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| Many of you have asked that we continue to keep you updated about my brothers condition and his progress during his recovery. First let me say "thank you" for your caring hearts. I plan to tell Mark just how many people have followed him through his illness and recovery...it is astounding. Second, we will make periodic updates on this page so that you can take a quick peek and see how Mark is doing. Words are so inadequate to express the gratitude I have for you....my friends.
Update Wednesday September 1st Hello all. Things have been going okay. Mark is holding his own and I would be comfortable saying that he is about the same. His health is good and his diabetes is well under control. We are scheduled to have his appendix out on September 22. Hopefully, it will be out-patient and we will not be required to stay over night. He has an umbilical hernia as well and they are planning to fix that during this surgery. We have to meet with the anesthesiologist before the surgery, but the pulmonary doctors and his regular medical doctor have all given the okay to proceed. We will keep you posted about the surgery. A couple of nights ago he decided he was going to bed and without any help he made his way from the living room to the kitchen and then he took a spill. Now keep in mind Mark goes no where without one of us supporting him and balancing him....so this little adventure was a solo run. We were all busy doing something in other areas of the house when he made his move and until we heard the crashing of table and chairs we had no idea he was up. We have a goose egg on our forehead, a nasty gash above our eye and two skinned knees to show how successful this solo run was....but thankfully nothing serious. He realizes now that he needs to put a bit more effort into our physical therapy....and that is a good thing!! Thank you for your continued support....we appreciate it soooooo very much!
Update Monday July 5th Mark is continuing with his physical and occupational therapy at a new facility that offers state-of-the-art options. Our good friend Dr. Terry Alvey of Evansville also see's Mark now and believes that a brace for Mark's left leg will help us with walking - we should get that in the next week or so. His spirits are doing okay and we, as anyone, have our good days and not so good days. We are looking forward to getting Mark in our pool for water therapy...as soon as the water warms up....it should be warm enough in August for him to get in! : ) Many thanks from my family for your continued words of encouragement and your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate each one!!
Update Monday May 31st Mark is continuing to give his recovery everything he has. His bout with depression continues to increase as the realization of his setback becomes more obvious to him. We are hopeful that the doctors can help him with this. Healthwise he is doing well. He will have his appendix taken out (remember it ruptured at some point in the hospital) in June. We are maintaining his diabetes and doing the best we can to help him in every way.
He celebrated his 52nd birthday on May 27 - He was happy about the cake!!
We ask you to continue to hold Mark up in your prayers. It means a lot!!
Update Monday May 11th Mark is doing well so far, we did have a little spill on Saturday but he is okay....again thank goodness for that hard Oliver head...haha. We are doing therapy twice a week and trying to work in some other therapy around the house by walking, etc as much as he will. Of course we have a whole list of Dr. appointments scheduled over the next few weeks....but overall I'd say we are doing okay. Thank you for your continued support and prayers, words are so inadequate to express our gratitude.
Update Monday May 3rd Mark was released from the hospital on Wednesday April 28th. So far we are doing pretty well. We will do our continued rehabilitation at the OMHS Healthpark 2 times a week and he will have PT, OT and ST on those visits. We are trying to get a routine down so that we can get everything accomplished that needs to be taken care of. It will take some time and hopefully we will speed up....it's kind of slow going right now as we work out all the kinks. We will continue to update you on Mark's progress and thank you so much for all your calls and cards letting Mark know you are thinking about him. Love you all so much!!!!
