Update August 25 th
Willie is off all sedation right now. And now he is awake eyes open but is not tracking right now just a stare. He is having tremors where his brain is trying to figure it out. The nerves are disconnected and his brain is trying to reconnect. The doctors are still working on controlling/regulating his blood pressure. Sensitive to movement. Neuro checks being done and getting responses to extremities and left arm and eyes, right he can feel but isn't moving. Cranial pressure good ! Has been breathing on own for 4 hours during weans. We are moving to new hospital Regency sometime this week where Willie will be getting therapy and working on weaning him off the ventilator as well as regulating his blood pressure. Please continue praying for Willie he's a warrior he has overcome huge hurdles thus far! God is in control I pray with Willie every night I go home! And I keep positive energy around him! Please stay in agreement with me and continue to pray! Bless you all! Becky
update August 28
Willie transitioned smoothly to the new hospital with no complications ! Right now alert with eyes open but not tracking. Fighting a sinus infection but seems to be resolving with the antibiotics. Blood pressure is being controlled with the meds he is on now. At this new hospital is where the work begins. This will be the most important time for his recovery it's estimated that we will be here a minimum of 3 months. Therapy retraining the brain, controlling his blood pressure and weaning him off the ventilator will be the components of his stay. Continue to pray for his recovery ❤️🩹 Thank you for your prayers ❤️ Becky
Update: August 31
Willie has been working on weaning off the ventilator. He has gotten up to eight hours breathing on his own. The goal is 24 hours.
He's still not tracking, but he's blinking a lot. He seems to be engaged in our conversations like he's listening to us and he's been making facial expressions when he doesn't like something or when he's tired he yawns To me these are positive steps in the right direction.
The sinus infection seems to be clearing. Still coughing up secretions but that's good has a strong cough. PT has been sitting him up in a recliner and he has been tolerating it. The only thing that hasn't been stable is his blood pressure its elevating frequently through out the day he's on medication's, and also gets pain medication to keep him more calm Yesterday I did see movement in his shoulders when I was massaging his hands and legs with lotion, blood sugar is still elevated, but is addressed with insulin. Overall much better here at the new facility than he was in ICU continually keep Willie in your prayers and each day is a work in progress.!
Have Care Conference Tuesday will address my concerns and we will all get on the same page!! Becky ❤️
Update September 7,2025
Willie is officially off the ventilator!! Praise God !!
His blood pressure's are still a problem we have added more pain medication with the blood pressure meds the doctor thought it will help. It has gotten a little better. It will get better in time just keep monitoring and controlling it. Unfortunately It has been a problem for the therapist because his blood pressure goes up as soon as they try to work with him. So, hopefully in time. It will get better, and we can start therapy more vigorously. Sinus infection is gone and he's breathing very well on his own continues to have the tracheotomy. Still isn't responding to commands, and isn't tracking, but I can tell just the little things being with him that he's in there., and that he's just trying to find a way to communicate. He makes facial expressions when he doesn't like something and is yawning and has a good cough. All these things are good progress.
Continue to pray for Willie, and that the progress continues. God is in Control. Becky ❤️
Update: September 13,2025
Willie is still doing well off the vent. Dealing with secretions keeping him suction and his mouth clear, talked with Dr and we're trying some different medications for his blood pressure. The newest is a beta blocker and it seems to be working. Took him off pain medication's now there as needed. I've been doing range of motion on the days the therapist don't, today after range of motion I washed up his extremities and put cocoa butter on him and did his face and his head. He's grown this beard now which is so weird. I've never seen him with a beard the whole time we have been married! as I was doing this I looked down and he was moving his left hand. And I was looking at him and he was trying really hard so I thought maybe this is an aha moment. I asked Willie to move his hand and he did. I asked him to move his fingers and he did these movements aren't gross motor. They're fine motor and they're purposeful and then I asked him to look at me. I sat beside him so that he would have to turn his head for a short moment his head moved towards me and his eyes shifted towards me for a brief minute. I was a very big moment. So praise God we're seeing progress. Keep praying for him. Becky
September 16, 2025
Willie is tracking now. He will follow you with his eyes. He's able to respond. He shakes his head for yes or no questions or he'll raise his eyebrows. He's moving his left hand frequently. He's able to wiggle his left toes over the weekend. He raised his arm up, and I put my hand down on the pillow and he put his hand over my hand and squeezed it. He still has frequent periods of fixation. Willie secretions are somewhat better. He still has a strong cough, but needs to be suction. Blood pressures are getting better but fluctuate, Talked with Dr., I requested a Neuro doctor coming in to assess Willie he came in the morning, Attending doctor read me their notes. They wanted Willie's blood pressure to be 140/90. Dr. said that he feels they should be the ones to work with his blood pressure medication's since they're the specialists. They requested an MRI in a month. They said they would like him to stay away from the opiates, but Dr. said that if he's in pain, we should be giving it to him so it was left as a PRN. He had PT today and I watched an assist with them. He was put on the tilt table he tolerated it for over 12 minutes with blood pressures within normal limits. They did range of motion on his arms and the PT was able to get Active movement from the right arm. He tolerated at 40% standing. When they put him back in bed. A therapist asked for a smile and he did a quick grin at her it was so funny! I told him tomorrow is your birthday and his eyes got really big. Praise God for the progress we still have a long way to go but it's progress therapy approved 4 more weeks of therapy!! Thank you for your prayers they mean alot to us!! Becky ❤️
