April 4 10:50 pm

Just visited Neil. We saw the physician's assistant this morning. She continues to be pleased with Neil's progress. Neil is on an antibiotic and it will be a 14 day dose. They did a sputum culture and it indicated the same infection as before. BUT, the doctor is not alarmed. Neil's temperature is 99 this morning which is less than yesterday. The orthopedist will x-ray on Sunday and we will learn more about Neil's leg. DeAnn puts the bone stimulator on the fractures twice a day. We think the x-ray will indicate if this is helping. The doctor has lowered the pressure setting on the ventilator from 15 to 10. This setting is more difficult for Neil but he was managing it. Neil sat up on the side of the bed and was able to help with this more. The respiratory therapist moved to pressure setting back to 15 for Neil to be on the trach collar. Neil has been on the trach collar since 10:25 am. He is responding to this. Neil's spirits are good. Please pray for Neil's lungs.

Please pray for Sue and Shannon's full recovery.

Please remember the Andress family in your thoughts and prayers.

Apil 3 9:00 pm

Just visited Neil. He had a bit of temperature this morning, He did not have this at the 5:30 visit or now. Yea!!!! Neil just enjoyed this visit. DeAnn was able to stay a bit. Before we left Neil said, "This was my best day". We cannot wait to see Neil in the morning. Please pray for Neil's lungs.


Please pray for the full recovery of Sue, Shannon and our other friends here. We are all praying so hard for Shannon to wake up.


We have great news from Terri. You will remember she had surgery in Mobile. She does NOT have cancer!!!! All I can say is this is another example of the power of prayer.


My goodness, we have had a banner day here in the SICU waiting room. I was asked what I had added to the blog about us hearing Neil speak. I said I had absolutely no idea what I had said, but I was such I had not done justice to the event. There are no words to describe the joy, pride, elation and thankfulness. A good friend of ours just said, "Well, Neil has been in "park" for a while, but he is now ready to go!!!" He has shown such determination and courage. Wow, we are so proud. This has much to do with your support, prayers and love. We can never adequately express our gratitude.

update from reese

This update is strictly from Reese in Daphne, Alabama. I promise I will be running down the road (under the speed limit-of course Aunt Debbie) tomorrow to hear Neil talk to me. Because today when I got the message today from Neil all I could do was cry and replay the message for anyone in the office who wanted to hear it. I am kind of glad I was in training so that I have the message to hear over and over again since I can't be there until tomorrow!!! Thank you all SSSOOOO very much for your support and prayers! We have been able to feel them and see them working! You are awesome!!!

And this is MY favorite picture of me and Neil! From Talladega of course when Pat Green played at the infield! I just don't think it gets more appropriate than that...other than Alabama winning then football game that day!!!

April 3 6:00 pm

Just visited Neil. My goodness, he is doing such a good job. He was on the trach collar for 45 minutes. During this visit he did not speak, but focused on breathing. He oxygen sat was 95-97 during this time. Neil could work very hard and could bring his breathing down in the 30s. We cannot tell you the experience of watching your husband, son, nephew and son in law breathe on his own. This is in fact a mountain top experience. Wow. Please pray for Neil's lungs.


Please pray for the full recovery of Sue. Sue is getting an unit of blood. The doctor is doing this but he said her numbers were only minimally low. The doctor is taking a wait and see position. We are loving this. She has been on the trach collar for 8 hours today. She had a good visit with her daughters and a grandson and wife. She always seem to show off for the grandchildren. Sounds like a normal grandmother to me. Yea!!!!


Please pray for Mr. Averette as he is having a heart procedure. We are praying for his full recovery.


Please remember our good friend Kim who was in the hospital last week. She totaled her car yesterday trying to avoid an accident with a truck. She had to be cut out of the car with the jaws of life. What a miracle!! She has a few stitches and is home. Miracles abound!!!!!


I do not think I have said enough about Neil talking to us today. I cannot express what a celebration we have had. It is so similar to the day Neil was born. That day we had family and friends gathered and all were crying and celebrating. Finally, one of the nurses asked why was everyone so upset. We were able to explain these were absolute tears of joy. Today was the very same experience for the same young man. What a miracle!!!!!!!!

