Pray for Wendy

.Hello! What can I say other than this was an awesome weekend that consisted of much needed excitement for all! WENDY GOT TO GO ON LEAVE!! Wendy has progressed well enough that insurance, doctors and therapists agreed to allow her to come to our bike weekend events at the high school football field. She did very well and really enjoyed the time away and the ability to experience life again outside of a hospital setting. Dad, Mom and the girls went and got her Saturday afternoon in our Mammaw’s conversion van that is handicap ready with lift and all. She was able to remain in her wheelchair during the entire event. She then got to come back down Sunday morning for service. I would recommend that you check out the service at Bike Sunday. You can access it through our church website, www.familylifewv.com. Go to the media section and then the archives. She really looked good and the girls were very excited over it all. On Friday, Matt, myself and Pastor Fred Z. (Founder of Bikers for Christ) went to spend a few minutes with Wendy. We heard she had walked 50 feet with the therapists that day!!!! Great progress continues! This evening, Matt said that she had even got to try a walker today!!!! He said she made it about 14 feet. This is the next step to getting her home. He said she also tried going up and down a few stairs as well!! This has been a weekend of great experiences and progress. We continue to thank the Lord for all that he has, is and will do. We also thank you all for remaining diligent in your prayers and support to help get Wendy to this point. This was a brief summary of the weekend. It was just too full to really get it all in. Im looking forward to bring better news every time I update. Have a great evening!!

Bryan

Hi everyone...I’ve been making attempts at getting something together for you, but other things keep interfering from getting the chance to sit down at the computer!! The past couple of days have continued to reveal progress for Wendy from what Matt has been relaying. She continues to be able to maintain eating without having anything through the feeding tube. The tube will probably remain in until they are completely  sure she can maintain without complications. Matt said they have also been able to upgrade her from puree to more solid consistency. He says she doesn’t really like the food, but eats it because she knows she has too!! They were also able to take her catheter out yesterday as well, so that is one less thing connected to her. Matt also said that she is getting pretty sore now from the therapy, which most likely means then that she is doing more of the movement on her own, versus the therapists guiding her through the motions. Wendy continues to be an amazing miracle. God has blessed her and has kept her in the palm of his hand, and he has blessed us by allowing us to be a part in this experience. Surely there has to be at least one person out there that has had their life changed from this and has given themselves back to Him. I continue to feel that He is preparing us for something much bigger, and can look back at how He has had this all planned as things play out. We thank you all again for your continued support and prayers. I had asked last time if you would focus on Wendy's memory. There are signs that your prayers are working’, so please don’t stop!!! Matt said that Wendy had a little breakdown after our Aunt Kathy left with Taryn and Kylee, who had come to visit after a library reading program that Aunt Kathy is thanking them to on Tuesdays. Wendy was heading to Speech Therapy and broke down a little as the girls left. The ST asked who the girls were and Wendy said "they are my 2 oldest girls." The ST asked how many she had and Wendy replied with "I have four." This shows that there is still something there and working, it will just take time, so again, please don’t stop praying for physical and mental healing. Matt is going back to work today and then will be staying with us the next couple nights, along with some of the girls. This should be good for the girls, and Daddy. Taryn and Kylee have been at another VBS with Sue and Melissa, Payge had another appointment so has been staying with us. She is now up to 11 pound 1oz. !!! She is getting to be so much cuter with all of her smiling and playing!! Things continue on...  Thanks for everything and have a great day!!
Bryan