Updated September 28,2025
Willie continues to progress. He is even more alert these days. He's able to respond to questions by nodding or facial expressions. He is also speaking, but his vocal cords are swollen and we are unable to hear him, but he mouths words, and we can sometimes read it. They're giving him prednisone to reduce the swelling of his vocal cord, and hopefully that will solve the problem and he'll be able to talk to us. They started red capping him, which means they close the trach hole so that he has to breathe out of his mouth and nose and he has been tolerating well for the last few days. He is having bouts of confusion and forgetfulness. He wants to go home, thinks he can walk doesn't think he has a problem with his blood pressure.Etc.... but they said that was all normal It's part of the process. therapy has been a challenge because we're still dealing with his high blood pressures. Last session he did sit up on the edge of the bed and kicked his left leg out per request. Therapist asked him what year it was and he was able to give him the correct answer. But he only lasted about five minutes and his blood pressure shot up. Talking with doctor and specialist to figure out what the problem is and how to rectify it so that we can be moving forward with Therapy. He's able to move his left arm and move his left leg and toes. Very little on the right side as of right now . We have been approved for four more weeks here so that's a plus hopefully we can figure out the blood pressure problem before it's time to leave. I shaved his beard off and he looks like him his normal self again. Hazel came to see him this weekend And he was really happy. They held hands. And he requested to have cartoons put on for her was so cute. Pray for us to resolve this blood pressure issues so that we can move forward with Therapy and get him up and going. That's the biggest obstacle right now! Thanks again for all the prayers for Willie there greatly appreciated!! Love
Becky ❤️
Update October 4
We are now going into two months. He is really battling Neuro storming. He's having a lot of anxiety. We addressed it with some medication to help him get relaxed. He wants to come home, but we still have a long way to go. He's doing great with the trach breathing hundred percent on his own they red capped him a few days ago and he's totally tolerating it so there's a possibility he could get it out on Monday. Thursday was a bad day. He was so stressed. I went to go get my car fixed. I was gone few hours came back. He pulled his mitt off and pulled out his trach and all his leads off his chest ! Thank God, his oxygen saturation didn't change and there was some elevated blood pressure, but that's justified and we got it back to normal. Praise God! Still struggling with his voice hard to hear him he whispers and it's so light. It's hard to hear. he's really frustrated. Between facial expressions and a few words here and there that I can mouth read that's all the communication we have right now. Speech therapy is supposed to come in soon and start working with him. Once I can understand him, I'll have a better understanding of where he's at . Blood pressures are still a problem. They are better but seem to be an issue when we try to do therapy so we've changed times making therapy in the afternoon to see if that will be better giving the body a chance to get his medication's absorbed into his system. I'm hoping this will work and we can get Therapy going more aggressively. My goal is to get him to courage Kenny their TRP unit where they will work extensively on Therapy so that our final goal can be home. Please pray for Willie that we can get the blood pressure under control so we can move forward with therapy!!
Love Becky ❤️
Update October 7, 2025
Willie is doing good. He had ultrasounds of his legs to check the blood clots to see if they've dissolved good news they're gone .His blood pressures have been staying at reasonable limits. We had therapy today. They came around 130 this afternoon instead of in the morning which I requested and he sat up on the edge of the bed and his blood pressure stayed within normal limits so we were able to continue . He was able to do task on command with his hands feet and legs, left side is doing well right side no movement from right arm slight movement from right leg and when the therapist asked some questions he responded correctly. It was a good day. They actually had extra time so they put him up in a chair which he tolerated for about an hour and a half. It was good to get him out of bed and his blood pressure stayed within normal limits during that time as well, the pulmonary doctor came in and we talked about Willie's trach. He's been red cap for several days now and he is able to clear his throat on his own. She did say she had a concern about his vocal cords and that him not being able to talk so she suggested a bronchoscopy which they will probably do on Thursday or Friday to check his vocal cords and see what's going on with them that will prolong getting the trach out, but I'd rather have his vocal cords checked and see what's going on so that he can get treated for that because he should be talking And we should be able to hear him. So I just encouraged Willie to keep doing good in therapy concentrate and stay relaxed so his blood pressure stay where they need to be. We have therapy again on Thursday. Hopefully that will go just as well as today. Continue to have Willie in your prayers. It's a work in progress and it's been positive every day. Love Becky.❤️
Update October 8,2025
Willie had a swallow valve done with the speech therapist. It went well. He has moved up to being able to eat very thin consistency and can have liquids with a straw. She will continue to work with him on chewing he has right sided weakness. We also have the pulmonary doctor come in and do a bronchoscopy that also went well. The vocal chords look good. There's no scar tissue and everything looks open so it looks more like the reason he's not talking where we can hear him as a real thing and the speech therapist will work with him on that to get new neural pathways . Pulmonary doctor said the likelihood of him giving the trach out next week is good. So praise God we have more progress happening. Please keep him in our prayers as we continue to progress.
