Category: Seth’s updates

About 85 years ago, when the battle of Britain was about to begin, Churchill famously referenced their “Finest hour”. His words have been replayed and quoted many times since.

While contemplating the events of the past 3 months, these words again ring in my ears. In the midst of our own battle, the bond of our family and friends pulled us together in full support of the one in need, Seth. Day & night, we sat by his bed side 24/7 in watch for discomfort, neuro-storms, reading, singing, playing an instrument, or a multitude of other needs.

For my family…This is our finest hour.

What’s more, whether at home, the hospital, or elsewhere, our family & friends turned to prayer and never ceased in praying for Seth. I have no doubt that God has heard the outpouring of prayer and has remembered His child, His servant Seth, and is healing him.

This week is a miracle in itself! Seth’s mind is waking up! He began whispering, even vocalizing with his voice. He can tell us if something hurts, if he needs medicine, or an adjustment with his position in bed, or if he needs ice chips. He is also cleared to eat pudding and apple sauce!

From pictures, he recognizes and names family & friends correctly. He even gave the correct time to a nurse (when asked). Today Darcy and I each told him that I loved him and he responded with “I love you too”! Tonight he asked to listen to Christmas music so we had Christmas in July.

And I know his faith is strong and he relies on God to heal him as he says “Amen” when we pray.

Another big milestone this week is that he had the Baclofen pump implanted today. The pump is about the size of a hockey puck implanted in his abdomen with a catheter inserted between vertebra T3 & T4 and injects a dose of Baclofen throughout the day to relax & loosen atrophied and toned muscles. This will be a game changer for his rehabilitation.

On a more humorous note, he has already asked for his phone.

May God continue to heal him and restore his health.

Psalm 147:3: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

-David

Darcy now has privileges to take Seth to therapy sessions or go out of his room without a nurse or tech coming with us. Now we can spend more time outside in the Colorado fresh air!

After a long 3 day weekend with no classes scheduled, we were ready to get our Monday going…

9 am- PT – Tilt chair to get Seth upright. Unfortunately, his BP was too high so he couldn’t proceed.

10:30am-OT – Hands on learning stretching techniques.

11am- Speech – Worked on a system to answer questions, ie using his eyes or his foot to the left for ‘yes’ or to the right for ‘no’. When shown pictures, he whispered the correct answers, ie, our bunny’s picture, he whispered, Waffle and his uncle’s picture he whispered, Jason. Yay, Seth!

1-3 pm – Rest

3pm – OT – Worked on tracking and decision making. Seth was tired but he gave it a good try.

Communicating with us whether by his faint whispers, moving his leg, or tracking with his eyes are extremely exhaustive for him. Fortitude will be the word of the week for him. It means courage shown by somebody who is suffering great pain or facing great difficulties-that certainly describes him!

One of the occupational therapists who is teaching us some intense stretches to do with him, said that Seth feels like “the world is coming at you.”

And to be honest, the world IS coming at you in ways that will affect your body and soul. I pray you have the fortitude to not only endure it physically but remain rooted in the promises that God offers grace, mercy and a hope that can’t be found in anything else.

Specific prayers:

• Increased awareness for Seth and healing of his body.
• Successful surgery to implant the Intrathecal Baclofen pump on Thursday.
• For Tom who’s got the “world coming at him” with a diagnosis of lung cancer. This Wednesday is testing so please pray for him and his family as they go though this difficult time and face the treatment ahead.

-Darcy

Pix of Seth in Malaysia

God continues to heal and surprise us every day. And no words can describe what a parent feels as they watch their son heal.

Tuesday night, Ben exclaimed, “I think he is trying to say something to me!” Running to his bed side, we listened intently to the movement of the air from from his tongue & lips. He was trying to say something but we couldn’t make out the words.

