Only by the grace of God

Saturday December 17/2005
I am told the phone is for me. My parents are on the line with some shocking news… my brother is in the Hospital, the following is the email that my mom sent me on the Friday.

Dear Sarah
I tried to phone you but no response. Hoping e-mail will get you faster.
Last night we took Andrew to hospital by ambulance.
He worked from 8:30 - 4:30 and got on the bus to come home. He got off the bus on Roblin and started walking down the Charleswood Parkway walkway and halfway home he fell down and couldn't get up. He rolled toward Haney Street toward a small evergreen tree in the hopes that it would assist him up but to no avail. he was also yelling for help but by this time he was exhausted and no one was around to see him. He had his walkman and knew the time was around 5:30 now. He gave up and told himself Dad would come looking for him. at 6:15 Dad asked me if Andrew had a meeting at work and I said I didn't think so. Dad went out and thought to check the parkway sidewalk even though he didn't Andrew would have used it. He finally saw him under the little tree. He called his name and he answered but Dad said later he wasn't sure if he was going to find him conscience or not. He was very very cold and unable to walk with out much assistance. Andrew asked the time and it was around 6:30 now. Dad struggled to get him up and tried to carry him and walk him home. At this point there were two ladies who appeared on the scene and they helped assist him. Dad realized that he had to return to the house to get the truck. He did so and also told me Andrew was down and he was going to take the truck and get him. I was in the middle of teaching piano but grabbed my boots and coat and went into the driveway where I saw that the 2 ladies were bringing him closer to Batchelor st. They got him in the truck and I helped Dad bring him in the house. He was not moving much. Dad lifted him out of the truck and we both walked him in. For the steps I had to lift each leg individually because he couldn't. He fell into the kitchen and Dad lifted him up to the kitchen level and we sat him on the chair and quickly wrapped him in blankets, got out the heating pad and started a hot drink and also removed his wet clothing. His pant legs were encrusted in snow and all his wet snowy clothes were difficult to remove. His body was very cold to say the least as you can imagine. He had pulled his hat over his face to keep that warm and had tried to get into fetal position . Later Dad assisted him to the bedroom where he covered him and tried to rub his legs to get warm. On the advice of Jennette a nurse from the church we took him into hospital. Because of his not able to walk we called the Ambulance and took him to Grace.
He is admitted room 310 and will be there 2-3 days. He has some toxins in his system that could cause kidney damage so they have to flush them out. He is on I-V and a catheter and a heart monitor. They are watching his white blood count and are watching his heart because of something that they were questioning from the EKG that was done.
He is mostly sleeping and is not feeling the best right now.
Back to the time in emergency-- he warmed up after a while and was able to walk around and go to the bathroom unassisted. We had left him there around mid-night and went home to bed but we didn't sleep very much.
Any way Garry and I are under stress and the doctor feels that some of the things Andrew is experiencing is also from the trauma and stress of the whole situation. We are now trying to get over the" what might have beens or could have beens or what we should have dones" and move forward.
The lesson to learn here is always tell you family members what you are up to so they know your schedule and travel habits, even if it means for the young people a lack of privacy or invasion into their affairs.
It seems like in a time like this for me anyway that shopping, decorating, baking, parties and even church events take a backseat to what I want for Christmas. I am so glad that my son is going to be alright!!!

Sunday December 18/2005
Another email from my mom

Dear Sarah
One of the questions Andrew asked us was "Is Sarah worried about me?"
We went to the hospital today to find him in very high spirits. Talking a blue streak, very up beat and cracking up with the nurses and his 80 yr old room mate. I think they enjoy each other.
Yesterday we were told that when he was first tested on Thursday night his monoglubin counts was 3300,yesterday they were 800 and today 400. the norm is under 80. If these counts don't go low they could cause muscle damage. His white blood cell count which was higher than norm is also going down. They also pricked his finger for blood sugar counts. By the way, you know how he likes giving blood, they are taking it two times a day . Andrew who is quite pro active about what's happening tells us they want to make sure his kidneys are ok before he goes home.
The intervenes or I V is what is flushing these toxins out of his system. They monitor the ins and the outs. The nurse said that he's on the mend. The heart monitor was taken off yesterday-all is well. We think he might get home tomorrow. He wants very much to come home. He walked to the day room this morning to watch TV and according to what dad heard he may have done that 2 times.

Monday December 19/2005
My mom phones me at the school… My brother is now on oxygen. The IV fluid has filled his chest cavity its surrounding his lungs and heart. His breathing is like that of someone who is drowning or having an asthma attack.

Since Saturday my school has been praying for my family and my friends have sent this request out to their home prayer chains I have also sent out a email prayer request.

Monday night my brother is taken off of oxygen and his breathing has gotten better.

Wednesday I get home from school, when I go and visit my bro is he doing much better and is looking at coming home this week possibly Friday.

Thursday even better news and coming home is starting to become reality

Friday morning he with help walks into our home
today Monday December 26th he is doing really well and is looking at going back to work this week

It is by the grace of God almighty that he is still alive with no permanent damage to his body.
PRAISE BE TO GOD

Its Christmas Time

Well Christmas banquet is over and done. I tell ya planning a banquet for class is not as easy as one might think, I tryed very hard to keep my leadership side undercontrole as I was not the leader of my group... this was very hard at times. But we pulled it off and we where told this was the best banquet in the last 5 years. How cool is that.

My friend Daniel came down all the way from Red Lake Ont to come with me to my banquet, what a great friend he is. I wish it wasnt such a streesful weekend that I might of been able to spend more time hanging out rather then do banquet prep and homework, but such is the life of a student.

I got lots of complaments on how I looked, much needed. Its great to be told you look.. Hot, beautiful and all the others when your not to sure you looked good at all.

Over all the evening went well.... This will be one of the last memorys of some of my friends here as they have chosen to not come back next term. I will miss them.

Time Sure Flies

It seems like just yesterday I was coming here and scared to death about what I had gotten myself into. But now we are almost done our last class. Wow, I would not trade these last few months for anything, they have been amazing and defining moments that are priceless. Only 10 more days until I head home for the hoildays, I am going to miss all my friends here so much. alot of their hearts are the same as mine, so going back to all my friends at home will be hard at times since their hearts are different then mine and dont see what I see.
well thats it for now.