12:25 PM
Paul was given vanilla pudding today to see if he could swallow. He did a great job, and was also asked to feed himself a spoonful. He did this very slowly, but well. He even used a napkin to wipe his mouth. He was able to say yes and no - no more than anthing else. Look out Sheperd Center, here he comes. You may have your hands full. Paul will have to work hard to get used to talking again. When asked to say good bye to the speech therapist, he would not do it. Finally he lifted his hand and gave a small wave. He has the voice box on still, but won't talk. He pointed to the reindeer today, for me to give it to him. It was at the bottom of the bed. I asked him to try to get it (hoping he could figure out a way to make it happen.) He didn't move, just kept his finger pointed at it. It was a standoff. Okay..........I won this round. He finally used his right foot to move it closer and then picked it up with his right hand. I was half expecting him to throw it at me!
They will sit him up in his chair in a little while. He will be faced toward the window, but he is pretty tired today. I am not sure it will be as big a thrill as I am thinking it might be.............smile.
We are not sure of the exact time Paul will go to Sheperd Center, but he will be taken by ambulance. His father will go with him. I will follow down with his personal belongings. He will be able to wear his regular loose fitting clothes. We were told we need to put up pictures of his family and can bring a couple of familiar things for him. We will provide pictures of him on this site once he settles in. Pictures will be after he gets a normal haircut!
Thank you for all the quotes from scripture that you have posted on the site. It always seems that the most perfect one is listed each day, and helps us to continue to keep our hearts and eyes focused on Jesus and the pathway we have been set upon.
You are all so wonderful and encouraging to Paul and our family. We will continue to print all this, to compile in a book form for Paul to read. There will be days he will need the inspirational things you have submitted to keep him from moments of despair or discouragement. What a great gift he will have, with your thoughts and prayers for him as a permanent record!
To all our family - We know how blessed Paul is with all his loving Aunts, Uncles and Cousins always calling and emailing and blogging- You are so good to us and we love you all.
To everyone, may the gifts of faith, hope and love be yours today and always -
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Can you say aahhh?
1:15 pm - Day 25
Today was as busy as I thought it would be and then some!
I was remembering the list the doctor brought with him the first night to remember all the things that happened to Paul. All the broken bones, comatose, head injury, torn lung, cut on spleen. And today, we are checking things off !! Way to go Paul!
He has remained off the ventilator, they have taken off another monitor that we called his ET light (red light on his finger) that monitored his oxygen. He has only the trach and if he does as well as he did today, it may be taken out in as little as 3 days.
The speech therapist was here first thing this morning because she didn't want to be last on the list of getting some work out of Paul. She put a vocal tube on his trach so he could talk. She asked him how many brothers he had, and he showed her 3 fingers. She asked him to state their names. Very faintly we heard Jon, Jim and Michael. I was so excited I could hardly stand it. She asked him if his head hurt, he said no, she asked if his arms or legs were hurting, he said no, she asked him if his lungs hurt, he said yes. He had been coughing a lot as she had set him up to talk, so he was very sore. His voice is faint, but it could be heard. He followed a number of her commands, but towards the end, didn't really want to cooperate. Then the occupational therapist took her turn. She got Paul to use a wash cloth and asked him to wash himself. He used it on his chest and his hand and arm! This showed he understood what she was telling him. She worked on his left arm and upper arm a lot today. She was able to get him to push up and down - although he is still very weak on the left side. He was also able to help push himself back up in the wheelchair, as he kept sliding down. There was good response on his right side, but the left leg was not utilized very well in the pushing effort. Also, I noticed he is still not moving the left side of his face. I will take that off the doctor's list and put it on God's, along with his eyesight. They are still adding antibiotics and salve to the left eye, which is still stitched closed for protection. The swelling on the side of his face from the surgery is not as bad, and his eye seems to be setting further back in as they had hoped it would do.
After we got him back into bed, he slept for an hour very deeply. He was awake when Matt Velkor came by to visit. I gave Paul a small football and asked if he could throw it to Matt. He did it 3 times and that was the end of that game. Not sure if he lost interest, or focus.
And I have saved the best for last.
PAUL WILL BE GOING TO SHEPERD SPINAL / BRAIN CENTER BY THURSDAY!!! They are going to start feeding him soft food (pudding) tomorrow to continue his swallowing therapy, and get him further along and ready for his transfer. Also, the catheter has been removed to help him gain control of his bladder/muscles. This may take up to 3 days. Like I said, we are making great progress checking things off that list made by the doctor on day one.
He is now listening to his favorite music, Dream Theatre, and his heart rate went down to 111 from 120. Life is good for Paul today.
May God bless you all with a more perfect love for Jesus, as was the love of our beloved Mother in Heaven, Virgin Mary.
Peace in Jesus Christ,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Today was as busy as I thought it would be and then some!
I was remembering the list the doctor brought with him the first night to remember all the things that happened to Paul. All the broken bones, comatose, head injury, torn lung, cut on spleen. And today, we are checking things off !! Way to go Paul!
He has remained off the ventilator, they have taken off another monitor that we called his ET light (red light on his finger) that monitored his oxygen. He has only the trach and if he does as well as he did today, it may be taken out in as little as 3 days.
The speech therapist was here first thing this morning because she didn't want to be last on the list of getting some work out of Paul. She put a vocal tube on his trach so he could talk. She asked him how many brothers he had, and he showed her 3 fingers. She asked him to state their names. Very faintly we heard Jon, Jim and Michael. I was so excited I could hardly stand it. She asked him if his head hurt, he said no, she asked if his arms or legs were hurting, he said no, she asked him if his lungs hurt, he said yes. He had been coughing a lot as she had set him up to talk, so he was very sore. His voice is faint, but it could be heard. He followed a number of her commands, but towards the end, didn't really want to cooperate. Then the occupational therapist took her turn. She got Paul to use a wash cloth and asked him to wash himself. He used it on his chest and his hand and arm! This showed he understood what she was telling him. She worked on his left arm and upper arm a lot today. She was able to get him to push up and down - although he is still very weak on the left side. He was also able to help push himself back up in the wheelchair, as he kept sliding down. There was good response on his right side, but the left leg was not utilized very well in the pushing effort. Also, I noticed he is still not moving the left side of his face. I will take that off the doctor's list and put it on God's, along with his eyesight. They are still adding antibiotics and salve to the left eye, which is still stitched closed for protection. The swelling on the side of his face from the surgery is not as bad, and his eye seems to be setting further back in as they had hoped it would do.
After we got him back into bed, he slept for an hour very deeply. He was awake when Matt Velkor came by to visit. I gave Paul a small football and asked if he could throw it to Matt. He did it 3 times and that was the end of that game. Not sure if he lost interest, or focus.
And I have saved the best for last.
PAUL WILL BE GOING TO SHEPERD SPINAL / BRAIN CENTER BY THURSDAY!!! They are going to start feeding him soft food (pudding) tomorrow to continue his swallowing therapy, and get him further along and ready for his transfer. Also, the catheter has been removed to help him gain control of his bladder/muscles. This may take up to 3 days. Like I said, we are making great progress checking things off that list made by the doctor on day one.
He is now listening to his favorite music, Dream Theatre, and his heart rate went down to 111 from 120. Life is good for Paul today.
May God bless you all with a more perfect love for Jesus, as was the love of our beloved Mother in Heaven, Virgin Mary.
Peace in Jesus Christ,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Boot Camp
I cannot help but be amazed and filled with awe at God's love for His children as I wake each new day of our family's new life. I have often wondered how people worked their way through sorrowful and sometimes very tragic circumstances. I would always thank God for not letting it happen to my family, because I could not in my wildest imagination picture me getting through it. And I was right. I could not have done this.........alone. I was terrified of anything like this happening because I had such a small concept of what God's love could do. He has shown our family that He truly is everywhere - in every person created and in the beauty of our world. We read what everyone is entering on this site, and are so assured that God is with each and everyone of us. This is not just for our family - it is for everyone to see that God is calling us all to a new life. In God's name, all is possible. Need some proof? Well then, here's some more proof that your prayers are being answered.
I stand corrected !!!! Paul did not take a week to get off the ventilator - he was taken off yesterday at 10:30 am. And the fun began. His heart rate had been up over 145 and they decided to see if he could go it alone. His heart rate is down to around 125-130 and by day's end, that is where it remained. So, they got him up and sat him on the side of the bed. He held his back very straight on his own, and they helped him hold his head up to strengthen the neck muscles. He has a soft neck collar on, which helped keep his head from dropping low once he could not hold his head up. The physical therapist had him bring out his right leg to where her foot was, then bring it back. She asked him to bring out his left leg, which he could not seem to do. She said she would let him lay back down if he could bring his left foot out. Paul did not have the strength to do that, but had the cognitive ability to solve the problem. He used his right foot to push his left foot forward! The therapist got a good laugh out of that and gave him points for problem solving, which was a better deal than strength in the left foot. It was another moment of triumph where I kept saying thank you God, thank you God! I cannot believe the joy I have been given in all of this. This very scenario was what I once considered to be a mother's nightmare..............having to watch your child try to come back from a debilitating injury. Yet I was filled with utter joy. My previous pain is being matched with my present joy. Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Yes Lord.
The speech therapist came in after they got Paul into his wheelchair. She told Paul that since he was doing so well, she would block the trach tube and let him breathe through his mouth. He didn't open his mouth, but breathed through his nose. He did not have to work any harder to do this. He was breathing on his own and not showing signs of distress. Then he was asked to try to say something. He did not seem to be interested in this. They will try again today, only they are going to work on his swallowing ability, and will bring an instrument that will allow Paul to speak and be heard. I can hardly wait - hope Paul is sharing this thought too! The therapist was not sure he was understanding what she was asking, so she had him distinguish between a shirt and a sock, and then a ball and a stuffed bear. To those who know about the bear...........it is Paul's from when he was a young child. BeBe is once again close by Paul's side. (He recognized the bear right away when we brought it in.) Paul was able to do all that she asked, and also used his fingers to show he understood her as she counted. She asked him to show her the number of fingers for each number she said. Then she asked what came after 4, he showed her 5 fingers. This lets her know he is understanding her and what she is asking so that today she can work harder to get him to use his vocal chords. These are all steps to the removal of the trach at some point down the road. Not sure when, and can't give an estimate, as it is up to Paul's ability to follow commands and attain a level of independence. Also it will depend on Paul's attitude - and he has shown some real attitude after repeated drills and requests. He'd never make it in the Army.
But I will help him understand the term 'the sooner, the better'. No pressure here Paul, just a bunch of people waiting to hear you speak! He was up for about 4 hours total, and was asked to do a lot of things. He was beat when they laid him back down.
Last week they brought some dogs in for therapy for the patients. They brought in a Pug for Paul to pet, but he wouldn't even look at the dog and closed his eye. The issue is - Paul loves his Golden Retriever Abby, and he likes a black lab that he saw everyday downtown while he was living in the dorms at GSU - he has never shown any interest in small dogs. He is extremely partial to bigger dogs, most especially goldens and labs. I noticed that they had a golden retriever out at the nurses station, so I asked them to bring that dog in. 'Misty' put her head on the bed and her paw and Paul immediately started to pet her and he even fed her a biscuit. We were told that we could bring in Abby for Paul, we just had to make an appointment and work out the logistics since she will need to be brought in through the fire escape. So that is something we will work out for Paul.
We went to visit Paul after dinner, and he was very tired. It was a big day and all the activity during the day should help him cycle back to sleeping at night.