Wednesday, while in a therapy verbal assessment, Seth whispered his first understandable words in 3 months: “Seth, farm, Yes, No”. These were the answers to the questions being presented. Excitement! to say the least! [Farm came about because the therapist said “Old MacDonald had a ….?” To which Seth said farm. -HC]

Thursday, he took it a step further. In a therapy session, he correctly whispered the number of 4 separate playing cards (2, 8, King, and 7) and whispered the value of a Jack and Ace for the game blackjack (21). Then he went on to play 2 hands of blackjack with the therapist by giving a thumbs up for Hit and a right leg kick for a Stay. (Earlier this week, we discovered he can move his right thumb and his right leg).

Later with another therapist, we asked him yes/no questions and, using a special set of buttons labeled Yes & No, he would respond by pressing the appropriate button with his right big toe. [I think it’s the thousands, if not millions, of triple steps he has done in dance that has helped him gain this control! -HC]

Today (July 4), it is still early and he is asleep. It will be a weekend of healing and rest as most of the therapists have a long weekend due to the holiday.

Many have said that they had nowhere to turn except on their knees in prayer. We, too, join the countless throng of the faithful who have dropped to their knees in prayer, as we too are helpless with no where else to turn. We constantly find ourselves in prayer to God as go forward in this difficult journey.

Cell by cell. Neuron by neuron, piece by piece. God is healing Seth!

2 Kings 20:5b “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you.”

-David Meyer

Today was a much better, restful day for Seth. Hopefully, the switch in meds and meal schedules will continue to help instead of hinder him. I look forward to Monday’s schedule of therapies.

Dave and I attended a caregiver support group. One takeway was that if you’ve seen one brain injury, you’ve seen one brain injury – because everyone is different in their circumstance and in their healing.

It was also commented that having a wonderful support group of family and friends behind him will be a huge part Seth’s recovery. Thank you all for being a support to us whether in prayer, thoughts, words or actions.

Many of you know that Hannah, Ben, and Seth all grew up swing dancing. They starting singing and dancing WWII & Doo Wop era hangar shows in senior centers & veteran’s hospitals with the Arizona Swing Kids and then progressed into social and competitive dance in West Coast Swing. Over the past 15 years, we’ve met so many incredible people through dance, both locally and around the world. Recently, two local dance communities, Greater Phoenix Swing Dance Club (GPSDC) and White Rabbit, hosted fundraisers at their dances to support Seth. It meant so much to see so many familiar faces showing up for him and seeing those that are cheering for him on the road to recovery.

Whether you have known Seth for years, just recently met him, or haven’t met him yet but know of his reputation of respect, kindness, and fun, we are deeply grateful for every single one of you. Thank you for being such a supportive and uplifting community. We’re holding on to hope for the day Seth can dance again. If you have any dance photos of him, please share on our Google Photo Album.

-Darcy & Hannah

No scheduled therapies are planned over the weekend as it’s supposed to be a resting time from all the activities during the week. Seth’s neurostorms seems to be extra active in the mornings around 3-8am. We think that a large part may be some gut issues, so he had some labs (which were ok) and an abdominal x-ray which showed excessive amounts of gas throughout his intestines and we’re sure one source of pain. The doctor changed up his meds to align with a 6 & 8 hour schedule instead of 3 or 4 times a day- which if you think about it, are two different things. In Seth’s situation, 3 or 4 times a day meant pain, HR, BP, etc, medications between 5am-11pm but nothing from 12am to 5am. They will also try and only feed at regular meal times instead of continuous feed from 3pm-9am. Hopefully this will help the pattern of the rough mornings he’s had, which really affects the whole day.

Yesterday in PT, Seth moved his leg on command 10 times! Maybe he knew I wrote a couple days ago about his soccer trip to Colorado. A friend reminded me that even small miracles are big, so this is was awesome to see!

Thank you to those that keep reading our updates and keep praying fervently for Seth. Please pray specifically that the change in his meds schedule help his gut and decrease his neurostorms. Also, please thank God for the opportunity to be here at Craig Hospital for the best possible care.

