Still fighting

It’s hard to believe that on Monday we will have been home from the hospital for 2 weeks. When we first got home, Adam had relief from the pain and light sensitivity and was able to go into work for short periods of time by using an eye patch and keeping the lights off in his office.

This week seemed to be a step back as the virus migrated completely into his eye; specifically his cornea. Due to the increased lesions on his cornea, his light sensitivity is extreme. The doctors have told us that it’s not uncommon for light sensitivity to affect both eyes, and that is what has happened for Adam. He’s most comfortable during the daylight hours hiding his head under a blanket:(

We are putting steriod drops in his eye 6 times/day, and hoping that will be the trick to curbing the light sensitivity. We are so grateful that we have the specialists at Wolfe Eye Clinic in our backyard.

We are praying for complete healing and know that God has that in his power! Thank you for your support through prayer:)

The kids are in Osage this weekend so Adam can have the house quiet and dark; I’m so happy that going to Nana and Papa’s is like one big party for them!

Halloween!!

Nana had fun shopping for costumes this year and came up with a purple witch for Jaeley and a wizard for Brev. Their jokes for the year were; Jaeley: “What does a witch eat?” –booberry pie.  Brevin: “Who does a wizard marry?” –his goul-friend.

Nana found the silver fabric and had the cape made by a friend. It was sooo cool!

Telling their jokes to neighbor Carrie.

Just like last year they only wanted to go around the block, and then were ready to sit on our porch and hand out candy to the HUNDREDS of trick-or-treaters we get! As witnessed by the look on Brev’s face, we were getting a little tired by this point…

Earlier in the week, Daddy felt good enough to help us carve the pumpkin. 

Dressing up at Peterson’s house. We went for dinner to celebrate Kendra’s 16th bday. Classic Jaeley expression for the picture.

At home-resting comfortably

It feels good to be home! We got home at about 4:00, after an eye appointment. They said that there are minimal lesions on his cornea so we need to watch those, but it's nothing to be really concerned about. Adam has switched to all oral medications, and I think it's a lot easier to get comfortable without an iv in his arm. He has follow up appointments scheduled in the next week to make sure all the inflamation is going down in his eye. He is supposed to rest for a few days at home, but should be back to work by the end of the week or Monday at the latest.

Brevin and Jaeley spent the weekend in Osage with Nana and Papa, and then got to spend the day today out at the Sponheim farm with Bunita. Grandma Ellen brought them back home tonight. We let them know that Daddy was in the hospital over the weekend and Brevin was a little alarmed, but then just had a lot of questions. "Did Daddy have to have a shot?" "What does the hospital look like?" "Did he get to eat candy there?" All the important stuff;)

It's hard to not take health for granted when we're feeling well. It's something that you never think about until a shock like this happens. I won't soon forget to thank God for healing Adam and for our family's good health!

GOING HOME!

They just came in and said we're going home! We're supposed to go straight to Wolfe Clinic to have Dr. Suh check his eye, and then we'll be heading back to our house:)

The team of doctors that came in was the funniest thing I ever saw. Had to turn on the fan because Adam started sweating with 16 eyes focused on him.

IV is officially out...Praise God!!

Monday update

Adam put in a good night and did get some sleep again. He hasn't used any morphine since last night at 8:00 p.m., so that is awesome news!  The shingles look like they're drying up and swelling has gone down.

Two docs have come in this morning so far: one said that he would not go home til tomorrow, and one said today! Let's hope for today:)  They said that a team of docs consisting of attendings, residents, and med students would be coming in to take pictures of his poor face and talk about him so that will be.....weird.

One more night

Late update, but Adam was not released today. They are happy with the progress he is making on the iv anti-viral medication and were not ready to take him off of that. Also, it's easier for him to see all the doctors involved if he stays here. I think there is a good chance that he will get to go home tomorrow, either with Home Health coming to our house to continue the iv meds or if he's REALLY lucky he'll be on oral medication by that time:) One of the things they are monitoring closely is the fact that the shingles did affect his cornea. They don't seem overly concerned-but want to keep an eye on it (no pun intended.)

They are still wracking their brains trying to figure out how this happened to a healthy 33 year-old. I'm so glad that Adam can talk for himself now- so he can answer the same questions over and over every time someone new comes in:) We have been told that since his case is a first, it will be reported and published in a medical journal....not the way you want to gain celebrity!

We feel so blessed that only 3 days ago he was completely incapacitated by pain and has healed so much.  Still praying that the shingles run its course quickly and that there will be no scar tissue to deal with.

Thanks

Adam is still sleeping...yay! So I wanted to take the chance to thank everybody who has prayed, texted, emailed, called, or offered to help. When Adam couldn't read or handle his phone, I was reading the texts to him and I know it was a boost to know that people care:) I don't know what we would do without the help we've had with the kids-you know who you are-THANK YOU! It's such a relief to know that they don't skip beat to have someone else who loves them take care of them. They know that Adam hasn't felt well, but don't know that he's in the hospital- it would worry them a lot, and then they would want to come and see him...and it's just not the place for them to be. We don't need them to catch anything!