared to be a little more comfortable and resting better. Jason Franklin drove down today to see us and I think she was happy to see him. He talked to her for a while and she seemed to nod at him a few times and maybe even broke a smile once. I think she was relieved when he left though since the last time he visited her, in ICU, he almost threw up on her. Long story!

Jason came for lunch so I treated him to Gatti Town pizza and a few games. I think he had as much fun as Aidan. Since Jason isn't very skilled in the art of carney games we gave him a few of our tickets so he could buy some bubba teeth. We had a good time but more importantly I got to get out and laugh, cry and vent.

Dr. Young came by first thing this morning. She is Melisa's onchologist. We have loved her since our first consultation with her back in February. She has always been very optomistic about Melisa's recovery but, as well, she has always been very honest and straight forward. She has been telling me for the last couple weeks that Melisa and I would probably not make it to MD Anderson but that she would keep praying for a miracle too. I knew when she came over to give me Melisa's update and had tears in her eyes she knew Melisa didn't have very much time left. She told me it was pretty certain Melisa had days left rather than weeks but that she should remain fairly comfortable and pain free. I asked her if it would be possible for us to transport her back to OCH so all of you would have a chance to come visit and say goodbye. She said she would do everything possible to make that happen. So get ready Mel we are coming to see you, hopefully. Cindy Bigham your father was right about Dr. Young. She is one very special woman.

I'm sitting here looking at her and she is still so beautiful. Her insides are torn and ugly but outside she is as pretty as she's ever been.

I really do love every one of you.

Good morning friends

Two of history's greatest events took place on this day. First was in 1941 when the US was welcomed into WWII by the Japanese. They just couldn't stand the fact that we didn't want to play in their game. Big mistake on their part, huh. The second was in 1961 when Sharon and Davis Thompson gave birth to their second child. She was beautiful and precious then and, though her big brother has sometimes argued, she has been every day since. She has been an angel on earth for the past 48 years and I know she is going to be mine and Aidan's angel for the rest of our time here.

Thank you Mike and Mitzi for hounding both of us constantly until we went out together. We are forever greatful to you.

As I lay on my little plastic sofa beside her last night I kept thinking "I am George Bailey". (If you don't know who that is you have missed the second best movie of all time up to this point in your life.) I am not a wealthy man by any definition but I have realized over the past year and especially the past six weeks I am rich beyond anything I could have imagined. My friends, my family and my church are more valuable assets than anything I could buy. We are all taught it, all hear it, think it, want it but until you are lucky enough to live it, as I am now, there is just no way to understand how rich I feel. Thank you all so much for making me rich.

BTW- number 1 is Raising Arizona. I made Melisa act out every scenario of the movie during our adoption process.

I have never given much credit to horoscopes or Chinese fortune cookies; however, we ate supper at the Ichiban buffet tonight and my fortune was "you will be suprised by the generosity of friends today". That wasn't a lucky grab into a pile of a half dozen bland cookies. That was a God thing. That was without a shadow of a doubt a God thing. He reveals himself in the most amazing ways at the most amazing times.


I sat in our hospital room tonight and read, what, 40-50 cards and notes from friends that have just given Christ filled agape beyond anything I could imagine. They gave their time, their money and their hearts to help my family. There is absolutely no way on earth for me to express how I feel. I am blessed beyond anything this world could provide. I am loved.

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." Philippians 4: 11b - 13


I am blessed by the generosity of each and every person responsible for today's dinner. More importantly each and every person responsible for today's dinner is blessed because of their generosity.



God bless you. I love you all.

I AM SORRY!

I realize I didn't give you guys any updates yesterday. I am very sorry. Yesterday was one thing after another and I just didn't get a chance. For one I took my laptop to my cousin Ken so he could show me how to do payrole and unemployment taxes. I had to leave my laptop with him so he could figure it out. I thought I would get back to the hospital and use one of the PCs scattered around to submit an update but I never found a good time to sneak away.

Yesterday was kind of crazy. Aidan went to a birthday party with his cousins and I was going to take that time to write a blog, write some thank you notes and NAP! None of that got done.

It is hard to say how Melisa is doing. She seems to be getting weaker physically. She can no longer feed herself, she isn't speaking hardly any and when she does it's barely a wisper and her breathing is very rapid and labored. She is still able to eat orally and she is aware of everything in the room. We weren't sure she was processing the activity in the room yesterday but when her friend Betty came in today and started telling her what was going on in their lives she cocked her eyebrows a couple of times. She also lets me know real quick what food she doesn't like.

