Future Farmers

These pictures are from September, but I am really behind in my normal blog posts. Every fall when my Dad starts combining the boys like to go out and ride in the combines and in the big grain cart. Davis could ride for hours, Marcus not so much. Davis says that he likes to ride in the Grain Cart better because the guy who drives it goes faster, and he lets him drive the tractor. This year when we went out they were combining south of Kimball by the river. We went out on a very beautiful day. It was so cool to see the combines right in front of the mountains.

While the boys were having their rides, my Dad took me down by the river to look for bears. Luckily we didn't see any because it was too hot that day. Dad was disappointed, but I was only slightly disappointed. He kept telling me that where we were that day is his favorite spots to combine. He also told me that he loves how pretty the land is around the river. I had to agree. I really did grow up in a beautiful part of the country.

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

This is Drew.

This is the first time I have had a chance to look at this blog and I am blown away by your support.

As Marty mentioned we are now home and I am slowly on the mend. Unfortunately it will be weeks before I get back to "normal", but I am so happy to be back with my family. I had not seen my boys for about 3 weeks so yesterday was a very emotional one. I am still in a fair bit of pain and hence must keep myself drugged up. I get tired just walking around the house and am already feeling guilty for my inability to help out (I cannot pick up my kids, drive, or do much of anything). But I am working at it and hope to improve quickly.

I am feeling a little self conscious right now as I have lost over 15 pounds over the past 3 weeks, and as you know I really did not have 15 pounds to lose. When I look at myself in the mirror I hardly recognize myself.

I would just like to take a minute to express my infinite gratitude for all those who have helped me over the past 3 weeks:

(1) My dear wife. Marty was by my side nearly every second, and I know I would not have made it without her. She continues to be a great help to her "invalid" husband. I am blown away by her strength.

(2) My parents. They basically put their lives on hold to be by my side in the hospital. And I am confident they often felt the same pain and anguish I did.

(3) Marty's parents. Delton & Brenda watched our boys while we were in Calgary. I cannot express how grateful I am for their help and support.

(4) All of the rest of my family for their support and help. They have done so much to help Marty and I keep our home and life on track. There are truly too many of you to list.

(5) All those who included me in their prayer and fasting. In the hospital I often felt guilty as I was feeling sorry for myself when there are so many others who have been (and are enduring) so much worse then me. But as never having dealt with something like this it felt pretty hard at the time, and I am confident that it was your faith, prayers & fasting that got me through.

(6) My fellow teachers at Lethbridge College. This came up so suddenly I was forced to desert my classes basically overnight. I am incredibly grateful for those teachers who covered (and continue to cover) my classes. This was such a huge weight off of me.

(7) All those who have brought my family meals. It may seem like a small thing but it just one less thing to worry about.

There are so many others I could thank but I think you know who you are and I will leave it there, and just say again thank you and I love you! I pray that I will have the opportunity to pay all of you back in some small way someday.

Friday November 13

The best sentence ever...We're home.

Thursday November 12

We had lots of good things happen again today. Drew got his final chest tube out (YAY), and he got his IV pole taken away. It is a lot easier to go for walks without having to unplug a million things and not have to lug around a that ridiculous pole. They also started giving his antibiotics and pain meds orally. So that means we are a few steps closer to going home. At lunch time, Drew was so sick of being in his room and eating hospital food that he had ate take-out in the cafeteria. He also is eating my dinner left-overs. The crap part of our day was that he got moved to the over-flow room. They said he isn't sick enough to be in a real room. That last bit is good, but the over-flow room is incredibly crappy. Hopefully, it is just for a day or two.

Tuesday November 11

Happy Remembrance Day. Drew's roomate LeRoy is a vetran from World War 2, and he had his picture in the Calgary Sun today from when he was in the army. So of course he had to show us and the nurses, and I told him what a handsome 16 year old he was. Drew made some more progress. He got his second chest tube out, all 33 of his staples out, and he hasn't used any oxygen since yesterday. So, I really hope that he continues on the right path. We went for a really long walk today. We went down the elevator and to the cafeteria and around his unit twice. At the time, he had tons of energy and wanted to keep going, but by the time we got back he was pretty wiped. So, tomorrow's plan is to take out the last chest tube, and after that take him off the PCA, and onto oral meds. I can't wait to go home.

