Paul's Update - 12/16/05

Dear Friends:

We continue to wait for Paul to recover from his most recent surgery & the insertion of the umbrella device to catch any possible blood clots. He was sleeping most of the day and didn't respond much except to pain. This weekend could prove to be an opportunity for him to recover without any interruptions for procedures. We hope to see improvement by Monday when the social worker is coming to evaluate whether Paul is ready to go to rehab or if he will need to be in a nursing home until he is ready for rehab. We certainly hope to be able to go to rehab!! Today is the completion of six weeks in the hospital. We are most certainly glad that Paul has made as much progress as he has. Please continue your prayer...it works! Please also keep the family in prayer as our nerves are frayed and we are frustrated easily. Many folks have asked if there is a way to make donations to Paul & Tabby to help with expenses. Our church has a fund that you can donate to if you wish. You can mail a check to:

St. Mark's United Methodist Church
7803 Well St.
Manassas, VA 20111

Mark the memo section "Paul Johnson". All donations will go 100% to Paul & Tabitha. Thanks for your concern! Have a great weekend!

Love, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 12/15/05

Dear Friends:

Paul was pretty quiet most of the day today. As I've said before, surgery takes a lot out of him. He seemed to be in a bit of pain so the nurse gave him some low doses of a Tylenol & oxycodone combination. That seems to help more than the morphine they were giving him last time. His trauma doctor came in today along with the nurse practitioner from the IMC unit. They seemed encouraged by Paul's progress to the point that they are talking about preparing him to go to Mount Vernon Rehab. It will be a few days before they actually do that but it is encouraging for us. Dr. Russo, who is the lead resident, also talked about the Coma Intervention program at Mount Vernon to encourage Paul's waking. Today they also inserted a device to help catch any blood clots that might form due to Paul's inactivity. That probably caused him to be even more uncomfortable than he was already! This device will be temporary until Paul is able to move around more. Tonight after he came back from the procedure, he had a new "roomie". I guess this other patient must have a staff infection as well. We don't know anything about him yet. It is very different for us since Paul has been in isolation since he came to the hospital. As of today, Paul is the last of original head trauma patients that we've been with since this ordeal started that hasn't gone to Rehab. Tommy went today...praise God! That makes five of them that have recovered enough to move on. It is amazing to see these recoveries. God is sooo good! Have a great day!!

Love, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 12/14/05

Dear Friends:

Today was a pretty quiet day. We never saw the therapist today but Paul continues to improve slowly. He is starting to respond a little quicker when you ask him to squeeze your hand. He is also practicing to be able to open his hand on command. Now that Paul is in the intermediate care unit we are able to stay with him for longer times in the day. Dad & Tabby work with him regularly. Tabby & Bobby brought movies for Paul's portable DVD player so he can have shows running that he would enjoy. Wednesday will be another surgery day. The neurosurgeon will be putting back his bone flap. It will be late in the day. We pray that this will encourage more healing. Surgery is tough for Paul so we pray that he will not have many adverse effects from it. Our God has been so good and has protected Paul throughout this process. We are also grateful for you.....our friends & family that have prayed and stood waiting with us. I can't imagine how some people go through tough times without the support of people they love. Thank you....we LOVE you!

Blessings, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 12/13/05

Dear Friends:

Each day God gives us new hope. Today was Paul's first day in the intermediate care unit. He was visited by two physical therapists. He was able to open his eyes, squeeze his hand, do a "thumbs up", point two fingers, and respond to his name by looking toward the sound of a voice. These are things that we as a family as already experienced but it is nice to have a "professional" see it!! The therapist said she will attempt to have Paul sitting up in bed sometime this week!! Tonight he was watching a 30 minute TV show, To Catch a Thief, and kept his eyes open through the whole thing. The neurosurgeon is planning to replace his bone flap (the skull piece) either Wednesday or Friday. This requires another surgery so keep that in prayer as that usually sets Paul back a day or two. I would ask that you also keep a special family from ICU in prayer today. A man in his 40's who was riding a bicycle home from work was hit by a car about a week ago. He had massive head injuries and today his family was told that he was brain dead. Before the family could get together to decide what they should do his heart stopped and he died. Please keep Andre's family in your prayers. What a difficult time for them!