She has been on a very high oxygen concentration since 8:00 last night and it seems to be settling her breathing but she's not getting any stronger. Only time will tell what will happen.

Thank you all for you love, prayers and generosity. I have had a couple of text messages that let me know today's lunch was incredible. I am so honored and humbled by all this. Thank you can never be enough.

I love you all

The end of week three

Happy weekend everyone. TGIF because that means we have a heck of a football game tomorrow. Hope some of you plan to show up at the Hump for hoops.

Well we have come to the end of week three and we are so far ahead of where everyone expected her to be. Physically she is getting stronger and stronger every day. She can almost move herself in bed. Her respiratory has been getting weeker the past two days and I blame it on the fact that she has been much more active(relatively speaking) since getting to a private room.

She has had a busy day today as far as visitors go. Her brother Steve was here at 7:00AM, as he is every day. My cousin Peggy (yes named after the one and only) came up around 9:00AM. Danny Rowland (Starkville FUMC minister) got here around 10:00AM. He was just in time to break up an arguement between Peg and me that I was about to win. Paul Williams (my boss, neighbor and friend) got here around 12:00. Kenley got here soon after that. She sat in the room while I went to take a shower. Megan Eldridge(old Rain or Shine worker) came up aroung 3:00PM An old Koscuisko friend, Cheryl, came by around 5:30PM. Now Steve, Paula, Sissy, and Aidan are here. It has really been one busy day. So far she has only said something to Kenley and Paul.

Hopefully she will be more talkative tomorrow.

Thank you all once again.

A quick shout-out

Throughout Melisa's chemo therapy Davis Kelly has kept her supplied with Squencher popsicles. When she could eat nothing else she always wanted her Squenchersicles. Last night when the nurse told me she could have a popsicle Melisa roled her head over to me and mumbled something about getting one of those popsicles out of the freezer. I think she even said something about a Davis sicle. When I told her we weren't home and I couldn't get her one she roled her head back over and said "well sh!+". My sister is bringing her some tomorrow. If you haven't tried them they are very good and a great concept. They are also made in Columbus MS.

MORE ON OUR GIRL:
Today has been full of first for her recovery. Breakfast and lunch were great surprises. She ate well and didn't have any adverse reactions. She is back on the feeding tube which means she is now getting the basic nutrients to help her heal faster. She had physical therapy and sat up on the edge of the bed for several minutes. At lunch she drank quite a bit of ice tea which triggered loosening of mucous. The doctor said this was a good thing but she coughed, weakly, for an hour and wore herself completely out. Eventually they performed a deep suction(it appeared as painful as it sounds) which pulled all that mucous out. That procedure took place around 4:45 and I don't think she has opened her eyes since. Supper came in at 6:00 and she cracked her mouth enough for me to sqeeze in two small bites of potato soup but still never opened her eyes. I've been in this room since 5:00 yesterday so while she's knocked out I'm gonna run to the camper and get a change of clothes and my guitar. Did ya'll know Cash Cab comes on about ten times a day?

Ya'll stay on your knees for her. She is really making huge strides.

We love you

The miracles just keep coming!!!!!

She got real food for the first time in 20 days. When the RN sent the physical therapist away until Melisa got served her breakfast I stepped in and reminded her that breakfast would be ice chips with, possibly a popsicle kicker. To my surprise Dr. Berry had ordered her a real breakfast consisting of yogurt, jello, orange juice, grits, milk and coffee. I wasn't sure if she really needed all that so I gave her the yogurt and jello.

OH YEH

I have had several people ask about where to send cards. You may send cards and letters to:
Baptist Hospital
Melisa Matthews
Room 5118
1225 N. State St.
Jackson, MS 39202

We're in a room

Melisa got moved to a private room around 2:00 this afternoon. We've come a long way since Sunday when the doctors said she may never get out of ICU. God is answering our prayers. I was in Starkville today and wasn't here when she came up to the room but her father and sister-in-law were here and said she stayed awake most of the afternoon and talked to them the whole time.
She is very aware of whomever is in the room, addresses everyone by their name but doesn't always make since. She, so far, has been able to tell me where she is within two guesses every time I ask her. She is cofused about what all the bags and tubes in her belly are for. She heard the colostomy gurgling after eating a popsicle so she reach down and pulled it off. The good thing about that is that she got to eat a popsicle. That's the first thing stronger than an ice chip she's had since November 13. It's hard to believe we have been here 19 days.

