Friday, October 3, 2008

Day 4 - October 3, 2008 - Part 3

Ok - she's out of surgery. Yep - that's a lot quicker than we thought.

They repaired the femur - and he thinks it looks good. They decided not to go ahead and work on the tibia. He told us the femur can cause damage to the lungs, so he really felt that was the primary injury that needed to be corrected. However, when they finished working on the femur, they decided to wait to repair the tibia because the way they would need to correct the tibia could also damage the lungs, so they decided to not do anything to put her at risk of going backward. So, we only did about half what they wanted to do. He said, however, correcting the femur was a major victory, so we're our way. The goal is to have the next surgery on Monday, but that is all dependent on how she does over the weekend. The weekend should give her lungs a chance to get a lot stronger.

The doctor is still optimistic they can save both feet. There will be lots of struggle ahead, and her left foot is going to bother her the most long term. Also, he told us the least severe injury is the left tibia.

She did require an additional 2 units of blood during the procedure today. I'll take this as a chance to give a plug for the Oklahoma Blood Institute. For those of you who already donate, THANK YOU! You may well be the donor of the blood that is helping Mom. For those of you that don't donate, please consider doing so. Without those people who donate, Mom wouldn't be doing as well as she is.

Thanks to everyone who has left comments on the blog. They are absolutely wonderful, and they pretty much bring tears to the eyes of all of us. It is amazing to see how much she means to so many people. Thank you so much.

Also, anyone who is reading this from outside our little CBA or church community, if you would tell us where you are from and how you heard about the situation, we'd really appreciate that. We know the news has spread from Nicaragua to Canada to Indonesia, and I see someone from Sweden. This is amazing!

We've had some more visitors today (and whomever indicated I'll never be able to keep track of everyone who checks in on her was absolutely correct, but I'm going to do my best!!).

Visits:
Nancy Ballard
Cheri Thiessen
Cherilen Slagell (and two adorable kids)
Debbie Schimmer
The Anderson family
Monte and Sandy Schimmer
Matt & Jenny Hix
Rob Holley
Anthony Hilbers
Mark Thiessen
Matthew Thiessen
Sarah Phelps
Mark Engleman
Larry and Teresa Bittle
Jerry and Cecilia Buster
Grant and Charity Cahout (and two beautiful kiddos)

Calls From:
Kim Gossen
Terri Jay
Clare Goering
Miranda Kieffer
Debbie Upchurch
Ivan Rogers
Custer City Co-op

8 comments:

Lilibeth said...

I wonder where one can go to donate blood and credit it to her account. Does anyone know?

Tyralee45 said...

Yah! This is good news considering what it could have been. One day closer to recovering...One day at a time. God is with you! You are still in our prayers!

mrsrodriquez said...

I teach in Clinton with Sandy and Monte. I graduated from high school in Custer City several years after Monte. You are and will remain in my prayers Patty. Your strength will not only get you through this but will also be an awesome testimony to God's miraculous healing power! Keep positive thoughts always and give God the praise for every small victory.

Karla said...

Patty & Schimmer family, God is really Good. Brendon & I(Karla) continue to pray many times during the day for any thing that Patty may be going through. We trust His healing hands to work through the doctors & nurses around her and the boys. Our families are also in prayer : the Schmidt's in Corn, The Reimer's (Stacy & Carmen) in CA, the Tovar's in AL. We continue to lift you Patty up. Karla

diane said...

Praying as I go through my day. Will pray for that miracle!

Angela and Carlin said...

Mr. and Mrs. Schimmer, you are in our prayers. We will pray that infection stays out and that you will heal quickly. Let us know if we can do anything.
Love,
Carlin and Angela

Melissa Beth said...

We are long-time friends of Clare and Rhonda Goering. They asked that we pray continuously for you and your family... as well as the kids in the car with your Mom. Thanks for the updates. You can look back on these posts in bad times and remember how good God really is and how far she has come.

Hang in there,
Melissa from San Antonio, Texas

Anonymous said...

baby steppies is the way to go for a complete recovery.

how about hosting a blood drive in your area to replace the blood she needed or took.

I enjoy the updates
Lori
Auburn, PA