Thursday, July 31, 2008

Laura called around 9:30 this morning. Nothing much has changed from yesterday. Kirk will be receiving blood and platelets again today. His blood count was 8.3 and his platelets were 22. They have reduced the venilator down to 90% again and hope to take it down a little more today. Below is a poem that I think all of us can mabye find some comfort in while Kirk is sedated and is being "carried" by Jesus.
Please continue to pray. The power of prayer has proven itself to this family in the past and hopefully will again.

There are two blood drives next week for Kirk they are...

#1 Tue, Aug 5 All Nations Church of God 11-6
#2 Wed, Aug 6 RR Community Center 10-4

Laura thanks everyone for their support, visits, phone calls, and comments here on the blog.




FOOTPRINTS....A New Version

Imagine you and the Lord Jesus are walking down the road together. For much of the way, the Lord's footprints go along steadily, consistently, rarely varying the pace. But your footprints are a disorganized stream of zigzags, starts, stops, turnarounds, circles, departures and returns. For much of the way, it seems to go like this, but gradually your footprints come more in line with the Lord's, soon paralleling, His consistently. You and Jesus are walking as true friends!

This seems perfect, but then an interesting thing happens: Your footprints that once etched the sand next to Jesus' are now walking precisely in His steps. Inside His larger footprints are your smaller ones, you and Jesus are becoming one. This goes on for many miles, but gradually you notice another change. The footprints inside the large footprints seem to grow larger. Eventually they disappear altogether. There is only one set of footprints. They have become one. This goes on for a long time, but suddenly the second set of footprints is back This time it seems even worse! Zigzags all over the place. Stops. Starts. Gashes in the sand. A variable mess of prints. You are amazed and shocked. Your dream ends.

Now you pray: "Lord, I understand the first scene, with zigzags and fits. I was a new Christian; I was just learning. But you walked on through the storm and helped me learn to walk with you." "That is correct." "And when the smaller footprints were inside of Yours, I was actually learning to walk in your steps, following you very closely." "Very good.. You have understood everything so far." "So....When the smaller footprints grew and filled in Yours, I suppose that I was becoming like you in every way." "Precisely!" said Jesus. "So, Lord, was there a regression or something? The footprints separated, and this time it was worse than at first." There is a pause as the Lord answers, with a smile in His voice. "You didn't know? It was then that we danced!”


God Bless

Monica Patton

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Not much has changed today. He is still on the venilator and they had to actually turn it back up from yesterday. He has an infection in his blood which is also in his lungs. They are giving him anitbiotics to clear up the infection. Once it is cleared up they will start to ween him off of the venilator again. He received platelets this morning and his blood count is 10.1 today.
Laura said he is resting comfortably.

I will let you know when something changes.

Pray for his strength and healing and for the family.

God Bless!

Monica Patton

Tuesday July 29, 2008

Hello everyone. We just wanted to pass the latest news on to everyone. Yesterday, Kirk had some excessive bleeding come through the tube that they placed into his liver to drain the enzymes. The tube had become displaced and was drawing the blood out of his abdomen. They took him back into surgery and put the tube back into place. They also shut off the blood supply to his spleen so he would stop loosing blood through it. His blood count was actually up a little yesterday from the day before. He was put on a venilator for the procedure and is still on it this morning. They are weening him off of it a little at time.

Laura said that he is sedated but very comfortable and seems to be resting well. Keep him in your prayers as well as Laura and the boys. She and Jamie (Kirk's sister) have been with him around the clock for the past few days and I am sure they are both exausted.

We will let you know as soon as anything changes. Keep the comments coming. I will be printing them and take them to him as soon as he is awake.

Monica

July 26, 2008

Sorry we didn't post yesterday but Laura and Matthew didn't come home from Abingdon and I didn't get home from there until about 11 last night.

They put Kirk under anesthesia and put the tube into his liver to drain the enzymes. He came through the procedure fine. His color was much better a couple of hours after the procedure. He is in the critical care unit for observation. They gave him blood last night and he was resting well. They are going to keep him in the critical care unit for a day or so to observe him. Laura said he rested pretty good last night.

Please continue to pray for Kirk and the family. We will let you know if anything changes. Keep the comments coming Kirk reallly enjoys hearing from everyone!

Monica

July 24th

Hey everyone,

Kirk was still not able to have the procedure today to drain his liver due to low blood counts. They are giving him blood and platelets today and we hope that he can have the procedure tomorrow. This should give him alot of relief.

Kirk is a fighter and continues to move forward. He has so much support and we are very thankful for that. He enjoys his calls and visits and thanks to Robert Hutton he is now in Hokie territory.

My mom is still in the hospital but she will be o.k. and Sabrina is checking on her daily as well as my aunt and cousins.

We thank you all for your support without you we could not do this.

I will update tomorrow as soon as I have more news.

God Bless!