Good evening!! Progress with Wendy continues!! She is beginning to eat food, made at special consistencies, but it is the steps towards getting the feeding tube removed. She has to be able to eat 50% of each meal to be able to have to tube removed. I forget how many days she has to do this, though. But it is good to know that Wendy is making great strides in all aspects of therapy. Matt said that the PT and OT were talking and said that Wendy has improved to mod-max assist from dependent. This means that Wendy came there being dependent for transfers and everything else. She is now able to help on her own to perform these tasks. This is great news, considering where she started. Those of you who had been to see Wendy while she was in ICU know where she was then…THIS IS A WHOLE NEW WENDY at this point!! HealthSouth is doing a great job of getting her back to us. The girls have gotten up a few time this week to see her as well. The biggest issue that remains is her short term memory. If you happen to go and visit, and you have only known her for less than 2 years, dont be offended or upset if she has difficulty recalling your name, we just have to pray that the speech therapists are able to help her regain everything. So I ask that as you continue to diligently pray for Wendy’s recovery, that you lift her up in regards to her memory, along with the physical healing that is already taking place. THANK YOU LORD FOR YOUR MIRACLE SHOWN WITH WENDY AND FOR YOUR CONTINUED HEALING. WE THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE AND WILL DO! I believe that God is using this as a situation that is allow him to “show off” what He is capable of. Non-believers will have a hard time denying that He was involved in this!! Have great Father’s Day!

Bryan

Good evening!! Jess and I went after work to hang out with Matt and Wendy, and to take Matt a small birthday gift (tomorrow is his b-day) of cookie cake…His favorite! Wendy was looking quite perky and awake. She was able to laugh and talk with us throughout the visit and give some of her input into some of the decisions they are considering in preparation for when she is ready to come home. One of the other highlights I would have to say is that Wendy also got to partake in some of cookie cake icing!!! She really liked that!! She was able to have some icing because she has been doing well enough in speech therapy that they have been trying applesauce, pureed peaches, and baby food bananas. Matt says Wendy is scheduled for a modified barium swallow study on Thursday, June 18. This will assess her ability to safely swallow and to see if she is aspirating or not. If she does well, then the typical process is to wean from the feeding tube and back to normal foods. She continues to show more of her personality and gives her input at times into conversations. We asked if she wanted to go for a bike ride since I had mine there, and she said “Sure, get me out there. Ill go” She laughed when we said we would strap her to the tour pack to keep her from falling off!! Matt and I went to get him dinner while Jess hung back and showed Wendy all of the pictures that Jess has downloaded to facebook. Jess said Wendy really enjoyed the pictures, but continues to have memory problems with anything from the last 1-2 years. We would venture to say that there is some connection happening because Wendy looked at Jess and asked “Do I really have 4 kids? I thought that was a dream!” This makes us believe that if she at least thought it was a dream, then there is some connection to it all that will just take time to redevelop. Matt has said that Wendy’s memory has its ups and downs day to day. There are times when he feels she is able to have a better understanding of it all. All in all it was a great visit because we got to laugh, eat cookie cake and watch Matt get Wendy up from the wheelchair and back into bed, in which he did very well with caring for her. As we were leaving, her grandparents (Grandma and Grandpa Stier) and dad (John) showed up and then later our friends Genie and Becky showed up and Matt said they painted her nails!! She looks so much better!! Keep praying please!! Have a great evening!!

