The Party

It was amazing! Completely last-minute. William & I were both thinking of it, then finally said something to one another and we were so excited to plan and prep! We were giddy with anticipation. To celebrate what the Lord has given us. My husband. My son’s father. Living life together. I’m so thankful.

We were truly overwhelmed by how many of our wonderful friends and family popped by to give us hug, celebrate with us and have a margarita! It really is a humbling response to look around and realize how many people love and support us. As we hope to do for them. Of course, during the illness it was the same wonderfully, overwhelming response. The huge amount of support that came around us. But, this weekend, it was in celebration. Not grief. Praise be to God!

Thank for rejoicing with us! It’s easy to move on with life and forget how amazing our God really is. How he showed Himself in a very dynamic way last summer. His healing, restoration, answered prayers, support, grace and love. So, thanks for stopping for a moment to celebrate His glory!

A friend, Cathy, shared an announcement with the group. She heard the song titled What a Difference a Day Makes. She mentioned, on 5/4/11, we were unsure of William’s survival. A day later he wakes and after hearing nurse Tara say it’s 5/5/11, he proceeds to say “It’s Cinco de Mayo” and asks for a margarita. Cathy pointed out what he said showed right then and there, not only was God giving him back to us, his brain was active and working! I never thought of it that way. What a difference a day makes.

 

To all who couldn’t be there, you were missed! And, to my best friend, on the verge of tears because she couldn’t be here … Take a look. You were there for it all!!!

William’s condition, update 21

Surgery went great! The doctor is very pleased with the results thus far. I’m so thankful that the Lord’s given us an amazing doctor who takes wonderful care of my loving husband. In addition to cleaning the infection and removing polyps, the doctor looked at the previous surgery repairing the CSF leak to make sure it healed correctly and no longer leaking CSF. It all looks good!!! YEAH!

Thank you to all of you who have been so considerate towards us. For loving us, praying with us, and just living the past six months with us. Your prayers, words, and concerns have impacted us so greatly. It’s been glorious to see the body of Christ come together

William’s condition, update 20

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a ‘William’s condition’ post! So much to be thankful for in the time the Lord’s given us.

William is having surgery this week, 11-16-11. After the main surgery this summer to repair the hole leaking CSF, we knew there’d be a good chance to go back for more “clean up” (if you will.) Our wonderful doctor will be cleaning an infection on the side surgery was perfromed. Then, he’ll be removing polyps from the other side. “Just a spring cleaning”, said William.

Please pray that all will go well! We love you all.

Love, William’s wife

My 3 boys. My 3 loves.

Happy [31st] Birthday, William!

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday To My Favorite Person: William!

Happy Birthday To You

31 years

True to form, Will’s request for his birthday was to have a quiet night at home. And, it was fabulous. Rick & Bea stopped by for a little while and we enjoyed their company and the brownies that came with them! (Which ended up being my naughty breakfast today…coffee + sweets = weak in the knees!)

We had a delicious dinner; enjoyed each other’s company; and started the night reading Psalms 91. This was the first scripture our pastor (Heath) led the church in prayer for William’s recovery. We reminisced over the gift God gave us in Will’s life; and what he spared us from two and a half months ago. I couldn’t help but think what yesterday could have been like; but instead, we focused on God’s goodness that He pours to us and can simply say, “thank you.” It was a perfect evening for my wonderful husband. Happy birthday babe! Here’s to many more birthdays together; I love you!

(If you’ve never read Psalms 91, here it is. I’ve bolded the section which our pastor focused our prayer for William)

Psalm 91

My Refuge and My Fortress

   
    ¹He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
   will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
²I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,
   my God, in whom I trust.”

    ³For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
   and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴He will cover you with his pinions,
   and under his wings you will find refuge;
   his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night,
   nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
   nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

    ⁷A thousand may fall at your side,
   ten thousand at your right hand,
   but it will not come near you.
⁸You will only look with your eyes
   and see the recompense of the wicked.

    ⁹Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—
   the Most High, who is my refuge—
¹⁰ no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
    no plague come near your tent.

    ¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways.
¹²On their hands they will bear you up,
   lest you strike your foot against a stone.
¹³You will tread on the lion and the adder;
   the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

    ¹⁴“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
   I will protect him, because he knows my name.
¹⁵When he calls to me, I will answer him;
   I will be with him in trouble;
   I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶With long life I will satisfy him
   and show him my salvation.”

Life in Pictures

These were some of my favorites as spring was coming to a close. You can see Cartie’s sweet demeanor come out in quite a few of these pictures.

William’s condition, update 18

As I’ve talked to so many, you seem surprised to hear me chirpy. It’s funny how walking into the hospital with my husband is far easier than watching ambulatory men take him away. I also felt completely at peace with the decisions we’ve made for Will’s surgery.

Just to update you on what you can pray with us about.