Today, I am going to see if they can put his chair by his window so he can look at something other than the doorway to his room. I will try to find the time to update this in the afternoon - but each day is very hard to predict, as I don't know when the therapists will come.
So, here we are at day 25 and only 2 tubes left to get rid of, after getting rid of 6! Praise God and thanksgiving to all of you!
Love,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
I stand corrected !!!! Paul did not take a week to get off the ventilator - he was taken off yesterday at 10:30 am. And the fun began. His heart rate had been up over 145 and they decided to see if he could go it alone. His heart rate is down to around 125-130 and by day's end, that is where it remained. So, they got him up and sat him on the side of the bed. He held his back very straight on his own, and they helped him hold his head up to strengthen the neck muscles. He has a soft neck collar on, which helped keep his head from dropping low once he could not hold his head up. The physical therapist had him bring out his right leg to where her foot was, then bring it back. She asked him to bring out his left leg, which he could not seem to do. She said she would let him lay back down if he could bring his left foot out. Paul did not have the strength to do that, but had the cognitive ability to solve the problem. He used his right foot to push his left foot forward! The therapist got a good laugh out of that and gave him points for problem solving, which was a better deal than strength in the left foot. It was another moment of triumph where I kept saying thank you God, thank you God! I cannot believe the joy I have been given in all of this. This very scenario was what I once considered to be a mother's nightmare..............having to watch your child try to come back from a debilitating injury. Yet I was filled with utter joy. My previous pain is being matched with my present joy. Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Yes Lord.
The speech therapist came in after they got Paul into his wheelchair. She told Paul that since he was doing so well, she would block the trach tube and let him breathe through his mouth. He didn't open his mouth, but breathed through his nose. He did not have to work any harder to do this. He was breathing on his own and not showing signs of distress. Then he was asked to try to say something. He did not seem to be interested in this. They will try again today, only they are going to work on his swallowing ability, and will bring an instrument that will allow Paul to speak and be heard. I can hardly wait - hope Paul is sharing this thought too! The therapist was not sure he was understanding what she was asking, so she had him distinguish between a shirt and a sock, and then a ball and a stuffed bear. To those who know about the bear...........it is Paul's from when he was a young child. BeBe is once again close by Paul's side. (He recognized the bear right away when we brought it in.) Paul was able to do all that she asked, and also used his fingers to show he understood her as she counted. She asked him to show her the number of fingers for each number she said. Then she asked what came after 4, he showed her 5 fingers. This lets her know he is understanding her and what she is asking so that today she can work harder to get him to use his vocal chords. These are all steps to the removal of the trach at some point down the road. Not sure when, and can't give an estimate, as it is up to Paul's ability to follow commands and attain a level of independence. Also it will depend on Paul's attitude - and he has shown some real attitude after repeated drills and requests. He'd never make it in the Army.
But I will help him understand the term 'the sooner, the better'. No pressure here Paul, just a bunch of people waiting to hear you speak! He was up for about 4 hours total, and was asked to do a lot of things. He was beat when they laid him back down.
Last week they brought some dogs in for therapy for the patients. They brought in a Pug for Paul to pet, but he wouldn't even look at the dog and closed his eye. The issue is - Paul loves his Golden Retriever Abby, and he likes a black lab that he saw everyday downtown while he was living in the dorms at GSU - he has never shown any interest in small dogs. He is extremely partial to bigger dogs, most especially goldens and labs. I noticed that they had a golden retriever out at the nurses station, so I asked them to bring that dog in. 'Misty' put her head on the bed and her paw and Paul immediately started to pet her and he even fed her a biscuit. We were told that we could bring in Abby for Paul, we just had to make an appointment and work out the logistics since she will need to be brought in through the fire escape. So that is something we will work out for Paul.
We went to visit Paul after dinner, and he was very tired. It was a big day and all the activity during the day should help him cycle back to sleeping at night.
Today, I am going to see if they can put his chair by his window so he can look at something other than the doorway to his room. I will try to find the time to update this in the afternoon - but each day is very hard to predict, as I don't know when the therapists will come.
So, here we are at day 25 and only 2 tubes left to get rid of, after getting rid of 6! Praise God and thanksgiving to all of you!
Love,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Monday, December 05, 2005
Weekend Update
We were told that Paul would be groggy through most of Saturday, so we did not go to the hospital until early afternoon on Saturday. When we came into his room, he was very wide awake and we were told that he had actually been sitting up in the wheelchair for 3 hours. We were so disappointed to find out that we had missed this. The physical therapist had even come in and worked with him during that time.
My oldest son Jon brought a guitar and played for Paul for awhile. Then Jon held the guitar for Paul and asked Paul to play with his right hand and Jon would play the part of the left hand. Paul played a little bit and it appeared that he knew the song Jon had asked him to play. Paul's right hand had enough strength to play just a little bit, but his arm is still very weak. He cannot keep is arm lifted up. He can reach up to scratch his head, but it is a slow movement. The one thing that Paul did understand very well was when Jon mentioned that he looked cool with his shaved head. Unfortunately, I had not told anyone yet to NOT mention anything to Paul about his personal appearance. He is aware enough that something happened to cause him to be in the hospital, but his dad and I never go into detail other than to tell him that his coughing is due to the injury to his lungs and that we know the coughing is very painful. We encourage him to stay patient, everything is healing very well. We also encourage him to move his arms and legs, and have explained that he will be able to leave the hospital sooner if he can work to get strength back in his arms and legs. We concentrate on the areas that he can help himself improve. So when it was said out loud that his hair had been shaved, Paul seemed to become concerned about it. He wasn't interacting as well as before, and then he finally made the connection and he raised his arm slowly to his head and started to feel it, to make sense of what he had heard. We had to redirect his hand so he would not take the bandage off. They had a bandage over the large cut done across the top of his head. Later, the doctor came in and he checked the stitches, told us Paul was doing very well and he removed the bandaging. Again, Paul seemed very focused about what was going on with his head and continued to try to touch his head. I was so disappointed that anything had been mentioned, because Paul was now fixated with figuring out what happened to his head. He finally did reach up and he touched the front part of his head and felt that it was shaved. He then reached to the back of his head and felt that his hair that had not been shaved. I then tried to explain that he had a cut on his head that the doctor fixed and that they had to cut his hair. I focused on how it it will be so much easier to keep his hair clean if it is shorter. Of course, we don't know what is really going on in Paul's mind, but it is so important to help him focus on what he personally can be doing to help himself than confuse him with things that may even scare him. When we left, his heart rate was up to 152, and this is way too high. He had had too much exertion and activity. We did not go back to the hospital until Sunday at 1:00 pm. His heart rate was still around 145. He tries so hard to stay awake, and we stayed about an hour. Jon played the guitar softly and we kept it a low key visit. Last night, Jon and I went back up to the hospital and sat with him, did not talk much, just let him know we wanted to be with him for awhile. He actually started to watch the TV. It has been on in his room before, but he was not able to stay focused on it. Last night, he seemed to stay watching it for longer periods. Of course, we again do not know how much he comprehends. He knows his family and he remembers so much about music. That will be a key area that therapists will be able to help him recover motor skills and other various skills. He can read things we write on the Magna Doodle.
When we left, his heart rate was back down to 138. He is running a fever still, but his coughing was not as bad last night. The respiratory therapist said that he should be off the ventilator soon - again, that is a relative term and in hospital language, could mean a week! We have learned that anything short of a year for most of Paul's recovery will be awesome!
We have been asked about when people can visit. At this time, it is important to remember that Paul is recovering from a serious brain injury. The things he has accomplished seem monumental, but it takes hours of waiting to get a few great responses from Paul. He is also very weak and can catch anything from visitors. We will make sure to post a good time to start visiting Paul, but at this time, he is restricted to immediate family only. Please write him notes, as we read the comments on the blog to him. He stays intent on watching the computer when I sit by him and read these to him. I have also read the cards we have received to him. If you want to send pictures you think he will enjoy, please mail them to us or send it by email to fider0@mindspring.com. We always share this with Paul. The pictures can also be used by the therapists in helping him remember events and people. They will use it in physical therapy also. He will need to learn to do everything for himself again.
God bless to you and keep praying for Paul. we are now at WEEK 4, so give thanks to God for his wonderful ways and mercy.
I will update this blog later this afternoon after I have been able to get with the case manager for an over view of what will be coming next. I would imagine Paul will be moving out of ICU sometime in this week or beginning of next.
Love to you,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
My oldest son Jon brought a guitar and played for Paul for awhile. Then Jon held the guitar for Paul and asked Paul to play with his right hand and Jon would play the part of the left hand. Paul played a little bit and it appeared that he knew the song Jon had asked him to play. Paul's right hand had enough strength to play just a little bit, but his arm is still very weak. He cannot keep is arm lifted up. He can reach up to scratch his head, but it is a slow movement. The one thing that Paul did understand very well was when Jon mentioned that he looked cool with his shaved head. Unfortunately, I had not told anyone yet to NOT mention anything to Paul about his personal appearance. He is aware enough that something happened to cause him to be in the hospital, but his dad and I never go into detail other than to tell him that his coughing is due to the injury to his lungs and that we know the coughing is very painful. We encourage him to stay patient, everything is healing very well. We also encourage him to move his arms and legs, and have explained that he will be able to leave the hospital sooner if he can work to get strength back in his arms and legs. We concentrate on the areas that he can help himself improve. So when it was said out loud that his hair had been shaved, Paul seemed to become concerned about it. He wasn't interacting as well as before, and then he finally made the connection and he raised his arm slowly to his head and started to feel it, to make sense of what he had heard. We had to redirect his hand so he would not take the bandage off. They had a bandage over the large cut done across the top of his head. Later, the doctor came in and he checked the stitches, told us Paul was doing very well and he removed the bandaging. Again, Paul seemed very focused about what was going on with his head and continued to try to touch his head. I was so disappointed that anything had been mentioned, because Paul was now fixated with figuring out what happened to his head. He finally did reach up and he touched the front part of his head and felt that it was shaved. He then reached to the back of his head and felt that his hair that had not been shaved. I then tried to explain that he had a cut on his head that the doctor fixed and that they had to cut his hair. I focused on how it it will be so much easier to keep his hair clean if it is shorter. Of course, we don't know what is really going on in Paul's mind, but it is so important to help him focus on what he personally can be doing to help himself than confuse him with things that may even scare him. When we left, his heart rate was up to 152, and this is way too high. He had had too much exertion and activity. We did not go back to the hospital until Sunday at 1:00 pm. His heart rate was still around 145. He tries so hard to stay awake, and we stayed about an hour. Jon played the guitar softly and we kept it a low key visit. Last night, Jon and I went back up to the hospital and sat with him, did not talk much, just let him know we wanted to be with him for awhile. He actually started to watch the TV. It has been on in his room before, but he was not able to stay focused on it. Last night, he seemed to stay watching it for longer periods. Of course, we again do not know how much he comprehends. He knows his family and he remembers so much about music. That will be a key area that therapists will be able to help him recover motor skills and other various skills. He can read things we write on the Magna Doodle.
When we left, his heart rate was back down to 138. He is running a fever still, but his coughing was not as bad last night. The respiratory therapist said that he should be off the ventilator soon - again, that is a relative term and in hospital language, could mean a week! We have learned that anything short of a year for most of Paul's recovery will be awesome!
