Home Round 2

Macey will finally be going home tomorrow after our minor setback. She will continue to receive antibiotics through an IV at home. These types of infections usually take about 6 weeks to completely heal. The results came back for the infections, and she has an infection called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This type of bacteria is comes from the hospital and the infection most likely originated during the surgery of putting in the bone flap on January 5th. Macey is in good spirits thanks to the prayers for strength and courage. She is ready come back home, round 2!! Please pray for safe travels back to Bakersfield tomorrow. Lord please calm this storm and protect my family's journey back home. Thank you all for sticking with my family for this long! Your words of encouragement and prayers are indescribable. God sure has a powerful way of doing things :)

God Bless

Removal is Done

The surgery has been completed with no real bumps in the road. The neurosurgeon stated it was definitely the right decision to remove it, for it was very infected. He also found a small hematoma forming in her brain which he also removed. He is testing all the bacteria they removed to determine a proper antibiotic. Macey will most likely stay in the hospital for at least a week to monitor everything. She is in recovery currently. Lord please give Macey the strength and courage to overcome the pain of this procedure mentally and physically. Thank you Lord for gracing her with knowledgeable doctors and a wonderful nursing staff that closely monitors her every move. Once again Macey is so very blessed with Your presence and glory. Thank you Lord for this day.

Surgery

After talking to the neurosurgeon this morning, he has informed us the best decision is to remove the bone flap. He said that we could continue treating it with antibiotics, but as soon as we stop, the bacteria will most likely come back. Macey's skull and scalp are infected and the only way to stop the infection is to remove the bone flap. Since her surgery is an add on, she could go in anytime today. The nurse just came in and informed us she could go in as early as the next 30 minutes. She is devastated she has to go through this. Once the bone flap is removed she will have to wear a helmet to protect her for the next 6 months. After those long months they will attempt to put a prosthetic skull in. Lord please let Macey relax in your precious arms and calm her of this burden. Let her realize you have blessed her in so many ways and this is just one more blessing she is about to receive. Please let the power of prayer be in full force in order to comfort Macey throughout this stressful day.

Macey's favorite verse:

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5

Infection

Macey is back in Long Beach Memorial due to an infection of her skull. I was just informed this morning of the issue and am currently catching a flight back to Long Beach. My mom told me that Macey said her hand had went numb yesterday and she had a major headache. My mother called her neurosurgeon, and he told her to head to Long Beach in the morning. He was actually in San Francisco and is on a flight back to LB today. As of now Macey is back in ICU. They have removed her staples again and placed a drain back in her head. They have done a CT scan to try to determine if the infection can be treated with antibiotics or if they needs to remove the bone flap. As you may remember there was was only a 2 percent chance of it getting infected, so this is very rare. Please pray, Macey is very scared and well aware of what is going on. Lord we pray this can be treated with antibiotics and she can be back home very soon. Please continue to hold her tight in your arms. The power of prayer will bless Macey AGAIN.

God Bless

Settling In

Macey has been home for almost a week now and is readjusting quite well! She has been attending Center for Neuro Skills since Wednesday, starting at 11am and going home at 4pm. It is a filled day with therapies from every aspect that leave her dead tired by the end of the day. She should be attending there for the next few months. Macey is very eager to walk, and she only has 2 more weeks until she can bear weight on her feet! Macey needs prayers of encouragement to keep her driven during her tedious therapy sessions. Our Lord has brought her back home to us, and is working intricately to mend what was damaged in her precious body. Healing takes time as we all know, so we pray Macey stays patient throughout this process. I am personally back in Arizona about to start my spring semester, so the blog updates will be very sporadic. I will continue updating as I get updated by my mom and Macey herself. The first 6 months of a brain injury are most critical for the healing process. So please continue to keep Macey in your thoughts. The power of prayer is a beautiful thing! Thank you all!

Bakersfield

We're home everyone!!! Thank you all for the house decorations! Truly a welcome home and brought tears to our eyes! Macey was overjoyed! The drive went very well, never hitting an ounce of traffic. Thank you all for all your thoughts and prayers, it is what brought Macey back home. Macey's very excited to be home, and she welcomes all visitors! So come on over!! We love you all so very much! Each and every prayer is so special and close to our hearts.

God Bless!

Homeeeeee!

