ACTS

Have you ever felt like your prayers weren't "good" enough? Here are some helpful acronym ACTS, which helps guide us in our prayers:
A
Adoration
Praise and worship of God for who he is.
C
Confession
Confessing our sins and receiving his forgiveness.
T
Thanksgiving
Giving thanks for all God's blessings and answers to our prayers.
S
Supplication
Asking God for specific things. Petition is another word for this. When you ask God to meet someone else's needs, it is called intercession, the act of interceding.

Is the Lord's Prayer really a prayer? It has been said that it is a "sample" to help guide our way of praying? What do you think?

Birthday bash

My "little" Buddy Love is turning 18 on Saturday. His birthday bash will include supper of hot dogs, macaroni salad, chips, dip, fruit and cake. Everyone who has been praying and/or thinking of him in the past couple of weeks is invited to his party. Call me and I will give you the directions.

Good news!

Bryan's chest xray is better today than yesterday. His white blood count is down to 14,000. Heart rate and temp are back to normal. Blood pressure is still a little low. The best news I have heard in almost 2 weeks came today! Bryan is home! He has some appointments next week for some further testing. The type of pneumonia he had was very serious and usually only older people have that type. Thank you to everyone for your support, prayers, food, and monetary donations. We would not have made it through this ordeal without God's grace and the outpouring of love from you guys.

On the mend...maybe?

Bryan is slowly progressing. His white blood count is 16,000. He says he is feeling pretty good. His liver and kidney levels are starting to decrease a little. He is starting to eat and drink a little more this evening. Physical therapy came today. They say Bryan might have to have a couple of weeks of therapy once he gets home. They have not said a possible day to go home yet. Thanks again for keeping him in your prayers.

Moving Day

Bryan is out of icu. He has been moved to Brenner's. He is doing really good. He had a few visitors that he really enjoyed today. Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers and support! We have had a lot of answered prayers in the last few days.

Day 10

Bryan's breathing tube has been taken out! His oxygen is staying in the high 90s again. He is doing a wonderful job. He will have to stay in ICU for at least 24 hours so they can make sure everything is ok. Right now, he can only whisper. The nurse says his voice should come back in a couple of hours. He is already asking for a green popsicle! Watch out, guys, he has his phone back. I am sure he will be texting in a few days

Day 9

Bryan is now up to 7 on the sedation medicine. And he STILL wakes up. They have started him on Benadryl because he has developed a yeast infection covering almost his whole body. They are put a cream on it and started him on a medicine in his feeding tube to treat this new infection. He failed the breathing test this morning. His heartrate is good. His left lung looks a little worse than yesterday. Keep praying please!

Day 8

Bryan has had a pretty good day today. He has had a few friends to visit. They are trying to keep him asleep as long as the breathing tube is in. The nurses are having a hard time keeping him sedated, however. They have increased the sedation meds twice today. And he still wakes up! Talk about a hard headed person. We saw his chest xrays from this morning. The right lung is looking better than the left one. His white blood count is up from 16,000 to 18,000. This means there is still a lot of infection in his body, but he is trying his best to beat it. Bryan's temperature is still spiking every so often. When it does they are giving him tylenol through his feeding tube to bring it back down. His heart rate is in the 80 to 90 range. His blood pressure depends on how much sedation he has had. The more sedation, the lower the blood pressure.

Day 7

Swine flu test came back negative today! Please continue to keep Bryan in your prayers.

Day 6

Thursday, August 6, 2009 9:51 PM, CDT
Just wanted to stop some rumors that are flying around right now about Bryan. It has been said that he is on life support and needs a heart transplant. Neither one of these rumors are true.

The docs here DO know:
1)Bryan has pnuemonia
2) Bryan has pulmonary edema
3) Bryan has an infection in his heart and blood

The doctors DO NOT know:
What caused the infection and how it made him so sick so fast
How long Bryan will be on the vent
How long Bryan will be in the hospital

The doctors are performing tests every day, including blood tests, ct scans, and chest xrays. Everything that can be done, is being done. Many tests have been performed. The doctors and nurses are taking very good care of him.On the funny side of things, here is something that might bring a smile to your face. If you know Bryan any at all, you know he is short and stocky, but also very strong. The nurses are just now realizing this. Today he pulled his breathing tube out. The nurse had to have extra help to calm him back down and get the tube back in place. Everything is ok. Another xray was taken to make sure no damage was done. I tried to warn the nurses of his easy gag reflex and his strength. I guess they believe me now! We just want to say thanks to everyone who has visited with us, called, and prayed for Bryan and our family. You guys mean everything to us and we are thankful to have you as great friends. As we pray for Bryan tonight, we will also be thanking God for all of you and your support!

ICU Day 5

A specialist came in and talked with us last night. Buddy has a severe case of pnuemonia, pulmonary edema, and an infection in his heart. He will stay on the vent for a long time. They are going to keep him on it until all of the fluids are gone and the scar tissue in the lungs has healed. Please keep praying! Tests and blood cultures have been sent to state labs to try to find out what can of infection is in his body. Please pray!