Love, Becky❤️
Update: October 16,2025
Willie had another good day today. He's been eating food via mouth complication. Blood pressures are better going well. Tuesday it came in was able to talk with a pulmonary doctor and she praise God. also talked with the nephrologist and he said he was looking over his blood pressures and noticed that late at night they were elevated. We have been having some issues with him getting his. I suggested having some neural storming at night because he hasn't been sleeping. He said he have the nurses monitor so we can see what's going on a form of Lasix because he still has swelling in his right hand any chance one of his other blood pressure medication seems to be helping. We stood up today in therapy. By the way yesterday he washed his own face his hand with speech therapist. We need to work on air exchange because both floors aren't strong enough to get sound from his voice. She gave me a clean box and suggested holding a tissue and having them strengthen volume of air. and do that exercise a few times a day. So I've been progressing still have a long ways to go, but I'm grateful for progress is done so far praise God.
Love Becky.
Update :October 26,2025
So Willie has been progressing well. Last week he had a procedure went back to North Memorial to have the IVC removed, which is a filter device that protects him from the blood clots that he had not going into his lungs. Meaning the blood clots are gone. He continues to eat well Never misses a meal lol and I've been feeding him snacks as well and he's tolerating that too. Vocal cords are still a challenge. We work on the exercises and he's trying really hard to pronounce the words so that I can hear them. Hearing his voice alittle bit but it's hard for him. It is getting slightly better but it's still quite a challenge. The goal now is to regulate his blood pressures and to increase therapy. I was struggling with the social worker, not happy how things were progressing, so I took it a step further and went above her head and was able to talk with the Manager therapist and tell her my concerns and where we are at. She told me that she was working with Courage Kenny behind the scenes to make sure that Willie would be able to do the things he needs to do to be accepted into the program. She apologized for not keeping me updated and by the next day therapy was increased tremendously and multiple days I told her that Willie is really doing well and can do more than what you guys are doing and when they did this increase, he proved that! He has been following commands, and actually the other day he moved his right leg on his own. That was the first time we saw that, he's tracking and moving his head he can hold his head up. In one exercise he grabbed his right arm and held it with his left and moved the arms to the locations the therapist Requested him to go. We did have an episode where his blood pressure was dropping really really low so we were dealing with the opposite he got some IV solution and the doctor split his medication's so some are given during the day and some in the evening didn't take long and it's stabilized. During therapy, he stands on a tilt table which elevates at certain degrees so that he can tolerate being straight up. He sits at the edge of the bed, they have to hold him up, but his blood pressures have been stable. He also sits in a recliner chair during the day for a few hours and tolerates that well. He asked questions like what time is it? When are we eating? When am I coming and request different things like putting his head down or repositioning him, he asks like what happen he's getting more aware of his surroundings and wants to know what's going on, last night he told me to sit down and eat my dinner. I thought that was cute, so all real good progress and I'm praying that he gets into courage Kenny so he can really flourish. So that's my prayer for you guys pray for Courage Kenny!
Love, Becky.❤️
Update :October 26,2025
So Willie has been progressing well. Last week he had a procedure went back to North Memorial to have the IVC removed, which is a filter device that protects him from the blood clots that he had not going into his lungs. Meaning the blood clots are gone. He continues to eat well Never misses a meal lol and I've been feeding him snacks as well and he's tolerating that too. Vocal cords are still a challenge. We work on the exercises and he's trying really hard to pronounce the words so that I can hear them. Hearing his voice alittle bit but it's hard for him. It is getting slightly better but it's still quite a challenge. The goal now is to regulate his blood pressures and to increase therapy. I was struggling with the social worker, not happy how things were progressing, so I took it a step further and went above her head and was able to talk with the Manager therapist and tell her my concerns and where we are at. She told me that she was working with Courage Kenny behind the scenes to make sure that Willie would be able to do the things he needs to do to be accepted into the program. She apologized for not keeping me updated and by the next day therapy was increased tremendously and multiple days I told her that Willie is really doing well and can do more than what you guys are doing and when they did this increase, he proved that! He has been following commands, and actually the other day he moved his right leg on his own. That was the first time we saw that, he's tracking and moving his head he can hold his head up. In one exercise.
he grabbed his right arm and held it with his left and moved the arms to the locations the therapist Requested him to go. We did have an episode where his blood pressure was dropping really really low so we were dealing with the opposite he got some IV solution and the doctor split his medication's so some are given during the day and some in the evening didn't take long and it's stabilized. During therapy, he stands on a tilt table which elevates at certain degrees so that he can tolerate being straight up. He sits at the edge of the bed, they have to hold him up, but his blood pressures have been stable. He also sits in a recliner chair during the day for a few hours and tolerates that well. He asked questions like what time is it? When are we eating? When am I coming and request different things like putting his head down or repositioning him, he asks like what happen he's getting more aware of his surroundings and wants to know what's going on, last night he told me to sit down and eat my dinner. I thought that was cute, so all real good progress and I'm praying that he gets into courage Kenny so he can really flourish. So that's my prayer for you guys pray for Courage Kenny! Love, Becky.❤️
Update November 2 .2025
So October 31 Willie was transferred to Courage Kenny acute care, rehab down in Minneapolis. Prior to arriving there, they took out the G-tube and his IVs. It took a lot of work to get him there. I had a lot of pushback and out of network issues from the insurance company, but we finally got it done.
