Urgent Prayer Needed for CPT Ron

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Pray, Pray, Pray, PRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A little while ago I had to make the toughest decision of my life. They found a huge blood clot in the main part of Rob's brain. I could either let it be and let him die a peaceful death or I could choose to do an emergency craniotomy on him. However, he has a huge chance of dying on the operating table and if he makes it, he has a huge chance of no quality of life. Rob told me specifically that he does not want to be a vegetable. However, I cannot believe that God got him this far to let him die now or let him live the rest of his life as a vegetable. The neuro dr said that the majority of the outcomes are not good but he has seen some cases where the person made it through fine. He said we may not know how much damage he's suffered for a year or more. After talking it over with his parents and my mom, we felt that we had to give Rob a fighting chance. I decided to have them do the craniotomy. I mean the odds were not good for him to have survived the IED but he did. So he will survive this and he will be cognitively ok. That's what I've got to have faith in. God is working through the dr's. He knows that Rob has 2 little girls that need him very very much. So all I can ask for right now are more prayers than you've ever prayed before.
Posted by Dena Yllescas at 7:37 PM


Saturday, November 29, 2008

Rob made it through the surgery
God is good! Rob made it through the surgery and tolerated it very well. They took off the right part of his skull. Because of the different areas of function in the brain, they went in through the front to minimize damage. The way he was positioned, they were able to see all the way to the bottom of the clot. They said when they took off the bone, his brain bulged out. Once they took the clot out, it shrank back down. However, because of the natural body reflex with all the manipulation, it started swelling again. So they finished what they had to do and closed up the brain with his skin. Because of the swelling, the dr said they did have to take "a small amount of brain off" the top to get it closed. What future reprocutions this will have, we won't know for a long while. They also had to insert a catheter to measure his intracranial pressures. They said this is very hard to do especially when the brain is swollen. The dr was able to do it without any difficulties his very first try! They said when Rob left surgery, his pressures (ICP) in his brain were 20. This is very good news. Down the road, they will replace the missing bone with a titanium plate. They took the clot to be cultured to make sure there was no infection in it but the drs feel there wasn't. They feel this clot happened due to an initial injury from the attack that had healed itself to some degree but left a hole for blood to collect. They did say if Rob did develop another clot in his brain they would not go back to surgery because they wouldn't be able to close it up again. I feel like the drs were very happy with how the surgery turned out. They are brutally honest here and the news they gave was good. Obviously we don't know Rob's outcome cognitively. However, I have faith he will be ok. As hard as it was, I prayed while he was in surgery that if Rob would not have any quality of life, then to please take him home. Rob would not want to live the rest of his life in bed. I feel that God got him through this and He will take him all the way. So we have a lot to pray for. We need to pray his pressures stay low, no more clots develop, his infections go away, his legs continue to heal appropriately, and Rob regains his cognitive status. I WILL NOT give up on my husband. He is the most amazing fighter I've ever met in my life. God has bigger and better plans for him. So, again, pray pray pray.

Posted by Dena Yllescas at 11:16 PM

Something to Really Be Thankful For

The following email came from a friend of mine who I am sure wouldn't mind their story being shared, but I am going to change (will be in italics) their names and their business type because I haven't asked their permission to use them. If you don't believe in miracles, this is a true miracle that my friend knows God gave him.

Ronald had a tumor on his right kidney that the doctors said was 85 - 90% sure the tumor was cancer. The kidney was removed and when the tests came back - no cancer. Now you know of a true miracle!

This email is written by Ronald's wife.

When we count the things and people we are thankful for on this Thanksgiving, all of you are at the top of our list. We are so thankful for all of our friends near and far who have prayed for and thought about us over the past few months.

We are also thankful for the outcome of Ronald's health. He is feeling pretty good and not so tired. The left kidney is not functioning as well as hoped and the Drs. think it has some of its own issues. It is only functioning at 20%. That's what it was doing before surgery and it didn't pick up anymore, but hey, we're thankful for that 20% and that there is no cancer because that leaves alot of options open for the future. The Drs. say he could go on 20% for a long time, everyone is different.

As much as Ronald's illness has stressed us out, alot of blessings have come out of it. God has directed us in alot of different directions in 2007 and one of them was for me to get involved in the day to day business of the family business. After being married 26 years and working for Ronald a couple times before, I knew some about it but Ronald had a hard time letting me organize things. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to find anything, but when his illness came up and we didn't know what the future held, we both knew that I had to get in there and learn the business to help take stress off of him and I have done just that.

We have been working great together and alot of changes have and are being made at the family business. Not only did we invest in a computer and a family business program for the computer, we are proud owners of a WEBSITE!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and THANKS FOR GIVING!