Bryan

Hello. It has been a busy weekend as usual, so I am just now getting a chance at updating. I have been updated between Matt, Mom, Dad, the girls and Scott and Melissa. They have said that the visit with all 4 girls on Saturday was very good. It is believed that it helped Wendy put the puzzle together a little more. Matt said Wendy "lit up" when all the girls came in. they got to spend a good bit of time hanging out with Mommy and Daddy. It is said that Wendy continues to make great progress and is really appearing to get her personality back and keeps being able to participate in conversations more and appears to be retaining more of what all is going on around her. So prayers are working, please keep them going. Matt is praying for a return home by the end of the month to make it home in time for our bike weekend. This is a big event for our church and Bikers for Christ. Matt and Wendy have become very involved with both church and the BFC, which is a motorcycle ministry that we are a part of. Our chapter and the church are working together to have a Bike Weekend to be held at Lincoln High School football field June 27 and 28. If you would like more information, please go to our website www.bfcwv.org. I am putting this on here because I know that it is something that Matt and Wendy would like to be passed along. This will be a big weekend and Matt and Wendy had been putting a lot into it, and Matt has a significant role for the weekend. Matt prays that Wendy will get to make it to this big event, so if that is not incentive enough to consider coming. The best incentive should be the chance at seeing souls saved!! Other than that though, things continue as planned, actually better than originally planned for Wendy. It was a great weekend for the girls with their recitals. THEY WERE FABULOUS!! I hope the few pictures we were able to take come out because once they are performing, you are not allowed flash photo, but Jess ignored the rule and made attempts at getting a few shots in before getting busted and asked to stop!!! If pictures become available, we will try to get them posted for all to see how cute they were that evening. If you were unable to attend, let me just tell you how adorable Taryn and Kylee were!! Melissa did an excellent job with getting them all "dolled" up. She and Mom were the ones that were there all three nights helping out. Saturday is when both girls performed. Several family members showed up, to the point that I would venture to say that Taryn and Kylee may have had the most people there to see them. They were showered with gifts and love all weekend. Sunday was filled with church in the morning and then Jess and I took Taryn, Kylee and Payge along with Tony and Lucy (nephew and niece on Jess' side) to Mammaw Eileens to swim and then back to church for the closing of VBS program. Mom had taken Darby with her to Morgantown so Pappaw could pick up his bike and visit Wendy. John, Mary, Sue and her grandkids came to see the girls' closing as well. Mom then got them back to Scott and Melissa's for the week. This was one jammed packed week full of fun!! We will update with more later!!!! Take care and may God bless you all beyond your imaginations !!!Bryan

Hey to all...Today (Thursday) was a good day for all!! I Taryn and Kylee stayed with us Wednesday night after VBS. I got to take them to an early movie and then on up to see Mommy and Daddy. This has seemed to be good for the two older ones each time they get a day with just them because they can get ALL of the attention!! LOL! I am also excited to be able to say WOW again after getting to see Wendy!! It has been amazing to watch her progress in this way. Everytime I have been to see her, there is significant changes. As a physical therapist, I work with people everyday whom have had strokes alone without any of the other things Wendy has dealt with, and they typically do not recover this rapidly. In one week she has went from barely being able to lip a couple of words occassionally and barley being able to wiggle fingers and toes...to engaging in conversation at an audible level and raising her arm up to wave at the girls, hold there hands and make efforts at feeding herself ice chips. She also has her personality coming back with her sarcasm coming out when joking with us and the girls. She was laughing at the silly things the girls would do and talking to them. When asked her opinion on Taryns request to cut her hair short, Wendy gave a priceless "look" at Taryn and then smiled at her, basically saying NO!!! The girls also got to watch Mommy in therapy again this visit, so they got to see Mommy WALK! The therapists, and Matt :) help her to stand as they support her and then help her advance her legs forward. It was very obvious that she was helping mover her own legs, whcih is awesome, because it is showing that the "pathways" in the brain to the muscles are beginning to reconnect. Wendy is truly amazing to have experienced what she has, and make a comeback such as this at this point!!! Just being in bed for 5 weeks with basically no movement will make anyone deconditioned and weak, but tack that on with everything else she has endured, and to see this progress is truly only possible because of her Faith and the prayers that have gone out for her. I honestly believe that it is everyone of you that have prayed for her recovery that is also responsible for God being willing to continue with this miracle! Everyone has remained faithful and united, which has allowed God room to move, so thank you all for all that you have done!! To me, Wendy appears to be at a point where she will begin to retain more of her experiences from day to day. Our Mom is going to continue to make sure she can get all 4 girls there at the same time at least once a week. I think this will help Wendy in the fact that she can start putting the puzzle back together with the girls, now that she appears to be more alert and less lethargic. One of the thing we were able to now joke about a little with Wendy was after seh made a comment to her OT that she thought her hand was a little swollen! Matt, Ramona (my mother-in-law) and I got to tease her a little and say that if she thinks she is swollen now, wait till we get to explain everything she has been through little by little!! We joked and told her the little bit of swelling she thinks she sees now, is nothing!! This is just another testimony to the greatness of God and what he can bring us through!! All in all, it was a great afternoon. The girls then got back into Shinnston so Kylee could go with Mammaw for her recital and Taryn was off to VBS. Mom said Kylee was very adorable and her group was as well, especially when the whole group messed their choreography up. So with a group of little ones, you know that had to be cute!! So be praying for Taryn and her group tonight and hopefully she may get to see some of you all there!! And remember, tomorrow night they both perform if you are interested!! Thanks again for your love and support!!Bryan