We have been asked about when people can visit. At this time, it is important to remember that Paul is recovering from a serious brain injury. The things he has accomplished seem monumental, but it takes hours of waiting to get a few great responses from Paul. He is also very weak and can catch anything from visitors. We will make sure to post a good time to start visiting Paul, but at this time, he is restricted to immediate family only. Please write him notes, as we read the comments on the blog to him. He stays intent on watching the computer when I sit by him and read these to him. I have also read the cards we have received to him. If you want to send pictures you think he will enjoy, please mail them to us or send it by email to fider0@mindspring.com. We always share this with Paul. The pictures can also be used by the therapists in helping him remember events and people. They will use it in physical therapy also. He will need to learn to do everything for himself again.
God bless to you and keep praying for Paul. we are now at WEEK 4, so give thanks to God for his wonderful ways and mercy.
I will update this blog later this afternoon after I have been able to get with the case manager for an over view of what will be coming next. I would imagine Paul will be moving out of ICU sometime in this week or beginning of next.
Love to you,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Friday, December 02, 2005
Things are shaping up!
We just got word from the plastic surgeon and neurosurgeon that the surgery to reform the bones around Paul's eye went well. They had to graft bone from his skull to reshape the lower orbital and they had to lift up the muscle on his cheek area. They also worked on the sinus cavity. They were able to finish this in about 4 1/2 hours, which was the time stated. So we didn't have any additional time of wondering and waiting - Praise be to God.
So here we are, exactly 3 weeks later. I started to reread the first blogs entered and I remember so well the sadness that permeated this waiting room. About this time 3 weeks ago, we were waiting to hear if Paul would even make it out of the emergency room alive. Our joy is so over the top tonight. Here is our beautiful son coming out of a successful surgery and today was looking at us and responding to us and the hope of his full recovery is so realistic! Please know that this is the answer of so many prayers said by so many faithful friends and family and loving people who have not even met us. That is something we are still so touched by.
Please continue to pray for the return of his vision. The surgeons said that they stayed clear of the eye, as they didn't want any more blood behind the eye. The cat scan showed there is a bone chip by the left eye. Nothing will be done about that at this time as it might cause more harm to the eye.
Enjoy your weekend and rejoice in all that is around you, knowing that we are rejoicing too. Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.
Love and thanksgiving to all of you,
The entire Fidero Family
So here we are, exactly 3 weeks later. I started to reread the first blogs entered and I remember so well the sadness that permeated this waiting room. About this time 3 weeks ago, we were waiting to hear if Paul would even make it out of the emergency room alive. Our joy is so over the top tonight. Here is our beautiful son coming out of a successful surgery and today was looking at us and responding to us and the hope of his full recovery is so realistic! Please know that this is the answer of so many prayers said by so many faithful friends and family and loving people who have not even met us. That is something we are still so touched by.
Please continue to pray for the return of his vision. The surgeons said that they stayed clear of the eye, as they didn't want any more blood behind the eye. The cat scan showed there is a bone chip by the left eye. Nothing will be done about that at this time as it might cause more harm to the eye.
Enjoy your weekend and rejoice in all that is around you, knowing that we are rejoicing too. Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.
Love and thanksgiving to all of you,
The entire Fidero Family
And Then the Girlfriend Walked In...
Paul has been more awake today, since his girlfriend Geneva is now here. It has been good to see him perk up today and her visit has been a blessing. He was not in a very good mood last night, not really responding to anything, nor interested in any attempt to pass the time doing anything that required effort.
I thought he would be like that today, but when Geneva came in, he was alert and started to try to make efforts to move his left side (which were pretty successful). He was able to actually squeeze my hand with his left hand. Not a hard squeeze, but more definitive than the attempt yesterday. His left leg is now moving much more than a few days ago.
I asked if he is doing better with the feeding tube directly in his stomach and was told he is. They did another x-ray on his shoulder and it is not showing any changes that would require surgery - will heal on its own in due time.
His left eye is a lot less swollen, but will remain stitched closed, to protect the cornea. In God's time and ways will we know the outcome of his vision.
He tried to write on the magna doodle, but again, the writing is too small to be legible. When we asked him to write it again, he drew an arrow from the bottom, and also an arrow from the top, both pointing to the word. We had said we could not see it, to please write it bigger. Instead he just used arrows. Probably thinking to himself "and you say I have the sight problem!" Again, a very Paul thing to do. Don't write it again..........use arrows to show us.
Geneva wrote down a question and then wrote down "yes or no," and he circled no, so he understands that that is another way to communicate. He understood what was being asked of him. Geneva's mother suggested we get a magnet board with magnet words and letters so he can spell things out - if he has that ability yet. I guess a trip to Toys R Us will be on the agenda!
I wanted to share a most beautiful story about one of the most touching stories of of huge faith. I heard from my niece yesterday that her boyfriend's grandmother,Margarita Benedit, who is 83 years old, has walked everyday to Christ the King Cathedral in Atlanta to light a candle in front of the Blessed Mother. This is not the amazing thing. It is the distance she walks to do this, which is a good long way. I have not had a chance to get the miles, but will try to include it in the next blog. She has not met our family, but since she heard about this from her family, she answered the call for prayer in a very loving and sacrificial way. My heart felt thanks to this sweet woman. I hope we can meet her soon.
I will send this now, as we are approaching the time for getting Paul ready for surgery. Will update this as soon as he comes out and we hear how it went. Which I have great faith will be good.
God bless you today in all ways,
Rebecca Fidero
I thought he would be like that today, but when Geneva came in, he was alert and started to try to make efforts to move his left side (which were pretty successful). He was able to actually squeeze my hand with his left hand. Not a hard squeeze, but more definitive than the attempt yesterday. His left leg is now moving much more than a few days ago.
I asked if he is doing better with the feeding tube directly in his stomach and was told he is. They did another x-ray on his shoulder and it is not showing any changes that would require surgery - will heal on its own in due time.
His left eye is a lot less swollen, but will remain stitched closed, to protect the cornea. In God's time and ways will we know the outcome of his vision.
He tried to write on the magna doodle, but again, the writing is too small to be legible. When we asked him to write it again, he drew an arrow from the bottom, and also an arrow from the top, both pointing to the word. We had said we could not see it, to please write it bigger. Instead he just used arrows. Probably thinking to himself "and you say I have the sight problem!" Again, a very Paul thing to do. Don't write it again..........use arrows to show us.
Geneva wrote down a question and then wrote down "yes or no," and he circled no, so he understands that that is another way to communicate. He understood what was being asked of him. Geneva's mother suggested we get a magnet board with magnet words and letters so he can spell things out - if he has that ability yet. I guess a trip to Toys R Us will be on the agenda!
I wanted to share a most beautiful story about one of the most touching stories of of huge faith. I heard from my niece yesterday that her boyfriend's grandmother,Margarita Benedit, who is 83 years old, has walked everyday to Christ the King Cathedral in Atlanta to light a candle in front of the Blessed Mother. This is not the amazing thing. It is the distance she walks to do this, which is a good long way. I have not had a chance to get the miles, but will try to include it in the next blog. She has not met our family, but since she heard about this from her family, she answered the call for prayer in a very loving and sacrificial way. My heart felt thanks to this sweet woman. I hope we can meet her soon.
I will send this now, as we are approaching the time for getting Paul ready for surgery. Will update this as soon as he comes out and we hear how it went. Which I have great faith will be good.
God bless you today in all ways,
Rebecca Fidero
Resting and Restrained.............
Paul must have shown too much attitude last night after I left, as he is in arm restraints this morning. He is letting everyone know he is done with the ventilator. They just woke him and the first thing said to Paul was "no, don't mess with that Paul." So much for the resting part............
They will take him out of the restraints since I am here, so I am on duty!! But what a joyful job it is.
This will be a quick note, but I am asking once more for a round of prayers, as he will have his plastic surgery at 2 pm today. Thank you so much for all those prayers. Look how far we've come! You are all so wonderful and we remain forever thankful.
Love to all,
Jon / Rebecca Fidero
They will take him out of the restraints since I am here, so I am on duty!! But what a joyful job it is.
This will be a quick note, but I am asking once more for a round of prayers, as he will have his plastic surgery at 2 pm today. Thank you so much for all those prayers. Look how far we've come! You are all so wonderful and we remain forever thankful.
Love to all,
Jon / Rebecca Fidero
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Best Birthday Gift Ever !
There is so much to tell today!
Last night, Paul's dad and brother (Jon and Mike) went to the hospital because they had purchased a Magna Doodle and wanted to see if we could find a way to communicate with Paul. Mike wrote HEY PAUL! with a smiley face. He showed it to Paul and Paul reached for the 'pen' and in script wrote what I believe was supposed to be Paul Fidero. It was totally legible except for the P, l and i, which Paul did dot correctly. The dot was directly over the i. Later Paul was holding one of the small stuffed animals which he has on the bed, for squeezing as therapy and also a distraction. Hi dad asked him to toss it to him and Paul did. So Jon asked him again to toss it and he did. Then Mike said "hey, throw it to me" which Paul did. They were both so excited when they got home, telling me what Paul had done.
I went into the room this morning very happy and said "Good morning Paul! Today is my birthday, and since you may not have a card for me, just give me a smile". He looked at me for a moment and I thought that he might not have understood, but then he gave me a smile. It was a small smile, but I as very happy. I noticed that he might have paralysis on the left side of his face, since only the right side of his mouth went into a smile. I will place that on the list of things I pray God will heal.
Later, they had him up in the straight backed wheelchair and I was just talking to him about what is going on in the family, and what time of year it is. The nurse came in and noticed that there is a small keyboard in the room, so she asked Paul to play it. He looked at her and the keyboard and did not respond. After she walked out I told Paul that I knew some of the things that were being asked of him was just to let us know how he was doing and if he understood us. I picked up the keyboard and said, "just let me know if you understand what I am asking and touch the note C". He used his first finger and showed me the C of all 3 octaves! I hugged him and hugged him. I told him that was the best birthday gift I have ever received!
He seemed to try to show me something and I felt so helpless as I did not know what he wanted. So I got the Magna Doodle and drew a body and asked if he was hurting, show me where. He drew a perfect arrow pointing to the shoulder. I moved the pillow that was being used to prop up his left arm (due to the broken scapula). I asked if he was okay, and he then drew a large dot on the figure, right where his lung is. I explained to him that he had hit his head and had bruised his lung badly, drawing on the figure to show him where. He listened very intently as I explained in very general terms what happened to him, pointed to his legs and arms saying they were not broken, and then explained about the tube for his lungs. He seemed to understand. I told him not to be upset or discouraged. A nurse came in and told Paul that he was truly a miracle child. I let him know that what he has done in 5 days can take others a month. I asked him to keep working hard and to try to move his legs and arms so they gain their strength back. His left foot fell off the foot rest, and he was almost able to bring it back to the foot rest. He moved it too far forward, but he lifted it high enough. After a while longer he had to be put back into bed, as his heart rate was up and his right leg was shaking a little bit.
When I left this afternoon, the therapists were back to get him to sit on the side of the bed. He needs to be up as often as possible to help keep bed sores from occuring and also to build his strength. It also helps his lungs to be upright.
We will be back with him after dinner, so if he is not too tired from the day, I might get the 'icing on the cake' with other fantastic signs of his recovery!
It is a shame there is no word that explains how awesome our God is or the abundance of love that He gives to each of us. I have tried to think of some way to let everyone I know just what we are feeling and experiencing - but it is all too HUGE to describe. Just take time to listen and to see all the goodness of the Lord. I will liken it to standing in the rain with your umbrella over you. The graces are pouring down all around us everyday, but we are often just too worried about getting wet! God let us get soaked this time!!