~Darcy

Seth’s ITB trial was successful, so the surgery to put in a pump that directly injects Baclofin into the spinal fluid will be scheduled in a couple weeks. We hope that he can get in sooner than that. There may some botox and phenol injections down the road too. The OT tried some Electrical Stimulation Therapy on his triceps and forearms to see what kind of muscle reaction there was which was some amount of success. Tomorrow they will show us how to do it, so we can administer it up to 3 times a day.

Two years ago this month, Seth and his friends coincidently did a soccer camp mission trip at a church less than 13 miles from Craig Hospital here. He always talked about how fun that trip was and how much he really liked the state of Colorado. It is yet another reason why this is just the right place he needs to be to help in his healing process. I bet he would be joking right now how some of that Electrical Stimulation Therapy could have made his soccer skills even more goal-orius! 🙂

~Darcy

The Intrathecal Baclofen (ITB) trial is scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday at 8am. The procedure consists of a spinal tap and injection of a small dose of baclofen. Baclofen acts by reducing nerve activity in the spinal cord which causes muscle spasticity. He’s already been given oral Baclofen which seems to have helped the terrible storming a little bit. I read it causes drowsiness which explains why he’s been sleeping a lot. Seth had 2 hours with OT and PT yesterday, mostly to get baselines at where he is now. He was able to sit in a chair for a couple of hours facing a big window in his room. Dave and Ben arrived Sunday. Ben flew home but will come back soon.

Today, we’ve seen the Pulmonologist, his primary doctor, wound care doctor, pharmacist, respiratory, speech, occupational & physical therapists, not to mention our great nurses and techs that are so attentive. He has an awesome team behind him and an awesome God beside and in front of him.

When Dr. came in he asked Seth to give him a thumbs up and he moved his thumb! He also repeated moving it multiple times when asked by the speech therapist. GO SETH!

We know that the Prayers for Seth bracelets have found their way all over the country and the world including London, Germany, Malaysia, and Japan. One of our friends has taken a bracelet with him on the biggest, most technically advanced aircraft carrier in the world heading to the Mediterranean on the USS Ford. That’s pretty cool!

As you pray for Seth’s continued healing and a safe successful procedure on tomorrow, please also pray for Matthew and all those aboard the USS Ford for protection of body and soul.

~Darcy

Today we said goodbye to the nurses and staff at Select & Banner University to head to Craig Hospital. We will forever be thankful for the ER, 4th Floor Trauma ICU, 5th Floor Medical ICU and Select Hospital doctors, nurses and staff that took care of Seth during our time there.

This morning, we prayed over Seth and this next step in his healing process. At 8am, he was transported via ambulance to the airport and along with 2 pilots, 3 medics and Darcy, to take a Med Air Lear Jet to Denver, which was 1hr 45 min flight. Our family was there to send us off. I’m sure Seth will use this opportunity to brag to his friends and siblings that he rode in a private plane. Seth had some BP issues on the plane which were helped by some meds. We arrived to be transported another 30 minutes via ambulance to Craig. Right away, I could tell this is a wonderful, hopeful place and I am so glad he’s here.

For now, I wanted to update you all that we made it. Today marks 11 weeks since the accident but as a friend mentioned, we will look at it like it’s Day 1 again! Please keep praying fervently for Seth. Tomorrow is a busy day with labs and scans and plans.

Outside in their garden they have a rock with the inscription, “While the path ahead may be rough, we thank God for giving us a path.” (John Johns, a Craig grad). I love that.

-Darcy

Seth will be leaving tomorrow for Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado. He will be admitted into their LTAC (Long Term Acute Care) which we pray leads into their Disorder of Consciousness program. Craig is a world renowned hospital that specializes in neurorehabilitation and research for those with brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. We pray their expertise will help Seth recover faster. Darcy will go with Seth on a special medical charter flight. Dave will either drive or fly up a day or two after and Ben will follow in a week or two.

Please pray for safe travels and for Seth’s healing in this new facility. We know God is with us wherever we go.

We love you all!

-Darcy