April 3 1:35

Just visited Neil. Oh my goodness, Neil was able to talk for about 15 minutes. He left a message for Reese on her phone as she was at work. We all cheered and cried as did all the nurses. Nurses kept coming in and Neil would say "hello". My, my we cannot describe the joy and elation of all us. Neil kept grinning and said, "It has been a long time". The other grand thing is he was able to do this very well and he even said he could breath better with the trach collar than with the ventilator. They will do this again later this afternoon. We cannot wait. The doctor came by as they changed the dressing on the abdomen and he is very pleased with how this wound is closing. All of our news is good. We are all telling it how it occurred over and over to each other. We are all just grinning. We are so blessed. Please pray for Neil's lungs.


Listen to this. The doctor said he did not need to do the colonoscopy on Sue. He does not think this is alarming. She was on the trach collar for four hours yesterday. Her daughters continue to be encouraged. Please pray for her full recovery.


Please pray for the full recovery of Shannon and our other friends here.


We heard from our good friend downstairs. The child at Children's has gotten a good report and they do not think she has leukemia. What a blessing.

April 3 10:40 am

Sorry I am late. Things are good. Had a longer visit with Neil. We saw the doctor at 8:30 and were able to stay until just now. The physical therapist came in and "dangled" Neil. We would say he sat up on the side of the bed. He was able to do this for a few minutes. It made him very nauseated. He did a very good job. The wound care folks are changing his abdomen dressing. They are not going to try the trach collar until this afternoon. Neil has started the day off with a bang. We are so proud of him. Please pray for Neil's lungs.

Please pray for the full recovery of Sue Shelton. They have determined there might be some bleeding from the colon. She will have a colonoscopy(?) later in the day. We would not choose this for her, but it sounds better than other things. Please remember her as you go through your day.

Please continue to pray for Shannon. We are so optimistic about her waking up. Her eyes have opened several times. Her parents are so dear and love her so much.

A good friend of ours is here with her uncle in CCU. He is having heart problems. His granddaughter is in Children's Hospital and they are very fearful of a diagnosis of leukemia. Let's all remember this family in our prayers.

Please continue to love and support Mike Andress and his family.

Thanks to all of you for loving and supporting us. Have a great Thursday.

April 2 9:00 pm

Hey Folks, We just visited Neil. DeAnn was able to have a long cheat visit between the 5:30 visit and the 8:30 visit. Shhhh!!! We are so pleased. Neil is very, very tired. What a day. He had the chest tubes out and was in the chair for 45 minutes. Whew. That makes me tired thinking about it. Neil has trouble going to sleep. So, at this visit he told us good night and that he thought he could go on to sleep. His breathing has slowed down some. His oxygen sat is 97. The oxygen percentage is 40%. So, as he began to dose, we just admired him. We cannot wait until tomorrow. We have our fingers crossed they will try to trach collar. Please pray for Neil's lungs.


Sue is back in SICU. Her daughters have not heard from the radiologist, but the test was done twice and the techs did not see anything. How wonderful is this. Please continue to pray for her. Please keep praying for the full recovery of Shannon Jones. Her parents say her heart rate goes up when they are in the room with her. We so pray she will wake up.



We have talked a lot about miracles we have witnessed with Neil and our other friends here. One I must share with you is the nursing care Neil is receiving. I have said a lot about the doctor and he is certainly a major part of the miracles. However, his work could not be completed without the nurses. I cannot say enough about the nurses caring for Neil. They have certainly done more than their fair share of caring for us. They have been there on the darkest days and have celebrated baby steps with us. One of our nurses has had a baby boy. His son will have to stay in the hospital several more days because he aspirated at birth. Let's certainly pray for his full recovery so he can go home to parents whom have anxiously awaited his birth.

I never realized how imperative it was for a patient to have complete trust and confidence with the nurses. As you all know Neil is incapacitated as he has little to no movement and is on a ventilator. When he is having a difficult time, the nurses are there to suction, change the trach and other life saving tasks. He has developed a relationship with several of the nurses (as we have) and has complete confidence and trust that the job will be completed. I cannot tell you how much this means to Neil and to us. The care the nurses have provided is phenomenal and is a great part of Neil's recovery. We are so blessed to have these wonderful folks on our team. Yea to all the nurses in SICU. They are the best!!!!!!!