new development

Whew. How quickly things can change in a few hours. Yesterday, Wednesday the 2nd, they took another MRI at Craig and discovered something pressing on the spinal cord. Dr. Hsu suggested that he might require another surgery. Today Jim and Janelle travelled back to Boulder to his neurosurgeon who confirmed what the Craig doc had said. We all saw the MRI today and they are baffled as to what it could be - a hematoma (blood), residual disc, etc. Both doctors confirmed that as long as something is pressuring the cord, he will not improve on his left side.

After an agonizing morning of questioning his doctor, considering his options and facing a clear diagnosis of a possible future lived in a wheelchair, Jim decided to take the risk of another surgery. This will be a much more complicated procedure as they will have to go through the front. The surgery is scheduled at 7:15 a.m. at Boulder Community Hospital tomorrow, Friday the 4th. It is supposed to be around 3 or 4 hours, followed by an expected stay of 7 days or more. We will post updates on the blog as we know more. The good news is it seems that the staff here at Boulder Community is responsive and thorough and taking good care of him. Plus, Janelle and the rest of us have learned a lot from the last hospital stay, which will help us oversee Jimmy's care and advocate for him.

One thing Jimmy is sure of - he knows where real, healing power comes from. We are all trusting that God has his life in His hands, that God is the one who empowers surgeons and gave us the knowledge we have to help make peoples' lives better. It is God's power alone that can restore Jimmy's health. This is a scary time for him, but he is being very courageous and submitting to whatever options he feels he has.

Pray that the doc gets a good night's rest before tomorrow, pray against hospital-born infection, pray that his blog clot will not cause complications (they are putting a filter in currently to help catch the clot if it decides to travel), pray for strength and calm for Janelle, and most importantly pray that the doctors will be successful in removing whatever is causing pressure on the cord and hopefully restore mobility to the left leg and reduce the pain he is in.