Pray for Kevin #96

Have you ever ridden on a train? In Italy, we have had the opportunity to ride on many trains. One specific train from Ancona to Rome is particularly memorable. During the last twenty minutes or so there are about thirteen tunnels. In Italy, they often keep the windows cracked open on second class cars on trains (we usually rode second class to save money). It could be stifling hot outside and the windows will only be cracked open. So, when you pass through a tunnel there is a vacuum and your eardrums turn inside out. You don’t know how long it is going to last and you can’t see the end of it because your window looks to the side, not the front. I finally learned the number of tunnels on that last twenty minutes, but previous to that, it was excruciating waiting through tunnel after tunnel. Dark then light, hot air outside the cool air in the tunnel, ears popping then trying to unpop your eyes….. We feel like we are speeding down the track on a train with an unknown destination. Each time there is a mini event, it’s like we are going into another tunnel. How long will it last? Will my ears quit popping?


This week, I feel like we are going in a thousand directions. People start calling in the mornings and then throughout the day. Each one thinks their interest is the most important. We’re trying to balance out all these things for Kevin’s best interest.

The house is moving along. Crews have been there day and night the past several days. People are there tonight staining and painting and prepping Kevin’s house for his arrival. The cabinets are all installed. When I was there this afternoon they just needed some trim. The dishwasher was installed, and the stove and fridge were still waiting to be moved into place. The ventahood/microwave has to wait to be installed until the cabinets are stained. That process has been started tonight. The stain has to sit for 24 hours and then a second coat is applied. The furniture and belongings that were in Kevin’s house at the time of the flood are being divvied up into what comes back to the house and what goes into storage for now. We have called several area storage companies and visited a couple today.

They continue preparing us and Kevin for discharge. Today they ceased several medications and decreased one. The medicine that has been finished are the muscle relaxer (bacloflen), Claritin (for allergies so we aren’t sure why they stopped it, Kevin has allergies), and vigamox (eyedrop antibiotic that was really only a preventative, the ointment is what is really helping). The provigil (for alertness and to treat sleepiness) was cut in half. Maybe without the muscle relaxer, he won’t need as much provigil anyway. They also just removed Kevin’s PICC line about ten minutes ago. They haven’t been using it lately but were keeping for an emergency. They are going to do two blood cultures, fifteen minutes apart (from the PICC line before they removed it, or the site of if they couldn’t draw off of it and also on Kevin’s left side).

Our family continues to be trained. I removed Kevin’s trach tube (supervised of course) and replaced it with one that it is cuffed. A “cuffed” trach means that there is a little balloon on the end of it that, when inflated, keeps anything from going back down into his lungs (food or secretions). He had a cuffed trach originally, but then changed it out a few weeks ago. Everyone is getting down the basics, cleaning, suctioning, trach care, peri care, feeding through the tube, giving medicine, turning, etc…… It is getting more comfortable. If only some of the training were better organized…..

Pray that everything that needs to get done, gets done. Pray that Kevin’s house is finished well. Pray for God to bring to mind everything that we need to know and prepare before bringing him home. Pray for the doctors here, so that they will not release him until everything is completely set up. Pray for the other doctors that we need for Kevin’s health care team to be found.

Thanks for reading and praying,
Matt, Angie and family
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http://www.prayforkevin.com/