Obituary

As just another step in the grieving/healing process, Jim's obituary was printed in various papers across the Southeast. We thank you so much for your prayers and comfort. Many of you have asked how you can get a hold of Hazel or how to send her a note. Hazel's e-mail address is HazelLorene@aol.com. I know for me, personally, these next two days will be difficult. Continue praying for our strength. Thanks.

Details

I wanted to jump on and make sure everyone was aware of all of the specifics that many of you have asked about:

-Many of you have called and asked about bringing food. We have put my sister, Kristin, in charge of coordinating all of that. Her number is 405.826.4255
-Cynthia has reserved a block of rooms at the LaQuinta Inn at 3003 W Memorial Rd. Ask for the "Quick" rate. The rooms have been discounted to $85 a night. Their number is 405.755.7000.
-New Leaf Florist will be coordinating all of Poppi's flowers. 405.842.2444
-Many of you have asked about contributions. Donations can be made in Jim's memory to the Nazarene Theological Seminary - Dr. Greathouse Chair or to Bethany First Church of the Nazarene - Swaziland Project.

Here is the schedule of events for the next few days:
Saturday
-We will have a gathering at Cynthia and Chris Black's home for any friends and family from 6-8pm. 2948 Quail Creek Road - Oklahoma City
Sunday
-Viewing - 1-9pm
Mercer Adams - 3925 N Asbury Ave - Bethany, OK - 405.495.4363
-Visitation with family - 7 - 8:30om
Mercer Adams
Monday
-Celebration Service - 2pm
Bethany First Church of the Nazarene - 6789 NW 39th Expressway - Bethany, OK
-Internment to Follow
Resurrection Cemetery - Oklahoma City, OK

I write this entry with a broken heart. We lost my Poppi early this morning.

Around the late afternoon, Jim became progressively worse. He really was laboring to breathe and had become completely unresponsive. His physicians said it was what we feared.....the bleed had gotten worse and was causing more swelling. With every breath his oxygen saturation was diminishing.

His entire family surrounded him as well as our amazing pastors. Poppi always loved to hear us girls sing, so for 6 hours that's what we did. We sang every hymn we could think of and repeated them all several times. We told stories and we just sat with him. He was completely comfortable. We did the hardest thing we've ever had to do. We had to surrender him to the will of the Lord. James Quick took his last breath at 1:20am.

Our entire family is completely devastated. We've been so fortunate to never really have to face death head on and this is going to take time, obviously. We cannot thank you enough for all the support and comforting you all brought to us over this past week. We love you. I'm sure we'll need much more. The wonderful people at Mercer Adams are taking care of him now and we will be sure to let you know details regarding his service as we make them.

Specific prayers: We know that God's grace is sufficient for all of us. Please pray that we will receive his grace and begin to heal. Please pray for Hazel. She lost her partner of over 60 years today.

And One To Grow On!

Happy 87th Birthday, Poppi! Today has had some ups and downs so far. Dr. Engles came in this morning and said that, neurologically, there was no change but medically, he had gotten worse. He continues to be more and more lethargic and the Dr. had felt he should be more responsive. He has hardly been awake today. He didn't wake up for the speech therapist or the physical therapists. Needless to say, this news was not good news for us.

However, Dr. LaPrie(?) was filling in for Dr. Delefield, Jim's hospitalist/internist. He said that if he were working on his case from the beginning, he would have told us that Day Four is always the worst. He said that with this type of brain injury, the swelling and subsequent symptoms are always the worst on the fourth day. This brought some comfort. Dr. LaPrie said that we should expect him to sleep all day and be unresponsive.

Dr. Engles will repeat another CT Scan on Friday to make sure there is no more swelling and no more blood seeping into his right ventricle. It will also show if any of that blood has been reabsorbed. Hopefully I will have better news to report tomorrow!

Today is a day for celebration. Today we celebrate the 87 years of the amazing man that is my grandfather! Today we celebrate his life and that he is still with us.

Specific prayers for today: Hazel has been down in the dumps since the first news we got this morning. Pray God will continue to reveal Himself to her and that he spirits will be lifted. Also, please pray for a positive CT Scan tomorrow!

About Last Night

We had a wonderful time of celebration last night. St. Patrick's Day is also RianDei's (Gary's daughter) first birthday! We had quite the party....in the ICU. We were able to snag one of the resting rooms and celebrated big with Hideway Pizza, balloons, an ice cream cake, and presents. The entire family and a few other guests were there and it really was a nice time of fellowship and lifted everyone's spirits.

Early morning they took Jim for another CT Scan. His neurosurgeon, Dr. Engles, said the scan showed no change. The blood was still in his water chamber (ventricle) and had not dissipated......but he hasn't gotten any worse! He did wake Hazel up in the middle of the night, asking her to let him go to the store and get some grape juice! His blood pressure is doing well and they plan on slowly weening him from the BP medication, hoping his body can normalize that on his own. His temputure has been rising so they have administered tylenol to hopefully keep that down. But his vitals are strong and he is much more responsive than yesterday. Our new nurse for the day shift is a retired Special Ops Nurse. He's great. We've been using these oral sponges to wet his mouth and tongue and the nurse started soaking them in grape juice. Jim will just have to take what he can get!

