jmcgready’s misc universe

since she was struck by lightning…

From the Pray for Emily Facebook Group

3 Months

It’s hard for us to believe that tomorrow
three months will have passed
since Emily’s accident on June 10th.

It’s even harder to realize that there are most likely
going to be many, many more hard months ahead.

But God has promised new strength for each and every day
and we take comfort in that promise.

There have begun to be some very subtle changes
since the start of the medication.

She has been holding her head a slightly more erect - -
those of you who have seen her know
she has been keeping it firmly to the left
so we’re excited to see her lifting it up and to the right
more on her own for longer periods of time.

She has been doing well with her swallowing.

They have been giving her water ice during her speech therapy sessions
and she’s been getting a little better each time.

Obviously she is still getting all of her nutrition though the feeding tube,
but we are happy to see her responding to the sensation of something in her mouth.

She is also beginning to make noise on a regular basis.

She’d previously made sounds very, very rarely,
but started to consistently make them last weekend.

Some family members visiting her noticed it Saturday evening,
and my parents, grandparents and some friends were able
to spend Sunday afternoon with her and hear her as well.

Her trach is not capped yet which means
it takes a lot of effort to produce noise at all
and we’re excited by another very small step forward.

The prophet Zephaniah writes,
“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”

We are praying that Emily can know this and have peace,
and that we too will be able to face the next month with confidence
knowing that our God is a mighty God able to save and to heal.

Please continue to pray with us
as we give thanks to God for having sustained Emily’s life
for the past three months while asking Him
to continue to restore her to us.
-heidi

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June 29, 2008 at 06:46 PM EDT
Emily looks wonderful without all of the tubes in her mouth and seems to be much more alert at times.

All of us went to the hospital this afternoon after church and were able to visit with her - Nathan and Stephen are still not allowed in to the trama unit but the nurses did let Peter come in today for a brief period of time although he hasn’t been permitted to go in and see her since she passed the 72 hour mark.

Jody and I were by her bed talking to her when my Dad came in with Peter, and his entrance (Peter) seemed to generate a real response from Emily. I leaned over when I saw him coming around the corner and said, “Emily, guess who’s here?” He walked up and said hi and her eyes opened wide and she lifted her head up and to the side.

She seemed to stay alert for a little longer and moved her head and mouth one other time while we were in there, but then seemed to grow very tired again.

It was wonderful to see some movement again although she is still in a coma and it gave us great hope that healing is occuring in Emily’s body as she lies there.

It has been a great blessing to our family to know that so many people around the world - many of whom we have never even met - have been lifting Emily up in prayer.

Please continue to pray with us that she will begin to gradually wake up and that we would remain faithful as we wait for her to be restored.

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The latest from the Pray for Emily Facebook Group -
now at 1,624 members strong!

NEW UPDATE!!!
The results of Emily’s brain scans are in
and the doctors said that the results are “guardedly hopeful”.

They said that a normal person would score
somewhere between 8-12 and Emily scored a 6.

This seems low, but there is room for improvement
and this is not her final score.

So again, she is not out of the woods yet
but the doctors seem optimistic that
she could move up her score
and possibly recover or at least improve.

Emily has always been a fighter.
I have never known her to give up,
so lets keep praying that she stays strong
and continues to fight. - Wednesday June 18 (4:00pm)

*also, as of today they are starting
to wean her off of the ventilator,
today it was put on a much lower setting,
her breathing looks much more peaceful

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From the Pray for Emily Facebook Group:

June 14, 2:40am
NEW UPDATE!!!
OK, I’m sorry to be getting back to you guys so late but here it is…
The scans that the doctors are doing of her brain are not looking good.
However, her responses have been very good.

She is able to be woken up and she responds to stimuli well.
The doctor said that Emily is definitely “in there”
meaning she is not just staring blankly,
she knows people are there and what is going on.

Tonight was also the end of the 72 hours
and tonight is the first time the whole family will be home.

Her heart is exactly where they want it to be
and she can breathe on her own.

She is in stable condition
and is in no danger of dying, PRAISE THE LORD!!!

The family is in better spirits
and can smile and laugh about memories together.

They also have taken her off the morphine
so she is in no pain.

Now it is a waiting game to see how the brain reacts.

The good thing about the scans was that
instead of one area of the brain being in very bad shape,
it looked like it may be minimal damage
to a few different parts of the brain.

The doctor said that there is definite possibility for improvement.

It could be days or weeks,
but Emily will wake up!

So now we just have to pray that her brain recovers
and that when she wakes up
she is the same Emily we know and love.

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Reading: “Pray for Emily | Facebook” ( http://tinyurl.com/4gfcu7 )

So these next eight or so hours
are what will decide how much her brain will recover.
Please Please PLEASE focus your mind on Emily
in continual prayer that her brain will
turn and corner and recover in these next few hours.

You guys have all been great so far,
all 706 of you.
Now we just need to lift her up
down the home stretch.

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TV news story on Emily (struck by lightning)

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Emily update - she is alive - in hospital - burn unit - critical condition - keep praying, it’s working

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