about CaringBridge  |  home page  |  view guestbook  |  view photos  |  journal history  |  donate to CaringBridge

Click here to go back to the main page.

Monday, December 22, 2003 11:40 AM CST

Josh is doing so well! He's out of the wheelchair and using crutches or a walker all the time. His biggest accomplishment the past few days was that he drove his new truck (5 speed) to Manhattan and back with his sister. Definitely a positive experience. He is still doing daily physical therapy and making great progress. They hope to have him walking without help by the 30th. As always, thanks for all the prayers and support.

Monday, December 15, 2003 10:51 AM CST

Josh got to come home on Friday! He's doing really well and really enjoys being in his own house. He alternates between a walker and a wheelchair to get around and will continue daily physical therapy and rehab at the Clay Center Hospital. Thanks to all for your continued prayer and support. Continue to pray for his complete healing.

Wednesday, December 10, 2003 9:16 AM CST

Josh stood up yesterday! He was so excited. He had hoped he would at least be able to sit up, but ended up going right to the wheelchair (with some help.) Then yesterday afternoon he started doing more intensive physical therapy, walking between two hand rails. He said it was pretty painful and wasn't able to put much pressure on the broken leg. The doctor gave the okay for him to go home yesterday, but the physical therapists wanted to work with him some more before the release him so he is able to get himself around. Potentially, he could be home by the end of the week if everything goes well. Josh is so happy! This did so much to boost his spirits, although he is much more tired now. He complained of being so sore last night. Praise God for his recovery. Continue to pray that he's completely healed.

Tuesday, December 9, 2003 11:05 AM CST

Josh stood up today!! He is so excited. They originally were just going to try and have him sit up to see how he felt, but he was like, "I want to go in a wheelchair." So they stood him up, he turned around, sat in the wheelchair, and wheeled himself down the hall. The doctor gave the okay for him to go home today, but the physical therapists wanted to work with him some more before the release him so he is able to get himself around. Potentially, he could be home by the end of the week if everything goes well. Josh is so happy! This did so much to boost his spirits. Praise God for his recovery. Continue to pray that he's completely healed.

Monday, December 8, 2003 8:41 AM CST

Josh is waiting to get X-rays tomorrow to find out how his pelvic fractures are and hopefully find out how much longer he'll need to be in bed rest. His hope is that he'll get the okay to be in a wheelchair and be able to start more intensive physical therapy.

He's doing really great! His spirits are definitely up (thanks to a lot of you visiting him) and the pain has been so much better. He's only taking one pain pill a day, usually before physical therapy, which he's actually started to like.

Continue to pray for his healing.

Tuesday, November 25, 2003 1:21 PM CST

Dear Everyone,

I am doing fine. Just tired of laying here. Besides watching lots of movies, physical therapy has been pretty fun.

There's been lots of visitors so far.

It's great to see the people that have been here.

I'm catching up on my school work. It's weird to say that school would almost be better.

I have lost 15 pounds so far, it takes a lot out of you just laying here.

Josh

Monday, November 24, 2003 9:35 AM CST

Josh is doing very well. There is still a little pain in his broken leg, but it has significantly decreased. This weekend he was very adament about wanting to do range of motion exercises to keep his leg from getting stiff because he says he wants to be up and walking around. Continue to pray for his healing.

Thursday, November 20, 2003 9:29 AM CST

Josh made it to the Clay Center Hospital yesterday afternoon. His leg is still very painful, especially when the physical therapists came in and had him do range of motion exercises. One nurse asked if the PT's had been there that morning. Josh said yes. She asked what they did and Josh answered, "They tortured me." Josh's sense of humor is coming back and it's so nice to see him the way he used to be. Continue to pray for his complete healing and for pain management, especially in his leg.

Wednesday, November 19, 2003 10:39 AM CST

Josh gets to move to the Clay Center hospital this afternoon! He will spend the next few weeks there until he's able to start rehab. He has been able to do some physical therapy on his leg, but he's still in a lot of pain. Continue to pray for his healing.

