Update #66 on Kevin

I am really missing Kevin tonight. I’m sitting right across the room from him, yet I am missing him deeply to the very marrow of my bones. I just finished looking through over 11,000 photos from 2008. Each one I was looking for Kevin. Looking for his vitality, his liveliness, his personality….and I found several very satisfying shots. About halfway through I felt the pang of missing him, however, as I kept moving through the photos, remembering, savoring, I experienced the full gamut of emotions. I laughed to myself several times, with an audible chuckle, as I saw Kevin making some face. I remember events like Easter egg hunting. My wife, our nephews and nieces thought it would be fun to hide the eggs for Kevin, Greg and me. First they sent us on a wild goose hunt, looking in Greg’s backyard for eggs that were not hidden there. Then they unleashed us upon the front yard to battle over each uncovered gem in the grass, or tree, or hole, or…you get the picture. I saw holidays, such as Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. Independence Day is a major holiday in my family. Each year, we grill and shoot fireworks. Many of those years we did this at our family’s lakelot at Fort Gibson, near Wagoner, Oklahoma. Questions arose in my mind, such as when would our holidays return to normal, if ever?


Kevin’s digestion seems to be adjusting well to the increased rate on tube feeding. He hasn’t had his tube feeding pump turned off once today. He also had his trach capped for around 5 ½ hours. Another good run. He also sat in the blue neuro chair for 3 hours and 15 minutes. I am going to talk more to the doctor in the morning about Kevin’s MRI yesterday. The only thing we know for sure is that his eye infection has not entered his eyeball. Kevin just had a bath and he blinked quick and reacted to some cold soap spray on his body.

The respiratory therapist and tech are trying to adjust him in the bed, so that his head does not lay to one side nor lean too far forward. He needs to have a more clear airway.

Kevin also had his first muscle relaxer at night. The neurosurgeon ordered it to give his body a rest. We don’t want him being too sedated throughout the day. His general doctor said for us to just see how he does the next couple days. The muscle relaxer should only last 6-8 hours, and he took it around 9 PM tonight. He still had several movements with his head and leg, even with the muscle relaxer.

I was looking at some of the stats on Kevin’s site and groups. Here’s the latest:

In one month, there have been 2,269 computers (visitors) go to prayforkevin.com from 21 countries around the world! That blog has been viewed by those 2,269 visitors 8,218 times!! There are 296 people who receive the updates on Kevin via email and another 300 people in the Pray For Kevin group on Facebook! Thanks to everyone that is following these updates and praying for Kevin’s recovery! Thanks for prayers for the restoration of Kevin’s house. Thanks also for prayers for our family as we navigate this tragedy. It means more than you may ever know.

Thanks,
Matt, Angie and family
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http://www.prayforkevin.com/ (to find all previous 65 updates)
http://prayforkevin.blogspot.com/ (and yet another way to find them)