May all of your birthdays be as wonderful as mine was today.
Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
Love,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Last night, Paul's dad and brother (Jon and Mike) went to the hospital because they had purchased a Magna Doodle and wanted to see if we could find a way to communicate with Paul. Mike wrote HEY PAUL! with a smiley face. He showed it to Paul and Paul reached for the 'pen' and in script wrote what I believe was supposed to be Paul Fidero. It was totally legible except for the P, l and i, which Paul did dot correctly. The dot was directly over the i. Later Paul was holding one of the small stuffed animals which he has on the bed, for squeezing as therapy and also a distraction. Hi dad asked him to toss it to him and Paul did. So Jon asked him again to toss it and he did. Then Mike said "hey, throw it to me" which Paul did. They were both so excited when they got home, telling me what Paul had done.
I went into the room this morning very happy and said "Good morning Paul! Today is my birthday, and since you may not have a card for me, just give me a smile". He looked at me for a moment and I thought that he might not have understood, but then he gave me a smile. It was a small smile, but I as very happy. I noticed that he might have paralysis on the left side of his face, since only the right side of his mouth went into a smile. I will place that on the list of things I pray God will heal.
Later, they had him up in the straight backed wheelchair and I was just talking to him about what is going on in the family, and what time of year it is. The nurse came in and noticed that there is a small keyboard in the room, so she asked Paul to play it. He looked at her and the keyboard and did not respond. After she walked out I told Paul that I knew some of the things that were being asked of him was just to let us know how he was doing and if he understood us. I picked up the keyboard and said, "just let me know if you understand what I am asking and touch the note C". He used his first finger and showed me the C of all 3 octaves! I hugged him and hugged him. I told him that was the best birthday gift I have ever received!
He seemed to try to show me something and I felt so helpless as I did not know what he wanted. So I got the Magna Doodle and drew a body and asked if he was hurting, show me where. He drew a perfect arrow pointing to the shoulder. I moved the pillow that was being used to prop up his left arm (due to the broken scapula). I asked if he was okay, and he then drew a large dot on the figure, right where his lung is. I explained to him that he had hit his head and had bruised his lung badly, drawing on the figure to show him where. He listened very intently as I explained in very general terms what happened to him, pointed to his legs and arms saying they were not broken, and then explained about the tube for his lungs. He seemed to understand. I told him not to be upset or discouraged. A nurse came in and told Paul that he was truly a miracle child. I let him know that what he has done in 5 days can take others a month. I asked him to keep working hard and to try to move his legs and arms so they gain their strength back. His left foot fell off the foot rest, and he was almost able to bring it back to the foot rest. He moved it too far forward, but he lifted it high enough. After a while longer he had to be put back into bed, as his heart rate was up and his right leg was shaking a little bit.
When I left this afternoon, the therapists were back to get him to sit on the side of the bed. He needs to be up as often as possible to help keep bed sores from occuring and also to build his strength. It also helps his lungs to be upright.
We will be back with him after dinner, so if he is not too tired from the day, I might get the 'icing on the cake' with other fantastic signs of his recovery!
It is a shame there is no word that explains how awesome our God is or the abundance of love that He gives to each of us. I have tried to think of some way to let everyone I know just what we are feeling and experiencing - but it is all too HUGE to describe. Just take time to listen and to see all the goodness of the Lord. I will liken it to standing in the rain with your umbrella over you. The graces are pouring down all around us everyday, but we are often just too worried about getting wet! God let us get soaked this time!!
May all of your birthdays be as wonderful as mine was today.
Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
Love,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Rock on Paul
First of all, I am sorry about the delay getting this posted. The problem is that if I don't get the posting sent in a few minutes, the connection through the hospital internet is dropped and I lose everything I wrote. I have lost my post 2 times today.
So here is another try.
Last night Jon and I went to see Paul from 8-10 pm. The ICU is closed everyday from 6-8 AM and PM for the changing of staff. We came into the room and Paul was wide awake and not fidgeting with his tubes. Just looking around. Jon got to the side of him and said "Hi Paul, it's Paps." (This is the name Paul gave him)
Paul was lookiing intently at him, and Jon asked Paul to give a thumbs up if he knew who it was. Paul continued to look hard at him, but did nothing in the way of movement. At first I was disappointed for Jon, then thought about how much Paul seems to hate that being asked of him. All day long, they say "Paul, give me a thumbs up for yes". So I told Jon to ask him to do something else to let him know he knew who it was. So Jon gave the sign he and Paul do for Rock On, which is a hand sign most people know - you put your middle 2 fingers down on your palm and hold the thumb, first finger and little finger up. Paul immediately gave him the Rock On sign. Jon and I burst out laughing and hugged Paul. It showed that he not only understood, but had the ability to do it well - it was not a modified attempt - it was very clearly the Rock On sign. Another big triumph for the day.
My cell phone rang, so I showed Paul what was ringing, and opened it so he could see the display. I said, "it is your brother Jon". I asked Jon to talk to Paul, and I placed the cell phone to his ear and Paul listened very intently. Paul then looked up at me, and so I checked to see if Jon was still talking and he wasn't.
Also, we told Paul that the sooner he starts to move his left arm and leg, the sooner we could get him out of there. He moved his left leg as best he could, which showed he understood. We wrote the words YES and NO on a notebook and I asked Paul to use the pen to point to either word to answer my questions. I asked him if he was hurting and he took the pen and actually tried to write something. Because it was a pen, and the pad of paper was not on his lap, he wasn't able to really write anything. I was thrilled he knew WHAT to do with the pen. We are going to get him a Magna Doodle to use to try to communicate. It will take more coordination than he has now, but it will be a start for him.
Today was rather slow. No therapy because they were going to take Paul to get a cat scan to see why he is not really digesting his food. We still seem to have a problem with food going directly into the stomach. He needed medication that made him very drowsy, so he didn't have a lot of response today.
Please pray for a simple solution to the issue of digestion. We don't want to have to do a surgery as that will cause a long delay in recovery for Paul.
I decided to play the music Paul recorded with his band Hind Sight, to try to get some reaction from him. He did open his eyes after awhile and he started to move his right leg like he was keeping time. Then the great part was, he started to really move his left leg. I saw him move his left leg more than ever before so I continued to play that music for about 30 minutes. He started to have trouble with lots of coughing, so I turned the music off. He really responds to music though. On Monday, he seemed a bit agitated, and I realized the music that was not normally what he listens to. I changed it to Dream Theatre and he settled down and fell asleep. Music will most likely be the key to getting him to new levels. He responds so visibly to music. And it is what woke him up!
Richard Watson came by today and he had read the site and he then brought DTSI hats to the room and some shirts for the brothers !! It is these kinds of sweet and charitable deeds that make us cry at the outpouring of love for our family. It is so huge a thing for us, we just can't grasp it all. We talk about everyone's response to our call for help in the way of prayers, more than we talk about what happened to Paul! Sorry about when you read this Paul, but it was not just about you dearest! We sit in utter amazement how God is weaving such a huge tapestry with all of these moments of brothers and sisters in Christ sharing their faith. I keep hearing about people's faith stories, from the nurses and friends and people who don't know us, but are staying in touch. I can promise you this - it is all about God. He has taken a simple, obscure family, and has managed to reach so many people with his loving acts of mercy. He is talking to us all - please take time to sit and listen to what He is asking of you. This event is your proof that He will sustain you in all things. He will guide you, provide all the necessary graces and will show you the fruits of your labor. The truth has been borne out in all of this.
Next step: we are waiting for the plastic surgery to be scheduled. The plastic surgeon and neurosurgeon will be together during this, so they are coordinating their available times with the operating room schedules. It will be Friday or Monday. After that, the next effort is to get Paul off the ventilator. That will be an important step for him. Until he is off the vent, the trach stays in place, which means Paul can't communicate verbally, at least not easily. His neck is still in a soft brace, so he doesn't move his head alot and he doesn't lift his head up or down. So he is limited to the range of vision basically in front of him. Lots of things going on that hinder the rehab process.
As you can see, we have a long pathway, but your prayers will keep Paul on this pathway. Please don't think your prayer doesn't mean much. It all adds up. It reminds me of a saying I heard a long time ago - watch out for the dimes and nickels, they add up to dollars. Paul won the lottery!!
God bless all of you in all ways, through the intercession of our dearest Mother in Heaven (and I can personally say, I have felt her constant presence throughout all of this.) On to tomorrow, where again I will say, THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT.
Love to you,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
So here is another try.
Last night Jon and I went to see Paul from 8-10 pm. The ICU is closed everyday from 6-8 AM and PM for the changing of staff. We came into the room and Paul was wide awake and not fidgeting with his tubes. Just looking around. Jon got to the side of him and said "Hi Paul, it's Paps." (This is the name Paul gave him)
Paul was lookiing intently at him, and Jon asked Paul to give a thumbs up if he knew who it was. Paul continued to look hard at him, but did nothing in the way of movement. At first I was disappointed for Jon, then thought about how much Paul seems to hate that being asked of him. All day long, they say "Paul, give me a thumbs up for yes". So I told Jon to ask him to do something else to let him know he knew who it was. So Jon gave the sign he and Paul do for Rock On, which is a hand sign most people know - you put your middle 2 fingers down on your palm and hold the thumb, first finger and little finger up. Paul immediately gave him the Rock On sign. Jon and I burst out laughing and hugged Paul. It showed that he not only understood, but had the ability to do it well - it was not a modified attempt - it was very clearly the Rock On sign. Another big triumph for the day.
My cell phone rang, so I showed Paul what was ringing, and opened it so he could see the display. I said, "it is your brother Jon". I asked Jon to talk to Paul, and I placed the cell phone to his ear and Paul listened very intently. Paul then looked up at me, and so I checked to see if Jon was still talking and he wasn't.
Also, we told Paul that the sooner he starts to move his left arm and leg, the sooner we could get him out of there. He moved his left leg as best he could, which showed he understood. We wrote the words YES and NO on a notebook and I asked Paul to use the pen to point to either word to answer my questions. I asked him if he was hurting and he took the pen and actually tried to write something. Because it was a pen, and the pad of paper was not on his lap, he wasn't able to really write anything. I was thrilled he knew WHAT to do with the pen. We are going to get him a Magna Doodle to use to try to communicate. It will take more coordination than he has now, but it will be a start for him.
Today was rather slow. No therapy because they were going to take Paul to get a cat scan to see why he is not really digesting his food. We still seem to have a problem with food going directly into the stomach. He needed medication that made him very drowsy, so he didn't have a lot of response today.
Please pray for a simple solution to the issue of digestion. We don't want to have to do a surgery as that will cause a long delay in recovery for Paul.
I decided to play the music Paul recorded with his band Hind Sight, to try to get some reaction from him. He did open his eyes after awhile and he started to move his right leg like he was keeping time. Then the great part was, he started to really move his left leg. I saw him move his left leg more than ever before so I continued to play that music for about 30 minutes. He started to have trouble with lots of coughing, so I turned the music off. He really responds to music though. On Monday, he seemed a bit agitated, and I realized the music that was not normally what he listens to. I changed it to Dream Theatre and he settled down and fell asleep. Music will most likely be the key to getting him to new levels. He responds so visibly to music. And it is what woke him up!