Tuesday, November 18, 2003 9:56 AM CST

Josh's surgery went very well yesterday. They removed the two flexible rods and put in a solid one. They said if he didn't have pelvic fractures they would have tried to have him up and walking already! His trach comes out today, which he will be very happy about. The doctors are still talking like he will need to have 4-6 more weeks of bed rest before he can even begin rehab. The good news, though, is that he may get to spend those weeks here in Clay Center in a swing bed, starting the end of this week. Again, we'll keep you posted about his location. He loves visitors!

Continue to pray for his complete healing and the pain that's still in his leg and pelvis.

Thanks for all your prayer and support.

Sunday, November 16, 2003 6:07 AM CST

Josh will be moving to the College Campus (by the stadium) here in Manhattan Sunday afternoon. He will be on the pediatric floor and will be having surgery at 8:00 on Monday. After that he will stay in the College Campus (by the stadium) on the pediatric floor(3rd).They have decided to put a solid rod in his leg and they will not do surgery on his pelvis, just to have him in bed rest for another 4 weeks. So...rehab has been postponed. He has trouble getting comfortable. His pain is being managed a little better, although he still complains about the pain in his leg.

Continue to pray for his full recovery and for the pain.

Wednesday, November 12, 2003 4:33 PM CST

Josh will stay at the Sunset Campus through Sunday and will hopefully get into surgery on Monday. After that he will stay in the College Campus (by the stadium) on the pediatric floor(3rd).They have decided to put a solid rod in his leg and not to do surgery on his pelvis, just to have him in bed rest for another 4 weeks. So...rehab has really been postponed. He had another restless night last night, but mostly because he just can't get comfortable. His pain is being managed a little better, although he still complians about the pain in his leg. Continue to pray for his full recovery and for the pain.

We will keep you posted on his location if you are planning a visit.

Wednesday, November 12, 2003 11:56 AM CST

Josh is still at the Sunset Campus of Mercy Health, but for how long, we don't know. There's a possibility he will be moved to the other campus sometime today. They have decided to put a solid rod in his leg to fix it, but won't get to the surgery until Monday at the earliest...maybe not even until next Wednesday. They also decided not to do surgery on his pelvis, just to have him in bed rest for another 4 weeks. So...rehab has really been postponed. He had another restless night last night, but mostly because he just can't get comfortable. His pain is being managed a little better, although he still complians about the pain in his leg. Continue to pray for his full recovery and for the pain.

We will keep you posted on his location if you are planning a visit.

Wednesday, November 12, 2003 9:18 AM CST

Whoops...Josh is still in the Sunset Campus of Mercy Health. Whenever they figure out how to go about fixing his leg, hopefully without disrupting the growth plate, he will have to be moved to the other campus. For right now, he's still in rehab, doing some speech and occupational therapy. Josh had a much better day yesterday. The nurses were very proactive about finding a way to control his pain, and for the most part, it was. He slept through the night and even took naps and was able to relax during the day. We're still waiting to see what will happen with his leg and pelvis. Continue to pray for his healing and for the pain.

We will keep you posted on his location if you were planning a visit.

Monday, November 10, 2003 11:40 AM CST

Josh is being moved again today to the other Mercy Health Center campus. After another X-Ray this morning, the doctor found that Josh's leg is still broken and not in line and that his pelvis fractures are more seperated than they originally thought. So...rehab has been put on hold and he will have to go through a surgery on his leg and possibly another one to repair his pelvis. This obviously explains why he has been in so much pain and hasn't been able to sleep. Continue to pray for his healing.

We will keep you posted on his location if you were planning a visit.

Monday, November 10, 2003 9:34 AM CST

Josh actually starts rehab today, not Sunday as written before. He doesn't seem to be too excited about it and keeps asking, "Can we go home now?" He legs bothers him a lot and keeps him awake with the pain, therefore he's just pretty restless all the time. Restless and ornery. Continue to pray for the healing of his leg and that the pain would get better.