Kirk and Laura

July 23rd

Hi everyone,

I wish I could report good news today but again things didn't go as planned this morning. Dr. Cobb tried to insert a tube into one of the liver biles today to give Kirk relief from the liver enzymes that are backing up because of Kirk's cancer he is so sensitive and in so much pain that he could not stand the procedure. The Dr. said it started off good but because they do not put people to sleep for this procedure just light sedation Kirk could not bear the pain and asked that he stop.

What we are looking at now is to see if Kirk's system can handle being put sleep and if they want to try that procedure or a surgical procedure to provide him some relief. I tell you Kirk has to be the toughest person I have seen in my life to go through the things he has went through.

I also talked with a lady from the blood bank today and she told me she had worked there for 30 years and had never seen the turn out that she had for Kirk. She said thanks to everyone!

As soon as we know what the next step will be I will let you know. Pray pray pray!!!

God Bless!

Kirk and Laura

July 22nd

Things did not go as we had hoped they would with the endoscopy this morning. The blockage was not food but a mass so the doctor could not open the stent. He is not sure what king of mass it was but he did a biopsy and we should know later this week. Since they couldn't make an opening there is another procedure they can do but Kirk was not fully awake and could not make that decision today so it may be tomorrow before they try anything else.

He is receiving blood today his count was 7.3 this morning so he is going to get 2 units.

He was resting well today and they are getting his pain under control. He still is in good spirits and enjoys all the calls and visits he has received from everyone!

I will let you know what's next as soon as we find out.

God Bless!

Kirk and Laura

July 21st

Hi everyone,

Well I don't have much to report today. Things are about the same they were not able to do the endoscopy today because the doctor was booked up and will have to do it tomorrow. His liver counts are still up and he is still yellow but hopefully if they can remove the blockage which they are hoping is only food things will get back to normal.

He had to receive platelets today and may have to receive blood tomorrow so all the donations are coming in very useful.

I will post again tomorrow after the test. Please say hi to my mother who is in room 401 at Wytheville Community Hospital having some back trouble.

Thanks again,
God Bless!

Kirk and Laura

July 20th

Hi everyone,

Well Kirk's liver enzymes were still up this morning so they will probably have to do an endoscopy to see what is happening near the stent. He has been put back on a liquid diet so at least he can drink and have popcicles today.

Mike Huff visited with him for a couple of hours yesterday and he enjoyed their visit so much. By the time I got back out there they had put a tube through his nose to his stomach to drain any bile backup so he was feeling pretty miserable but they removed the tube this morning.

He will probably have the endoscopy tomorrow so that will tell us more about what is going on with his liver and as soon as I find out I will let everyone know.

Thanks for the calls and visits!

God Bless!

Kirk and Laura

July 19th

Well Dr. Swan told us this morning that Kirk's liver enzymes are up again. He thinks that there could be a blockage at the end of the tube that empties the liver. This is around the area where he has the stent so he is hoping that it could just be some undigested food. So today he is not allowed to eat or drink and they are going to see if this will help clear this situation up. His platelets were also low today so he is receiving platelets now.

Yesterday he had a very good day and even though he can't eat or drink he is feeling ok today.

Please keep him in your thought and prayers and I will update as soon as we have more news.

God Bless!

Kirk and Laura

July 18th

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you know what was happening as of today. Yesterday they had to take Kirk off of some of his pain medications because Dr. Swan was worried about his color. He was starting to look very yellow which means the liver is having trouble with all the medication it is trying to absorb and his liver enzymes were very high. This caused Kirk to have a very rough afternoon and night but when Dr. Swan came in this morning he said that things were looking better and that they would work with getting his pain back under control.

They are still not sure what is causing the blood to get low but today it was still holding at 10 and his platelets were 45 so he is good for a little while.

I came home just to rest and take a shower and head back out but while I was here Kirk called and said that he was feeling better as the day went on. I hope to find him doing well when I get back.

Im not sure when they will let him come home I hope that they will have everything under control in the next couple of days. Thanks again for the blood donations and prayers from everyone.

God Bless!

Kirk and Laura

July 17, 2008

Hello everyone. I am going to post an update for Kirk and Laura today. We haven't updated for a while because really there hasn't been much change until now.



Kirk is in Johnson Memorial in Abingdon, VA. He was admitted into the hospital on Monday night (early Tuesday morning). They gave him blood on Tuesday and he had a colonoscopy yesterday which came back with good news. There is no cancer in the colon. However, they are still not sure where he is loosing so much blood. His blood level was 11.7 yesterday and this morning it was 10.5. His platelets were down to 13 this morning so he will be getting more platelets today.



He is eating pretty good and they have his pain under control for now with medication.



They want to thank everyone that donated blood to the hospital the past couple of days. I am sure Kirk will be getting more over the next few weeks.



Please pray that he will get stronger and will be able to have a treatment soon. Please post comments and well wishes. We will be printing these and delivering them to him. It is so good for him to see that everybody here at home is pulling for him and cares about him!



Laura will update tonight or tomorrow or whenever she is able to run home for a while.



Monica