Tuesday November 10

We keep seeing a bit more progress every day, and it is wonderful!! Today Drew got one of his chest tubes out, was on oxygen just in the morning (I kept checking his levels and they were great, just to make sure (mine were 98, I had to check mine too)). We also went for a ton of walks today. We even ventured out with Drew in a wheelchair to another floor. It was a bit of a gong show, but he was so happy to get out of his unit. One of the great parts of my day was that my friends Erin and Shay came and took me out for a really, really yummy lunch at some swanky restaurant. Drew's surgen, Dr. McFadden said that they are going to pull a tube every day, then take him off the PCA, and give him meds orally. If all that goes well, he could be home by early next week. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed, and praying really hard.

Monday November 9

I thought that I would give an update on how we are doing in the big city of Calgary. Let me just say that our GPS is my new best friend, and I will never go anywhere without it. Drew had a good day today. He had an x-ray this morning, which the doctors were happy about the way it looked. The chest tubes are in the right place and they are doing what they are supossed to be doing. The suction on them was also reduced to just when he is in bed. The next phase is to reduce them to gravity, and then to no chest tubes, which may happen as early as tomorrow. Drew and I also went for some good walks around the halls. We had a really long one in the morning, and then our afternoon one was without oxygen. It tired him out, but he worked so hard. I was so proud. Also, his oxygen is down to 1 L, only when he needs it. He has been working really hard at doing all the things the doctors ask, at his breathing and bed exercises. As for me, I am so glad that he is out of isolation. I spent the day hooking and un-hooking him up, reading, and watching "Heroes" on Drew's IPod. Drew is a little bit frustrated with how slow his recovery is, but he really is making huge progress. I want to especially thank Bart and Lindsey Jensen for so graciously opening up their home to me. Also, thank you so much Nikki for taking me out for dinner last night. It was so good to see you!!

Update Monday Nov. 9

Things are continuing to move in the right direction. They took X-Rays this morning and the doctor said they looked good! He is down to 1 liter of oxygen and he only uses it when he feels it's necessary. He is now able to get up and walk a little bit They are decreasing his pain meds, which he is a little nervous about. By decreasing his pain meds this should help improve his breathing and increase his appetite and energy level. We are praying that we will continue to have good news to report! Thank you all for your prayers!

Saturday November 7

Today was a fairly good day. Drew's oxygen is down to 1.5 L, and he had it off for a bit, he walked down the hall, his pain meds are reduced, and he got his pee tube taken out. Plus, he had lots of visitors to keep him company (Mandy, Robyn, Nicki, Grandma Wolsey and Brett Barfuss). His sisters were nice enough to take me to the mall for a bit of a break, and I am home for the night to get my car and to see my boys for a few hours. Drew is starting to get better, but he is frustrated that it is such a slow process, and that the nurses on his floor aren't quite as wonderful as the ICU nurses. The doctors are saying that he might be able to come home (home and not back to the Lethbridge Hospital) in a week, and off isolation on Monday. I can't wait.

Updated as of Nov 6th 12:00pm

Hello, I talked to mom today and she said that Drew will be moving to a surgical floor where the surgeon who preformed his surgery will be looking after him. He is now on 3liters of oxygen which is down from the 6-7 liters he was on before. The pain pump will be moving with him. Drew is still in isolation for the time being. He still has the 3 chest tubes in that where put in during the surgery. They are still monitoring for infection. He is on some pretty heavy duty anti biotic right now, so they are hoping that will combat any possible infections.

Thursday Night

Hello Everyone, this is Marty. I just want to start off by thanking everyone for everything. I really do appreciate all the comments that you have left, all the prayers, all the...there are too many things to manage. Especially, thanks to Drew's sisters for keeping you all updated. As of tonight, Drew is doing well. He was able to get the ventilator taken out this afternoon, and he is loving not having it in. He was quite frustrated not being able to communicate with us. Our incredible nurse, Sandy, said that because he doesn't smoke (yes Chris, this is a hint) and he is very active, it was able to come out so soon. They also gave him a pain pump to better manage his pain. He is no longer feeling any pain from his lungs, but just his incision, which is massive. He just needs to remember to practice deep breathing. He has even moved his oxygen level down from a 6 to a 3 (since I am not a medical person at all, not entirely sure what that means, but whatever). The doctors even think that he might be out of ICU by tomorrow, and out of isolation by the weekend, so we are hoping he keeps up the good work. Once, again. We can not thank everyone enough for all the prayers and well wishes. I know that I sometimes live in a bubble, and take for granted all the wonderful people that I have in my life. This has been a life changing experience for us.