Keep on praying!
We love you all

Aidan last year at Christmas

hi all! Boo spent the night in Starkville last night so has not been able to see Mel yet today. She is moved into a room (out of ICU) and is doing well-still a little confused/unclear thinking but is still in good spirits and gaining physical strength. Boo will add more details later tonight after he gets a chance to go visit her.

Thanks for all of your support!

-Kenley

Great news today

She's going to the floor!

Dr. Young called me this morning and said Melisa was doing well enough and was thinking rationally enough to go to a private room. She is going to be assigned a room on the third floor, which is where ICU is, so that Dr. Young and the ICU nurses can check in on her regularly.

She is still delusional but the delusions at mostly positive now. With continued use of the happy drugs that should get even better. Dr. Young said Melisa asked her this morning if she was there for our wedding and that she was glad she could make it. Dr. Young said she assumed Melisa was marrying me.

Prayers are bringing us miracles every day so keep sending them.

We love you all

Hello everyone.

I had a nice lengthy description of Melisa's day when my laptop decided to reboot. I hate Windows Vista!

Anyway, it's 11:45 and I'm tired so I'll do the update from the ICU waiting room tomorrow.

Love you guys

A Better Day-this was the one I didn't get to finish last night

Today was a little bit better day. Melisa is still getting stronger. Her skin looks good and the nurses keep telling her how pretty she is. She always smiles at that.





Yesterday I asked the nurse to see if they could change her pain med from morphine to dilaudid. She had been taking dilaudid several weeks at home, in pill form, and it had not effected her psyche like morphine and other opiods. One of the doctors approved it along with giving her some anti psychosis drug.

graphic addition

Whoody Tooty! Man what a game yesterday. Luckily most of the ICU waiting room was MSU fans. We all needed something lift our spirits and we made the most of it. The MSU football program looks like it's gonna see a resurgence like the nineties. Maybe even better. I am sorry I missed church at FUMC this morning just to tell Greg Ducker how sorry I am.

Well, Melisa hasn't had much change over the past couple of days. Her arms are getting stronger. So much so that she woke up this morning and pulled every tube she had out. Janet, the nurse, wasn't too upset. The woman must be a saint because she barely blinked an eye. Melisa also ripped off her bandages and wound packing and no one that dresses wounds works weekends so Janet had to change Melisa's bandage and blankets every couple hours most of the day. I helped her at the 11:00 visitation and it was a mess. Not sure what the fluid coming out of her incision is but it looks like honey mustard and there is a lot of it. Luckily it doesn't have any odor.

Her breathing is getting stronger every day as well. The heart and respiratory rate are staying consistant. Because of the ventilator tube being in her mouth almost two weeks all the skin in her mouth and lips peeled off as well as all the skin on her cheeks. She was so weak, until today, that she couldn't reach up to her face so the nurses and I spent most of our time Saturday scrubbing skin off her. That has mostly cleared up now and she is back to her beautiful self. She's been wanting to get a dermabrassion(sp) anyway.

All that being said, Melisa is still very very sick and if recovery is a posibility it is going to take a long time. Her paradox is that her body is too weak to heal the wounds, she can't get any food until the wounds heal enough to process the food and her wounds aren't going to heal unless she can get nutrients to make her stronger. All this while her cancer is growing rapidly. I can't write any more right now. I know God is with me every step though.

I love you all.

Saturday-Kinda quiet day

Hi all! I am going to post a quick update on Mel for those of you that may check this daily. There is not a whole lot to say about today-Melissa slept most (if not all) of the day. Yesterday after Boo's last post they got Mel out of bed and she sat in a padded recliner-type chair for 20 minutes! That is an amazingly long time considering she has been laying in a bed for weeks now!!! However, this adventure did take a lot out of her and so today she has been resting a lot more than she has been the past few days. Still no feeding tube or anything by mouth as far as I know. Boo and Aidan were able to make it to Starkville late this afternoon so that Aidan could make it to a friend's birthday party but are headed back to Jackson soon after. One of us will update again soon!