Yesterday was his first full day. It didn't start well in the morning. I guess he was really tired. They got him up in a wheelchair and he was slouching. He wouldn't eat his breakfast. He told them that he lived with his mother. I got there a little before lunchtime. I had a talk with him and he did a 360 got him up in the chair again to go down to the dining room and eat he tolerated setting up pretty well actually and ate well. PT therapist came in to evaluate him see where his weaknesses were and what they needed to work on. Therapist had him look around his surroundings and name the things he saw and during that exercise he said that I was his wife so I don't know when he's around me he's appropriate so I don't know if he gets confused or maybe even has a hard time hearing them. He actually gets to wear clothes and tennis shoes here. Still working on voice he can talk using appropriate words just hard to hear him. Medical term for this is Dysarthria. The staff noticed a big difference when I was there and before at Regency I was coming after work, which was after 9 PM and there visiting hours end at 8 PM, but they said that I could go through the emergency room and they would let me in just to keep continuity with Willie to make sure he sleeps well because he has a lot of work ahead of him. It's a different environment much better. A PA from the neuro team came in. They're discussing putting him on a blood thinner to prevent clots in the future now that the IVC filter is out the two clots he had before are gone, but the concern is for future and as you know, blood thinners can cause future strokes, so it has to be handled delicately. When Willie looks up his pupils stay down, which is a neural deficit. She asked me if they were like that before the filter was removed I believe they were but I wasn't 100% sure so she decided to do a CT scan to make sure there wasn't any new swelling that happened after the iVC filter was removed. I think she was coming back today Sunday to let me know the results . The staff is really good here so I'm happy he's there. The prayer for today is that he continues to increase in his therapy and do well. He will be here for three weeks. If after the three weeks he needs more therapy. He will be transferred to the Courage Kenny in Golden Valley to their TCU unit. I have a good feeling about this place. Thank you for all the continued prayers!! Love Becky❤️
Update November 9
We have come across some obstacles, blood pressures and bowel problems which have caused some delay with therapy . But Friday was a really good day. He did all the therapy was up in the chair in the therapy room using the bicycle they put electrodes on his right leg to stimulate contractions. He did 25 minutes and two of those minutes he went above the machine so he was working on his own. he also used the arm bicycle which they put electrodes on his right arm to start contractions and he road that for 20 minutes. He was really working hard. You could tell. We also did grabbing items and putting it in a basket and also worked on torso, strengthening core to keep himself upright and balanced. He looked in a mirror as he was doing it.Speech therapy, we worked on communication. The therapist asked him questions based off of a picture that he had that had items in the living room and he asked to identify them and even went in a little more depth to describe the items and what you would do with that item. He was able to identify the objects, and with some prompting he could go a little more in depth about what the objects function was. The therapist asked him to name three cities in the United States. He started off with Omaha, then said Twin Cities, but couldn't think of another one outside of that. With prompting he was able to name some appliances that you would find in the kitchen. His voice is still not completely there. The therapist told me that he can talk, but in his mind, he thinks he's talking loud enough so we have to remind him to take a deep breath and talk loud which he can do and his voice does come out and you can understand him a lot better. Through the weekend, though we had some visitors and he got confused with names but when you correct him, he seems to absorb it and try to remember I found sometimes he picks the wrong words when he's asking or stating something and once I figure it out, ill correct him and tell him the with right word. His short-term memory is pretty evident. He repeats himself frequently asking the same question over and over just to make sure he remembers for example what time are you coming? I tell him the time and he may ask me three or four times the same question. All the therapists said it's all about repetition and keep doing it over and over again, so that's what we've been doing over the weekend. I told him Friday you did a really good job and he said to me praise God he said I'm gonna work hard and get better. I told him good for you. You've been thinking about this huh? He said yeah Then he said thank God for our children! That's the first time I've heard him speak spiritually so that's really encouraging!!! Continue to pray that therapy goes well. We have about two weeks to go before we are discharged and our goal is to go to Courage Kenny in Golden Valley to continue therapy! Thank you for all your prayers love, Becky❤️
Update November 27
These past couple weeks I've been very frustrating. Insurance is being uncooperative. My goal is that Willie goes to Courage Kenny in Golden Valley. They have a 12 week program and they coincide with the Courage Kenny here at Abbott. This is the ideal place for him to be before he comes home, but of course it's out of network and the insurance company is giving us a hard time first they ask for a referral from an in network doctor which I got then they came back and said that I had to select three skilled facilities that are in network and submit referrals. So I selected three facilities in hopes that they would say no it took them a few days which it shouldn't have and we finally got all three to say no. So then the insurance coordinator stated she wanted more documentation from the hospital on his progress. It was given to her and then she says that she needs to talk it over with her manager because it's out of network because of the long wait now we have to wait till Monday for a bed to be open at Courage Kenny Very frustrating!
