Becky's Update

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

When I was a child I use to get Memorial Day and Labor Day mixed up. Somewhere along those years I came up with the idea that Memorial Day was the day honoring our school teachers who had died in action in the past school year (since school would be getting out soon) and Labor Day were those teachers going back to work for the new school year. I haven't gotten mixed up for quite some time now! I have grown up and I do know the real meaning of their names, but I still find myself thinking of them in the same way! :-)

I started a Blog for Memorial Day, but didn't get very far. Sorry
I hope you a good weekend. I kept thinking about the long Holiday Weekend Schedule at Campus Towers. I wished I could have been there to do something fun with you to break up that long weekend. For the rest of you, I hope you did something memorable for Memorial Day Weekend!

Wow! It's now 6/6/06! What happen to the days in-between Memorial Day and June 6th?
Let's look back:

May 24, 25, 26 Micah's last stay in the hospital.
The 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6th Micah has been home from the hospital 11 days now! with 2 of those days in the hospital as an out patient. :-)
So... 9 of those days has been hospital free except for blood draws Mon, Wed, & Fri.
Some of those days have been good and some of those days have been not so good. We have to take each of those days on a wait and see basis and cover them in lots of prayer. The good news is that some of those days have also found Micah back at work again! (That also depends on how Micah is feeling on that particular day.) He has worked anywhere from a couple of hours - to one day last week he worked 6 hours! Today may be another one of those longer days... Praise the Lord!

OK, where do we stand now?
Besides taking it one day at a time with Micah... the doctors have determined that after the latest tests, Micah now has to have another Liver Transplant. Tests have determined a blood clot in the main artery shutting off the blood supply to the Liver. There are only a couple of veins now supplying what little blood is getting to the liver, but that is not enough for the Bile ducts to remain healthy. As the bile duct dies it causes infections which has been the reason for Micah's fevers. He is on a mega dose of antibiotics now all the time to control those fevers. It must be working because he hasn't had a fever now for these 11 days. TYL! However, that is only a temporary bandaide fix along with the drains in his liver. So now the doctors are putting the papers together to send to Medicade for their approval for another transplant. Then it goes before the Transplant Board where they determine who is the sickest and a Meld Score is given to the patient. The sicker you are the better the Meld score number. This can take some time unfortunately! When it gets to that point of the process, however, doctors feel they will be able to get a few additional points on Micah's side to warrant a faster Transplant. We will see! Lord Willing, it could happen!
When you are placed on that Transplant List you are given a beeper and we wait for another doner. That in itself is very sad and we don't wish anyone to have to go through that kind of loss but as a donor recipent we find ourselves very thankful for that kind of giving.

SO, between now and then God could still do a miracle! Micah could keep on going as he is today! Livers are one of those amazing organs that regenerate! Could the Liver sprout a new artery now?? Could the holes in his liver repair themselves?? We were told at the last Angiogram that the hole caused by a abscessed Bile duct that has a drain in right now IS SMALLER than it was!! :-) Could it happen?! Nobody knows for sure! Doctors don't think so, but Micah and I want to believe in miracles, and ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD! As Micah says: If HE could make dust from the earth breathe, then He could make a dead artery or a new vein bring more blood to the liver! Nothing is too hard for our God!:-)

It is still amazing to me how strong Micah has been through all this. I wish I could say I have done as well as him. God is so good! On the days I have felt the most discouraged, God has arranged to put me on the thoughts and hearts of my friends and I have received lots of mail with love and encouraging support and reminders of the prayers being prayed daily for us. I appreciate those cards, letters and e-mails so much! It has been such a help!

This past week I also had some aches and pains of my own, unfortunately. I woke up one morning with some very painful muscle spasms in my neck and shoulder... OUCH!!! The pain was bad enough that Micah and I ended up taking a trip back up to Liberty, UT to our old stomping grounds near Camp Utaba! We went to visit our old friend Doc Harper and his wife Gina!

"Doc Bone Cracker" (as he was lovingly called by my hubby, Doug) gave me a re-alignment :-) and he looked at the injury that has been bothering me since I fell in March because of the snow. He did his magic and the painful spasms have let up now, but the neck is still feeling more like a normal stiff neck at this point. I'd rather have a slight stiff neck than the spasms! TYL! Anyway, I had taken a little break from my computer because I wondered if I was causing some of the problems because I was typing for hours on my computer, looking and holding my computer in my lap. If the spasms are back tomorrow after a day of typing on my lap again, I will know what caused it then!

Well, that about catches you up on life as we know it here in Utah. I hope that will give you an up-date and will show you where prayer is still needed!

This morning in my morning devotions I read:
"Hard times can bring the temptation to give up and become negative, depressed, and angry with God. Life can be difficult, but God will always intervene and His help will always arrive on time. Tonight, purpose in your heart to keep pressing on and rest in His presence. God has promised to deliver you before it is too late!"

Well, Right now I am purposing in my heart to keep pressing on! "God is Good all the time... All the time God is Good!"
Until later,
Your Forever Friend,
Becky (mom)