Hello all,

I've been praying about the best way to state this all day, since reading some recent things that have been posted on this site. As the administrator, I realize I haven't been the primary person completing the posts and updates, but have left that primarily to my husband Bryan, because he has a greater understanding of the medical jargon, because that is what he does.
But, as the administrator, I feel that is my responsibility to address this in a timely fashion. Please understand that this site was created for a variety of reasons, but foremost to keep family, friends, and all of our Brothers and Sisters in Christ informed with the most up to date information regarding our precious sister Wendy's medical condition. The second reason for this site is to create a community in which we can come together as loved ones and express our joy over Wendy's continual progress, and to continually shower Wendy and each other with words of encouragement and edification so that we can continually grow stronger together and find hope in all of the small things. Finally it's a location that we can keep an archive for Matt, Wendy, and the entire family to look back on, in order to see just how much they were loved and supported during this time.

With the above being said, this site is not for any form of negativity or condemnation. Any form of such will not be tolerated, and this includes profanity, gossip, or anything else that would not glorify God or edify Matt and Wendy, the Freeman family, and all of their loved ones.

I hope that this has been stated in such a way that no one takes offense, so that we can all continue to enjoy this site for it's intended purpose. If you do have something of a negative nature that you would like to share, then I ask that you please contact me individually by e-mail so that we can address it in a timely fashion in order to gain the best possible outcome. My e-mail address is jweekly1@hotmail.com.

Please also understand that I will be doing a site "clean-up" very soon. During this "clean-up"; I will be removing any comment or posting that has negative connotations that may be deemed inappropriate for a christian-based site.

Please join me in a unified effort to continually praise God for what He has done; rejoice in the miracle that Wendy is; and continue to help us document the time that has gone by, so that we can archive the events that Matt and Wendy may be missing during the hospital stay.

Also as a final note, Matt requests that, if a daily update has not been posted, please understand that Wendy is still making progress, but there may not be significant enough changes to type a full update. Please continue to pray and check back often for new information as it is made available to us.

Love Your Sister in Christ,
Jessica

PS: Don't forget that Taryn and Kylee have dance recitals this week. Kylee will perform on stage for the first time tomorrow night, (Thursday) at Robert C Byrd High School. Cost at the door is $8.00. I believe the show begins at 7pm. Taryn will be performing at the same time on Friday night, and then both girls will be performing Saturday evening at 7pm. Please feel free to come out and show your love and support for our beautiful little angels!! You really won't want to miss it.

Hey all…Sorry that Ive been slacking the past few days. We have been busy and not home much. Ive been getting updates from Matt and those that have been to visit. Everyone has the same response…WOW, What a difference!!! The thought from everyone who has been there to visit has come back happy and excited with the progress that has been made. My mother-in-law keeps in touch at work with Dr. Bonasso. He has told her how he has spoke with Dr. Biundo, who is the doctor at HealthSouth. The understanding is that Dr. Biundo is confident in a good recover based on the progress made already. It is believed the conversation went to say that Dr. Biundo is unable to say how long recovery will take, but that he feels Wendy will do well. This is third hand information, so dont take it as completely accurate, but is was definitely good to hear! We have been praying for it, so please keep praying to make this information 100% true! Matt and others also say that Wendy keeps increasing the amount of conversation that she participates in. He says that she is unable to completely vocalize everything, but is able to “lip” her words. He says that Wendy has done much better in being bale to hold herself up at the mat table on her own. It sounds as though Wendy is making the progress needed to remain at HealthSouth, and most importantly, to get closer to the full recovery we are praying for. WE SHOULD CONTINUE TO THANK GOD ADN PRAISE HIM FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE IN THIS SITUATION!! Wendy continues to overcome the odds and improve. I also wanted to mention that this has been a busy week fro the girls. This is RECITAL week for both Taryn and Kylee!!! It is also VBS at our church. So We have been working with Melissa and Scott and Sue to get the girls back and forth where they need to be this week to help keep them from missing out on anything. Be praying for the girls that they get to fully enjoy this week they have been preparing for. If you are interested and would be willing to go and watch the girls, Kylee with perform on Thursday at RCB auditorium at 7pm(?). Taryn will perform on Friday, and they both will be on Saturday at 7pm. We will try to do our best at getting more timely in the updates, so dont think they we forgot you LOL!! Have a great evening and may God Bless everyone!!

