Up and Around - A Bit

Good news! Brandon was able to attend Sunday mass today. He sat in the back of the church, in a closed-off room designed for people who are sensitive to perfumes. He was hoping that this room would be quiet place to sit. Unfortunately for him, they pipe the entire service into the room using a speaker, and it was almost louder than sitting in the main church area! This is a snapshot of Brandon outside of the church. He's too far away to see his amazing smile- but it's there!

It is good to see him up and around with the desire to re-engage back into his "normal" life. He has been able to go on some short outings with friends, and this has been good for him. Saturday a catholic friend of Brandon's picked him up to go to confession together, then to get some ice cream. Today he spent a couple of hours at the park with some of his college buddies. While these seem like simple things to us, these little trips can wear Brandon out for the rest of the day. He really has to be careful not to overdo it, as he has a desire to live life as actively as he did before his injury, but his body just won't allow it. Our children were invited by some friends to go the BMX park last week. Brandon went with them to watch. It took everything in him NOT to get on one of those bikes and ride the track!!! He was tired for days afterward- probably from the deep internal struggle between himself so badly wanting to get on that bike and ride, and the fear of the wrath of mother when she found out :) His laundry needs to be done, so it might not be a good idea to act too normal until it's finished!! He did take out the trash yesterday- it was a sweet, sweet sight- brought a few tears even!! :)

We are still working things out with the WSU professors on how Brandon might finish up this semester. They have been very accommodating and kind which we appreciate very much. Brandon is trying to do some schoolwork while at home as he continues to recover.

Brandon's hearing and facial response are improving each day. He still has ringing in his left ear and is still sensitive to loud noises. The ringing is common for a head injury.

Brandon's hair is growing out. You can still see his scar through the hair, but it looks like it will be covered up when it finishes growing in. Of course, you never can tell what haircut Brandon might show up with, so we'll leave that one alone for now...

As always, thank you all for your prayer and support. And meals!!! We can't thank you enough for not only loving us through this ordeal, but for bringing us food!!!! We are more grateful than we can say. Knowing that meals were coming brought relief and joy, and took a huge burden off all of us. This week is our last week for this gift- Lord, help us........back to pb&j.

Please keep praying for Brandon and our family as we continue on this healing road. And we are praying for all of you- that God will bless all of you abundantly for your generosity.

With love and gratitude,
~the Family

Healing Up

Hi all. Its been a week since our last post and we know that some of you are anxious for an update on Brandon.

His hearing is doing well. He can hear sound in his left ear, but the loud noises are still troubling him. His face is day by day improving and it has been a real joy to see the side of his mouth slowly begin to crease upward with his smile.

His headaches still come and go and he has a couple of sensitive spots on his scalp around the trauma area. He really gets exhausted if he tries to do too much during the day.

It is great to see Brandon up and around and getting his feet under him. We can only imagine what it must be like to be a 21 year old and quarantined on house arrest in your parents home! I guess there are definitely worse places to be stuck....

We are talking with Washington State University to work out a good solution for Brandon's studies. Brandon has been told by his doctors not to rush back to school, and we agree with that. He will try to do some schoolwork here at home, but cannot be in class. His professors have been very encouraging so far.

Brandon is ready to start accepting some visitors, and we think that having people come by to visit him might be a good boost to his morale. If you'd like to visit, please call and make arrangements. And comb your hair, we might try to take your picture for the next blog update!

We'll try to keep the blog going. Eric is back to work full time now and Angela is doing double duty on the home front with Brandon here and multiple doctors appointments. Unfortunately, life does not pause to let you play catch up. Everyone has been so gracious to offer help and meals. You have been a God-send! We really don't know how people deal with something like this without a community for support.

Please continue to pray. Brandon is healing miraculously!

God Bless,

~the Family

The Stapedious Muscle

Brandon went again today to see Dr. Schwartz, the ear specialist. There was some slight improvement in the facial muscle control, but pretty minimal. The doctor took a good look at Brandon's inner ear with a microscope. He said it looked like the perforated ear drum had closed up and that was good. He talked to us about the stapedius muscle: an ear muscle that is controlled by the facial nerve, and it protects the ear from really loud sounds. Because the nerve is not working correctly, Brandon is very sensitive to loud noises. In our house, loud noises are a pretty regular occurence.

