May 26 8:30 pm

Good Evening to all, Neil has had a good day. The pain is still manageable and we are all so pleased. Neil was able to sit in a chair for about an hour and a half. Otherwise, you know weekends are slow in the hospital. Please pray for Neil's leg.

We are so very thankful for each of you. We can never tell you how much your prayers and love have meant to us. We cannot wait until tomorrow. We hope all of you are having a good Memorial Day Weekend. Be safe in your travels.

May 25 7:00 pm

Good afternoon, Last and this morning was pretty lousy for Neil. It was very difficult for the doctors to manage the pain. At about noon, it seemed they were beginning to figure it out. (Thank goodness) Neil slept very little last night and today. He says the pain is down to about an eight most of the time. Neil says he can handle the pain at an eight and we hope with some more time it will drop. Neil says he is up for visits but is concerned he might be napping and does not want anyone to make the drive and not be able to visit. So, if you think you might be able to stop by, please feel free to call any of us to see if Neil is awake and feeling up to a visit. Physical therapy came by and Neil was able to move his leg up and down and side to side. Please pray for the muscle to be viable in Neil's leg and for the pain to be lessened.

Thanks to all of you for your love and support. We have all been blessed with your prayers.

May 23 8:00pm

Hey Folks, Neil came through the surgery well. The doctor said there was some more muscle that had died, but he did close the wound. The good news in that is that he was not concerned about infection. Yea!!!!! The doctor will go back on Tuesday and open the wound to determine if everything is as good as he hopes. Neil has much more pain that we ever anticpated. He has a pain pump but his tolerance for medication is rather high due to all the medication he has had over the last many weeks. Please be patient about visiting until Neil is able to manage the pain more effectively. My goodness, we hope this will happen sooner than later. The nurse anticipates a couple of days. We are so thankful for Neil's recovery. Please pray for the muscle to stay viable in Neil's leg.

Linda, Shanna's mom, called this afternoon. Shanna moved yesterday to Cedar Crest for her recovery. Please pray for Shanna to continue to wake up and have a full recovery.

Susan, Sue's daughter came by to be supportive. She said Sue has had an infection. Doggone it as she was doing so well. Please pray for Sue's full recovery.

Neil sends his love to all and so appreciates your support. He cannot wait to get past this and move on to Health South.

May 22, 12:30 pm

Good Afternoon Everyone,

This is Neil at the wheel. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. You will never know how much they helped during this time. I also want to thank my family as I could not have made it without them. I am doing the blog today to personally tell you all that I have some bad news that is going to turn out to be great news. Tomorrow at 3 pm, I am having my right let amputated below the knee. After the second opinion from the great orthopedic staff at UAB, they agreed with the doctor here. With the injuries to my leg, it will never be functional. A prosthetic leg will be better. This will help us get our lives back to normal sooner rather than later. It is very possible that by the end of next week, I could be in rehab at Health South. (Many of you may not believe this as we have yelled "Wolf" several times before.) I want to thank my cousin, Hunter and Kaila, and my good friend and financial advisor, JD, for the great visit while I was in Birmingham. I understand the next few days probably will be very emotional. With your continued support and prayers, I will be able to manage the surgery and the recovery. In the end, I want to thank my beautiful wife, DeAnn, for her continued support. I know this has been tough on her as well as the rest of us. I want to thank all of you in helping me to fulfill a dream in being able to write this blog entry. Thanks so very much

May 21 8:30 pm

Hey Folk, Sorry I did not post last night. Life here gets very busy at times. We will see doctors in the morning in and we will update the blog then. We cannot wait until tomorrow. Please pray for Neil's leg.

Please pray for the full recovery of Shanna and all our friends here.

Thanks so very much to each of you. We are sending our love to all. Please continue to support the Andress family.

May 19 8:30 pm

Good afternoon, We still have not heard anything regarding UAB. Neil saw both doctors today and they said they were calling UAB. Maybe tomorrow we will hear something. The wound care folks came by today. The good news is that his abdomen looks great. The not so good news is his leg may have some more tunneling down the leg. This may be indicative of more muscle loss. Physical therapy came by twice today. Neil sat on the side of the bed and did leg lifts this morning. This afternoon they helped Neil stand up and he moved his legs. He did this 4 or 5 times. It was very impressive. Neil is getting stronger each day. We sure look forward to tomorrow. Please pray for Neil's leg.

I went for a short visit with Sue today. She is doing great. I was able to watch her walk around and then took her to her room for a visit. My goodness, she has come a million miles. She is sure a miracle and we are so pleased. Please continue to pray for Sue.

Please continue to pray for the full recovery of Shanna. We sure do pray she will continue to wake up.

Thank you all for your love and support.

May 18 8:30 pm

Hope you all have had a good Sunday. It has been a fine day here at Baptist South. Neil has been nauseated some, but it is still better than it was last week. The pain in his leg is improving. We hope to hear something about going to UAB tomorrow. We will keep you posted. Please pray for Neil's leg.

Please pray for the full recovery of Sue, Shanna and our other friends here.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers, visits, calls, cards and your support. We so appreciate all of you.