Update as of Nov 5 th 5:00 pm

We got a call from mom saying that the breathing tube is now out and they have set Drew up with a pain pump to help manage his pain. Other than that we are still going on no new is good news.

updated as of 1:00pm Nov, 5, 2009

Hello everyone, I just talked to my mom a few minutes ago and she says Drew is awake and aware for the most part. They have him on some pretty heavy pain meds right now so they are trying to keep him awake as much as possible. The breathing tube is still in but they hope to be taking it out this afternoon. They only had to put it in for the surgery so they are thinking he will manage OK without it. The Doctors expect him to be in a significant amount of pain due to the long surgery and are planning to try some different pain medications after the breathing tube comes out. During the surgery they where able to clear out the left lung of any fluid and blood and where also able to inflate it, so now it will be up to Drew to start breathing with it now. The Doctor are now just monitoring him closely for infections that could come about due to the surgery. Drew has a full time nurse monitoring him at all times and seems like he is in really good hands there in Calgary. We are all trying to be optimistic at this point and the more time that goes by without incident the better. We will update again when there is more news.

update nov 5 9:00am

We just talked to mum and she just called up to the hospital and they said that Drew had a good night. He is still intubated(not sure if that's how it's spelled) but they will hopefully be removing the breathing tube sometime today after doing some tests. They will continue to carefully monitor him as he still isn't out of the woods yet but we are feeling very optimistic that the surgery went so well and that he has been stable throughout the night.

update as of 11:45pm Nov. 4, 2009

Well we just got news that Drew is now out of surgery and it went well. The doctor is saying he is optimistic because Drew did so well during the surgery. He will be monitored closely over the next 12 to 24 hours to make sure he is recovering from this part of his ailment properly. There will be more in depth to follow, but we figured we should let people know this for now anyways! He still has a long road ahead of him, but this is a good step, thanks for keeping him in your prayers!

After reading some of the comments on facebook it seems that some people are unsure about what got Drew to this point. Just to clear it up. Drew was admitted to the hospital last Wednesday with pneumonia as a result of having H1N1. The pneumonia has continued to worsen and they have been trying for a week now to figure out how to help him. That is of course the condensed version.

updated as of 7:15pm

We just got a call and Drew is now getting prepped for surgery. We will keep updating as we hear how the surgery it going.

update as of 6:40pm Nov 4, 2009

Hey... Just wanted to give the latest update on Drew, He arrived safely in Calgary via STARS and is situated at the Foothills. His surgeon met with him, Marty and all and explained the procedures that would be taken in his surgery as well as the risks involved, he said normally this type of surgery is around an hour to an hour and a half, but could take as long as 4 hours depending on what they find. The main focus of the surgery will be to remove as much of the blood around the lung as possible, as well as looking for any other complications that may have arose from the previous nick etc. The Surgery is supposed to be taking place tonight by 8:00pm. We will update as soon as he goes into surgery as well as after he is out!

Updates on Drew

For those of you that don't know, Drew was taken by STARS to Calgary Foothills Hospital today. Marty has gone there with Drew's parents and it may be difficult to get a hold of her. So, we will be updating her blog for her with any news on Drew.

So as of today this is where he is at...

Yesterday they attempted to put in a second chest tube to drain a pocket of fluid that the first chest tube could not get. During the procedure they nicked something which caused bleeding into the lung. He was then moved into the ICU and was stabilized. They thought the nick would most likely heal itself and there main priority was to keep him stable through out the night. They took him in for another CT Scan this morning and discovered a large pool of blood around his left lung and the lung had collapsed. The doctors decided to send him to Foothills to have surgery. Dr. McFadden a Thoracic surgeon who is supposed to be the best in the province will be performing the surgery. This is supposed to be a fairly simple surgery, but given Drew's current state it is quite risky to put him under. He was airlifted around 1:00 today, and we are still waiting to here when he will go in for surgery.

We will continue to update the blog as things change in an effort to help relieve Marty from all the phone calls. She is very appreciative of all the support she has received thus far and welcomes you to leave your comments and encouraging words for Drew.

Thank you so much for all the prayers and keep them coming!