Monday August 25
25 August 08 - 14:06
While Jim is sleeping - lucky him! - I will take a few minutes to update you.
Jimmy left on Sunday morning. Was it only yesterday? It feels like several days ago. As the time for him to go home approached, I began to get a bit blue & down & began to question if I could really do all this by myself. I must admit I am still asking myself this question.
I believe I have a caregiver, temporary, who will start tomorrow, hopefully. But a caregiver is only here during the day for about 15 to 18 hours a week. The rest of the time I am alone caring for Jim. I know I have friends who will come & help when I call, but I cannot call everytime he needs to turn or be pulled up in the bed or straightened out. These are the things that are so hard for me physically. I am having pretty severe muscle spasms in my back, from using atrophied muscles along my spine that are resisting me. I can hardly get out of bed in the mornings because I am so stiff. I do not intend to sound whiny or complaining, just telling you what the facts are so you can pray with full knowledge.
Jim has been sleeping better, but had a really rough night last night. We have had only snatches of sleep since about 1:30. Jim had a bad dream & did not want to go back to sleep. Even though he sent me back to bed, I could hear him trying to clear his throat & his restlessness. I hate being in a differnt room from him & it seems so far away. But I don't see a way right now for us to be in the same room.
Jim does continue to have times of discouragement. He tries not to ask "why", but it is really hard not to. He prays a lot, I try to read to him, but the hours are long & he is alone alot, too. I remind him it will not always be like this, that as he continues to strengthen & his body continues to adapt to its present state, that we will be able to get out & go places & see people.
We continue to remind ourselves that our hours, even the minutes on earth are determined by the Father & when the accident happened, it was not Jim's time to go Home. How easy that seems to him compared to his life now. He worries about the toll this is taking on me & our future. We will be putting our home on the market when Bill & Amy, our neighbors, friends in Christ & realtors, return home & I will have to look for us a place to live that can accomodate Jim's needs. With the housing market as it is it is not the best time to sell, but we do not want a foreclosure. I will not be able to meet our obligations on my salary alone.
There is a lot to pray for. Jim needs your constant prayer to guard against a deep depression. We need God's wisdom as we make decisions about our future. Jim has many issues related to his spinal cord injury that continue to be possible sources of infection, problems with fevers, chills, etc. He is still not medically stable it seems to me. His diabetes is doing very well, thank God for that! He continues to have a lot of secretions, he has an indwelling catheter in his bladder that is a potential source of infection. Last week he was up in his chair & asked me to check his blood pressure because his vision was "going"; it was 69/34. We got him quickly to bed, head down & feet elevated. It took two hours to slowly come up to 102/68. This was a scary time, trying to decide if I needed to call 911. Jim had refused the TED stockings, saying he had not had any blood pressure problems - the stockings aid in blood return to the heart - but now he says he will not refuse them again. There does not seem to be one area or organ of his body that is not affected by this injury.
If someone wants to do somethng to help, I need some twin sheets I bought at Goodwill stitched together to make draw sheets. No cutting, just straight stitching. I use the draw sheets to turn him. If they are stitched, they will be less likely to wrinkle & a wrinkle is a potential area of chafing or breakdown of his skin.
Jim had not been out of bed since Thursday evening. Due to bowel issues we could not get him up. I really wanted him up today, but can not di it alone. Miles called as he was drivng down Hwy. 60 to see if there was anything I needed help with. He came up & now Jim is in his chair. Praise God for knowing the need & meeting it before I even asked!
Thank you to all of you for being so faithful to pray for us. Our needs continue but we have no fear of tomorrow for we know Who hol;ds tomorrow. God has not forsaken us, has continued to meet our needs. We continue to pray for healing of Jim's spinal cord, that he might at least have use of his arms & hands. Pray with us about this. God is able & there is nothing that is too hard for Him. He who spoke the earth & all there is into existence is able to do anything. We will be persistent in our prayers and ask that you be persistent too. Jim likens himself to the clay in the Potters hands, crushed into dust & being remolded to a vessel that is beautiful & brings honor & glory to God the greatest Potter.
Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter ; And all we are the work of Your hand.
Jer 18:1-4 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying:
2 "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words."
3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter ; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
In Him & His Great Love,
Marilyn
one comment:
Hi You Two, So you are HOME, Yahooo. That is a step in the right direction! I have no surgeries to do tomorrow, Wednesday. I will call you to see if I can help. I have a sewing machine and could bring it to the house for the draw sheets. Or I could go to Goodwill and get more sheets and do it here and then bring them to you. How you fixed for food? I can shop. I can break you, Marilyn if you have an errond. 602-818-4128 is my cell. It is always on.
Your friend, Betsy
Betsy () - 02 09 08 - 20:03