Richard Watson came by today and he had read the site and he then brought DTSI hats to the room and some shirts for the brothers !! It is these kinds of sweet and charitable deeds that make us cry at the outpouring of love for our family. It is so huge a thing for us, we just can't grasp it all. We talk about everyone's response to our call for help in the way of prayers, more than we talk about what happened to Paul! Sorry about when you read this Paul, but it was not just about you dearest! We sit in utter amazement how God is weaving such a huge tapestry with all of these moments of brothers and sisters in Christ sharing their faith. I keep hearing about people's faith stories, from the nurses and friends and people who don't know us, but are staying in touch. I can promise you this - it is all about God. He has taken a simple, obscure family, and has managed to reach so many people with his loving acts of mercy. He is talking to us all - please take time to sit and listen to what He is asking of you. This event is your proof that He will sustain you in all things. He will guide you, provide all the necessary graces and will show you the fruits of your labor. The truth has been borne out in all of this.
Next step: we are waiting for the plastic surgery to be scheduled. The plastic surgeon and neurosurgeon will be together during this, so they are coordinating their available times with the operating room schedules. It will be Friday or Monday. After that, the next effort is to get Paul off the ventilator. That will be an important step for him. Until he is off the vent, the trach stays in place, which means Paul can't communicate verbally, at least not easily. His neck is still in a soft brace, so he doesn't move his head alot and he doesn't lift his head up or down. So he is limited to the range of vision basically in front of him. Lots of things going on that hinder the rehab process.
As you can see, we have a long pathway, but your prayers will keep Paul on this pathway. Please don't think your prayer doesn't mean much. It all adds up. It reminds me of a saying I heard a long time ago - watch out for the dimes and nickels, they add up to dollars. Paul won the lottery!!
God bless all of you in all ways, through the intercession of our dearest Mother in Heaven (and I can personally say, I have felt her constant presence throughout all of this.) On to tomorrow, where again I will say, THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT.
Love to you,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Hats off to Paul
I did forget to add one important thing that happened today with Paul.
From very early on in Paul's life, I told people that my son Paul seemed to walk to the beat of a different drummer. Every once in awhile we would think we finally figured out the beat, only to find that it had once again changed.
So today, when he seemed somewhat sluggish in his attempts to obey commands, I figured that with the medicine received earlier, it would be a quiet day. Slowly, Paul started in again trying to get his tubes disconnected, so I gave him the baseball hat that he received from his boss Mr. Watson. He fidgeted with it a minute, but I could tell he wasn't really interested. So I told him he ought to try putting it on. It appeared he was preoccupied with something else when I said this to him, so I turned my back to put on some of his favorite music. When I turned back, he lifted the hat to his head and placed it on top of his head. I was so excited that he knew what to do. It was not pulled down on his head, just placed on top. So we will work on that next, but it was so exciting to see he knew what I had said and had tried to do it. He also recognized his Aunt Bev and gave her a 'thumbs up' sign. It's so amazing how my thinking has changed in the last week. I wanted Paul to recover fully and pictured it happening. What I didn't realize we would have is all the happy moments we have ahead of us as we help Paul regain whatever God wills for him. Each successful effort will feel so triumphant.
I came across this statement by John Paul II:
"Jesus Christ has taken the lead on the way of the cross. He has suffered first. He does not drive us toward suffering but shares it with us, wanting us to have life and to have it in abundance".
We continue to pray that all of you will have a life in abundance, as we celebrate the abundance of His Love in our lives.
Peace in Christ to everyone!
Love, Jon & Rebecca Fidero
From very early on in Paul's life, I told people that my son Paul seemed to walk to the beat of a different drummer. Every once in awhile we would think we finally figured out the beat, only to find that it had once again changed.
So today, when he seemed somewhat sluggish in his attempts to obey commands, I figured that with the medicine received earlier, it would be a quiet day. Slowly, Paul started in again trying to get his tubes disconnected, so I gave him the baseball hat that he received from his boss Mr. Watson. He fidgeted with it a minute, but I could tell he wasn't really interested. So I told him he ought to try putting it on. It appeared he was preoccupied with something else when I said this to him, so I turned my back to put on some of his favorite music. When I turned back, he lifted the hat to his head and placed it on top of his head. I was so excited that he knew what to do. It was not pulled down on his head, just placed on top. So we will work on that next, but it was so exciting to see he knew what I had said and had tried to do it. He also recognized his Aunt Bev and gave her a 'thumbs up' sign. It's so amazing how my thinking has changed in the last week. I wanted Paul to recover fully and pictured it happening. What I didn't realize we would have is all the happy moments we have ahead of us as we help Paul regain whatever God wills for him. Each successful effort will feel so triumphant.
I came across this statement by John Paul II:
"Jesus Christ has taken the lead on the way of the cross. He has suffered first. He does not drive us toward suffering but shares it with us, wanting us to have life and to have it in abundance".
We continue to pray that all of you will have a life in abundance, as we celebrate the abundance of His Love in our lives.
Peace in Christ to everyone!
Love, Jon & Rebecca Fidero
PAUL LEARNS THE RULES OF THIS GAME
When I got to his room this morning, I thought to myself, oh good, they put in the feeding peg in his stomach already'. I commented on how good it was to see Paul's whole face. The nurse said that Paul finally managed to pull out the tube that feeds him and that he was not a happy camper this morning. He had to receive some medicine to sedate him. So when Paul woke up, my first quetion was "I guess you are hungry about now,right?"
He did not do well with the therapists today, as he was still a bit groggy and he really does seem to be wandering mentally. This will be a down day for him since they are just now doing the feeding tube in the stomach, which will require more sedation. We should hear today about when he will have the plastic surgery. I asked the occupational therapist how long after that surgery would the regular therapy start and she said only a couple days. I was wondering how long it will set us back with progress. Yes, God answered my prayers about learning to be patient, and more prayerful in my life, and more giving. And amazingly I have been able to happily say Thanks be to God. Jon and I both are so thankful that God has brought us a greater awareness of his tremendous love for all of us. Each one of you have played a very important part in our ability to keep saying YES LORD and not be wrenched in fear. There is no humanly way possible that we have been able to keep rejoicing in all His wonderous deeds. It is a direct gift of the prayers being offered for our family. We have asked God to bless each of you with great graces, so that we, as your brother and sister in Christ can lift you up also in all your needs.
Please pray for Paul's upcoming plastic surgery. May God lead the hands of the surgeon and the nurses. Praise be God for them all.
Love,
Rebecca Fidero
He did not do well with the therapists today, as he was still a bit groggy and he really does seem to be wandering mentally. This will be a down day for him since they are just now doing the feeding tube in the stomach, which will require more sedation. We should hear today about when he will have the plastic surgery. I asked the occupational therapist how long after that surgery would the regular therapy start and she said only a couple days. I was wondering how long it will set us back with progress. Yes, God answered my prayers about learning to be patient, and more prayerful in my life, and more giving. And amazingly I have been able to happily say Thanks be to God. Jon and I both are so thankful that God has brought us a greater awareness of his tremendous love for all of us. Each one of you have played a very important part in our ability to keep saying YES LORD and not be wrenched in fear. There is no humanly way possible that we have been able to keep rejoicing in all His wonderous deeds. It is a direct gift of the prayers being offered for our family. We have asked God to bless each of you with great graces, so that we, as your brother and sister in Christ can lift you up also in all your needs.
Please pray for Paul's upcoming plastic surgery. May God lead the hands of the surgeon and the nurses. Praise be God for them all.
Love,
Rebecca Fidero
Monday, November 28, 2005
This goes in the book of miracles.............
That is the statement I heard from the nurse today when I walked into Paul's room. The pulmonologist looked at me this morning and said, "this is a miracle". Two other nurses have said the same thing. I believe it is not presumptious to say IT IS A MIRACLE.
And then the fun began.............
Paul was put into a chair today, and they removed the ventilator for awhile. The physical therapist came and worked on his legs and arms, showing me what they will be doing and what we can do to help him. Then, while he was still in the chair, the occupational therapist came in and worked with Paul to see what commands he would follow. He did well and was able to do most of the things they asked him to do. He was then seen by the speech therapist. He was very tired at this point and had had the ventilator off. He got a 19 out of 23 and anything over 15 is good. He was able to swallow water and he chewed an ice chip. They tested his vocal chords, and we heard him just a little bit, but he was also having some respiratory issues at the same time. He was soaking wet from sweating through all of this. I can well imagine that his first shower will be the best one of his life time! He was also trying to pull out the vent tube, and at one point, I needed a nurse to help me get him to let go of the one for his feeding, which is currently going in through his nose. He has let us know he does not want the tubes in him. He also got mad enough today to toss the little stuffed animal they had placed in his hand to keep him from pulling the tubes. He lifted the reindeer up, looked at it and then tossed it to the side and started to immediately reach for the ventilator tube that goes into the trach. We were glad to see an emotion.
He was graded at a level 3, and is also doing just a couple things that would be more of a level 4. The next level will be the toughest level for him, in that it is a time of being easily agitated resulting in over reactions in behavior and speech. It should last no longer than 1-2 weeks. Not a good time to visit, except for those who love him. It made me smile as I have told Paul a couple of times that he can test the patience of Job and only a mother could love him. Keep Geneva, his girlfriend, in your prayers during this period we will be going into! After this stage the real rehab will begin, which will be a level 5. We will be discussing the location Paul will go to from here, but we are unsure of the time frame. That is because they may do the plastic surgery soon, which will delay some things while Paul recovers from the surgery. We ask that you pray hard for the right decision to be made about this. We will probably ask for a second opinion, as we don't want to jeopardize any possibility of Paul's vision recovering.
His boss, Mr Watson, brought a DTSI baseball cap and we gave that to Paul to hold to keep his hands off the tubes. It worked and Paul finally has fallen back asleep, which is the reason I can finally get the message out. He stays awake a lot more than I thought he would. But he had quite a work out today, being in the chair for about 2 1/2 hours and having 3 different therapists working with him. He had been sitting yesterday for only about 25 minutes. After all this work, they did put him back on the ventilator as he was struggling just a little bit. Hopefully, he will be able to handle it tomorrow and will be able to stay breathing on his own.
Please keep praying for the doctors and nurses who work here. They have been doing a great job and they have been very kind to our family. Thank God Paul has been in good hands, - but then again, we prayed that God take over on that first night and it has happened. He is working through all these great people. Yep, this is definitely God's story.
Peace to you in this day, in all ways,
Love, Rebecca Fidero
And then the fun began.............
Paul was put into a chair today, and they removed the ventilator for awhile. The physical therapist came and worked on his legs and arms, showing me what they will be doing and what we can do to help him. Then, while he was still in the chair, the occupational therapist came in and worked with Paul to see what commands he would follow. He did well and was able to do most of the things they asked him to do. He was then seen by the speech therapist. He was very tired at this point and had had the ventilator off. He got a 19 out of 23 and anything over 15 is good. He was able to swallow water and he chewed an ice chip. They tested his vocal chords, and we heard him just a little bit, but he was also having some respiratory issues at the same time. He was soaking wet from sweating through all of this. I can well imagine that his first shower will be the best one of his life time! He was also trying to pull out the vent tube, and at one point, I needed a nurse to help me get him to let go of the one for his feeding, which is currently going in through his nose. He has let us know he does not want the tubes in him. He also got mad enough today to toss the little stuffed animal they had placed in his hand to keep him from pulling the tubes. He lifted the reindeer up, looked at it and then tossed it to the side and started to immediately reach for the ventilator tube that goes into the trach. We were glad to see an emotion.
