Head Injury

[Taylor]

My cousin, Ronald was in a bad accident and has a head injury. Please pray for him. He is not a baptized Adventist but he believes everything. My poor uncle and his sisters and wife and kids are just beside themselves. The doctors don't yet know the extent of the brain injury. He is on a ventilator. He can breath alone but not as consistent as they want so they have him on the vent.

[Stan]

That is horrible... got my prayers my friend... please keep me updated...

[Bravus]

Prayers going up from Down Under

[Taylor]

Thanks my friends! I really appreciate it. Am feeling a bit sad right now but hoping for the best. This cousin, I have never had much of a chance to spend time with him, because of the distance that he lives, but he is always been a favorite cousin. He is such an all around good guy, easy to get along with, kind, a family man. Just so sad. I DO hope it all works out for him.

[Taylor]

I talked to Ronald's wife today and she said that they have reduced his sedative meds by 25 percent and he seems to be "coming to" a bit. He seemed to turn his head her direction when she talked to him and seemed to move more. I don't know how much of that is her wishful thinking and how much is reality, but please keep praying. I am feeling a bit more hopeful. There isn't anything God can't do.

[Clio]

Encourage them to keep talking to him. My husband could hear but not respond as could both my parents...

Will keep him in prayer here too.

[Taylor]

Thanks so much Clio! I really appreciate your prayers. They are talking to him as much as they are allowed. They can go into the ICU for a few minutes every hour or something like that.

[Clio]

Wives know. Do not put it down to just "wishful thinking". We know our husbands better than anyone else, and we know when they respond, even if it seems out of the realm of possibility.

I have been in your cousin's wife's shoes. We know. When no one else's voice will reach him, hers will.

Abba tells us that man and wife become one flesh, and this is not symbolic any more than any spiritual reality is solely symbolic. It is a literal joining in the spirit because a marriage is also a blood covenant. Where the Blood Covenant of Salvation is sealed forever through an voluntary outpouring of Divine Blood, a marriage covenant is sealed at the very source of life for future generations.

Her husband can hear her when he hears no one else, and she can pray for him in ways Abba can honor that He can honor for no one else. They are one. This may be an opportunity to open an avenue to spiritual topics that could come about no other way.

Abba bless you as you pray and minister to them now.

[Taylor]

Well I wasn't trying to judge her...she told me SHE didn't know if it was wishful thinking of a real reaction. But I hear you and thanks so much for your support.

[Clio]

Didn't mean to imply any judgement on your part. :firefox: Was just remembering how I was told it was "wishful thinking". Yet, I knew, and future events bore it out, that it wasn't wishful thinking.

She may not "feel" like she knows, or others may be trying to tell her otherwise from the lofty heights of medicine... but she knows. She's his wife.

Clio

[Taylor]

I think God can do the impossible! I am praying trust me! Thanks for your prayers.

[Taylor]

Ronald's sister asked him to open his eyes yesterday which he did at half mast so she teased him and said something like "is that the best you can do?" and he squeezed her hand. His sister was SO excited she told me today, "I think Ron is still in there. He heard me!!"

Keep praying!!! Thanks!!!!

[puddles]

I pray you continue getting good reports on your cousin. Will keep Ron in my prayers!

[Clio]

Ronald's sister asked him to open his eyes yesterday which he did at half mast so she teased him and said something like "is that the best you can do?" and he squeezed her hand. His sister was SO excited she told me today, "I think Ron is still in there. He heard me!!"

Keep praying!!! Thanks!!!!

he will do for her what he will not for anyone else. They are one.

Prayers continue.

[skyblue888]

Dear Taylor, We are told that "Through the merits of Christ we may find the approval of God." E.G. White, Our Father Cares, p.122. It therefore follows that by pleading the all-sufficient merits of Christ's sacrifice before God in his behalf you shall receive all the help that you can desire, according to the will of God.

"When we trust God fully, when we rely upon the merits of Jesus as a sin-pardoning Saviour, we shall receive all the help that we can desire." Patriarchs and Prophets, p.430.

"Only the merits of Christ will avail in our behalf." E.G. White, Signs of the Times, June 16, 1890.

[Neil D]

It's Sabbath morning...I was wondering if there was an update to your cousin Ron.

I know that your cousin is responding to treatment. But I was wondering if there were further responses than the one that his sister got?

You might want to tell your cousin's wife, that he has "many Sabbath people praying for him" from around the world... :grouphug4:

[Taylor]

Thanks for asking Neil! I really appreciate it! Ron's sister called me today and told me that the hospital had put Ron on some type of medication to "wake him up" and that he was reacting quickly to the drug and had opened his eyes, but his eyes were a bit glassy and no recognition yet but they are hoping. Please keep praying! They prayed for him at my church today.

