I Say a Little Prayer for You

In these last few days, Paul has been kept busy with his brother James, who is going to stay with Paul all summer as his caregiver. I will be back at work full time the first week of June. When Paul understood we were trying to find someone to stay with him all day so I could get to work and keep my job, he kept asking James to stay with him. James had planned on working in Chicago this summer and had a job all lined up so he could earn the money needed to go to school in Austria this next Fall. After being home this last week, he decided that his brother really needs him and he wants to be as much help as possible, so he is staying home to work closely with Paul. He saw how helpful it was to Paul to have his brothers around him and how Paul's desire to work harder to recover increased so much. We are very happy James was able to work this out to be with Paul. It is definitely a win-win situation. Thanks be to God for this blessing.

One major change we noticed recently with Paul is his desire to pray for his own healing and for those around him. His friend Jonathan was visiting this week and Paul's head was really hurting, so he asked James, Jonathan and me to pray with him. He led us in the Our Father and then spoke of his special intention of having some relief in the pain. He then prayed for all of us present and thanked God for his family and friends. He also asked his Aunt Mary Beth to pray with him when he spoke to her on the cell phone. He has always joined us in prayers, but he is now asking us to stop and join him in prayers for his recovery and for thanking God.(He is very aware of his left eye and is starting to hate having the eye patch. He also is making comments about how he wishes his face wasn't paralyzed. He is now way more verbal about his physical appearance and his problems.) Last night, we were praying the rosary and after we were done, he hugged us all goodnight and after he hugged Michael, he said, "Mike, next time slow down when we pray. You aren't supposed to rush through it. And quit playing around with your rosary." Then this morning, we were at the emergency room and as the nurse was taking us to a room, we realized that a young man who had just been brought in moments before had died suddenly and his friends and family were grief stricken. When I started to pray the rosary for Paul a bit later, he reminded me to pray for the man who died.

I guess you are wondering why we were at the emergency room. I have been concerned for the past 2 days that Paul might have a problem with over draining of the ventricles, thus needing a possible surgery to fix it. His headaches seemed to be getting more severe and the Tylenol was not really helping him for very long. I called the doctor yesterday and was told to go to the ER when I asked if we could get a CT scan scheduled. It was in the afternoon and I know the ER is packed each day by the afternoon and did not want Paul to have to sit for over 12 hours as we waited. We went to bed early last night and got up at 3 AM so that we would not have the long wait. It only took 7 hours - believe me, that is a bonus - and we were told that the CT scan showed that the ventricles look fine and there is no over draining. That is very encouraging news. I have tried to do research about shunts to better understand the complications and to watch for the symptoms - but I totally guessed wrong this time. We don't know why the headaches are worse, but have an appointment on Monday with Dr. Ehirim.

I have to tell you though, my friend Sharon Nixon came by last night with some Pizza for the family and when I told her we would be going to the ER and that there was the possibility of another surgery,she suggested we all pray with Paul. There were 2 of the boy's friends at the house also, Karen and Brandon. We all gathered in a circle and prayed for the intercession of the Blessed Mother, Pope John Paul II and the angels and saints to pray with us for a healing of Paul's headaches and also for no need of surgery. After that, Sharon, Jon and I prayed over Paul after blessing him with holy water. Sharon prayed for our family to have peace of mind and trust that God was guiding us in the right direction. I know in my heart that God is with us always, but sometimes in my weariness, I lose trust and hope. Those moments spent in prayer with everyone in our home truly helped me. Prayer..........it does a heart good! When we were told that we could go home this morning, I immediately smiled as I thought about the powerfulness of prayer.

Paul has also started to really thank everyone for all that they are doing for him and as for the family, he has told us over and over how much he loves us. People may get thanked 3 - 4 times within a short period of time! It is not that he has forgotten, but he has become very conscious that people are doing things for him and he is very appreciative. He had a really big event on Wednesday evening. His friend Jonathan came by after work and picked him up to go over to the Tarantino's for dinner. Paul was fine with the idea until about an hour or so before Jonathan came. He said, "I think I will have to bail on Jonathan." I asked him why and he said, "I just really want to be with the family." I explained that Mrs. Tarantino probably had dinner just about ready and that it would be a good idea for Paul to get out of the house on his own and this was the perfect event to do that. He would be so comfortable with the Tarantino's and he would only be about 4 miles away. He said I was probably right and he went. Jon and I watched as Jonathan drove away and decided to use the time to run an errand. Paul was gone about an hour and a half, ate a good amount of food and really enjoyed himself. To get back to what I was saying about his thanking everyone alot, he told Jonathan (after Paul got back to our house) to thank his mother again. Then Paul said, "I'll just call her." He called Mrs. Tarantino and let her know he really appreciated all that she had done. I found out later that he had thanked her a bunch before he left their house!

James and Paul have started to do the upper body excercises to especially strengthen Paul's left side. James keeps after Paul to push himself a little harder, all the while joking around and keeping it light hearted. Paul has responded really well to this approach. It is terrific hearing Paul laughing so much. James has also started to read the bible with Paul everyday, using it as part of the speech therapy. Paul listens and then has to tell James what he thinks the passage is about. James and Michael now try to take Paul with them whenever they leave the house to help him feel more comfortable away from home and to help him gain more independence. To quote a commercial.........Oh, what a relief it is! This additional help is truly a tremendous relief to me and I feel better about going back to the office in a couple of weeks. I have the blessing of working only 3.9 miles from the office, so I can also be home each day for lunch. Isn't God just too wonderful??

So, we head into another weekend and with so many possibilities of additional 'firsts' for Paul. Like Paul, we want to thank you and thank you and thank you for all your prayers. I think I will pull out the Rand McNally Atlas and take a look where we might be now!

Peace in Jesus Christ to all of you.
Love,
Jon and Rebecca