Slow but steady

The last few days Aron has continued to open his eyes. Yesterday he started opening them for longer periods of time—for 10 or 20 minutes at once multiple times throughout the day. His eyes are not all the way open, and he is still fighting to blink them open. He is building up stamina. It seems like he is looking at us but not quite tracking or following us yet. Also, Aron has continued to respond occasionally to commands. Other times he is just too drained and tired to exert any more effort. So we all need to be patient with him.

Today, Candace, Jill and I met with the doctors and staff at Little Company for our first “monthly meeting” to discuss our concerns as well as Aron’s progress. Overall, the meeting went well. We were able to express concerns regarding: Aron’s picc line; providing more padding on his bed so he doesn’t cough and hit his head; his blood sugar, which has been high and low sporadically; and a variety of other issues.

There are a couple positives to take from our meeting. Firstly, Aron’s doctor told us that he doesn’t think Aron’s brain was ever cut off from oxygen. This is different than what the neurosurgeon said—she thought his gasp-like breathes after his fall weren’t sufficient and called his injury anoxant as well as traumatic. However, this doctor said that since Aron’s heart never stopped, the blood going to his brain was still carrying oxygen.

Secondly, the doctors and staff are trying to wean Aron off the ventilator. There are three settings. Aron was on the strongest ventilator setting that completely breathed for him, but now he is on the middle setting, which allows him to breath over the ventilator. The doctor said that he could be off the ventilator in just a couple weeks. Then they will reassess removing the trach, since he has to be able to cough and clear his lungs on his own, or he could develop pneumonia again.

We thought that we should break down a list of specific prayer requests, so that all of you know what to be praying for. Please pray:

1. For God to restore the neurological function to Aron’s brain.
2. For no infections or bed sores.
3. That Aron will be able to respond more consistently, not only for us but also for the staff—to commands as well as to painful stimuli.
4. That the swelling in Aron’s brain keep subsiding.
5. That Aron would be able to open his eyes all the way for longer periods of time—that he would be able to follow us with his eyes and really be able to see (right now everything is probably fuzzy and unclear to him).
6. That Aron can get off the ventilator and the trach.
7. For the nurses, staff, and doctors—that they would have wisdom and a sense of responsibility to fulfil their duties and take good care of Aron (even if it’s just turning him on schedule so he doesn’t get bed sores).
8. For all those touched by Aron and this situation—that they would know Jesus and His power.
9. We will keep pray for healing, restoration, and mercy, but ultimately our prayer is that God will be glorified.

Again, the Shubin family, Aron’s friends, my family, and I cannot even fully express our gratitude for all of your prayers and support. It really is encouraging to hear from so many different people. Aron is so loved—it’s overwhelming to think that God loves Aron even more than we do, and we can trust that God has a perfect plan in all of this, even though we don’t understand it.

Jeremiah 29:11-14—"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord..."

-Amy

six week update

I just wanted to write briefly to update everyone on how Aron's doing. This past week, each day, he opens his eyes for brief periods of time. It seems each day we see an increase in open eye moments. When he does open his eyes, it is usually for a few minutes, and sometimes he looks around the room. He also continues to respond to some basic commands, sometimes more quickly than others. Today he was asked to raise his arm, and he did it right away.

The next thing we hope to see is Aron being able to answer simple yes and no questions with a head nod, and to follow people around the room with his eyes. Please continue to keep Aron in your prayers as he works toward regaining consciousness.

My family, Amy and her family, and Aron's friends all appreciate your comments, however we don't always know who you are by your username. If you do leave comments, please sign your name so we know who you are, and so hopefully when Aron reads this blog, he will know also.

Trusting

Aron has continued to progress. We keep getting reports from the nurses that he has been partially opening his eyes when they move him or suction his lungs. Today he opened his eyes halfway for my mom and I. He also moved his thumb on command a couple times and lifted his arm on command once. Aron is struggling to come back to us. Thank you all for your constant prayers and support, as we continue to trust in the Lord.

On a personal note, last Monday the girls in my family attended a women’s Bible study at our church, King’s Harbor. The study was on Habakkuk—on remembering God’s faithfulness, waiting, and trusting God in the midst of tragedy. The Lord really spoke to me through the message, and I think it might be helpful for others who are likewise hurting and missing Aron. Like all of you, I am so heart broken by all of this and want Aron back so badly. This was not what Aron and I were planning for our summer. But I am trying to pour out my brokenness, my doubts, and my pain to the Lord and trust that He is faithful.

Habakkuk 3:19—The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights.

Here’s the link to a synopsis of the message:

http://khcwomeninministry.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/refuge-tunnel-vision-2/

There is also a link to the recording of the message at the bottom of the page, or you can click here to listen to it: http://www.box.net/shared/jp7ikz9989

five weeks later

The past few days, Aron has worked very hard to come back to us. I should preface this post by saying that he is still in a coma. While he moves around and is aware of visitors, he is not yet awake. He has moments of what seem like wakefulness - he will move a thumb for Amy or move his eyelids when we play music.

Yesterday, my mom was working with him, and three times, he lifted his arm when she asked. The third time, his hand got caught on a pillow, but he still made an effort to move it. Also yesterday, my family noticed him moving his eyelids more than usual, and began to cheer him on and encourage him to open his eyes. He did, for a moment, and just a tiny bit. We wanted to wait to post about this until he did it again.