Update:The docs here DO know:
1)Bryan has pnuemonia
2) Bryan has pulmonary edema
3) Bryan has an infection in his heart and blood

The doctors DO NOT know:
What caused the infection and how it made him so sick so fast
How long Bryan will be on the vent
How long Bryan will be in the hospital

The doctors are performing tests every day, including blood tests, ct scans, and chest xrays. Everything that can be done, is being done. Many tests have been performed. The doctors and nurses are taking very good care of him.

On the funny side of things, here is something that might bring a smile to your face. If you know Bryan any at all, you know he is short and stocky, but also very strong. The nurses are just now realizing this. Today he pulled his breathing tube out. The nurse had to have extra help to calm him back down and get the tube back in place. Everything is ok. Another xray was taken to make sure no damage was done. I tried to warn the nurses of his easy gag reflex and his strength. I guess they believe me now!

We just want to say thanks to everyone who has visited with us, called, and prayed for Bryan and our family. You guys mean everything to us and we are thankful to have you as great friends. As we pray for Bryan tonight, we will also be thanking God for all of you and your support!

ICU Day 4

Buddy has been intubated. He received 100% oxygen through the night. They are trying to wean him down a little throughout the day. Stats are still looking bad right now. Please keep praying.

ICU Day 3

After going home to take of a few things, I come back to the hospital. Things are taking a turn fort he worse. Buddy's oxygen levels are in the low 70's. He is not getting enough oxygen. The doctors have decided it would be best to intubate him. They are putting him to sleep to do the procedure. They are going to keep him sedated the whole time he has the breathing tube, to keep him from pulling it out. These is a scary sight to see. Please pray!

ICU Day 2

Buddy is doing really good this morning. I am going to run home to take care of a few things. My other two kids are going to stay with him while I go. He does not want to be by himself right now. I know this whole thing has to be really scary for him. He has always been a healthy kid. He had his tonsils out in the 4th grade and suffered from the occasional strep throat. But nothing this serious. His white blood count is down to 26,000, blood pressure is back in the high 90s, temp is 97.8, heart rate is down. The docs are going to put in the orders to have him moved over to the pediatric floor in Brenner's. Thanks for all the prayers. They are definitely working!

ICU Day 1

It usually takes me about 45 minutes to get to Winston from Wilkes. I don't think it took quite that long this time. When we got to Baptist, Buddy was already in his room. They have decided to put him into an isolation room. Also, everyone must wear a mask when going into his room. Ok, that seems kinda silly to me. I have had close, personal contact with this child for the last 10 hours. We even shared a drink! But, the ICU docs have decided to test him for the Swine flu, so every precaution has to be taken. All of the tests that have already been preformed are being done again. Echo, EKG, chest xrays, blood cultures, blood gases, and probably a few that I didnt catch. Definitely has pnuemonia. His left lung is completely full of it. His heart is looking enlarged and not pumping exactly right. His white blood count is 36,000. They are now saying there is infection in his blood. That means *many* bags of antibotics and fluid have been out into this child today. His oxygen levels have remained dangerously low all day. Blood pressure is still really low. Buddy is also severly dehydrated. Of course, pushing the iv fluids some more. Dr. L thinks it is best to put a central line into Buddy's neck. Ok, so he is reading the paperwork to us, telling us the dangers, and we have to sign the consent form. Dr. L hands the form to Buddy to sign! He is only 17! I take the form and let this doc in on the surprising tidbit of info. Oh ok, I guess you should sign it then. An hour and a half later, the nurse comes into the waiting room to get us. She calls our last name out and someone stranger answers. What? It seems there are 2 families up here right now with the last name Love. Wow, how weird is that. So, we head in to see him. He is not a happy camper. Things seem to be getting worse. Blood pressure is dropping more and having a really hard time breathing. His oxygen has been bumped up and now a face mask has replaced the nasal canula. The next step is intubation. We are trying to stay from that.

The beginning of our stay

My 17 year old, Buddy Love, did not feel good Friday night at work, but completed his shift anyway. Saturday morning came and he still felt kind of "off". Sunday morning rolls around and he is SICK! He starts complaining of chest pains, back pains, headache, and throwing up. Knowing something was wrong, we head on down to the local hospital. This hospital in Wilkes is a very small one, not well equipped to handle complicated issues. Once getting Buddy in the ER, everything happened pretty quickly. His fever was 105.1, his blood pressure was 72/59, his heart rate was in the 130s. Echo, EKG, chest xray, blood tests were all performed pretty fast. Dr. G decided Buddy had anything from the flu to meningitis. It was decided that we would be going to Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston. Of course, when you need an ambulance, they are all busy. So, we had to wait for one to come from Winston. About an hour after the decision was made, Buddy was being loaded into this huge black and gold ambulance, headed straight for a bed in the ICU.