-Kenley
(p.s. GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!!!)

Friday afternoon

Thank you all for your prayer yesterday. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. We got together at Kenley and Tyler's appartment and all got stuffed. Melisa had a great day herself. She had her first full day breathing by herself and didn't have a tube ten inches down her throat. Today she is becoming more aware of her environment and her needs. She still isn't having pain from surgery or cancer pain but she is becoming more uncomfortable from being in bed for three week. Her back is bothering her and she wants to get out of bed. Good news for her is they are beginning to sit her up in bed and the foot of the bed drops down so it is almost as if she is sitting up in a chair. They are going to try to move her to a chair tomorrow, possibly. No word on when she gets her feeding tube back or when she may get something by mouth but we are hopeful soon. Dr. Young said she will probably be moved to a private room Monday.

Sorry if this is cut and paste but I am trying to get this typed before the next visitation, which has just been announced. so good bye for now and I'll get more later today.

Ove you all and keep praying.

Thanksgiving Eve

It's the night before Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for. What a wonderfully beautiful day we had today. The sun was warm and bright with a cool fall breeze waving the falling brown leaves across the pale blue sky. Don't tell Melisa she missed it.

She had a glorious day without witness to our beautiful fall day. Getting that tube out of her mouth and throat was a good way to start her day and having Aidan come in her room and have open dialogue was the perfect way to end it. Both were beaming with joy as they stood holding each others hands while I read get well cards from Ms Cunetto's class(a lot of Picasso's in that class). That will do more to aid her healing exponentially more than any medicine.

Well, she should get a heck of a workout tomorrow with all the family coming in to visit.

I hope all of you have a blessed Thanksgiving.

Remember to pray for Melisa at noon.

She can speak!!

This morning when we arrived for the 11-12 visit the nurses told us that there was a "hold" on her bed (meaning we could not go back and see her until they called the front desk and gave the ok). I was praying they were taking her off of the ventilator but was thinking they were probably just changing the dressing on her wound.
SURPRISE to me! Melisa is now off of the ventilator and finally able to speak to us!!! Although her voice is weak and very soft, she is finally strong enough to breath unassisted and finally able to TELL us what she needs or wants. Needless to say she is very excited about this herself!
Everything else is pretty much the same but Boo is going back to the 5pm visit so I am sure one of us will update again later tonight.
Thank you all again for the thoughts and prayers!

-Kenley

Evening

Spoke to Dr. Voyles before the 5:00 visitation. He is the surgeon that did Melisa's liver resection and, although he didn't do the surgery this time, he is considered her primary surgeon. He said she is progressing very nicely and is one heck of a strong woman. He did say, however, that she has two fights here and getting over the sepsis will be the easy fight. We are up against an aggressively growing cancer that is going unchecked until she's well and we get to MD Anderson. Until that point we have to fight this thing with good nutrition and lots of prayer and faith.

Melisa was in very good spirits. She was joking about being in a horribly uncomfortable hospital bed for two weeks now. She isn't having pain but she is very uncomfortable. She is able to use her arms more to help me move her around in bed but her hands are still tied to the bed to keep her from pulling out the ventilator tube. We are all hoping she will get it pulled out tomorrow.

Melisa was feeling well enough tonight that we convinced the charge nurse to let Aidan go back for a visit. He has been wanting to go back again but Melisa didn't want him to see her when she wasn't feeling like interacting with him. Both smiled ear to ear when he walked in the room and grabbed her hand. The biggest problem having him go back to see her is dealing with the ICU nurses that break down crying whenever they see him. Several have children close to Aidan's age and they put themselves in Melisa's position. I'm glad Melisa can't see me consoling all these cute nurses.haha :0

We love you all
Good night

Tuesday afternoon

first of all, obviously there are two different people "blogging" on here about Melisa and her status (both of us using boo's log in info) I will start signing my name at the bottom of my posts so that it does not look like Boo is referring to himself in 3rd person when I write :)I am just trying to help boo out so that everyone can know about Melisa even when he does not get the time to write on here.