Love, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 12/12/05

Dear Friends:

Today was a quiet day for the most part. Paul had been pretty active yesterday and I think he was exhausted today. We saw both eyes open yesterday and he appeared to look at us when we entered the room. It was so exciting to see him be so responsive. Today he was more quiet and didn't seem to respond much. However, the good news today was that the doctors & staff in the trauma unit decided Paul was stable and doing well enough to move him to the Intermediate Care Unit. He is now on the third floor. He still has a private room since they don't have another patient with staff infection to be with him. It is brighter up there and now he will start having more therapy each day. I hope this will encourage his improvement more. Keep praying....we hope he will be awake for Christmas!! Have a great day!

Love, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 12/09/05

Dear Friends:

Today was a pretty good day. Paul was moving more today. Dad & Tabby were able to get him to move two fingers. When we went in tonight his left eye was open a little and it looked like he was watching the TV that was playing. His nurse had him propped with a pillow onto his right side and he was moving his left leg quite a bit. That is the leg with the cast so it seems amazing that he is able to move it so much. It is very hard to tell if he is indeed aware of us or the things around him but we are encouraged by the things we see each day. The CT scan that was done today showed the neurosurgeon that the shunt appears to be working OK. There is still a bit of swelling in the neck area but it looks better today. Tabby has started going back to work as of yesterday. She is working 7am-2pm, and then goes to the hospital to spend the rest of the evening with Paul. She seems to be OK with this new situation. She really hasn't been away from the hospital much since the accident. Today is the completion of the 5th week. It seems like only yesterday and yet a lifetime ago, but God has been gracious to us and we praise Him for the healing Paul has had.

God Bless, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 12/08/05

Dear Friends:

I must apologize for yesterday. It appears I wrote my email and forgot to include my distribution list so it didn't get to you. :-( So I will try to catch you up. Tuesday the nurse removed the stitches in Paul's foot from the reconstructive surgery that was done on his instep. Now he has a hard cast on his left leg. Wednesday he was feeling a bit better by late in the day. Today was a pretty quiet day. He seems to know when Dad or Tabby are in the room and he looks like he is trying to respond. He lifts his head off the bed or squeezes our hands. Dad has been trying to get him to point two fingers...he can do one finger but the second only quivers. This takes several minutes to complete. I'm not completely sure it IS a response but we are hopeful. A CT scan was done today to determine if the new shunt (2nd) is working properly. There seems to be a lot of swelling in the neck area and the doctor is concerned that the fluid is leaking into the neck instead of draining to the stomach. Ughhhh, this could mean another surgery. Another CT will be done tomorrow. Please pray for the wisdom of the doctors who will read the test results. I cannot imagine Paul enduring another surgery.

We continue to pray that God will heal Paul quickly.

Love, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 12/06/05

Dear Friends:

Today was a better day. Although Paul had to endure yet another surgery. It appears that the shunt that was installed last week malfunctioned so the doctor had to replace it with a new one today. Surgery always sets Paul back about a day or two in his recovery. His BP & heart rate were up tonight when we were in to see him. The nurse was giving him ½ doses of morphine to take away some of his pain. Yesterday was such an emotional day but today we all seemed better and more focused. We certainly see many things that indicate that Paul is close to waking up and we are holding on to that hope. Thanks for your love & prayers!

Love, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 12/05/05

Dear Friends:

Today was a little difficult. The doctor talked to Tabby today and his evaluation is that Paul is still severely comatose with little movement. Of course, we see things that the doctor is not seeing in the five minutes each day that he is there. We are trying to stay hopeful but the doctor always makes that difficult. Paul's progress is very slow and I suspect it is going to continue to be that way for a very long time. Our future seems so uncertain. I know God is holding Paul in his hands and I try to believe that his sleeping is only allowing him to heal better. Please continue your prayer for Paul but also keep our family in prayer as we face difficult emotional days. I gleaned a portion of an email that I received from a family that is going through a similar trial. In this email Ben (the husband) was grieving for his wife, Gerlinde who was in a coma at the time. He was attempting to make some sense out of all that he'd been through. His faith in God has gotten him through a lot of trials. During all of his wife's recovery (now about 7 months) he has remained faithful to the belief that God is with him and his wife. He wrote:

In simple terms, we know:
1) God is holy and perfect. Therefore, nothing evil can come from God.
2) God has allowed Satan and evil to continue on this earth for a time.
3) God alone can take evil and/or tragedy and turn it into good. What is the good here? It may be too soon to tell. The story is not yet over, thanks be to God.

I feel very much the same. Thanks for standing with us through this difficult time. We love you so much.