Today, my mom, dad, and I were with him. My mom started working with him and asking to lift his arm. Nothing was happening. We noticed his eyes moving a lot - it looks like he wants to blink. We started asking him to open his eyes, telling him he could do it, that we were there for him. We cheered and encouraged, and a very determined expression was on his face. I don't know how to explain it other than it was clear to all of us that he was trying very hard. His eyes were quivering, his face clearly showing the struggle. It looked so difficult that we started telling him it was ok, we knew he tried and that was enough. Just after that, to our great joy - he opened his eyes about half way. He kept his eyes open for about five minutes, halfway, blinking. We told him the date, that he had had an accident on his skateboard, and that he is getting well. This tremendous effort exhausted him and once he closed his eyes, we thanked him and reassured him some more.

The doctors have told us this would be a slow process. We now understand what that means. It is important that Aron wake up, and today was the first step. It happens little by little, and we are grateful to God for the progress he made today. Our family, Amy's family, and Aron's friends are thankful for your continued prayers.

Update

We continue to be uplifted by small steps in the right direction. Amy has been with Aron the past several days and he continues to respond to her by moving his thumb. Today, while Amy and Linda were in the room with him, Aron stretched and almost sat up in bed, holding that position for a while.

Later this evening, my dad, mom, and I visited. Today, dad recorded Aron's race car engine revving, as well as Mandy barking. We brought the recording on an iPod, and Amy was putting in the earbuds - to do this, she had to move Aron's head to the side, and in the process, she was squeezing his chin. This is when we believe something pretty major happened - Aron lifted his hand towards his head. This is called localizing. So far, Aron responds to pain, but localizing is the next step - it means he is seeking out the source of the pain or discomfort rather than just moving away from it. I watched this happen from the foot of the bed, and got chills all over.


We are so thankful for this progress - it is small, but we have to start somewhere. My family is so grateful for all the prayer support of everyone across the globe - we continue to hear of someone who has brought Aron's situation to their church or prayer chain - be it here in the United States or in Bolivia. We know God hears every prayer and we trust His plans for Aron's life.

Candace

Thanking God for the little things

Good news today! Aron responded to me!!! We are so excited and are praising God for this miraculous step in the right direction.

I asked Aron to move his thumb, and he did—at least a dozen times. The movement was isolated to his thumb. He didn’t move any other part of his body or arm, and it wasn't a twitch. I also asked him to move his fingers, and he did. The responses were not always immediate. Sometimes I had to ask a few times, and it seemed like a very concerted effort. At times he would barely move his thumb, and I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it or not. So I would tell Aron he had to move it BIG, so I could see—and he would move it more obviously. Aron is fighting to regain function, and God is answering our prayers. I think that Aron will have highs and lows as far as responsiveness goes. Sometimes he is more alert than others, and we need to remember that his brain is still healing, and he needs time. After responding for several hours, he seemed worn out and wasn’t as responsive. So we gave him a break.

My mom and I kept encouraging Aron and telling him how proud we are of him and how it makes me so happy when he responds. After that I kept talking to Aron and repeating all of the things that we’ve been telling him all along—how much we love him, that we’re all praying for him, and that we want him to come back to us. As I was holding his hand, Aron continued to move his fingers occasionally. To me it seemed like it was in response to what I was saying. He would move his thumb or repeatedly squeeze my hand, and I kept telling him that when he did that I knew he was hearing me and responding. He also squeezed my hand when I played music for him and talked about Mandy and how much she misses him. Everybody keeps telling us this will be a long process, so I am trying to prepare myself and keep the right perspective.

This definitely is not how I pictured coming home, and I know Aron had different plans that would have made us both immeasurably happy. But I keep thinking of one of the verses Aron wrote on his mirror: Proverbs 19:21—Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

I appreciate everybody’s encouragement and prayers so much—more than words can express. No matter what happens, Aron is in the palm of God’s hand. He is faithful, and we will continue to trust the Lord with childlike faith.

-Amy

July 5th

Today Aron was moved to The Little Company of Mary a sub acute care center in San Pedro. The move went smoothly and while Jacqie and I were there the nurses were getting Aron settled in to his new room. I'm not actually sure what the visiting hours are but they do have a two visitor per room rule which they don't seem to be enforcing at this time. Aron seems to be doing about the same and his swelling is slowly getting better. We are all Praying the God will heal Aron and full his mind.

Little Company of Mary

1322 west 6th st

San Pedro Ca 90732

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

-1Peter 5:10-11

We love you Aron and we're praying for you constantly...

Jimmy

Waiting on the Lord

Yesterday, we got the results from Aron’s MRI. The good news is that, as expected, Aron’s brain has been healing. This MRI compared to one from a week ago showed decreased bruising and less blood. It did, however, show damage to the left side of Aron’s brain stem. Since the brain stem is so small and dense the doctor doesn’t know exactly what area is damaged or how it will affect him. The bleed in his brain stem, like the rest of his brain, has been healing.

The real question is not whether or not his brain will heal but is how his brain will function. So we need to be praying not just for healing but for restoration—that God will fully restore the function to his brain.

We are yet to get Aron to respond to verbal commands to squeeze our hands or wiggle his fingers, and all of his arm and leg movement has been characterized as reflexes rather than responses by the doctors. However, today Tom, Jill, my dad and I were all watching, and suddenly Aron stretched his arms and flexed his hands, which is different than the reflexes and twitches we’ve been seeing. We’re not sure exactly what this means, but we’re hoping it’s a good thing.

Kaiser has been trying to move Aron to a sub-acute facility. They were planning on moving him today, but he got a low-grade fever (now he’s fine), so Aron will probably not move until early next week. So check the blog before heading out to visit. Tom and Jill have looked at different facilities and have chosen Little Company of Mary in San Pedro.

That’s all the updates for now. We are continuing to wait on the Lord and look toward Him for a miraculous healing and restoration of function to Aron’s brain. Only He is able, and our hope is in Him. Thanks again for all of the prayers and encouragement.

-Amy

Psalm 62:5-8—Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.