Today Melisa has been very sleepy all day... the nurse said she has not been given any extra pain meds today, she is just having a sleepy day. Her body has been going through so much it is amazing she has been awake as much as she has been the past few days anyways! Mel is improving daily...even though it is very slow progress it is indeed PROGRESS!! She is still on the ventilator but is doing most of the work on her own. The doctors just want to make reeeeeaaaaallllllll sure that they will not have to put the tube back in once they take it out and so they want her to keep getting a little stronger before they remove the tube-this is a good and a bad thing...it is good because they are doing their jobs and it would hurt SO bad if they had to put it back in after taking it out. But it is a bad thing because she wants to talk to everyone SO bad and we all want to hear her talk to us pretty dang bad as well!
Melisa is currently being fed through a feeding tube (since she is intubated) but only small amounts at a time. Yesterday when Boo asked if she was hungry her eyes got HUGE and she shook her head "yes" very big! This is GREAT considering Melisa was not wanting to eat anything at all for two weeks prior to being admitted into the hospital!
If anything else changes before tomorrow I will let you guys know!
thanks from all of Mel's family for everyone's thoughts and prayers!!!!

-Kenley (Boo and Melisa's niece)

November, 24

Good morning everyone. Aunt Paula has had another wonderful idea. She suggested that we set a time when all of our friends and family all kneel at one time and say a quick prayer for Melisa. So, I would like to ask all of you to take a couple seconds at noon Thursday, as you begin to sit for your Thanksgiving dinner, and ask for strength, healing and miracles for Melisa. Also, ask for guidance and give thanks for our doctors and nurses. I will be giving thanks for each and every one of you. Your love and generosity amaze me. You are all very special people.

Monday, November 23 evening

I didn't make the 8:00PM visit tonight but Mel's sister-in-law, Paula, was there and called me with a request from Melisa that she wanted to speak with me. As it turned out she really didn't want to speak to me, but instead just wanted me to speak to her. Paula said Melisa smiled and nodded the whole time and laughed when I said something funny to her. Mel later asked Paula to turn on the tv for her. This is a first and a very good sign as far as I'm concerned. Until now she has laid there looking at the wall across the room with no desire for sensory input.

Melisa has done so well today! She is steadily becoming more aware and staying awake and alert for much longer periods of time and even wanted to watch some TV tonight. Still on the ventilator but also still at 0!! Paula (Mel's sister-in-law) went to the 8o'clock visit and since Melisa was so awake and alert they called Boo on the phone and Mel nodded in response to what he was saying and smiled too! Aidan sent her a card with a recorded message on it today and she smiled at that as well :) so slowly but surely we are making progress and headed in the right direction. Maybe tomorrow we will be able to hear her voice again!

November 23, 2009

Melisa has been wide awake most of the day today and is still very much waiting to be off of the ventilator! Currently she is getting no help breathing from the machine (yay!) but the tube is still in...the doctor said she has to be at "0" (no help) for at least 24 hours before they will take out the tube and she has only been at 0 since this morning. But one more day is nothing we cannot handle! Mel hasn't been in much pain and is actually in a lot less pain than she was prior to surgery...the mass that was removed from her abdomen had been pressing on her sciatic nerve which is what has been causing her such great amounts of pain over the past few weeks and months.
Melisa has great nurses taking care of her and seems to be pretty comfortable (considering the situation) every time we visit. If there are any changes before tomorrow I will post them later today

November 22, 2009

Melisa has had a lot of visitors the past few days and is now starting to be awake to see them all! She has had a very busy weekend (with people in and out) and so today she was getting some much needed rest most of the day. She has had a slight fever at various points over the past few days but the nurses are keeping a close eye on her temp. at all times and keeping a cooling blanket on her when necessary to cool her down. Melisa really wants to be off of the ventilator and writes this to us often. Her regular Pulmonologist will be back in tomorrow so maybe we will hear an approximation of when she may be able to come off of the machine. We make sure and tell Mel all of the time how many people are thinking about her and praying for her and the cards people have sent (along with some of Aidan's art work) are decorating her room!

November 21, 2009

Today is Aidan's 6th birthday and we had his party at Pump It Up in Jackson and videotaped the whole thing to show Melisa. Melisa was wide awake this morning when we went to visit her and has begun writing to us on a dry erase board since she is still on the ventilator and is unable to talk. Mel's nurse was so sweet today and let Aidan go back to see Melisa for his birthday.
So far Melisa is improving as expected; her wound is healing nicely and her immune system has been working in high gear. The doctors have said they expect her to be in ICU for a few more days and then in a regular room for a good while after that.
Thank you all for your prayers!