But we're hopeful that Monday will be the day. I'll have to update you when the time comes.! Willie's been doing very well in therapy working on balance sitting up core strength fine motor skills on his left hand right arm and right leg are still lethargic. He is using the bicycle for his right leg and the bicycle for his right arm with electrodes and the therapist does feel some movement, but we can't see it. He's standing in the tilt table which he's able to go from sitting position to standing position without blood pressure dropping once he's been able to do that for a period of time, the next step will be robotics and working on movement of walking that's available at the Courage Kenny in Golden Valley. That's why I want him to go there.! Cognitively therapy has been going OK we're still working on his voice. We can hear it, but he needs to talk loud enough with cues he does it. He's having some short-term memory loss. Working on names and them being in their proper category for example Willie's children and naming them appropriately. He's getting names mixed up, siblings and children for example calling Vivian hid daughter instead of his sister. Willie is having blurred vision and double vision at times that is being addressed by a Neuro ophthalmologist later in the month. OT continues to work on his left hand as well. He's able to brush his teeth wash his face, help put his shirt on, and eat with the left arm. last week he had an episode of what they call SAIDH it is when the brain tricks the body and thinking it's thirsty so this happened to Willie, and he drank several glasses of water which caused him to have an electrolyte imbalance and his sodium went way down and so did his magnesium so they had to put him on NPO ice chips for a few days until sodium went back up and they bolus him with magnesium to bring that up. It happened over the weekend and by Monday he was doing much better throughout the week. They checked his labs and within a few days it was back up to where it needed to be kind of a weird thing that happened never heard of it but interesting and now we know if it ever happens again. Continue to pray for Willie on our next journey to courage Kenny ! Love Becky
December 18, 2025
Well, we made it to Courage Kenny in Golden Valley. We've been here a couple weeks now and the Insurance Company is trying their hardest to kick us out Therapy is a lot but he's doing OK. It's a lot of work. He's doing physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech as of right now his right leg isn't working, left leg has movement but his weak, right arm isn't working, left arm is quite active. He's able to wash his face, brush his teeth and help put a shirt on independently still struggling with a speech, trying to get his voice out. We give him lots of cues and remind him to speak loud and project his voice still dealing with short-term memory, but he's alert and aware of the surroundings knows the date, month and year, but it's very overstimulated by the end of the day he needs to rest.
We had our care conference with the team on Tuesday. A skilled facility came about that is in network and they're trying to push us to go to that facility. But it turns out Insurance Coordinator is bogged down so she has been stalling which is good for us. The therapist gave their report on what they see with Willie and right now they feel it's too much for him and his fatigue causing him not to learn new information which is slowing him down with progress so they feel I should step back from therapy and give him more time to recover and rest his brain. Well I don't want him going to the other facility so as of right now, it looks like he'll be able to stay at Courage Kenny for a week or two while I get set up at home and then he'll be coming home. I have all the equipment that I need just waiting for it to arrive and we'll be taking care of him at home for a while we'll have a nurse that will stop in and there will be Home health Therapy and they will assess him when they think he's ready to start Therapy up again Courage kenny, when we do do that it'll be outpatient at Courage Kenny. Went to Neuro appointment CT scan looked good. The damaged area has reduced and shifted more centered in the brain. There is a very small vascular opening, which they would like to do further MRIs to double check that area. We hadn't seen the Neuro doctor since ICU so it's been a good four months so they were happy to see the progress that he's had thus far , when we got back to the rehab center, I was told by the social worker that we were approved until December 26, so it looks like we'll be going home next week.
Keep us in yours prayers God is good!! I thank him every day ❤️Love Becky 🙏🏻
Update Jan 14, 2026
So Willie's been home for two weeks now. Unfortunately we didn't get sent home with Home health care. So I had to go on my own and talk with the insurance company. Of course they were no help and again I went around them and got a referral from the attending doctor to get services out of network Alina health which is under Courage Kenny has Home health and they accepted the referral so sometime this week I will be getting all three therapies twice a week I think and a nurse once a week. The kids and my sister have been helping cover the time that I'm at work. They've been a big help. I think he really feels better being at home now being around his love once all the time unfortunately he still has the right sided paralysis so we're using a Hoyer lift to get him in and out of bed. I have to do all of his personal cares he's incontinent hopefully the brain will figure that out. He's got like 20 medication's. I have to give with 2 shots and I have to check his blood pressure and blood sugar frequently throughout the day before giving meds we were able to go to the neural ophthalmologist and he just received his new pair glasses yesterday so hoping that the double vision and blurriness goes away and he's able to be more engaged and balanced. I bought a at home program for speech so we are working on his voice and cognitive exercises to increase his brain cognitively. He still isn't talking very loud. It's a very light whisper and it's very difficult to understand so if we can conquer this hurdle, it would really help for him to be more engaged and for us to understand what he wants to say this is part of the Thalamic damage, where the brain is just not connecting with the voice, extensive speech therapy is what they suggest. Also, when therapy comes in, we will find out where he's at and hopefully now that he can see better. We will be able to go back to Courage Kenny for outpatient therapy and work on Mobility. Blood pressure are still high in the morning and High late at night before he goes to bed what the doctor said to just continue with the medication regimen and give it some time because his brain is still healing. We still have a seven month window where he can progress. So staying optimistic and praying everyday for his healing in Jesus Name!! Please continue to pray for him the more prayers the better !!! Thank you so much for everyone's support Love you all!! ❤️Becky 🙏🏻
Update February 3,2026
Well, we’re a little over a month now, and I didn’t get the services. I was hoping for, the Insurance Company kickback and said no because it was out of network even with a referral so again I had to figure out what to do and I was advised to get a new internal medicine provider so I found one through North Memorial he had a lot of experience with stroke patients, diabetes, and kidney disease and he seemed like a very caring doctor on his video so we went with him. We saw him last week and we did like an overall check med check he had some labs done and he made a referral for home health nurse and all three therapies, and we see him again in three weeks to go over everything. After about a week, he reached out to me. I had noticed in the labs that he was anemic and that his creatinine and BUN labs were elevated, which is a sign of dehydration or kidney problems. He did further labs with the anemia, checking his iron and it came back as a possible anemia of inflammation disease, which means the inflammation in his body is not allowing the iron that he makes to absorb, which is causing his anemia and taking supplements will not help so fortunately we are going to the nephrologist.(kidney doctor.) in a couple days so I will be addressing this there. He has become more fatigued and lethargic. He’s having difficulties eating, so I really have to push it and have been using supplement foods in place when he just won’t eat. His voice has gone reverse. He just whispers and it’s very very difficult to understand him. Praise God that the speech therapist is coming today.