Brandon also had a hearing test today to assess his hearing ability. Amazingly, his left ear was found to be on the low end of normal hearing. Praise the Lord! It should continue to get better as Brandon continues to recover.

Brandon still has ringing in the ear as well. The doctor believes that this will also get better over time.

He wants to see Brandon again in a month to see how he's doing, check his face response, and test the hearing again.


**Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry**

Eric S. Andersen
Project Manager
Technology Planning and Deployment Group
Battelle Northwest
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
PO Box 999
ms: K6-05
Richland, WA 99352

ph 509.375.2735
cell 509.528.6300
fax 509.375.6736

Holy Thursday and Luke 22:51

Today is Holy Thursday, the day we remember the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus' arrest before His crucifixion.

Luke 22:50-51 (NRSV) (50) Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. (51) But Jesus said, "No more of this!" And He touched his ear and healed him.

*----*

I just checked on Brandon and asked him to smile for me. The left corner of his mouth creased up just ever so slightly! I could hardly see it but it definitely moved if only just a little bit.

Brandon also put an ear bud in his left ear and could hear it, but just barely. When he turned it up it became painful, but at the lower volume he was picking up sound.

This is such great news! PRAISE YOU LORD!

Please keep on praying! It is working!

God Bless,

~the Family

.

A Checkup with the Neurosurgeon

No improvement in the facial paralysis today. The steroids don't seem to be helping the swelling.

We went to see the neurosurgeon today for a checkup. He agrees with the ear, nose, throat specialist that the swelling is causing the lack of facial movement. He was concerned about Brandon's left eyelid not closing all the way, and made sure that we were taking precautions to keep his eye from drying out, and protecting it, especially when sleeping or going outdoors. Brandon has been taping his left eyelid shut each night when he goes to sleep so that it won't dry out.

Brandon got his staples out today, all 30 of them. He pondered for a moment about keeping them to show his brother and sisters, but we decided to take a picture of them being removed instead.

Here is a picture of the doctor taking out Brandon's staples.






We also reviewed the cat scan images of the day Brandon went in. The doctor showed us pictures of the epidural hematoma. It was the first time Brandon had seen any cat scan pictures and we were reminded of how urgent Brandon's situation had been. After Brandon's surgery, the doctor had told us that the hematoma was a lot bigger than he had thought- it had grown a lot between the cat scan and the surgery.Praise God for providing clarity in our decision-making, for fast action for all involved, and for an excellent surgeon being on call in the emergency room.

Here is a picture of the cat scan image of the hematoma. It is the big white mass on the right side of the picture.



We thanked the doctor for saving Brandon's life :)

The doctor believes that this injury may turn into a waiting game at this point. He is sure that Brandon will make a full recovery, but it may take some time. We are hopeful for a full recovery, and grateful that the Lord knows what He's doing.

Please join us in offering prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving for sparing Brandon's life and for continued daily healing.

We pray that the Lord will heal Brandon completely for His glory.

God Bless,

~the Family

Follow up w/ Dr. Kris: 29Mar2010

Brandon went to see Dr. Kris again today. The early stages of the steroid treatment do not appear to be making any substantial progress as of yet.

Staples should come out tomorrow at the visit with the neurosurgeon. I'll try to snap a pic or two of that to post.

God Bless,

~the Family

.

Weekend Update: 27Mar2010

Brandon took the opportunity Saturday morning to take a stroll around the back yard with his little sister Rebecca. She sure does love her big brother!

Brandon is slowly trying to get up and exercise with more frequency. He can take short walks but is staying on our property and doing a couple of slow-paced laps around the back yard.

There is still no improvement in his facial paralysis or his hearing. We have doctor appointments Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday's appointment is with the neurosurgeon and he will likely remove all of the 30 staples at that time. He has an appointment with the ear specialist the 2nd week of April.

His stomach is upset pretty regularly, we suspect that is because of the cocktail of pills he's having to swallow throughout the day. As he progresses, its a good sign to see the medication list shortening instead of growing.

Thanks to all for supporting us through prayer, meals, chores, taking our kids, sitting with Brandon while we're gone, encouragement, and just plain loving us. Surviving this would be almost impossible without you. We are overwhelmed with gratitude at your generosity and the ways you have blessed us. We will continue to need your support in all of these areas in the days to come.

Please pray especially for us in the coming days for courage and supernatural faith in the Lord.

God Bless,

~the Family