I got a phone call this morning around 8:30 from Macey ecstatic to let me know we will be discharged tomorrow morning! Finally after 36 days, we are leaving this hospital for good! You know it's time to go home when you go to get a visitors pass in the main lobby, and they grab the pass and start writing the room number before you even open your mouth to speak! As for Macey her left arm is doing much better but still quite weak. We are still working non-stop with Center for Neuro Skills to get that all situated with insurance and hopefully get her started this coming Monday. Please pray for our safe travels home. This is Macey's first time in a car since December 3rd, and we pray that it is a smooth journey. All of your prayers is the only thing that is allowing Macey to make this travel back home!

God Bless and Thank you so much!!

Homeward Bound

Macey got transferred from ICU back to the fourth floor yesterday! She is feeling much better! We are seeing miraculous improvements on her left side. Her left leg is working perfect again! Occupational therapy came in this morning to show her some exercises to work on her left arm, that was still very numb. Since this morning's exercises she is able to move all her fingers and slide her arm where she wants it. The left arm is still very weak and limp, but that fact that her brain is sending signals to her arm for movements is wonderful. Macey's brain is still slightly swollen and as the swelling goes down the movements on the left side should increase! My mom is working non-stop to coordinate her discharge home. If all goes well we should be leaving tomorrow or Saturday! Thanks for the continued prayers, Macey is very comforted from everyone's support.

Left Side Prayers

Macey had a rough night in ICU, due to coming down off the anesthesia. She is doing much better this morning. Unfortunately her whole left side is not working again, which is all new to her. Her neurosurgeon requested a cat scan in case there was hemorrhaging or any abnormalities, which thank God there was not. He is not quite sure what is causing the numbness of the left side, so she is receiving steroids that will hopefully help this. The doctor is not worried about this and says the new pressure of her skull on the right side might be causing this, and sensation on the left side should come back soon. Since this is the first time Macey is aware of this happening she is very upset and discouraged. We have all seen this before, so we pray that the left side will begin working again just like it did a few weeks ago. Macey will probably spend another night in ICU just because they pay such great attention to her. We just pray that Macey keeps fighting and does not get discouraged by this slight bump in the road. Like her neurosurgeon says the worst is well behind us, and we have nothing to worry about! Lord, we pray to please keep healing our precious Macey. We all know now how well the power of prayer works! I know God is testing her because she does not remember overcoming obstacles like this in ICU. It's neat to see all of her nurses again that love Macey so dearly. Although she doesn't remember any of them, they definitely remember her gorgeous face and smile, that looks much better than it did the last time she was on this floor. Please continue to pray, and I will keep you all updated later on today!

God Bless

Surgery done!

Macey just finished up with surgery. They put her back in ICU for the night just so she will have a nurse monitoring her 24/7. The procedure that was supposed to take 45 minutes, took an hour and a half. This was not a fun waiting game. The doctor said that her brain was a little swollen, and he definitely took his time intricately mending it back. He said she will be in pain for the next 24 hours, so please pray for her physical comfort. God, please keep Macey in your comforting arms. We should be coming home to Bakersfield Friday or Saturday after a long month's battle. We are almost done, thank you Lord AGAIN!

God Bless

Thank you letter from the Angel herself

This morning at 10:45 Macey will go in for her final surgery to put her skull back in. Macey has stated this is the first surgery that she is awake and fully aware for which makes her quite nervous. Please pray for her calmness and strength. She has been through so much she doesn't even realize, and this is just one more thing that will be a breeze. Pray for the knowledge and courage of Macey's doctors during this procedure. Macey, along with all of our faith, is in God's hands. I will keep you all posted as soon as she is out of surgery. The following is a letter of all her thanks she wanted everyone to read.

God Bless

To all my truly amazing friends:
There’s no way I could ever write enough thank you cards to send my love and thanks to all of you. My accident, according to doctors, should have taken months to recover from. And although this one month seemed like an incredibly long time to be hospitalized, it was a miraculously fast recovery. And I have you to thank for that. I have never in my life had so many people wish me a fast recovery, and inform me that they are praying for me. It was your thoughts and prayers that got me to where I am today. God obviously took a huge part in this, but your prayers and mine let him know that I was truly in need of His help. All the cards, gifts, flowers and other letters I received from all of you wishing me luck and sending your love truly touched me and allowed me to get through this. I unfortunately have a couple more months of therapy, so I won’t be able to return to Long Beach this next semester =/ Although that really upsets me, I know I still need the recovery time and I eventually will make it back. So to all my friends at lb, please don’t forget about me and feel free to visit Bakersfield :) and to everyone else who is my friend or loved one: THANK YOU SO MUCH. I will never be able to explain or type how much you mean to me, or how much your concern and prayers have saved my life.
I love you!

Love,
Macey