So hopefully I’ll get some answers and some advice on what to do. I feel like this anemia has something to do with it so hopefully all of these issues will be addressed soon this week and we can get back up to where we need to be his blood pressures have been up and down some days are really good other days are really bad and I have to add PRN meds to get it down, I have to say, though he is getting a lot of rest which his brain really needs so that’s a good thing and he’s surrounded by his loved ones. He’s had a few visitors which has been really nice. Now that therapy is in place we can work on getting Willie back where he was and get him into outpatient therapy!! That’s my prayer that Willie gets back to outpatient therapy and continues to progress and get better!! Please be in agreement with me! Thank you so much for everyone's support Love you all!! ❤️Becky 🙏🏻
Update February 8th
Well, Willie has been struggling with eating and not taking fluids. We’re having a real hard time feeding him and he just refuses to even drink. I’ve gone as far as getting syringes to get fluids in him. I’ve been taking Willie to the doctor for follow up appointments. Thursday we went to the kidney specialist. They drew labs and did a urinalysis and I told him what was going on with his eating and drinking. He did some changes on his medication‘s and thought that might help. On Friday he gave me a call and he got the results from the labs and his BUN and creatinine and calcium were elevated. They’ve been slowly trending up last couple weeks so we decided to call the ambulance and bring him to the hospital with all the other issues that were happening. So we went to the ER Friday night. They started him with IV fluids. He perked up a little bit and by 3:30 AM. We were up on the floor in a room. The attending doctor, Kidney specialist, nutritionist and speech therapist has been involved in his cares. They did some more tweaking on his medication‘s and basically we’re giving him sugar water within about a day labs are starting to look better and he’s perking up a little bit. Because of my concern with his nutrition and hydration, we entertain the thought of having a g-tube put back in. Honestly, this is the best direction going forward because I can make sure that he’s getting the proper nutrition and hydration that he needs when we’re at home and I won’t have to worry about coming back to the hospital continuously and in each time we have to do that it puts a heavy strain on his kidneys. Thank God, his kidneys were not damaged during this visit and we were able to hydrate him and get his kidney levels where they need to be. All the doctors, the nutritionist and the therapist agreed that a G-tube is the way to go going forward when he goes home so he probably will be here for about a week. They are talking about inserting the G-tube probably on Tuesday or Wednesday, and will continue monitoring his labs and getting IV fluids until everything is back to normal. Home health therapy visits will continue and I feel 100% better that his nutrition and hydration will be controlled. The doctor did say that we can give him snacks and work towards eating solid foods again that doesn’t affect the feedings and we can always tweak the feedings if he’s eating more food so I feel like this is a great plan going forward and we’ll have more stability at home and we can concentrate on his recovery from the stroke! Keep us in your prayers that everything goes smoothly and we get home soon!! Thank you so much for everyone's support Love you all!! ❤️Becky 🙏🏻
Update February 11
Willie had a feeding tube ( J peg) put in today! Everything went well no complications just has to rest his stomach for 24 hours tell we start feedings. Kidney labs are great almost back to normal limits no kidney damage!! Electrolytes are now balanced. Blood pressures alittle challenging as high as 179/154 due to being NPO after surgery but got his meds and it was rectified. If everything goes smoothly will be discharged Friday! Now that this will be under control we can concentrate on talking (aphasia) Speech -PT -OT and getting him back in out patient therapy. Thank you so much for everyone's support Love you all!! ❤️Becky 🙏🏻
Update February 18
Willie came home Saturday 14, slept for 2 days . Feedings going well. Willie is also able to eat when he wants we are trying to make eating a positive experience. So Now he’s hydrated and getting nutrition in a controlled manner he is Much better and today starting to hear his voice. Home health is starting to come back now that we are home and now we can concentrate on therapy. Thank you so much for everyone's support Love you all!! ❤️Becky 🙏🏻
Update February 20
Willie’s doing much better well hydrated and getting the proper nutrition. Skin integrity looks much better. Using that right hand more and speech is even improving alittle I can actually understand him at times more then before Still having little bouts of delirium and confusion. But things are better. He eats when he wants too and there is no pressure on him to do so his feedings are his back up. There were alot of variables that caused him to get in that situation of dehydration and not eating but we have it under control and I feel like we’re going in a positive direction. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. Love you all Becky ❤️🙏🏻
March 10,2026
Things were going pretty good at home after we got back from the hospital. It’s been a few weeks. We did our follow up with the doctors. Everything seemed OK. The only concern was that his wound on his coccyx. After leaving the hospital, the wound care nurses gave me some special cream to use on the area of concern. They couldn’t tell in the hospital if the area had breakdown underneath the skin as I proceeded to use the cream that particular area of the skin started to breakdown showing the actual wound underneath my Homehealth Nurse was assisting with me dressings to take care of this. I brought in a Wound Care Nurse who was scheduled to come today to debris it so that we could get rid of all of the dead tissue. It looks good clean it is draining, but I’m changing it twice a day. I was gonna wait and see what the wound care nurses had to say if there was a change in regimen that would help. On Friday Willie had projectile vomiting twice and then had bouts of diarrhea Saturday and Sunday? I was concerned that he was getting the flu. He had a mild fever, but I wasn’t sure where that was coming from. His oxygen saturation were above 94 and his temperature never went above 100 so I was leaning towards the flu, but then early this morning the saturations dropped down to 85 and his breathing was labored, which then made me think towards more of pneumonia so I called 911 and had him sent to North Memorial Robbinsdale, which we normally goes to. My suspicion was right he developed a multifocal pneumonia so they’re treating him now with a wide spectrum of antibiotics he’s on oxygen and getting extra fluids. They’re also gonna test him for possible seizures. I haven’t seen any, but he could’ve had some at night when I wasn’t aware of it and they’re gonna do a brain scan just to double check and make sure everything is okay.