• Surgery did go great. The surgeons were thrilled with the results. I must say, as I sat in the waiting room, it was pretty exciting to watch the ENT walk toward me to deliver news, as he was beaming with a smile! (phew!)
• He was able to find the hole – which was the size of a pinhole! Can you believe that?! Then, after finding it, he made it slightly bigger and began patching it up.
• Will’s been feeling ok. He’s a little swollen, as expected. He has to lay down and can only be elevated up to 15 degrees because they don’t want any pressure affecting the area of his brain where surgery was done. That part alone, is starting to drive him a little bonkers. Understandably.
• We hope today they pull the lumbar drain out of his spine. From there we’ll be able to see how well his body does adjusting. The hope is he’ll be fine and won’t have any side effects; they’re really testing to see if he gets any sudden spinal headaches.
• Please pray for patience. As well as things are going, it’s always difficult to watch the person you love be in any sort of discomfort.
• I’m praying for a sweet reunion between Cartie & Will. I know they miss each other greatly. (balancing time between my son & my husband has given me a highly compassionate understanding into the life of single moms. And I’ve just barely gotten a taste of it!)

I’m telling you people, hang around the ICU enough, and those people start to become like family. Some people have the saddest, heart breaking stories. And others, just need somebody to listen. Which might be one of greatest lessons I’ve learned in the past couple months; to be quick to listen, and slow to give advice.

It is funny too, how each time I walk down a hallway in the hospital, I inevitably run into a staff member we’ve gotten to know. A nurse or doctor or Will’s “lift team.” They all are so quick and eager to ask me how Will’s doing. Maybe it was because he was such an extreme case for quite some time; I’m sure hoping and praying they saw the Lord work a miracle. Not medicine – not doctors – not luck.

William’s condition, update 17

Williams surgery went great!!! What a sweet relief …. How great is our God that He would shower us with the richness of His blessings. We are waiting to see Will as he wakes up and get him transferred to recovery. Let us offer up praises to God for His gift of life to us!

William’s condition, update 16

“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

This verse has been on my heart all morning. Knowing the Lord’s is in this surgery, that He is in full control, and loves us beyond measure is bringing me a great deal of comfort today.

Before we go in this morning, I just wanted to update you: surgery is scheduled to begin at 7:30am and could take up to 4 hours. Let’s be praying that the Lord guides the hands of the surgeons and everything gets “fixed” appropriatley and that there are no side effects or permanent damage done. Will’s brain has become so precious to me!

Lastly, the story of William’s illness & recovery, has become a sermon topic or at least mentioned recently. Remember, it’s not my husband, William the pastors are boasting about. It’s God and how amazing He is. If you have extra time on your hands and want to listen, here are the links:

• This is the link to our Pastor Heath, discussing what he saw God do in the ICU.

http://www.ge.tt/#7Yvyi6y/v

• This is the link to Redemption Church. Click on the sermon titled, Special – The Greatest Feast.

http://redemptionaz.com/sermons-and-media/?p=Pastor Matt Driesbach#top

Will update with good news soon!

Love,

William’s wife

William’s condition, update 15

We have surgery scheduled for June 16. I am praying that William will have no side effects and that the doctors would be able to be completely effective in surgery and this next stage of his healing. As with anything, there is a chance of side effects when you enter surgery. All of which are all a very low percentage; but they’re still there. So, we pray.

All in all, it’ll be two surgeries in one morning for Will. Something called a Septoplasty, which will repair the shape of his nose, and help him breath better. More importantly, his scans showed how crooked the bone structure is so once corrected, it’ll help the doctors get to the leak from his brain. The next surgery is called Endoscopic Sinus Surgery, which is where the ENT & neurosurgeon will begin to repair the hole from his brain leaking through the nose. We were walked through the process, step-by-step, of how surgery will proceed and it is quite amazing!

His doctors are completely confident in the successfulness of surgery and his outcome. But as expected they still speak presenting both sides of positive outcomes and negative.

As for us this week, William is working his tail off to finish up loose ends with work. I am trying to get everything done in the house to be prepared again when coming home. In the mean time, as with anyone who has seen us lately will say, “you look exhausted!” That’s exactly how we feel. Please pray that William gets everything accomplished that needs to be and that we both have some sort of renewed strength and energy come Thursday. This reminds me again of our pastors sermon about pressing into Jesus. I mean, what else do you have left of yourself? For us, it’s not much. So, we cling to our confidence in God’s will for our lives, His love for us, and how we can serve Him through this season.

Love,

William’s wife

 

William’s condition, update 14

I just love it when God answers prayers so efficiently for us. As such, we’ve been praying for direction and wisdom in Will’s treatment. The good news is after the CT scan & lumbar puncture last week, the leak showed up on the test results! (thanks, Lord!) This was, as the doctors were saying, the hardest part of the whole issue and compared finding the leak to sifting through blades of grass. We’re so thankful they found it! So, the next step from here is surgery! Is it totally funny how we’re excited about having surgery?! We’re just so happy for the direction and answer to prayer we’ve been given. And for the upcoming resolution to all of this with the hopes of getting back to our everyday life, soon. Thanks for praying with us and loving our family so dearly.

From Will’s perspective … he’s confident in the direction the Lord is taking us. He’s happy to also have found the problem and upcoming solution to it. Post surgery will mean lots of down time for him, of which, might drive him a little bit crazy. So, please pray!

Love,

William’s wife