Update Tuesday April 27th Sorry we haven't posted anything in a while but in our case...no news is truly good news. Mark has been progressing well in his rehabilitation and this past Sunday he got to come home for a short visit, just to see how things went......because.......they are going to release him from the hospital on Wednesday (tomorrow). That's right....he's coming home after nearly 4 months of being in the hospital. Our home visit was as much for us as him, we needed to do a test run with the walkers, wheel chairs and steps...oh my!! Also, transfers to and from a vehicle, transfers from wheelchair to recliner, etc. It went well. He requested that Mom fix him his favorite meal and he savored every bite!! Please understand that Mark is much better, but he will likely need assistance doing the simplest of things the rest of his life.....but at least he has the opportunity and the ability to try and get better and stronger each day...and that is a true blessing. They estimate that Mark will have to have outpatient rehabilitation for at least 2 years. Our first visit to the Healthpark is 10:30am on Thursday and he will have 1 hour of speech therapy, 1 hour occupational therapy and 1 hour of physical therapy. I think I'll wait and tell him that....later. Funny how things turn out in life...when we are young...we have a plan about how it's suppose to be and then life's twists and turns land us not exactly where we expected to be but maybe where we were meant to be. I am blessed with a loving family and wonderful friends....it's enough to get me through the hard times. I heard a song today by Miley Cyrus that's been out for a bit....she talked about moving mountains and losing sometimes....and that it's not how fast you get there or what's waiting on the other side...it's the climb. So please keep us in your continued prayers as we start yet another climb on this mountain. Thank you for your love and support....it is the reward on the other side!!!
Update Wednesday April 8th Mark is now back in the rehab unit. We were able to go back on April 1st...yes I know...April Fool's but they actually did let him come back!! The blood thinners saved Mark's leg and I think more importantly his life. His leg is almost back to normal...they say there may always be some swelling if he is up on it for a long time...but overall it is good. His kidney function thankfully recovered after the first treatment of dialysis so he will not have to continue with the treatments. Upon his return to rehab they did his evaluations and thankfully he has not lost a lot of what he accomplished before this last setback. They have discovered that his appendix has ruptured at some point in all this trauma but his body has "walled" it off to protect him from the infection. So now he has this pocket of fluid around his appendix and they will treat that with antibiotics and see if they can reduce it rather than remove it. He has shown no normal symptoms of the appendix rupture and that it why it has gone undetected...it was accidentally noticed on a cat-scan of his abdomen. In spite of it, Mark is progressing well with his rehabilitation. We try to go outside and get fresh air as often as possible. They are saying that in about 3 weeks we can seriously consider taking him home!! Mark is ready to get out of the hospital as he is now in his 4th month of being there...keep your fingers crossed for him. This has been a roller coaster ride that changes direction daily and sometimes it is difficult to see how we will survive it....but each day brings new strength and determination to survive...by the Grace of God. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.
Update Wednesday March 23rd At the last family update it was revealed that Mark was doing exceptionally well and it was expected that we might even be coming home this Friday March 26th. Unfortunately we had a setback. Sunday afternoon Mark collapsed in his room and was rushed to ICU. They believe he had a Vegal Response (please forgive the spelling if it is wrong) which causes a persons BP to drop out and HR to slow to the point of passing out. The root cause has now been determined to be a blood clot that was located in Mark's leg. It was discovered about a month ago in Evansville, right before we came home to start rehab. It was not treated with blood thinners because of a misdiagnosis in Louisville while at Kindred. UGH!!!!! The clot was a venous clot and it was large....and blocked the exit of blood from Mark's leg, in turn causing tremendous swelling and pain. We were told it might cause Mark to lose that leg if the obstruction was not dissolved. They began a vigorous treatment with blood thinners with the risk of that causing a bleed in his brain which would result in a massive stroke that would likely take his life. In addition, the trauma of the black out and restricted blood flow has traumatized his kidneys and we are having dialysis now, hopefully this is temporary. We are hopeful that this treatment will help "jumpstart" his kidneys and they will return to full function.
Please keep us in your prayers. It seems with every one step we take forward....we are knocked back two. We seem to have started going in the right direction as of this morning, he is responding well to all the treatments and his neurological responses have not worsened. I do believe that Mark once again may be spared from a bought with illness that could have easily ended his life. I believe that things happen for a reason and I know there is a plan for Mark....something he is suppose to do, somehow what he has been through will make a difference...it will help someone else. We may not know how for a while...but I believe God works that way!! Thank you once again for your love and caring!
