Paul left Gwinnett Medical Center this morning at 9:00 am. He handled the ride very well. His dad was with him. The EMT in the van told Jon that he had a good feeling about Paul. And so do we!!
Paul was checked out by the staff at Shepherd, and received a crash course in what will start to happen for him. The speech therapist fed him vanilla pudding, and diced peaches. He handled this very well. He did not say anything as there was so much activity going on. The occupational therapist was encouraged by what she saw and the physical therapist had Paul sitting up and checked out his strength. They changed out the soft collar on his neck, with one that will provide more support and also makes room for his trach. This will allow him to speak more easily when they start working with him tomorrow. They are going to try to feed him breakfast, as they are anxious to get him off the trach tube and off the stomach feeding peg.
I have not stopped smiling since I got here because of all the positive talk by everyone who came in. Even the case manager from our insurance company said she was so happy when she had been told that Paul had woken up and was responding. She was so kind and willing to help in any way needed. The staff at Shepherd has been so wonderful also. Jon was met at the entrance by 3 people and was given lots of information. Unfortunately, I got stuck in I-85 traffic that was heading downtown and was about a half hour behind Paul's the ambulance. We will have a meeting on Monday that will go into more detail. We were given a tour of the floor that Paul will be on. Tomorrow, they will show us how the day will go for Paul, with some of the therapies he will be scheduled to receive. There is a large board that shows what will happen each day, when he will be fed, and the activities that he will attend. There is so much hope filling this place. We were in awe of what people can do and how they can help themselves, as we walked down to the cafeteria.
At Mass this morning, I remembered that I called out to our Blessed Mother in heaven(on the day of the accident) and asked her to be with me as I walked forward. And I know that Blessed Mary is still walking with me, as Paul was being brought to the Sheperd Center on her feast day of the Immaculate Conception. So many times, we have been shown that our Mother in Heaven is helping her children on earth and she loves us as she loved her Son, Jesus Christ. What a beautiful gift God has given us in our Blessed Mother Mary. With great confidence I pray for her intercession.
They took the stitches out of Paul's eyelid. He still does not appear to have vision in his left eye, but we continue to pray for a miracle. Stranger things have happened since November 11, 2005. And so we will wait.
We have been told that the visits for Paul should be limited to immediate family only for the next 3-5 weeks. This is a very important time for Paul and he will be so busy during the days, that his rest is very important. While visiting hours are from 6-8 pm, they will be limiting this to family only until Paul is more capable of doing for himself. He is easily over stimulated and needs to get as much rest at night as he can. Paul is in an area that is locked, for the protection and privacy of the patients. After he is out of their 'prep' program, they will let us know about visiting. Please send your comments in, as we read these to Paul each day.
God bless each and everyone of you.
Our love to you,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
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19 comments:
I am so glad to hear that things have been going well since Erica and I last visited you. Just know that I continue to keep you all in my heart and prayers and I hope to be able to see you again soon. Keep up the good work!!
lots of love,
Tristen
I am very glad to hear that Paul is doing so well. I am the mother of a previous Parkview Student and have, for many years heard of Paul through my son. My son is also a guitar player and when he was at Parkview, Paul was known and the guy that everyone wanted to play like. Paul did not know my son but he always looked up to Paul through his playing. Just goes to show you, you never know what impact you will have on someone. My son is now an accomplished guitar player and when we just recently heard about Paul, I had to write. I am going to put Paul's name on our prayer request list at church. Please let Paul know that there is always someone praying for him.
Another mom
Paul, as you begin this intensive therapy and rehabilitation, know that your faith and courage (and your family's) have "rehabilitated" the faith of countless people.
On this special day in honor of Our Lady, know that she is interceding and asking Jesus for a complete recovery.
Paul, I check at least once daily (usually more) to see how you are progressing, and my friends here know how deeply affected I have been by your accident. Every day I read, I can imagine your personality shining through the narrative your parents give us all reading, and it makes me miss you even more. I want to congratulate you for showing all of us how strong you are -- mentally and physically -- for being able to recover so quickly. I hope your recovery continues to be of a similar, if not even better, pace so that you can start back on getting your life back to normal. Hopefully you'll be allowed outside visitors while I'm in the States, but if not, I'll be anticipating seeing you even more than either of us could fathom. Keep getting better, Paul. We all know you can do it!