[Neil D]

Is there any brain swelling? My short experience with head trauma's have been to keep the person in a coma for a least a couple of days [has it been that long??? ] and wake him as the intercrainal pressures [brain swelling] goes down...Maybe I am all wrong on this...

Maybe Aldona or Nan can give some information here as it has been too long for me and I don't remember...Of course, they are not in tramua medicine either....

[Taylor]

It has now been about 7 days since the accident.

[LifeHiscost]

There isn't anything God can't do.

Dear Taylor,

For a Christian I am probably more of a pragmatist than the ordinary. When disaster has occurred in certain believer's lives, including my own, it has of recent years and events been the knowledge that God is sovereign that has allowed a great deal of peace enter my soul though the severest events may be taking place.

I take my greatest evidence from the Word, looking at Job's experience. Despite his own personal loss of all, all was returned multiplied at least two fold, except that which was most dear to him, the lives of his children. No one can convince me that other children would have filled the hole in his heart that remained in the loss of the first.

OTOH to know that if loss is not remedied, God still has our best interests at heart, and that includes those we entrust to His care whenever we put them in His care. Let my words not discourage you from asking for a full recovery. Just look at what occurred in the life of Bob Woodruff. However, just having lost my own brother a short time ago gave me clear evidence that our Father always knows the precise nich of time it is best to take a person from this world of woe.

I believe you suggested that you hadn't always been as close to your cousin as you could have been. If I'm wrong about that, please forgive my assumption. In my own experience with the loss of my brother, that was the case. However in going over his personal affects I ran across a number of articles indicating that at the time of his death, which was sudden, he had been taking steps to receive Jesus. While I agree to most people it wouldn't have looked as if he was a committed Christian. However once a person begins their journey of faith, feeble as those steps might be, I do not believe Jesus would ever deny the smallest flicker of hope in my brother's heart.

"A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth." Isaiah 42:3 NKJV

I gratefully accept the privilege of praying for your cousin's speedy recovery. I also accept the fact that if all doesn't go according to our fondest hopes, that doesn't mean God's will hasn't been accomplished. I expect to see my brother in heaven, not because I've prayed for him but because that is God's fondest wish for him also, in His perfect time. The same may be said for your cousin.

"And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you." Luke 17:6 KJV

Keep looking up!!

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 KJV

And that is a promise we can rely on for us on behalf of your cousin as well as his family. Cheers!!

[Taylor]

Aww!! Thanks so much Lifehiscost! That was very kind of you. Yes, even though I care about this cousin alot, we haven't had the opportunity to know each other very well through the years. He has always lived on the other side of the USA from me, or so it seems. But I did talk to him recently by phone and I know he is thinking about God and I can see evidence that God is working on his heart. That is comforting to me. Yes, God is in controll, and if he lets my cousin rest till Jesus comes, it will be ok, but selfishly I hope he pulls out of this.

I really appreciate your post.

[Taylor]

I just got off the phone with Ron's wife and I am so excited! Ron is responding to his wife and to the nurses on his wife's request. He is opening his eyes (glazy still but opening), and even puckered his lips to give her a kiss. He will squeeze her hand on command and he was off the ventilator for 12 hours today. Please keep praying!!

[Clio]

Oh Taylor!

That's AWESOME! Abba blesses us tremendously even before we ask. He knows and is interested in each detail of our lives.

Praise His Mighty Name!

Clio

[Taylor]

Ron's sister who is also my cousin (of course:) ) Laurie wrote this to me today

Ron will be moved out of ICU, probably tomorrow. He is responding to voices and he seems to be focusing on what he is looking at. Today at 3pm, Respitory plugged Ron's Trach. This forces air to return to normal and Ron can speak. He said " yes ,yes ,yes, I'm tired" and later he said the word fisherman! (We were watching some fisherman crabing off of Alaska coast . Discovery Channel has some great shows!) I was told, he needed to practice talking. Ron? Somehow I doubt he needs much practice.

I am so excited! Thanks everyone for your prayers please keep them going.

[bevin]

Modern coma-inducing meds are very fasting-acting and very short-lived, so the ICU staff can keep the patient at the level of sedation that they want.

Brain swelling is caused by a very complex set of interactions of various control-systems in the body, and can be influenced by precise management of the CO2 levels in the blood and cerebro-spinal fluid - and an effective way to manage this is via careful control of the depth and rate of breathing which requires a ventilator.

Ventilators are not well tolerated by conscious patients, so it is simply better all the way round to induce a coma and then carefully control blood gas levels to achieve the desired effects.

However this means you can't accurately measure the patient's neurological condition - but, who cares?, it is more important to avoid permanent brain damage than it is to have the pleasure of their chatting for a few days.

/Bevin