He was graded at a level 3, and is also doing just a couple things that would be more of a level 4. The next level will be the toughest level for him, in that it is a time of being easily agitated resulting in over reactions in behavior and speech. It should last no longer than 1-2 weeks. Not a good time to visit, except for those who love him. It made me smile as I have told Paul a couple of times that he can test the patience of Job and only a mother could love him. Keep Geneva, his girlfriend, in your prayers during this period we will be going into! After this stage the real rehab will begin, which will be a level 5. We will be discussing the location Paul will go to from here, but we are unsure of the time frame. That is because they may do the plastic surgery soon, which will delay some things while Paul recovers from the surgery. We ask that you pray hard for the right decision to be made about this. We will probably ask for a second opinion, as we don't want to jeopardize any possibility of Paul's vision recovering.
His boss, Mr Watson, brought a DTSI baseball cap and we gave that to Paul to hold to keep his hands off the tubes. It worked and Paul finally has fallen back asleep, which is the reason I can finally get the message out. He stays awake a lot more than I thought he would. But he had quite a work out today, being in the chair for about 2 1/2 hours and having 3 different therapists working with him. He had been sitting yesterday for only about 25 minutes. After all this work, they did put him back on the ventilator as he was struggling just a little bit. Hopefully, he will be able to handle it tomorrow and will be able to stay breathing on his own.
Please keep praying for the doctors and nurses who work here. They have been doing a great job and they have been very kind to our family. Thank God Paul has been in good hands, - but then again, we prayed that God take over on that first night and it has happened. He is working through all these great people. Yep, this is definitely God's story.
Peace to you in this day, in all ways,
Love, Rebecca Fidero
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Sit up and be counted........
They got Paul out of bed today and sitting in a straight back chair. He did not look at all comfortable, but he was moving his right side and seemed to be trying to figure out where he was. The struggle for him was very apparent, as he was sweating profusely. He stayed awake the whole 20-25 minutes, but after he was put back into bed, he slept very soundly. Getting him up is very beneficial for his lungs as it helps in the healing process. He had a few moments of real struggle when the respiratory therapist came in to help him clear his lungs. It's the worst part of Paul's day. We have heard that he will probably not remember any of his stay at Gwinnett Medical Center, and this is a true blessing from God. The pain he has endured as they move him with all his broken bones, the work on clearing his lungs, not to mention all the rides down to radiology, are good things to forget!
I was sent the message from Our Blessed Mother's message in Medjugorje and it made me smile. It is entered here for you also to read.
Medjugorje Message - November 25, 2005
“Dear children! Also today I call you to pray, pray, pray until prayer becomes life for you. Little children, at this time, in a special way, I pray before God to give you the gift of faith. Only in faith will you discover the joy of the gift of life that God has given you. Your heart will be joyful thinking of eternity. I am with you and love you with a tender love. Thank you for having responded to my call"
Our family has learned most especially that we always need to respond to God's call and that He will grace us with His blessings and love. By our responding with the same Yes as Blessed Mary to His call, we then radiate His Glory. We pray that this will not be forgotten by any of us.
We also want to thank today all the priests who have come to bless Paul in these last 2 weeks. How blessed our city is to have such AWESOME priests. God bless Fr. Paddy, pastor of St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic church, Fr. Jack Durkin, Chaplain at St. Pius Catholic High School and Fr. Kevin Peek, Chaplain at Blessed Trinity Catholic High School. Their loving and quick response to all of our spiritual needs is another wonderous gift of this "Miracle Season".
Peace in Christ today,
Love
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
I was sent the message from Our Blessed Mother's message in Medjugorje and it made me smile. It is entered here for you also to read.
Medjugorje Message - November 25, 2005
“Dear children! Also today I call you to pray, pray, pray until prayer becomes life for you. Little children, at this time, in a special way, I pray before God to give you the gift of faith. Only in faith will you discover the joy of the gift of life that God has given you. Your heart will be joyful thinking of eternity. I am with you and love you with a tender love. Thank you for having responded to my call"
Our family has learned most especially that we always need to respond to God's call and that He will grace us with His blessings and love. By our responding with the same Yes as Blessed Mary to His call, we then radiate His Glory. We pray that this will not be forgotten by any of us.
We also want to thank today all the priests who have come to bless Paul in these last 2 weeks. How blessed our city is to have such AWESOME priests. God bless Fr. Paddy, pastor of St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic church, Fr. Jack Durkin, Chaplain at St. Pius Catholic High School and Fr. Kevin Peek, Chaplain at Blessed Trinity Catholic High School. Their loving and quick response to all of our spiritual needs is another wonderous gift of this "Miracle Season".
Peace in Christ today,
Love
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Dream Theatre
Today at church, Fr. Paddy made an announcement before Mass that Paul Fidero was awake and responding to commands. We heard the people around us quietly respond "Praise be to God" or "Thank God" and it made us tear up, to hear that people were happy like we are. After Mass, there were people who stayed and prayed the Glorious Mysteries. It is still wondrously amazing that so many people really care! We find ourselves saying Thanks Be to God so much during the day for all these signs of God's great love and mercy. God's love is always there, we are just so blessed to be made so much more aware of it. It is a gift from our loving Father in heaven. We got our Christmas gifts early this year.
We are sitting with Paul, and we are not really sure if he knows us today or not. He seems to be going in and out of a very deep sleep. He looks at us and we can tell he isn't really focused on us. It will be a very slow process as he tries to 'connect the dots'. We are playing his favorite music ( his friends know instantly who it is - smile) by a group called Dream Theatre. Appropriate music most especially today. We were told that he can listen to his favorite music and since it was music that helped wake him up, it will be something he can identify with. We are glad we like this music also - it would make for a very long day. All parents reading this can relate right? I know Paul really likes the Vienna Boys choir and classical guitar/music, so that will be enjoyable listening also.
His room is kept very cold, it helps control his fever. It might be the cause of pneumonia for us! He stays consistently at 100-101 degrees. No real changes today for him. They changed his food, and it seems to be working better.
We were told that the recovery will be like watching paint dry - and that is true. Very minimal change, lungs still clearing and with the condition they were in, it will be awhile before they are completely healed. It is a slow day here since it is Sunday. Tomorrow we believe there will be an agenda discussed since Paul has woken and can understand simple responses.
Thank you for the continued prayers for Paul. He will need it for the strength to recover. We pray for all of you also, that you will be blessed abundantly for the time you have taken to pray for our son. God bless you all and may the Peace of Jesus be yours today.
Love to all,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
We are sitting with Paul, and we are not really sure if he knows us today or not. He seems to be going in and out of a very deep sleep. He looks at us and we can tell he isn't really focused on us. It will be a very slow process as he tries to 'connect the dots'. We are playing his favorite music ( his friends know instantly who it is - smile) by a group called Dream Theatre. Appropriate music most especially today. We were told that he can listen to his favorite music and since it was music that helped wake him up, it will be something he can identify with. We are glad we like this music also - it would make for a very long day. All parents reading this can relate right? I know Paul really likes the Vienna Boys choir and classical guitar/music, so that will be enjoyable listening also.
His room is kept very cold, it helps control his fever. It might be the cause of pneumonia for us! He stays consistently at 100-101 degrees. No real changes today for him. They changed his food, and it seems to be working better.
We were told that the recovery will be like watching paint dry - and that is true. Very minimal change, lungs still clearing and with the condition they were in, it will be awhile before they are completely healed. It is a slow day here since it is Sunday. Tomorrow we believe there will be an agenda discussed since Paul has woken and can understand simple responses.
Thank you for the continued prayers for Paul. He will need it for the strength to recover. We pray for all of you also, that you will be blessed abundantly for the time you have taken to pray for our son. God bless you all and may the Peace of Jesus be yours today.
Love to all,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Saturday, November 26, 2005
'Eye' witness account............
The opthamologist came in to check on Paul's eye and he was very happy with what he was seeing. As he worked on Paul, I held the relic of St. Paul that was given to us by Fr. Paddy in my hands and prayed that just as St. Paul was blinded and then was able to see the love of God, our Paul would come to see the glory of God all around him when he recovers fully. It is our greatest prayer that Paul will be given the strength to continue to do God's will in his life, this new life he has been graced with.
Dr. Tucker said that he was feeling that the eye was healing very well and was happy to see Paul so well. He said that the eye is so much better than 3 days ago, and was glad to see that Paul was able to handle the examination with a lot less visible pain. The first exam was very painful for Paul and you could see his face show the pain. He was much more at peace as Dr Tucker worked on him. Praise be to God for guiding the hands of this doctor, in answer to my prayer as they worked on Paul. I also tried to handle it better.............smile. The interesting thing is that Jon and I had just come back into the room after taking a walk around the park in front of the hospital and we prayed so hard that God in His love would help Paul have restored vision in his left eye and that we understood that a miracle would be needed. We prayed for God's will to be done and then came back in renewed in strength. 10 minutes later the opthamologist walked in and we heard encouraging news. Funny old world isn't it??? We gave thanks to God and asked for blessings for this doctor as he continues his healing work.
Paul's music is playing softly in this room and I am so joyous for all that his life has brought to us this past 21 years and look with joyful hope to all that he may be graced with in the future. Today I was told by 2 women from church that all of my sons have always been so polite to them, but that only Paul was the one who would hug them immediately each time he saw them. I am learning more about this son of mine everyday and am grateful he shared his love with so many people. I look forward to getting Paul up and out into this world again, where so much love is needed.
Dr. Tucker said that he was feeling that the eye was healing very well and was happy to see Paul so well. He said that the eye is so much better than 3 days ago, and was glad to see that Paul was able to handle the examination with a lot less visible pain. The first exam was very painful for Paul and you could see his face show the pain. He was much more at peace as Dr Tucker worked on him. Praise be to God for guiding the hands of this doctor, in answer to my prayer as they worked on Paul. I also tried to handle it better.............smile. The interesting thing is that Jon and I had just come back into the room after taking a walk around the park in front of the hospital and we prayed so hard that God in His love would help Paul have restored vision in his left eye and that we understood that a miracle would be needed. We prayed for God's will to be done and then came back in renewed in strength. 10 minutes later the opthamologist walked in and we heard encouraging news. Funny old world isn't it??? We gave thanks to God and asked for blessings for this doctor as he continues his healing work.
Paul's music is playing softly in this room and I am so joyous for all that his life has brought to us this past 21 years and look with joyful hope to all that he may be graced with in the future. Today I was told by 2 women from church that all of my sons have always been so polite to them, but that only Paul was the one who would hug them immediately each time he saw them. I am learning more about this son of mine everyday and am grateful he shared his love with so many people. I look forward to getting Paul up and out into this world again, where so much love is needed.
Wide Awake and Wondering
Yesterday was a day of wonderment for us all. Paul was able to recognize his family and gave some very familiar facial expressions. As the day wore on, he started to show signs of stress as he tried to figure out why some things were not working on his body. He kept moving his right hand over to his left arm to see why he could not move it. He appears to try to talk, and his look tells us he is frustrated. He has had a couple of panic attacks during the night. He had tears in his right eye today as he looked at Jon and me. It is apparent he is struggling to make sense of his world. This is a difficult thing to watch, especially when we can see he is stressed.
His lungs are improving, he is on about 30% oxygen. At 21% he will be able to come off the ventilator. After some time, the trach will also be removed, but we are looking at weeks ahead for that. He will have the feeding tube reinserted into his stomach, and are prayerful that his digestive system can handle it. He was not tolerating food very well all this last week. He had the tube removed to let his intestines rest. He will be back on it today, with the tube inserted directly into the stomach.
He seems to be sweating yesterday, and the fever was down. It was up again last night, but he is down to 99 degrees again. The spiking in fever has come down, it is not so wide a gap as the past few days.