Mr. and Mrs. Fidero: Thank you for your continual support and updates. I am so glad that Paul has two loving parents so full of Faith to help him through this. I look forward to meeting you when I get to visit Paul, whenever that may be.
Dear Paul, Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception! Today, I finished the consecration to Jesus through Mary (according to the prayers of St. Louis de Montfort)that we began together November 5th. For the past 33 days I have been keeping up this vigil out of love for you and our blessed Mother. Each day, as you will remember, included a set of readings and a long list of prayers. I would like to share part of the reading from two days ago, as it helped me to understand so much more about how I am to grow in my love and charity. (Please forgive me for taking up so much space!)
From the book: Imitation of Christ
"Blessed is the man who knows what it is to love Jesus, and to despise himself for the sake of Jesus. You must give up all other love for His, since He wishes to be loved alone above all.
Love of creatures is deceiving and constantly changing, but the love of Jesus is true and permanent. If you hold on to creatures, you will fall with them; if you hold on to Jesus, you will remain firmly planted forever.
Love Him then keep Him as a friend. He will not leave you as others do; nor will He permit you to suffer eternal death. Separate yourself a little from everything, then. Cling, therefore to Jesus in life and death; trust yourself to Him alone who can help you when all others fail you.
The nature of Christ's love is such that it will not admit a rival; He wants you for Himself alone. He desires to sit on the throne of your heart as King; which is His right. If you only knew how to free yourself of the love of creatures, how quickly would He come into your heart!"
Today being the actual consecration, we are called to do some act of love for Jesus, either fasting, alms-giving, or mortification of your spirit. I decided to let you handle the fasting part (we'll let the pudding and peaches slide... this time), but I wanted to let you know that as my act of mortification, I am going to lovingly accept the fact that I will not be allowed to see you for 3-5 weeks while you are in the prep program at Shepard, even though I will be at home, a mere 30 minutes away from you. You know me so very well, so you know that with my impatience and super-nurturing spirit, this is one of the hardest things that could be asked of me. I choose to now be joyful about it for love of Jesus and Mary above all else, and then for love of you. I want you to get better; I will take on whatever is thrown my way because I trust that God will never give me more than I can handle. He has blessed you so abundantly with this gift because He knew that you alone could bear the beautiful burden of sharing in Christ's passion so personally. He has given each of us who are playing a part in this act special gifts and graces to help us through the waiting process, and how funny it is that we probably didn't even know we had these gifts until this accident happened. God has a plan for each of us in our lives, and that is why He fashioned and formed these characteristics into our souls from the moment of our conceptions, though we didn't need or recognize them til now. How fitting that I should recognize this on the feast of the Immaculate Conception of our Lady! May God bless you and your wonderful family (and friends, and all who are praying for Paul who don't even know him) on this wonderful feast! You know you are always in my mind and prayers!
With love in Christ through Mary,
(and apologies to everyone else for such a long letter)
Geneva
It's great to hear that Paul got to the hospital. And wonderful to hear he took it so well! I pray that the vision will be restored.But with all the miracles I have seen on the blog, I wil not be suprised to see a new one! Keep up the good work Paul!!
I found your blog via Amy Welborn's "Open Book." I will pray that Paul recovers from his injuries. I am glad he has so much love and support behind him.
Donna
Rebecca,
I am still waiting to hear wbout that wonderufl first shower Paul will enjoy. I pray that it will coem soon, I know how much Paul will enjoy it!! That alone will do wonders for his recovery. Who doesn't feel better after a shower? I hope the heart rate has come down, a few years ago, I had an adverse reaction to a sinus medicine and my pulse went up to about 145. It stayed over 100 for what seemed like ages. It was the most uncomfortable feeling I have ever had. For, while the pulse is high, the truth is that not enough oxygen is getting to the brain. I was emotional, angry, just overall, felt crazy. As soon as my pulse went under 100, I felt the HUGEST relief. I hope Paul's pulse has continued to decrease.
I also am looking forward to Paul going home and being able to visit him there. What a thing for us all to look forward to! Love to all of you form the St Louis Browns, you are in our prayers daily
Rebecca ("Mark's" Rebecca)
Good grief, I didn't proofread and I just now read all my missspppeliings. How awful!I should be in the bed. Hope tomorrow is as packed with joy as today! Love,
Rebecca
Hay Paul,
What wonderful news. We are so happy to know you have been moved to Sheppard. Your parents have asked us all to pray for this and it is so exciting to see this happen.
