Dr. Sommers, Mike, sadness

Dr. Sommers

Philippians 3:7-14

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

I forgot to mention in my last post that April 25 marked the one year mark since Mike's accident.  Wow!  What a year. We have lost so much and yet we have seen God's hand and His faithfulness all along the way also. Mike's physical recovery is amazing especially when you recall how many broken bones he suffered. Everyone in the brain injury association keeps reminding  me that the injury is still really new.  Not sure that is a real comfort, and yet it does speak of hope for more recovery. Just feels really slow and long from my standpoint. I absolutely love what a little girl said during the praise and prayer time at church on Sunday. It went something like this: "I went outside and found a warm spot and knew it was God." Isn't that precious? Look for Him. He is always with us. Plain and simple. Focus on Him.

Friday morning Mike called and wanted me to come get him and bring him some things. During my time with the Lord that morning, I had been praying about whether to go to the hospital or not and had a real sense of release from guilt about not going. After Mike's call, I was floundering again, but would remember the peace from earlier. About 1:00pm Dr. Sommers called. He seems very compassionate and knowledgeable. He told me "Don't let Mike pull at your heart strings. He is right where he needs to be. Why don't you take the weekend off and we'll see where we are on Monday." Thank you, Lord. I needed permission to take a few days off.  Dr. Sommers was starting Mike on Zyprexa on Friday. I spoke with a nurse or Mike every day and nothing was really changing. On Sunday afternoon, I did go over to see Mike and he was fairly lucid. We were able to talk and he even remembered that his sister's birthday had just passed. He did keep repeating a story about a lady in the ward who was wailing and crying and her mother came to get her, but he was much clearer than usual.  Of course, he wanted to come home with me and even asked if he called and wailed and cried would I come get him. So he was thinking!

Yesterday, I drove Mom and Dad to Richmond to a doctor's appointment and since it was only about 15 minutes away from Mike, I drove on over to visit. Was not a good morning. He was quite agitated, pacing, repeating, antsy. Dr. Sommers had seen him earlier and increased the dosage on the new medication to see if it would help.

Although I am enjoying the freedom and ability to be productive, my mind is not free. The doctor and a few of the nurses have asked me if I plan to bring Mike home.  Well, yes, but that depends on what can be accomplished during this stay in the hospital. If nothing changes, I don’t see how I can bring him home and continue as before, but what are our options? It is such a sad situation. I hate to see Mike locked up, but what facility is equipped to handle him as he is? Would a residential facility have to give him more drugs in order to contain him? These are very tough things to think about and options to consider.  I’m going to call the social worker tomorrow and see if he has any information or input. I had hoped to speak with the Dr. again today, but was not able to. Please be in prayer that the Lord will show me clearly what path to take. I pray that there would be a breakthrough in his recovery or balancing of medications that would make a huge difference in his cognitive abilities, so I don’t have to consider placing him in a facility. It’s just too sad. 

I Corinthians 12:26 

“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; 

if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”