Update on Rachel

Early this morning they started rewarming Rachel. They had cooled her down to 86 degrees to help prevent any further brain damage, and had her on sedatives and drugs to paralyze her to prevent her from shivering and warming herself back up. They rewarmed her starting at about 2 AM, and then weaned her off her sedatives and paralysis medications, and she woke up. She was definitely responsive, and was trying to talk to Anthony. When he told her that she was in the hospital, that she was ok, that the kids were ok, she calmed down. She was able to move all of her limbs on command, and Anthony said she was almost trying to climb out of the bed.

This is AWESOME and AMAZING!!!! Simply to have her so responsive is so incredibly exciting.

She is still on the ventilator, because she aspirated vomit in the ambulance, which has caused some lung issues and caused pulmonary edema. So until that is resolved, she will stay on the ventilator. That is the main reason that she is still sedated. They resedated her after they woke her up, and then had to switch her to a stronger sedative, when she kept waking up. The one that she is one will definitely keep her "out" until morning, when they will do another "wake-up" trial. The doctors were very encouraged by her responsiveness.

Pray for resolution of the swelling in her lungs. Pray that they can wean her off the ventilator faster than expected. She has also started to run a fever, and they have started her on antibiotics, so pray for that. Rachel is also 8 weeks pregnant. Pray for the protection of the baby also. Some of the effects of her treatments are unknown on unborn children. Their other children are having a great time at their Grandmother's, so pray for strength for all the adults, especially Anthony, as he goes back and forth and deals with emotional and physical exhaustion.

God has shown a lot of provision already in this situation. Things like - a nurse that usually leaves early from their small group had decided to stay longer. Fifteen minutes later, Rachel collapsed. The small group they were in usually never has videos for the kids, but they had decided to put a video on for them, and all of the children had left the room about 2 minutes before Rachel passed out. The EMT's had a very fast response time. Things like that just make everyone so thankful.

There are a lot of people praying for her. Please don't stop. The doctor's have been surprised - let's have them shocked. :)

Praise God for the responsiveness they saw today. Praise God.

Please pray for my cousin's wife Rachel. She collapsed this evening and had stopped breathing and had no pulse. She is now being flown to UVA. She and her husband Anthony have 4 children, the oldest is 7 and the youngest is 2.

Dude.

Dude.

Phone rings. Showing scheduled for tommorrow, she says. Rejoice rejoice!!! First showing in months.

Whirlwind of cleaning as children whine. Every surface gleams; polished, dusted, vacuumed and Windexed. Holiday scents waft gently through the air from glowing candles. Christmas music plays softly. All stray children's items are tucked neatly out of sight in the basement. Lights burn everywhere, lighting up every corner of the house. Candles shine from the windows, warmth on a dreary day. This, my friends, is a house you want to come home to.

Phone rings. Lady's sick. Will reschedule.

Awww, stink.

Surfaces pulse eagerly, waiting to be smeared with dirty fingers. The floor beneath the couch begs for some fresh crumbs. The kitchen floor waits with anticipation for smudged banana and flour. The bathroom asks to be messed. Toys are ready to leap from their containers and spread themselves over the floor.

All right before the next showing.

Dude.

Sniff

Since I have had kids, I have turned into a sentimental sucker. I tear up with every On Star commercial I hear, with any life insurance commercial on TV, or even the occasional JC Penney's ad. The other week, the tears were welling as Oprah announced to Macon, Georgia that they were the surprise recipients of her "Favorites" show.

Sheesh.

It's just that there was the cheering and the snow falling from the ceiling and the Christmas music playing and all the Fed-Ex people running around...it was just a bit too much to handle. And the free refrigerator with the TV on it and the digital video camera....and the $350 Target giftcard....I'm sure you can understand. And the paninis and the sorbet...

Maybe you had to have been there.

Today in the WalMart parking lot as I was waiting for Gabe to finish smearing his A&W ice cream cone all over his jacket, there comes Josh Groban on the radio warbling "I'll Be Home For Christmas", and then they go and interject the song with voice clips of soldiers in Iraq giving messages to their families back home. People, now. And then there was the mom talking to her 4 year old daughter Madison about how she was going to miss seeing her open her presents at the Christmas tree and how much she loved her.... Oh dear.

I walked into WalMart with a pink nose and red eyes. Mommy Rudolph.

Snip snip snip

Yesterday I went and had about a foot or so of hair hacked off. Beam. It was great fun. I likey. I was SOOOO sick of my boring-boring-boring-drab-brown- baby-bangs-always-back-in-a- ponytail-holder hair. I actually hadn't intended to get quite that much off, but I am really happy with the results.
(if you are bored by hair talk, leave here)

She also put in highlights on top that were several shades lighter than my haircolor. She said with my haircolor, I don't need bleach; it will just make my hair orange. It looks so natural and just like what I wanted. Sigh of bliss.

I had a great time. It always makes me feel so relaxed to get my hair done. I got a nice scalp massage and everything. Second sigh of bliss.

This was the first place that I have ever been in Kentucky that actually did not do something absurd with my hair when they were done such as: (oh, yes) tease my hair with a brush (??!!), brush my hair out with with bristle brush (a no no for my hair), or blow dry it into some strange looking helmet. People, it's not that hard. Goodness. Scrunch a little stuff in there and let 'er go. I have just always let them "do their thing" out of sheer curiousity and bemusement. And now I'm moving. Sniff. Single tear.

Tim looked very startled when I walked in. Heh heh. He says that he misses the length, but he thinks it fits me. It does. Third sigh of bliss.

Anyone who tries to tell you good hair can't make your day is oh so deluded.