Let me start by saying again how much we appreciate your faithful interest in and care for Joy and our family. Your support and prayers are needed now more than ever. Joy has exhibited a little more movement with her left hand and foot, not responding to command, but to touch. She continues to follow our voice with her eyes and seems to focus on us for longer periods of time. Her right side remains unresponsive, please pray for sensation and feeling to return to that side.
As Alyx mentioned yesterday, Joy’s CT scan revealed reduced brain swelling but not enough to move ahead with her cranioplasty. In previous posts, I have been correlating the cranioplasty with the ability to transport Joy. I had only made this connection because, Marc, Alyx, and I all heard her lead trauma surgeon state that the replacement of the brain flap was necessary before she could be transported and then proceeded to talk about Minnesota acute rehab options she was aware of. Yesterday I learned I was wrong to make that connection. Joy’s next step will be to a long term acute care hospital here in Panama City and depending on progress then to inpatient rehab and then to longer term care rehab. This means we are probably facing a 3 to 6 month stay in Florida, a stay that started with just two roll aboard bags.
As a result, in addition to intense prayers for Joy’s healing and restoration, please pray that I will have wisdom and discernment in setting up a life for us here and managing our home and other Minnesota responsibilities remotely. Please also pray that, while transport won’t be as soon as we had hoped, that Joy would be stable enough and God would provide the means (insurance does not pay for transports between facilities) for us to transition back to Minnesota as soon as possible. As I mentioned at the start, your support and prayers are needed now more than ever.