We are so glad that your first day went so well. The next few weeks will be tough, but we know they will be worth it. You have it in you to keep fighting!!
I hired a personal trainer in March to help me get into shape, (boy he didn’t know what he was getting into when he took me on as a client) and it was the best thing I ever did. A lot of hard work, but it paid off. I can't imagine how awesome it will be for you to have God as your personal trainer through the next few weeks. I am sure He will be right beside you through the think and thin. Just ask Him to assist you when the going gets tough and He will be right there with you.
We are so grateful for all the blessing God has shown us over the past few weeks.
Funny thing tonight, us not being Catholic, we are learning lots just from reading this blog. Our best friends, Jeff and Debby are Catholic, so when we have questions about something that we read, we just ask them to explain it to us.
Well, had another question tonight, so Jeff explained it to us and then brought over a book called, "The complete idiot's guide to understanding Catholicism" and lo and behold, the answer was in it, just like he explained it to us. Quite interesting I might say....
Keep up the fight. We are beside you all the way. We love you and are looking forward to seeing you this summer. After all, the girls still have VIP seats to a personal concert.
Love to you all,
Love, Aunt Debi
I am Andrew Gibson's friend and neighbor. I have had several encounters with Paul and his brother, Mike. In fact, it seems that every time I went to Waffle house (which was quite often), we were sure to talk to Paul for awhile. He is always so happy, and never lacks an entertaining story to tell.
I put a prayer for Paul in the box of my Air Force Detachment Chaplain at Baylor University prior to thanksgiving. I will make another for the recovery of his left side.
I've read every word on this blog after that faithful day. I have a feeling that life has a much sweeter taste for you now that God has blessed you with such a wonderful perspective. Paul is very lucky to have such a beautiful, loving family. God Bless you all.
-Jason Lowery
Well, I am certain the folks in the neuro intensive care at Gwinnett Medical were proud and happy to see you go. I also bet they miss you already!
So, the next adventure begins. I am just SO grateful for this blog, so we can all keep tabs on your progress and successes. I have heard nothing but rave reviews about Shepherd, including a story from a high school buddy of mine. Her mother was a patient at Shepherd in the mid 70's, in what she called the "prehistoric days" of brain & spinal care. Nonetheless, Shepherd helped her mom gain back not just stamina and physical abilities...but self confidence and a positive self image as well. You are in good hands, and I eagerly await all the progress reports.
Take good care of all of you!
Love,
Your neighbors...Connie and Ron
yeah!
Hey buddy, how's the new crib? Smells like a hospital still? Yeah, thats the price you have to pay to be a cool celebrity like yourself. I love you man, and I am here to tell ya how proud I am of you for not giving up. It just goes to show that the Fiddy's can dominate the entire world. We have the perfectly engineered genes for world domination. Not even a tree in the face at 40 mph can stop us!!!! But, my finals can, I just hope I pass. Hang in there, you're on your way out!
Respectfully,
J.V.
Hey, this is Star from Pauls' guitar class. I just wanted to tell Paul that I have been praying for him and that God has power over all things :)
Thinking of you,
Star*
Hey Paulie,
I am so excited you got to move to Shepard! Congratulations! Stay strong cuz! I am so proud of the strength you have shown so far and I know there is still so much more inside of you just waiting to come out and amaze us all. You are a miracle of God, and I(along with alot of other friends and family) thank him every day for being blessed to have you in our lives! I love you Paulie and I can't wait until you can have visitors so I can see you! I love you buddy! Stay strong and we will all keep praying for you, every day, every hour!!!
-Claire
Way to go Paul!!! You are a real fighter and a winner! We are so excited every day to read of your amazing journey. All of our masses, every prayer, every rosary, hours of adoration...all are offered up for you and your miraculous recovery Paul. Many people are coming to know the great love of our Father, his precious son, Our Lord Jesus and our Blessed Mother through your suffering Paul. It is so exciting to watch God at work! Thankyou Rebecca and Jon for sharing this powerful testimony with all of us. It has certainly strengthened our faith and given us hope for the future. I know this Christmas will be the best ever, full of joy and gratitude for our Savior. Reminds me of one of my favorite songs... To God be the Glory, great things He hath done!
much love, all the sheas in florida
Way to go Paul!!!!!!!
cool paul ceep it up.
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