If you're planning on visiting, know that his rehab will usually be in the morning and will not be able to have visitors.

Sunday, November 9, 2003 10:28 AM CST

Josh is finally settled in Manhattan. He will be starting rehab today, 3 hours a day. When asked if he was ready to start working, he said all he wanted to do was go home. He's ornery! His leg is still really bothering him, so continue to pray for his pain. Other than that everything looks really positive and we hope to have him home in a couple of weeks!

Thank you for the continued support!

Thursday, November 6, 2003 3:43 PM CST

Josh can talk today! The nurses asked him what kind of truck he drove and he was able to tell them a white '87 Ford F150. He even told them about Brian Rieger's truck and how he likes the pipes on it. They took out the last chest tube and he's increasingly less dependent on machines. He had solid food today along with a Code Red, which made his day! Continue to pray especially for the healing of his leg. It still bothers him a lot and causes him to be pretty restless in the night. They sat him up for an hour today, which was pretty painful, but an improvement from the 5 minutes he had been doing before.

Josh will definitely be moving to the Sunset Campus of Mercy Health in Manhattan on Saturday to start rehab! He should be there and situatated by early afternoon.

Thank you all for all you are doing for our family and all the prayer support for Josh. We are so overwhelmed with the prayer support and concern shown to us. Continue to pray for his healing as he has a long haul of rehab ahead of him.

Keep praying.

Thursday, November 6, 2003 11:07 AM CST

Josh can talk today! The nurses asked him what kind of truck he drove and he was able to tell them a white '97 Ford F150. He even told them about Brian Rieger's truck and how he likes the pipes on it. They continue to take out central lines and he is becoming increasingly less dependent on machines. He gets to have solid food today for lunch and will hopefully get a burger from McDonalds before too long. Continue to pray for the healing of his leg, especially. It still bothers him a lot and causes him to be pretty restless in the night.

They will hopefully be moving him out of ICU today into a regular room before releasing him tomorrow to the Sunset Campus of Mercy Health in Manhattan. There are still a few details that need to get worked out for his transfer, but it's looking pretty good that he will be able to leave tomorrow and start rehab. Again, we will keep you posted on where he is in case you were planning a visit.

Thank you all for all you are doing for our family and all the prayer support for Josh. We are so overwhelmed with the prayer support and concern shown to us. Continue to pray for his healing as he has a long haul of rehab ahead of him.

Keep praying.

Wednesday, November 5, 2003 2:50 PM CST

Josh continues to show improvement today. He's not quite so agitated and is interacting even more with the therapists and others who stop to see him. He asked about what happened to him today and Lynn told him that he wrecked his truck. Josh wrote, "Is it fixed?" They have his broken leg in a machine that keeps it in constant motion, which doesn't thrill Josh at all. He has found ways to get out of it and even cross that leg all the way over his body trying to get out of bed. If he could find a way, he'd go home! They changed his trach today and was able to say his name. Hopefully in working with the therapist he will be able to talk soon all the time. One really good thing is that he is finally able to move his toes on the broken leg, so obviously no paralysis, but they are still slightly concerned that there may be nerve damage elsewhere. There is a very good possibilty that Josh will be moved to Manhattan on Friday. If not Friday, Monday at the latest. We will keep you posted about where he is if you were planning on visiting.

Thank you for all your support. We have been amazed at all the support from all of you.

Keep praying.

Tuesday, November 4, 2003 5:13 PM CST

Josh is communicating very well with hand signals and writing. He is very adament about wanting his leg lifted and put back down, lifted and put back down...He has been very frustrated many times letting us know he really didn't want to be there and tries all the time to take off his leg brace or tell us he wants to sit in a chair. They gave him some pudding and was able to have a little Pepsi, which are good signs that everything is going to his stomach and not his lungs. He we hopefully be able to have some solid food tomorrow as he complains about being hungry and thirsty. Please keep praying for his broken right leg. They are worried about some paralysis because of the break, although they won't know the extent of it until he's able to walk around. Another concern is possible nerve damage on other areas of his body. He had another surgery this morning to shorten one of the rods in his right leg because it was almost sticking out through the skin now that the swelling has gone down. There is a possibilty, if everything goes well this week, that Josh will be moved this weekend to a rehab facility to begin the recovery process, hopefully in Manhattan.