Test came back that he didn’t have influenza or Covid so that’s good.
Please keep him in your prayers. God is in control. They have a good staff here he’s in good hands!!
Becky ❤️🙏🏻
Updated March 11
Continue from yesterday the results from all the other labs the CT scan of the brain was negative no new bleeding so that’s good. He had an EEG which came back negative so there was no seizures another plus the one surgeons were in and took a look at his coccyx ulcer and want to do debridement surgery on it to clean it out and get rid of all of the death tissue. He had a pelvic and abdominal scan done. Jeetu is in place and there was no bone infection or abscess in the coccyx wound. All good signs.
Got up to a room late afternoon yesterday, they had them on oxygen so kind of labored by the late evening, they have to increase the oxygen. He was still having problems breathing. Next day, Wednesday. I had to work, but the doctors kept me updated. His hemoglobin was quite low and the doctor suggested to give him 2 L of blood which I thought was a great idea to help with the healing. He’s not actively bleeding, but he’s having problems making blood on his own so they thought it would be a good idea to boost her blood up and maybe he will start making it again. Unfortunately his breathing wasn’t getting better. It didn’t get worse, but it wasn’t getting better so because he’s having the surgical procedure, they thought that to have him up in ICU and in debating so that he’s more comfortable so this is only temporary until after the surgery and then they’ll win them off of it. So that’s where we’re at right now. Continue to pray for him that everything goes smoothly and we get this all healed up so he can get back home. Becky ❤️
Update March 14
Surgery went well they cleaned out the wound and got all the infection and dead skin out. There were a couple abscess areas higher up in the wound that they drained but overall looks good right now we’re weaning him off of the ventilator and concentrating on the pneumonia and continue giving him antibiotics to treat it. He’s breathing spontaneously on the ventilator and they started feeding back up again so he’s getting food. His eyes are open. He’s awake and when I talk to him, he blinks his eyes or raises his eyebrows so he understands me. Those are all good signs continue to pray for Willie that we get home soon. Becky❤️
Update March 17
Willie was extubated and ventilator was taken out. Breathing on his own 99/100% saturation with 2 L of nasal cannula. oxygen. Alert tracking answering commands. When I came in eyes got big knew who I was squeeze. My hand answered yes or no questions even tried to say a few words, his bodies adjusting to everything especially his brain to breathing on his own feedings were started a couple days ago, completely off all sedation and give pain medication for his. Also, wound dressings are going well healing processes beginning labs look good kidney functions are well just monitoring him for the next couple of days to see how well he progresses today was a good day Becky.❤️
Update March 22
Friday I came in after work in the evening. They have them off of the monitor and just showed the oxygen saturation, which were about 92%. He was still labored and having ICU delirium they were giving him respiratory treatments. I was a little nervous about him not being monitored like he was before they said that they took them off ICU, but they were gonna keep him in there to see how he does so I went home to go to bed came back the next morning Saturday and he was back on the monitor and back technically ICU status. Is respirations increased through the night and was very labored so they increased his oxygen to 4 L and it was respirations were high 20s to 30s he still was labored. One of the doctors that he had when he had a stroke in August was on today. She told me he wasn’t getting better that his lungs look pretty bad. The RT was in right before she came and did a treatment and she suction him nasally. And a whole bunch of junk came out that probably was sitting in his lungs for a few days because they kept telling us that they couldn’t get anything out days before. 10 minutes after she had done that the doctor asked for a sputum culture so we had to do the procedure again. Unfortunately, the lab said there were too many epithelial cells, which means that it was mostly coming from his throat and upper airway they needed culture deep in his lung. 🫁 we tried it again still got the same results. The doctor order the special respiratory treatments (medanebs) that have a light pounding, pushing air into his lungs to try to break up everything that’s in there trying to avoid doing a bronchoscopy. The doctor was concerned that if we did the bronchoscopy that he would have to be vented and worst case scenario, he would have to stay on the vent and maybe get trached and she’s trying to avoid that arterial gases were not great, but it showed that he was exchanging oxygen and still working on his own. Giving small doses of morphine prior to respiratory treatments because he doesn’t like them to keep him relaxed and it also helps give his body a break with more steady, relaxed breathing (reduce air hunger) while on it so for now we didn’t have any kind of procedure done and staying stable went home for the night Sundays here
The nurses told me he had a good night. He continues to get the respiratory treatments and they continue to give him medication prior to the treatment which helped a lot this morning. They waited until the pain medication kicked in before they did the treatment and he did much better and they got results from suctioning. The nurse said that his lungs sound much more clearer. His saturations have been staying above 96% and they’re keeping his respirations below 25 which he has sustained he’s breathing much better less labored has been trying to talk, which is difficult as you know with his aphasia, but we’ve been catching a few words here and there. He seems much better today.
