Wow!  Christmas is almost here!  Yesterday Shannon and Bryan treated Jennie and me to a movie!  We went to see It's A Wonderful Life on the big screen!  It was "wonderful"!  The only thing missing was Terry.  :(  He was home with a new sitter.  One of Terry's nurses' father-in-law sat with him.  I think I may have found just the right person for Terry!

Terry is about the same as when I last posted.  He mostly sleeps.  But, still, I put him in his chair everyday.  He wakes up in the late evening for a while.

We had an outing this week to the Dallas VA.  Not as difficult as the last trip because we found a new ride!  Just one bus there and back!

Jennie took pictures of us last night in front of the Christmas tree.  Hope you enjoy seeing them!

It's been almost a month since I wrote on here!  Nothing much has changed.  Terry still sleeps most of the time.  He's had a few rough days here and there, but overall he's pretty content.

My sister, Jennie, is visiting for 3 months.  She loves Terry Shaw!  She really likes helping take care of him.  She especially seems to like helping with the lift.  It's a lot harder than she thought it would be!

We took Terry for a walk a few days ago, look below for some new pictures.  Jennie wanted to push him in the chair, so I let her.  She made it about half a block.  He's quite heavy, even though he's lost weight.

Friday, yes, Black Friday, we took Terry to the mall.  We were there just for a few hours.  We started off having lunch at El Chico.  Delicious!  Our final stop was Barnes and Noble.  Jennie and I enjoyed a cappuccino while Terry napped off and on....more pictures.

And finally, I'm including a picture of Tyler, Emy's dog, watching Terry sleep.  He's so protective of him!

There's really nothing new to report with Terry.  He still moans, otherwise he seems content.

If you all will indulge me, I'd like to get a little personal this morning...

Last night Terry was in his recliner sleeping off and on and I just kept watching shows that were recorded on the DVR, one right after the other. (I love it that I can fast forward through all those commercials!)  I was just too tired to get up and start the "getting to bed" routine.

Just about the time I decided to make myself get started Emily came home.  She helped me get Terry to bed.  Thank you Emily!  :) I came in the kitchen to say goodnight to her and saw the clock!  It was almost 2am!  Oh, well, Saturday's coming and I can sleep in.  Ha!

Well, I hooked up Terry's Bipap and crawled in bed, bone tired and weary.  Terry fought the machine for about 2 hours.  I tried to comfort him and he would fall asleep and wake up moaning.  Finally around 4 I took the mask off, turned him, and he fell alseep.  He woke up again around 6 and I turned him again.

Then around 7 I woke up wide awake!  He was just lying there, awake, quiet as a mouse.  He was on his back with his legs stretched out, relaxed.  That's a big deal because his limbs are all so stiff I can't even move them.   Well, he'd slept on his back for an hour or so, and I knew it would feel good to turn again, so I turned him on his side.

Then I snuggled up against his back...we call it scrunching...and all was right with the world.  You see, my favorite place in the whole world is snuggled up against my husbands back.  So, no matter how tired I get, how much he declines, the weariness of the whole situation, I'm so very grateful to be able to snuggle up one more time, and one more time, and one more time.

God has blessed me beyond measure with this man...

Terry's week was pretty good, for the most part.  He has been moany the last couple of days, but not sick.  He's dozing in his recliner right now. :)

He's still saying a word here and there.

I heard back from Dr Steinberg in CA.  There's nothing they can do to help him.  So, now we know.

We'll just keep going and enjoy every little glimpse of Terry we get, for as long as we get them.

Thank you all so much for your prayers.  I appreciate you all so much.

Took Terry to a movie yesterday.  I'd like to report that he really enjoyed it, but he mostly slept. :(
He did, however, stay awake for the bus ride!

He has started moaning a lot, again.  I'm afraid we may be dealing with another infection.  Please keep him in your prayers.  It's so sad to see him in pain and not know what to do about it.

One day at a time....

Oh, one more thing.  I need prayers, please.  Yesterday I sent a package with copies of all Terry's MRI's, PET Scans and reports to Stanford University Medical Center.  There's a Neurosurgeon there, Dr. Steinberg, that has helped a lot of people with unusual illnesses. 

I've talked with them and they will review his records and let us know if there's anything they might can do.  They meet on Monday afternoons to review cases. 

Please pray that they can do something for him to improve his quality of life.

Thank you Tom and TyJuana for telling me about this doctor!  As my friend Sandy used to say:  The answer is always no unless you ask...

Terry's been home over 2 weeks!  Time does indeed fly!  It has really been busy!  We got his bi-pap and it's taken him some time to get used to it.  We hardly slept for 3 nights in a row, but he seems to have settled in with it, now.  

Right now (and for the last several hours) he's sitting in his wheel chair watching me.  I've been working in the office all afternoon.  (It's actually our dining room turned into an office, so I can see him when he's in the living room in his recliner, also.)  Today, for the first time in a couple of months, he held his cup and drank from it by himself!  And he's been eating pretty well!

Thanks to everyone who sent him birthday wishes.  I'm not sure he actually understood what was going on.  We had a small party for him, just Shannon, Bryan and the boys, Emily and me.  He always seems to enjoy watching the kids while they're here.

There are 4 new pictures below to check out.