He is in pediatric intensive care so the hours are no longer restricted. If you are planning on visiting please be aware that he still can't talk and has a short attention span. The medication is making him not be able to concentrate or really be himself.

Thank you for all your support. We have been amazed at all the support from all of you.

Keep praying.

Tuesday, November 4, 2003 10:44 AM CST

Josh is communicating very well with hand signals and writing. He is very adament about wanting his leg lifted and put back down, lifted and put back down...He has been very frustrated many times letting us know he really didn't want to be there and tries all the time to take off his leg brace or tell us he wants to sit in a chair or convince us he needs a Pepsi or real food. Sheryl asked Lynn if he was hungry and Josh grabbed her arm and nodded his head very big! They sat him up a few times but it is still pretty painful for him. Please keep praying for his broken right leg. They are worried about some paralysis because of the break, although they won't know the extent of it until he's able to walk around. He had another surgery this morning to shorten one of the rods in his right leg because it was almost sticking out through the skin now that the swelling has gone down. There is a possibilty, if everything goes well this week, that Josh will be moved this weekend to a rehab facility to begin the recovery process, hopefully in Manhattan.

He is in pediatric intensive care so the hours are no longer restricted. If you are planning on visiting please be aware that he still can't talk and has a short attention span. The medication is making him not be able to concentrate or really be himself.

Thank you for all your support. We have been amazed at all the support from all of you.

Keep praying.

Monday, November 3, 2003 10:01 AM CST

Josh is communicating through hand signals and is even able to write a little bit. They took out one of his chest tubes and one of his central lines. They have also removed the stiches from his face. He has been very frustrated many times letting us know he really didn't want to be there. He has been moved out of the surgical ICU into the pediatric ICU. They sat him up a few times but it is still pretty painful for him. Please keep praying for his broken right leg. They are worried about some paralysis because of the break, although they won't know the extent of it until he's able to walk around.

He is in pediatric intensive care so the hours are no longer restricted.

If you are planning on visiting please be aware that he still can't talk.

Thank you for all your support. We have been amazed at all the support from all of you.

Keep praying.

Monday, November 3, 2003 9:12 AM CST

Josh is communicating through hand signals and is even able to write a little bit. They took out one of his chest tubes and one of his central lines. They have also removed the stiches from his face. He has been very frustrated many times letting us know he really didn't want to be there. He has been moved out of the surgical ICU into the pediatric ICU. They sat him up a few times but it is still pretty painful for him. Please keep praying for his broken right leg. They are worried about some paralysis because of the break, although they won't know the extent of it until he's able to walk around.

He is in pediatric intensive care so the hours are no longer restricted.

If you are planning on visiting please be aware of the visiting hours and remember he can't talk.

Thank you for all your support. We have been amazed at all the support from all of you.

Keep praying.

Saturday, November 1, 2003 4:24 PM CST

Josh is now off the ventilator and is more alert, eyes open a lot of the time, communicating even more. Today he even asked to go home! Communication is usually the biggest frustration since he has to use hand signals. Since the vent. is off, he will hopefully be able to move out of ICU by Sunday. He was able to sit up for a while yesterday, although he was in a lot of pain doing so. Please pray for his broken right leg. One doctor said they are worried about some paralysis because of the break, although they won't know the extent of it until he's able to walk around.

He is still in intensive care so the hours are restricted. The hours are:
9:30-10am
1-1:30pm
4:30-5pm
8:30-9pm

If you are planning on visiting please be aware of the visiting hours and remember he can't talk.