Continue to pray his respiratory status gets better. Becky❤️
Update March 25
Well, he’s doing better respiratory wise treatments medanebs are working and he’s coughing up a lot of that mucus and it’s coming out of it belongs the saturation and respiration are improving still crackles and coarse,diminished but improves after treatment. He’s more alert and responsive tries to say a word here and there and is responding to yes or no questions and actually saying the words the wound care surgeon came in last night and checked his wound and they decided that they want to do one more debridement so he’ll be going for surgery today Wednesday around 2 PM if possible they’re gonna try to do a sputum culture and possibly a bronchoscopy if needed to confirm the type of bacteria that really is in his lungs since we were unable to get it previously, and they were using a more wide spectrum antibiotic. So if they can do it while he’s under, that would be great and we have a better idea of what kind of bacteria in his lungs and they can target it better. Talk with the doctor to make sure that he be able to handle the procedure. He thought they would check into it first before doing anything. We’re scheduled to go to a regular hospital room just waiting for an opening bed. He’s no longer need to be in ICU so they’re all good progressions. I’ll keep you updated after I find out how he did in surgery.Becky❤️
Update March 28
Willie surgery went well. They were able to debris the decubitus ulcer again so now it’s nice and clean minimal bleeding recovered well respiratory status continues to improve is down to 1 L. The pulmonary doctors talk to me about going forward and getting equipment to prevent having to come into the hospital so frequently so they’re supplying me with all of the respiratory equipment I would need suction machine nebulizer treatments shake vest also getting a customized air mattress that keeps Willie from being on his bottom it shifts the weight continuously while he’s in bed yesterday he was moved down from ICU to a regular room, the Wound Care Nurse was in and applied the wound VAC, which will help speed up the healing process. I will also need all of those supplies and a wound VAC will be going home with me as well. Tentatively he’ll be going home any day now depending on when I get the equipment we’ll have to have that before he comes home. He’s alert and response to the nurses on command aphasia still prominent.
Today Saturday he was good breathing well but on 3 L instead of 1 L kept saturating below 90. The doctor wants to do an oxygen study overnight to see where he’s at, starting without oxygen to see if he will need it coming home.
The nephrologist stopped by and we talked about multiple things regarding his kidneys to see how we can keep that stabilized. One thing he suggested is to do labs once a week with the Homehealth Nurse, which will be great because then I know where he’s at every week since I don’t have any of that kind of equipment at home to monitor that. So if all goes well, it looks like we’ll probably be going home on Tuesday. Keep Willie in your prayers Becky.❤️
Update April 1 st 2025
Tuesday March 31, I came in today was my day off he was about the same pulmonary PA talk to me and she said that he had a lot of fluid on his lungs and with his kidneys being so fragile that they we’re gonna give him the Lasix IV slowly she said his lungs just have to dry out and it’s gonna take some time. Instead of the Meta knobs, the mask that pounds air into his chest she ordered a shake fast, which does the same act, but it wraps around his chest and just shakes him. He tolerated that so much better and we didn’t have to give him pain medication before hand. He didn’t have anxiety when they did it.. after the treatment he started coughing up stuff which was really good and I suction it out of his mouth. He was sounding better. The Lasix was doing the job. He had over 4 containers of fluid come out his saturations were high and they brought the oxygen down to 2 L he was alert and able to respond to me. I had cleaned his mouth out really good. He had a cracked tooth that we were trying to get to the dentist. Every time we made appointment he ended up in the hospital. I was concerned about it and asked the nurse if she could talk with the doctor about a possible dentist coming in and taking care of that I was worried about infection. I did his cares shaved his face put lotion on clipped his nails washed them up like I always do trying to make him feel better but his breathing was still labored and he was short of breath. It looks better than the day before, but I felt like we were moving in the right direction. I left about 930 Tuesday night. I told him I had to work tomorrow, but I’ll be here after work. I gave him a hug and kiss and told him I’m so sorry you’re going through this. It’ll get better , earlier prayed for him. I laid hands on him and prayed in tongues for his healing. I told him to get some rest and I’ll see him tomorrow,Wednesday April 1, 6 AM. My phone woke me up. It was a text for Willie‘s labs which I get every morning as I was reading them. I got a phone call from the doctor that worked that night. She told me that Willie passed at 6 AM this morning. Me and the kids went up there and we were able to sit with Willie in his room for as long as we needed too, the doctors came in I asked why he filled up with fluid like that he was doing when we came down from icu on Friday? He was doing so much better and he said that his kidneys just weren’t functioning properly and his lungs filled up with fluid ( pulmonary edema) and basically in a nutshell, his body just couldn’t handle it anymore.
One thing I know he’s up in heaven with Jesus and his family that are not with us any longer.
This last six months was a lot, he endured a lot, but at least I honored the things that he wanted for his life and the last three months of his life he was home with his family while we took care of him. Thank you everyone for your love and support through all this you are loved and appreciated. I will post funeral arrangements when they’re completed!
Becky❤️