So all in all, a pretty uneventful day. In my book, an uneventful day is a good day....Praise the Lord! Tomorrow is Jim's 87th birthday so we definitely plan on celebrating. We are going to be celebrating Beverly's (3-13) and Gary's (3-14) tomorrow as well. There's definitely been more partying in the resting rooms than resting.....they might just have to rename it!

Specific prayers for today: strength, peace and rest for the family and pray that he can fight off an infection of any kind.

Up to Speed

I (LaNeale) decided to start this blog in response to the MILLIONS of calls and texts asking for updates. We cannot thank you enough for the overwhelming outflow of love, support, and prayers. We serve and awesome and faithful God. All of us have had a hard time responding to each of you so this blog should be the best way to keep everyone updated!
I will try to do my best to catch everyone up to speed from when everything started. As hard as it is, I will now refer to everyone by their given names.....as opposed to Nana and Poppi! Bare with me:

Saturday, March 14th-
Jim's brother had passed away the week before so Jim, Hazel, Gary, Beverly, Patty and Mark drove to Dallas for his memorial service. Cynthia was unable to go because she had just had surgery to repair a rotator cuff and was in no shape to travel. Cynthia and Chris had them stop at their house when they got back in town and eat dinner. Jim complained of feeling nausiated and was unable to eat. He said that nausia started around Pauls Valley. He began vomitting at Cynthia's so everyone decided to go home. Hazel put Jim to bed after more vomiting. He had complained of vision problems and was staggering into the walls. Around midnight, Jim got out of bed because he was going to be sick again. He just fell to the side of the bed and was unresponsive. Hazel called 911.

Sunday, March 15th-
He arrived at Mercy ER in Oklahoma City. They did a CT Scan and found that he had suffered from a hemorrhagic stroke. He has been on coumadin (blood thinner) for years in order to prevent strokes. We are unclear as to what caused the initial rupture, but the coumadin exacerbated the bleed. He had what doctors described as a "large bleed" (11 mm) and the excess fluid and swelling caused a 1 cm lateral shift of the brain. The location of the bleed and fluid is not in an area that can be relieved. It was in the right side, which has caused paralyses of his left side, vision problems and sensory issues. The ER administered Vitamin K and plasma in order to induce clotting in order to stop the bleed. They preformed another CT Scan and then moved us in to ICU.

Emory Reynolds, a physician several of our family members know and respect, became his neurosurgeon. Jim's second CT scan revealed that the bleed had stopped and was not any worse, however the next three days would be vital due to the increased swelling and pressure being placed on the brain. The things they would be looking for would be that he can fight off infections, pneumonia, etc. He would also need to be able to pass a swallow test in order to avoid being placed on a feeding tube.

Monday, March 16th-
He seemed to be doing really well that morning. He was sleepy but very responsive. He knew he was at Mercy Hospital and that he had suffered a stroke. He was able to say hello and that he loved us but would quickly go right back to sleep.

Dr. Reynolds left for vacation (spring break) and his partner, Dr. Engles, came to see him. He basically echoed Dr. Reynolds and said that he seemed to being doing about the same based on his notes. We were very optimistic because he was having some movement in his left arm and leg and he was alert enough to ask for water.....about every 5 minutes! Dr. Engles did say that his vision would be impaired in his left visual field and that he still wasn't in the clear.

As the day progressed, he became more and more lethargic. The Speech department came by to conduct the swallow test but he was hardly awake and had some gurgling so no water could be given due to the risk of choking and/or pneumonia. He said he was so thirsty he could drink a jug of mud! His blood pressure began to become erratic and that became the major concern of the afternoon. He also developed a productive cough and a fever so the risk of infection was an issue as well, so they placed him on an antibiotic. After several severe spikes in his BP, they administered an antihypertensive to keep that down and in check.

Tuesday, March 17th - TODAY!!!!
Happy St. Patrick's Day! They took Jim for a third CT scan at about 4am as well as a chest X-ray. Dr. Engles came in at about 9am this morning and said we had some bad news. The bleed had definitely stopped and was not getting any larger, however the blood had seeped into his water chamber. This was causing him to be lethargic. He did say that on a scale from bad to this is really horrible, we were closer to the bad (good) side of the scale. He did inform us we will be in ICU for at least another week and that a feeding tube would need to be put in place. So that's where we are as of right now, 10:30 am. Dr. Engles did say that he will need his absolute rest. There are always family members in the ICU waiting room that would love to see visitors, however Jim can have none. I will post with updates as we get them but unfortunately it's just a waiting game. They will preform another CT tomorrow morning and that will give us an idea about his water chamber and bleeding.

Our specific prayer needs for today: That his blood pressure stabilizes and begins to normalize without the need of medications. Please pray for Hazel. She's scared and she's "beat". She's been a trooper! Pray for the rest of us.