Thank you for all your support. We have been amazed at all the support from all of you.

Keep praying.

Saturday, November 1, 2003 0:30 AM CST

Josh is now off the ventilator and is more alert, eyes open a lot of the time, communicating even more. Today he even asked to go home! Communication is usually the biggest frustration since he has to use hand signals. Since the vent. is off, he will hopefully be able to move out of ICU very soon. They have taken him off morphine but he will have pain medication when needed. He was able to sit up for a while today, although he was in a lot of pain doing so.

He is still in intensive care so the hours are restricted. The hours are:
9:30-10am
1-1:30pm
4:30-5pm
8:30-9pm

If you are planning on visiting please be aware of the visiting hours and remember he can't talk.

Thank you for all your support. We have been amazed at all the support from all of you.

Keep praying.

Saturday, November 1, 2003 0:18 AM CST

Josh is now off the ventilator and is more alert, eyes open a lot of the time, communicating even more. Today he even asked to go home! Communication is usually the biggest frustration since he has to use hand signals. Since the vent. is off, he will hopefully be able to moce out of ICU very soon. They have taken him off morphine but he will have pain medication when needed. He was able to sit up for a while today, although he was in a lot of pain doing so.

He is still in intensive care so the hours are restricted. The hours are:
9:30-10am
1-1:30pm
4:30-5pm
8:30-9pm

If you are planning on visiting please be aware of the visiting hours and remember he can't talk.

Thank you for all your support. We have been amazed at all the support from all of you.

Keep praying.

Thursday, October 30, 2003 7:02 PM CST

Josh had another bronchoscopy (a scope to check his lungs). The scope looked good so now they will aggressively take him off the ventilator. He is more alert but is also in more pain. They have taken him off morphine but he will have pain medication when needed. He reacted to one of the medications and got hives. Can you believe it?

He is still in intensive care so the hours are restricted. The hours are:
9:30-10am
1-1:30pm
4:30-5pm
8:30-9pm

If you are planning on visiting please be aware of the visiting hours and remember he can't talk.

Thank you for all your support. We have been amazed at all the support from all of you.

Keep praying.

Thursday, October 30, 2003 1:24 PM CST

Josh is doing well though he is starting to feel the pain more now. He is unable to talk yet since he still has his trach in. He is still responding to us when we go in to talk with him, waving when we come in, nodding and shaking his head to answer questions and smiling every once and a while. He did come down with a bit of pneumonia but they are still working with his lungs regularly to control that.

He is still in intensive care so the hours are restricted. The hours are:
9:30-10am
1-1:30pm
4:30-5pm
8:30-9pm

If you are planning on visiting please be aware of the visiting hours and remember he can't talk.

Thank you for all your support. We have been amazed at all the support from all of you.

Keep praying.

Thursday, October 30, 2003 10:21 AM CST

There is not much new with Josh today. They took his neck brace off this morning because he is able to move he head, finger and toes. He is still responding to us when we go in to talk with him, waving when we come in, nodding and shaking his head to answer questions and smiling every once and a while. His lungs continue to look good, so he will hopefully be off the vent before too long.
Continue to pray.

Wednesday, October 29, 2003 10:28 PM CST

Josh is moving around and responding really well.
He is aware and interacting with those around and even helping the nurses when they come to change the sheets. He smiles at our lame jokes and is able to communicate pain as well as nod or shake his head to answer questions. Today he spent most of the day sleeping, so interaction was minimal,
but with him initiating the breathing on the vent. he is more tired. He does have pneumonia, which the doctors anticipated, but is responding to antibiotics and the treatement they have been giving him.
Continue to pray.

Wednesday, October 29, 2003 1:11 PM CST

Josh is moving around and responding really well.
He is aware and interacting with those around and even helping the nurses when they come to change the sheets.
He is still on a ventilator but initiating most of the breathing.
There is still a likelihood of pneumonia.
Continue to pray.

Click here to go back to the main page.

----End of History----