We finally made it home yesterday (Monday) around 6pm.  The medical equipment company met us here and set up the feeding pump.  (Thanks Josh!)  Then Carla, the home health nurse came to help us get organized and begin with them again.  Poor Carla, she patiently listened to me vent because it took all day to get out of the hospital!  I was content to be there until the doctor said you can take him home (at 9am!), then I was ready to go!

Our neighbors from across the street brought me Chick-Fil-A!  Thanks Andy and Shari!  It was wonderful!
(not that I didn't loooove hospital food)

Thanks to Shannon and Emily for coming to get all of my stuff (I moved in for 2 weeks!) so I could just ride home with Terry in the ambulance and not worry about carrying anything.

Terry slept fairly well last night.  However, today he was uncomfortable all morning.  We were up at 7 and he just settled down about 2:30.  He's sleeping in his recliner. :)

We definitely have a different routine with the feeding machine!  But it's not difficult, just have to pay close attention to details.  

After we've been home a few days we'll start taking walks again...that means more pictures to come!
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Terry's doing very well today!  He rested better last night than any since we've been here.  He "sang" for about an hour last night.  It's so sweet to hear him making that noise instead of moaning in pain.

Other than his singing (which is more like humming with his mouth open) he's been pretty quite.  The last time he spoke was Thursday night, he told me he loved me. :)

Yesterday afternoon the nurses got him up in a chair for me and off we went!  We walked across the parking lot to see the water.  Usually the fountain is running, don't know why it wasn't then.  But we enjoyed it anyway.  Take at look at our excursion pictures below.  Isn't he cute in his yellow socks!

Yep, we're here for the weekend.  Terry had a good night...only had pain medicine at 4am. 

Plan to get him up and outside for a few minutes today...

We're still in the hospital.  We may be here through the weekend.  They're trying to get his coumadin level back up.  They had to bring it way down with Vitamin K  before the surgery.

He was taken off antibiotics last night!  That's good news!

And he did very well with his feeding today....it's the first day his  body tolerated it all day.  He's up to the level he needs, to get the right amount of calories.

Oops!  Spoke too soon!  The nurse just came in and checked...had to back off the feeding some.

He has moaned all day!  It seems he's in pain, but the pain medication doesn't seem to help.  :( 

Hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow....

The last couple of days have been very quiet for Terry.  He's rested a lot.  He looks great!  And he's still saying a few words here and there.

Today we took a stroll around the hospital.  There are lots of pictures of nature, lakes, trees, flowers, etc. hanging in the halls.  He really enjoys looking at those.  We didn't go outside today, just sat and looked out.

His body is tolerating the tube feedings rather well.  His potasium level is low...they're working on correcting that.  He's not pain free, but is dealing with a lot less!

Again, we appreciate all of the prayers and well wishes.  Please keep praying....

Today has been an eventful day!

Terry didn't sleep much at all last night.  In fact he talked a lot!  He had a lot of pain and said phrases between moans.  It was sad and exciting at the same time.

This morning, after giving him his bath, soaking his feet and trimming his fingernails, (yep! the spa treatment for Terry) we got him in a wheel chair and off we went!

First we roamed the halls, then sat in the waiting room for a while and looked out the window.  Then downstairs to look around a while and slip out the front door!  He enjoyed being outside so much!  He's always loved sunlight.

He took a short nap when we got back to the room.  And around 2pm they came to take him down for surgery.  Everything went fine.  He now has a PEG tube in his tummy for feeding.  I know it sounds terrible, but I'm thankful for it.  He hasn't been eating enough and finally he'll get the nutrition he needs.

He's been pretty alert since he came back up...dozing off and on.  Right now as I type this he's watching tv patiently waiting for pain meds....still wish we knew where he hurts.

Again, thank you all so much for your prayers, your words of encouragement and just your concern.

Hope you enjoy seeing the pictures of him that I've added.  I never tire of taking them. :)
He's just so cute!  (Did I say that before?) ;)

Terry has done fairly well today, a little more discomfort than yesterday.  Shannon spent the morning with us and he watched her a lot.

This afternoon he told his Mom, "I love you too"!  He has spoken several times today and nodded to questions.  Little things we are thrilled to see!

He had a busy day!  As I said, Shannon spent the morning.  2 men from Church visited, Emily came this afternoon, then Shannon, Bryan, Isaac and David came this evening (brought dinner! yum!)

Isaac sang to him some, then David, then all of us.  He really seems to enjoy singing. 

Right now he's in pain.  :(  Trying to get it under control.  Thank you all for the prayers.  As you see, they are being answered.

Tomorrow (Thursday) at 2 he's supposed to have a feeding tube put in his stomach.  It sounds terrible, but I really think it's a good thing.  He will finally get the nutrition he needs.  We have struggled for a long time to get enough food in him and it was a losing battle.  Hopefully this will enable him to build his strength and feel better.

As I said to Shirley (Terry's Mom) recently, Terry has good days and GREAT days!  Today was a GREAT day!

He has been relaxed, slept well, was alert when he was awake, watched a little tv, had no pain medicine at all!

He has returned lots of kisses!  Even kissed Shannon on the cheek! :)

And he spoke 2 words!  Prayers are being answered!

We were visited today by Jordan Lyons!  Some of you know him, probably all of you either know or have heard me speak of Hillie, one of my best friends in Germany.  Well, Jordan is her youngest son!  He's moving to Denton, so we'll be seeing lots more of him!

10 (yes 10!) new pictures below.  It looks like several repeats, but they are each a little different.  All were taken today, Monday.