The inability to move his left arm is physical - not a brain issue. It may be that there is damage at the neck on the left side. It is an issue that they will be looking at, but not crucial at this time. Also, they won't need to do surgery on his eye to remove the blood behind the eye. His body will absorb that on its own. No surgery is a good thing at this time, as it only means added trauma to his body. Praise God for the fact that no surgery is needed.
Please continue to pray especially for his lungs to heal quickly. Getting him off the ventilator is primary and getting his intestinal system back on track is also a reason for prayer.
We thank everyone who has posted a comment, as it brings tears of joy each evening as we sit and read them. As crazy as it sounds, we are able to rejoice in so many things each day and are most especially grateful to God as we start the season of Advent. What an awesome gift given to us in the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Love to all,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
His lungs are improving, he is on about 30% oxygen. At 21% he will be able to come off the ventilator. After some time, the trach will also be removed, but we are looking at weeks ahead for that. He will have the feeding tube reinserted into his stomach, and are prayerful that his digestive system can handle it. He was not tolerating food very well all this last week. He had the tube removed to let his intestines rest. He will be back on it today, with the tube inserted directly into the stomach.
He seems to be sweating yesterday, and the fever was down. It was up again last night, but he is down to 99 degrees again. The spiking in fever has come down, it is not so wide a gap as the past few days.
The inability to move his left arm is physical - not a brain issue. It may be that there is damage at the neck on the left side. It is an issue that they will be looking at, but not crucial at this time. Also, they won't need to do surgery on his eye to remove the blood behind the eye. His body will absorb that on its own. No surgery is a good thing at this time, as it only means added trauma to his body. Praise God for the fact that no surgery is needed.
Please continue to pray especially for his lungs to heal quickly. Getting him off the ventilator is primary and getting his intestinal system back on track is also a reason for prayer.
We thank everyone who has posted a comment, as it brings tears of joy each evening as we sit and read them. As crazy as it sounds, we are able to rejoice in so many things each day and are most especially grateful to God as we start the season of Advent. What an awesome gift given to us in the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Love to all,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Friday, November 25, 2005
GOD'S MERCY ENDURES FOREVER
Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ,
I can hardly keep my hands from shaking as I send out this joyous message to you. Our Paul is awake and responding to us !!!! There is only one thing to say first PRAISE BE TO GOD IN HIS HEAVEN AND ALL HIS ANGELS AND SAINTS.
I am sitting here listening to his brothers talking to people on their cell phones and there is so much laughter and joy in the room and we can hear people on the other ends of the phones laughing with joy and crying. Our God in His heaven has heard our plea for help and I pray that each of you will understand that He touched each of you for a reason. Take time to listen to Him each day, and always be ready to say yes to His will and to have the courage and wisdom and strength to say yes. I can tell you first hand, it is not easy. But I can tell you that I am a very weak person, and that is how I know that this was all God's will and that He was carrying us through.
Last night we brought music Paul and Jon had recorded and let Paul listen to it. He had not been moving much in the last few days. His heart rate went way up, he opened his right eye and moved his right arm, like he was trying to play the guitar. After about 20 minutes, he yawned and fell back asleep.
The doctor who told us that we needed to understand that this was a very severe brain injury and that Paul would probably always be on the ventilator and even mentioned that the next infection could possibly just be left unattended as an option, was the very doctor who called us this morning. He waited until we got to the hospital also, and this doctor was usually out of the unit by 7:30 each morning! This is also the doctor that I stood behind 2 days ago and in my mind told him that he was in my sights and he would be prayed for by me and most fervently, that he would come to know that God loves him and everyone. Another prayer answered!! He is astounded by this all. The nurses were in the hallways waiting for us to arrive, and hugged us as we all said Praise be to God. It was a beautiful sight.
Jon and Jim raced to the hospital first and Paul was letting them know he knew them by squeezing their hands on command and in answer to their questions. We came into the room shortly after and while I was talking to Paul, a tear rolled down his cheek. He squeezed my hand as I tried to let him know that he was fine, to try not to talk and just let us continue to take care of him. We told him to keep talking to Blessed Mother and Jesus as he gets better. There will be much to tell over the next few days and we will share all of our stories about how he responded to each of us and the progress we pray will happen.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY, PRAY, PRAY. THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD.
OUR LOVE TO ALL OF YOU.
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
I can hardly keep my hands from shaking as I send out this joyous message to you. Our Paul is awake and responding to us !!!! There is only one thing to say first PRAISE BE TO GOD IN HIS HEAVEN AND ALL HIS ANGELS AND SAINTS.
I am sitting here listening to his brothers talking to people on their cell phones and there is so much laughter and joy in the room and we can hear people on the other ends of the phones laughing with joy and crying. Our God in His heaven has heard our plea for help and I pray that each of you will understand that He touched each of you for a reason. Take time to listen to Him each day, and always be ready to say yes to His will and to have the courage and wisdom and strength to say yes. I can tell you first hand, it is not easy. But I can tell you that I am a very weak person, and that is how I know that this was all God's will and that He was carrying us through.
Last night we brought music Paul and Jon had recorded and let Paul listen to it. He had not been moving much in the last few days. His heart rate went way up, he opened his right eye and moved his right arm, like he was trying to play the guitar. After about 20 minutes, he yawned and fell back asleep.
The doctor who told us that we needed to understand that this was a very severe brain injury and that Paul would probably always be on the ventilator and even mentioned that the next infection could possibly just be left unattended as an option, was the very doctor who called us this morning. He waited until we got to the hospital also, and this doctor was usually out of the unit by 7:30 each morning! This is also the doctor that I stood behind 2 days ago and in my mind told him that he was in my sights and he would be prayed for by me and most fervently, that he would come to know that God loves him and everyone. Another prayer answered!! He is astounded by this all. The nurses were in the hallways waiting for us to arrive, and hugged us as we all said Praise be to God. It was a beautiful sight.
Jon and Jim raced to the hospital first and Paul was letting them know he knew them by squeezing their hands on command and in answer to their questions. We came into the room shortly after and while I was talking to Paul, a tear rolled down his cheek. He squeezed my hand as I tried to let him know that he was fine, to try not to talk and just let us continue to take care of him. We told him to keep talking to Blessed Mother and Jesus as he gets better. There will be much to tell over the next few days and we will share all of our stories about how he responded to each of us and the progress we pray will happen.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY, PRAY, PRAY. THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD.
OUR LOVE TO ALL OF YOU.
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Thursday, November 24, 2005
More photos...
Here are some more photos for your viewing pleasure. The comments are courtesy of Paul's older brother Jon.
(Paul doing what he does best...)
(Christmas with the Fidero's...Paul has always had a strange attachment to Corvette's...and yes, I am wearing shorts underneath all that wrapping paper).
(Rocking out at Thanksgiving 2004...myself and Paul jamming, my father on the right sustaining the rythm...alright, I will admit it: Paul was the only one capable of soloing. Last but not least, Phat Mike on keyboards behind us).
(Los quatros amigos).
(Hands down, the finest looking men on the planet if I don't say so myself...it is okay, we don't mind if you use this shot as your background wallpaper. I know everyone wants to, and we don't blame you).
(Paul doing what he does best...)
(Christmas with the Fidero's...Paul has always had a strange attachment to Corvette's...and yes, I am wearing shorts underneath all that wrapping paper).
(Rocking out at Thanksgiving 2004...myself and Paul jamming, my father on the right sustaining the rythm...alright, I will admit it: Paul was the only one capable of soloing. Last but not least, Phat Mike on keyboards behind us).
(Los quatros amigos).
(Hands down, the finest looking men on the planet if I don't say so myself...it is okay, we don't mind if you use this shot as your background wallpaper. I know everyone wants to, and we don't blame you).
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Riding the waves and surf's up..............
(This photo was taken at St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic Church in Lilburn, Ga in the summer of 2005. From left: Jon and fiance Marie Hennessy, Mom and Dad, James, Michael and last but not least, our hero Paul on the far right).
We had a conference today with the case manager and the problem still remains that Paul is not responding to attempts to wake him up. This becomes a very difficult issue, as the body is continuing to respond to treatment but the brain is not showing any signs of waking. They try to work each morning with Paul, but he doesn't respond to commands to open his eyes. ( We did let him know today that his room is clean, it is safe to wake up - smile). They have decided to get him up and into a chair for 30 minutes each day to help his lungs clear. This will help with the pneumonia. His temperature fluctuates each day between 99 and 103.7 degrees. This is normal signs for the body since there was significant injury to the brain. They are not sure if his respiratory problems are due to the brain injury or to the lung injury. If it is the lungs, it will be a much better scenario, as time would heal the lungs and eliminate this problem. If it is the brain, then we may have some long term problems in that Paul would remain dependant on a ventilator. He is still being assisted with a machine to keep his lungs inflated. They put in a trach tube yesterday, and are hoping this will help him be more comfortable. Next week, they will put the feeding tube into his stomach. It is in the lower intestines right now, as his system could not process the food very well. All this sounds really bad, but we have had some encouraging signs of recovery in Paul's body. One very hopeful thing is that Paul's brain did not swell like they anticipated and that may work in his favor.
We need your prayers so much and thank you for any time you can give in this matter. We have full knowledge that it will probably take a miracle for Paul to reach a good level of recovery. We will remain prayerful and hopeful, like we have these past 12 days. In some ways it seems like a half a year has passed so far!! But the days of vigil go fairly quickly and we are able sleep well each night, due to the drain on our bodies from emotions. Sleep is a great blessing. Thanks be to God for all that He has given us.............including sleep.
Paul will be in the ICU at least until next week, and will be moved to another facility (hopefully to Sheperd Spinal) if he can wake up a little bit and show some movement. As we have asked before, pray with your whole heart that God will answer our prayers according to His will and that we will have the courage and wisdom to accept it. Knowing what his plan is would be a wonderful help about know............smile. Since we don't know we say JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU.
God's peace to all of you. I am working on getting those pictures posted, but like a good number of parents out there, I need the help of my sons to figure out how to do it. They will be home tonight and so pictures should be up and running by tomorrow.
Love,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
The Fruits of this labor - God's story
As we fell asleep last night, we knew in our hearts that is was time for us to share all that God has done for our family in response to our plea for prayers. In hindsight, we can see that angels and saints have interceded and that Our Blessed Mother Mary has made perfect, the prayers that were sent to heaven. We have also seen and now understand more clearly, that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.
From the beginning, we knew that it was not our strength that helped us breathe, walk or cope each day. It was like we were moving along on a cloud, which was the power of your prayers. There was no doubt in our minds who was in charge of this event in our life. We knew our lives had been changed, our pathway was going to be more of a climb than before. But we prayed for trust each day and the will to allow God's hand to work through everyone involved. That continues to be a constant challenge, especially for this mother who has always thought she was 'in charge' of her 4 sons......smile.
At the scene, I knew that this very surreal occurence was God's will. I called out loud to Him and my dearest Mother Mary to help sustain me in that very painful grief. As I looked down at my hands, I saw the blood of my son and in that second, I started to talk to Blessed Mary and told her how sorry I was for the pain she had to endure. I asked her to hold me as I tried to walk with Jesus in that moment. The torment was so real, and after I told her I was so sorry, I felt her peace. I was able to ask a firefighter to sprinkle holy water over Paul's body, and ask God to bless him. He did not really want to take the time, and another man walked up and asked me what I needed. I told him that I was Catholic, and that my son needed to be blessed and that is all, that I would pray for God's mercy while it was being done. He said he was also Catholic, and he made sure that Paul was blessed. ( I was not allowed to get near my son). This man also drove to our church that was 2 miles away and summoned Fr. Paddy. When I got to the hospital, we had 2 priests waiting to annoint Paul. The peace we felt for Paul was such a comfort.
