Update on Andrew-Feb. 12th 2006

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2007 07:45 PM, EST

Andrew will have his ear surgery tomorrow. Please pray that this will be successful. Andrew is able to hear fairly well in a quiet hospital room, but as he gets out, it is harder for him to hear. They will be working on his most damaged ear tomorrow- the right side, which is completely deaf. They will work on reforming his tempanic membrane, which sounds pretty complex to me. I am really hoping that this will go well; this could be one less worry that he will have to deal with in life. Thank you all for your prayers! ~Katherine

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 09, 2007 10:26 PM, EST

Some hand specialists came in and studied Andrew's hands today. They were looking to see what all needs to be worked on surgically and what they want to work towards. It looks like his ear surgery will be this Monday. He'll also have his leg surgery sometime next week. My dad is now up there again for the weekend, which is always very encouraging for Andrew. He's doing really well and is so thankful for all of your prayers! ~Katherine

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 08, 2007 07:25 PM, EST

Andrew is continuing to do well. There is a possibility that he will have surgery on his right eardrum tomorrow. We're not positive on this yet. This will happen very soon if not tomorrow, and hopefully he'll be hearing a lot better. Andrew asked again for prayer for his phantom pain. They switched his medications hoping that that would help with the pain. It helped a bit, but he is still experiencing a lot of that sort of pain. He also found out today that he will need some plastic surgery on his arms in order for his fingers to be able to work normally. As you can see from the picture above, he cannot fully open his hands, which makes it hard to do a lot of things like writing, typing, etc. The scars on his arms had meshed with his tendons, which caused the movement in his fingers to be impaired. It is very overwhelming for me when I think of all of the various medical issues he is dealing with besides his legs. I know very soon a lot of this will be behind him. Thank you for your continued love and support! ~Katherine

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 07, 2007 10:05 PM, EST

I spoke with Andrew for a little while this morning and he sounded great. Though disapointed about the upcoming surgery, he told me that he knew from the beginning that it would be three steps forward and two steps back. He told me that his HO (bone growth) has actually broken through the skin on his right side. I also learned that the Iraq war is the first time doctors have ever seen this phenomenon. The surgery to remove this growth should be very soon. I asked him if there was anything specific we could pray for besides his upcoming surgery. He asked that we pray that his phantom pain will get better or cease. It wakes him up in the middle of the night. He told me that it feels like he has his legs and feet and that someone is drilling into his feet. This continues to be his greatest discomfort. Thank you for lifting him up! ~Katherine

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2007 11:48 PM, EST

Today was a little dissapointing. As I have said before, Andrew is having some heterotopic ossification on both residual limbs- which is essentially continued bone growth where his legs used to be. That is not necessarily unusual and can continue for several months after an amputation. His team of doctors had wanted to wait on this surgery until this ceased completely. Unfortunatly, it is getting to a point where it needs to be dealt with immediately. With a surgery like this, the same old problems (fever, infection, soreness, etc.) can show their faces. Please pray that this surgery will go well and that he can recover from it quickley. It will mostly likely be very soon- probably even this week. I just cannot fathom the strength that it takes to deal with all of these continued setbacks. Andrew has been so strong and has truly faced all of this like the man that he is. I know he will continue to handle everything that comes his way. I just would love for him to feel like he has all of the surgeries and healing behind him so he can focus on therapy and prosthetics. I thank you all for your prayers and love for him. He is being built up and supported by so many. ~Katherine