Update Tuesday March 16th Mark is working so hard to get better. He has a full day of rehabilitation to help him learn again to walk, talk, eat, dress...basically all the things you and I take for granted....he has to learn all over again. He got a little aggressive the other day and attempted to get back into bed from his chair without any assistance and he proceeded to plant himself face first on the floor. It is encouraging that he wants to try so hard, but we are not there just yet. After a series of tests including a cat-scan...it was determined that he was okay and will have a bump on his head and a headache for a while. Good thing he is an Oliver...hard headed and all...haha...that's not even funny!!!! We met with his rehabilitation team last Monday and they gave us a projection of 4-6 more weeks of intense therapy before Mark can think about coming home. Overall, he is doing well...it is just going to take some time and patience. He does get very depressed as he does not fully understand why he can't do things and we have been somewhat unsuccessful in helping him understand all that he has been through. He acts as if we are telling him a story about someone else, but his full grasp of this will come eventually. Thank you to those of you who have continued to stick with us during Mark's illness. I am so grateful for you and my words in no way could reflect how I feel. Thank you on behalf of Mark and my family for your prayers and your support!
Update Tuesday March 2nd We were recently able to move Mark back to Owensboro Mercy Hospital for long term rehabilitation from Select Hospital in Evansville. They had removed the trach, he had started eating some food (pureed) and drinking some fluids so they stopped his tube feedings. In doing so they also took away his larger intake of fluids and they were not replacing those, mistakenly. On Mark's first day of therapy last Friday, he did well but after walking with the assistance of the aides and the parallel bars, he made it down and back and then blacked out. In the scare, there was some concern that he might have had another stroke but that was not the case as we found out after a two day stay in ICU. He was severely dehydrated and that caused his BP to drop out on him with the physical exertion. After our stay in ICU we moved to a regular room for a couple of days until we could re-enter the rehabilitation program. We moved him to the rehab. unit last night and he has started his therapy program this morning. So far so good! We have a long way to go and likely many weeks of therapy...but we will pray that God continues to bless his recovery. Your cards, prayers and words of encouragement are so wonderful, thank you on behalf of my entire family.
Update Tuesday February 16th The doctors have started Mark on a brain stimulant to try and speed up his awareness and response time to things that he is asked to do. For the most part, he will eventually do what he is asked...there just seems to be a lapse between the request and his ability to process it and when he actually does it. Still has a trach and we are on a small amount of O2. He gets Physical and Occupational therapy each day and we are up to 2.5 hrs in a chair each day.... which usually does him in for the night. The Diabetes, Pneumonia, Sepsis and all those other things that got him here in the first place are all under control. So he is basically dealing with the after effects of his 2 strokes. Thank you again for your love, prayers and support...it is appreciated more than you will ever know.
Update Wednesday February 10th We moved Mark to a rehabilitation facility in Louisville and well that was a complete nightmare so we have now moved him to a wonderful rehab. facility in Evansville, Indiana. The goal now is to get Mark Physical, Occupational and Speech therapy so that he can recover as much as is possible. The illnesses and strokes he suffered have affected his mobility and other areas but he is able to recognize everyone and he communicates with hand signals and lip movements....we have gotten good at lip reading and charades all at the same time! : ) We cannot thank you enough for your concern and caring over these last few weeks. We appreciate each of you and we hope you will continue to remember us in your prayers.
Original Update. I just wanted to take this opportunity to say "Thank You" on behalf of myself and my family for all the outpouring of prayers and loving support that have been bestowed on us as we cope with my brother Mark's recent critical illness. He is still in ICU and will likely be there for sometime, but please know your prayers are working and with God's healing touch we are seeing tiny improvements!
With Love and Appreciation, Susie
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