2 times, when we were told Paul would probably die, there were so many people at the hospital, and as Paul was brought through the hallways for CAT scans or MRI's people were praying over him and then we would get the news that the crisis was over. The doctor seemed surprised after that last crisis was averted. But we smiled and knew who was with Paul.
On the day where we felt our first real despair and grief, a woman came to the waiting room and said she had been led by the Holy Spirit that day to visit us and to help us. At the moment, I felt so drained that my first reaction was to wish I could just be alone. She said that her son, on his 21st birthday, was also injured in an accident where he hit a tree. Very serious and significant damage was done to his brain. She said that she was told to be kind and to take her son off his life support. She received very little encouragement from the medical profession. But the Holy Spirit kept speaking to her heart and she persisted in her pleas to continue treatment. He is alive, walks with the aid of a walker and has full cognitive ability........after being in a coma for ONE YEAR ! She felt that we needed to hear that. And we did, as that day they indicated that maybe we should think about not letting Paul have the trach tube put in. God sent a messenger again.
Yesterday, once again, the hospital reminded us again, that Paul has a severe brain injury and did we understand what they were trying to tell us. We do know it is very severe. I found myself repeating over and over in my head, that where there is breath there is life. Where there is life there is hope and where there is hope there is God. I told them to continue with everything necessary. But we started to waiver in our faith, wondering if we were missing the message that God might be trying to send. So we went into Paul's room and told him to go home to God, if that was God's will. We knew we had to submit to all that God was asking and that we had to say yes to it. We left feeling so much despair. We came out to the waiting room and Paul's boss (Mr. Watson)was out there and said he had brought something for Paul. He had been in Savannah the day before and for some reason, had stopped because a homeless man had smiled at him and the smile just caught his attention. He asked if he could do something for the man, food or something and the man said no. He was making something with a strand from a palm tree while he was talking to Mr. Watson. Mr Watson gave him $10 and the man did a little dance. Mr Watson started to walk away, but then turned around and asked the man if he would do something for him. Mr. Watson asked if he would pray for a young man that he cared for, named Paul Fidero. He asked if the man would get all his friends to pray also. The smile never left the homeless man's face and he quoted some scripture verses, and then handed the palm strand to Mr. Watson and said "Just wait" and then when Mr. Watson looked down, the palm strand had been fashioned into a beautiful rose !! Mr. Watson thanked him, walked a few steps and turned to look back at this man again, but the man was no where to be found. Mr Watson came straight to the hospital the next day to bring the rose to Paul, and today we used it to touch his eye and asked for God's blessings.
That helped us so much in that moment. Another gift to us. I had prayed to St. Therese to please send me roses from heaven that morning as I struggled on my faith journey. And God heard me.
At 10 pm last night, the phone rang and we were startled awake. It was the cell phone ringing and I did not recognize the number. I fully expected it was the hospital because Paul had been in some respiratory distress and they did not know why. The woman who called said that she didn't know us, but that she had heard about our son and she felt that she had to go pray the rosary over Paul last night. She was at the hospital at the moment and saw our number on the message board in Paul's room. She felt she had to call us to share why she was there. Her 18 yr old son, Chip Huggins, was in a very bad car accident 18 months ago. He looked much worse than Paul looked and had to have surgery on his brain right after the accident. She was told he would not make it and that there was not much hope of any recovery. She said she did not listen to the doctors after awhile, and instead lifted her son up in prayer. She asked if I knew of Msgr. Reynolds, a priest here in town. I said as a matter of fact I did. He was dying of cancer at St Joseph's hospital at the same time that my dad was there - also dying of cancer. Archbishop Donaghue was visiting Msgr. Reynolds and I saw the Archbishop in the hallway and asked him to please come bless my father. It was Good Friday and we thought my dad would die that day. My dad found great comfort from the blessing he received and died early Easter morning as we were in Mass for him. Mrs. Huggins said that Msgr Reynolds did not die and that he now has the gift of healing. She said he had prayed and annointed her son and that today, he is a freshman at Georgia Tech (tough school to get into) and he is doing well, even though he lost his sight in his left eye, which is what we feel may happen to Paul. She said that they are still praying for his sight. All is in God's power. Her son was released after only 8 weeks at Shepard Spinal clinic. There were many scares and moments of grave concern, but their faith moved mountains.
There are so many other moments of grace that God has sent us messages of His abundant love. I am trying to get it all written down as a reminder to our family that He will not leave us. That His love is for all of us and that we only need to say His holy name and allow His will to be done.
While this is a very long message about God's love, there is so much more to tell.His is a never ending story! But we felt it was time to show all of you what your prayers have brought to our whole family and countless others. Your prayers continue to be heard and are allowing us to hear and see the GOODNESS OF THE LORD. Our prayer for all of you is that you
'BE NOT AFRAID'.
This is the message above Paul's bed, with a picture of our Blessed Mother Mary holding John Paul II as he prays. This continues to be the "Miracle Season" and we ask all of you to give great thanks for all that has been seen and what is to come.
Love,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
From the beginning, we knew that it was not our strength that helped us breathe, walk or cope each day. It was like we were moving along on a cloud, which was the power of your prayers. There was no doubt in our minds who was in charge of this event in our life. We knew our lives had been changed, our pathway was going to be more of a climb than before. But we prayed for trust each day and the will to allow God's hand to work through everyone involved. That continues to be a constant challenge, especially for this mother who has always thought she was 'in charge' of her 4 sons......smile.
At the scene, I knew that this very surreal occurence was God's will. I called out loud to Him and my dearest Mother Mary to help sustain me in that very painful grief. As I looked down at my hands, I saw the blood of my son and in that second, I started to talk to Blessed Mary and told her how sorry I was for the pain she had to endure. I asked her to hold me as I tried to walk with Jesus in that moment. The torment was so real, and after I told her I was so sorry, I felt her peace. I was able to ask a firefighter to sprinkle holy water over Paul's body, and ask God to bless him. He did not really want to take the time, and another man walked up and asked me what I needed. I told him that I was Catholic, and that my son needed to be blessed and that is all, that I would pray for God's mercy while it was being done. He said he was also Catholic, and he made sure that Paul was blessed. ( I was not allowed to get near my son). This man also drove to our church that was 2 miles away and summoned Fr. Paddy. When I got to the hospital, we had 2 priests waiting to annoint Paul. The peace we felt for Paul was such a comfort.
2 times, when we were told Paul would probably die, there were so many people at the hospital, and as Paul was brought through the hallways for CAT scans or MRI's people were praying over him and then we would get the news that the crisis was over. The doctor seemed surprised after that last crisis was averted. But we smiled and knew who was with Paul.
On the day where we felt our first real despair and grief, a woman came to the waiting room and said she had been led by the Holy Spirit that day to visit us and to help us. At the moment, I felt so drained that my first reaction was to wish I could just be alone. She said that her son, on his 21st birthday, was also injured in an accident where he hit a tree. Very serious and significant damage was done to his brain. She said that she was told to be kind and to take her son off his life support. She received very little encouragement from the medical profession. But the Holy Spirit kept speaking to her heart and she persisted in her pleas to continue treatment. He is alive, walks with the aid of a walker and has full cognitive ability........after being in a coma for ONE YEAR ! She felt that we needed to hear that. And we did, as that day they indicated that maybe we should think about not letting Paul have the trach tube put in. God sent a messenger again.
Yesterday, once again, the hospital reminded us again, that Paul has a severe brain injury and did we understand what they were trying to tell us. We do know it is very severe. I found myself repeating over and over in my head, that where there is breath there is life. Where there is life there is hope and where there is hope there is God. I told them to continue with everything necessary. But we started to waiver in our faith, wondering if we were missing the message that God might be trying to send. So we went into Paul's room and told him to go home to God, if that was God's will. We knew we had to submit to all that God was asking and that we had to say yes to it. We left feeling so much despair. We came out to the waiting room and Paul's boss (Mr. Watson)was out there and said he had brought something for Paul. He had been in Savannah the day before and for some reason, had stopped because a homeless man had smiled at him and the smile just caught his attention. He asked if he could do something for the man, food or something and the man said no. He was making something with a strand from a palm tree while he was talking to Mr. Watson. Mr Watson gave him $10 and the man did a little dance. Mr Watson started to walk away, but then turned around and asked the man if he would do something for him. Mr. Watson asked if he would pray for a young man that he cared for, named Paul Fidero. He asked if the man would get all his friends to pray also. The smile never left the homeless man's face and he quoted some scripture verses, and then handed the palm strand to Mr. Watson and said "Just wait" and then when Mr. Watson looked down, the palm strand had been fashioned into a beautiful rose !! Mr. Watson thanked him, walked a few steps and turned to look back at this man again, but the man was no where to be found. Mr Watson came straight to the hospital the next day to bring the rose to Paul, and today we used it to touch his eye and asked for God's blessings.
That helped us so much in that moment. Another gift to us. I had prayed to St. Therese to please send me roses from heaven that morning as I struggled on my faith journey. And God heard me.
At 10 pm last night, the phone rang and we were startled awake. It was the cell phone ringing and I did not recognize the number. I fully expected it was the hospital because Paul had been in some respiratory distress and they did not know why. The woman who called said that she didn't know us, but that she had heard about our son and she felt that she had to go pray the rosary over Paul last night. She was at the hospital at the moment and saw our number on the message board in Paul's room. She felt she had to call us to share why she was there. Her 18 yr old son, Chip Huggins, was in a very bad car accident 18 months ago. He looked much worse than Paul looked and had to have surgery on his brain right after the accident. She was told he would not make it and that there was not much hope of any recovery. She said she did not listen to the doctors after awhile, and instead lifted her son up in prayer. She asked if I knew of Msgr. Reynolds, a priest here in town. I said as a matter of fact I did. He was dying of cancer at St Joseph's hospital at the same time that my dad was there - also dying of cancer. Archbishop Donaghue was visiting Msgr. Reynolds and I saw the Archbishop in the hallway and asked him to please come bless my father. It was Good Friday and we thought my dad would die that day. My dad found great comfort from the blessing he received and died early Easter morning as we were in Mass for him. Mrs. Huggins said that Msgr Reynolds did not die and that he now has the gift of healing. She said he had prayed and annointed her son and that today, he is a freshman at Georgia Tech (tough school to get into) and he is doing well, even though he lost his sight in his left eye, which is what we feel may happen to Paul. She said that they are still praying for his sight. All is in God's power. Her son was released after only 8 weeks at Shepard Spinal clinic. There were many scares and moments of grave concern, but their faith moved mountains.
There are so many other moments of grace that God has sent us messages of His abundant love. I am trying to get it all written down as a reminder to our family that He will not leave us. That His love is for all of us and that we only need to say His holy name and allow His will to be done.
While this is a very long message about God's love, there is so much more to tell.His is a never ending story! But we felt it was time to show all of you what your prayers have brought to our whole family and countless others. Your prayers continue to be heard and are allowing us to hear and see the GOODNESS OF THE LORD. Our prayer for all of you is that you
'BE NOT AFRAID'.
This is the message above Paul's bed, with a picture of our Blessed Mother Mary holding John Paul II as he prays. This continues to be the "Miracle Season" and we ask all of you to give great thanks for all that has been seen and what is to come.
Love,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero
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