Bryan

Good evening. Let me start off by apologizing to anyone who may have been offended by my posts in anyway. I have been trying to give “blurbs” of information as I have time. I apologize up front if I do not include every single detail that occurs. If there is something that someone would like to add to any of the posts, that is what the responses are for. Anyone may add whatever they wish. I am giving posts based off of my experiences. I understand that everyone who is close has their own experiences throughout all of this. I am only one person. If you have something you think would be nice for Wendy to know, please feel free to add that. I also want to apologize if people are lead to believe that we feel the girls only want to be with us. We love the girls very much, as well as I know the rest of both families do. I can say that I know the girls enjoy spending time with all family members. Again, I am just giving MY experiences. I would ask that others who have read and posted concerns, please feel free to add YOUR personal experiences and leave your name so Wendy will know where it came from when she reads it all. We all have a strong love for this family and I continue to be overwhelmed at the love and support that has been shown over the past several weeks. I agree that a log book would be a good idea, because even if I know who was there, I am often typing these late at night when being very tired. So a log book will be a sure way of letting Wendy know who was there, and then if you add your experience in after the blog was posted for the day, then that will give Wendy that much more information to have.

As for today, it was a GOOD day!! I surprised Taryn and Kylee with a visit to Mommy and Daddy!! The 2 girls got to have a couple hours of quality time with their parents. Wendy was up in her wheelchair and had a t-shirt and shorts on, so the girls were happy to see this. Wendy was wide awake as well!! She was looking all over the place at the two girls when they were talking to her. She was able to reach her hands onto theirs so that she could hold the girls’ hands. She was able to lip/speak “I Love You” to them!! She responded with words a few times during our conversations in her room before she went back for therapy after lunch. We got to follow her to therapy and the girls got to see some cool things. The therapists got her from her wheelchair to a mat table where she worked on sitting straight up and leaning backwards onto pillows. They then worked and got her STANDING!!!! Though it was with 4 people, she was still up on her own feet and her muscles were kicking in to help hold her up. They did this a couple of times before we left. The OT asked Wendy who everyone was, and she was able to lip/speak Matt’s, mine and both girls names!!! This was awesome!! When we got ready to leave, one of the most awesome things that happened was when Matt reached the girls up to give Mommy a kiss, Wendy reached her own head towards them and puckered up and kissed them too!!!! This was such a wonderful experience today. The therapists feel that she should continue to do well. LETS KEEP PRAYING!!!! Have a good evening, Bryan

Hello all…just wanted to leave a quick update. Wendy has been having PT/OT/ST yesterday and today. Speech Therapy didnt actually come until today to evaluate Wendy. Matt said from what they saw, the one thing they think is that her speech should come back and that there is no irreversible damage as far as her speech is concerned, rather it is due to the vent being in for so long. PT and OT have worked on several things already to get her out of bed and up into a standing seat. This will allow her sit and then it can be adjusted into a standing position while being strapped in. Matt said he can already see some progress with her head control. He said they gave her a shower today, which is the first one she has had since this all happened. He said she really seemed to enjoy it when they laid her head back and washed her hair!! He said she did have some progress with speech therapy, but she does have some confusion with certain things. One thing for certain when she does say something is that she wants to go home!!! Matt said she has been trying to pull a fast one on him after he has been gone for lunch or dinner. He says that when he comes back she tells him that the doctors or nurses have been in and said “I can go home, so take me home!” We found this quite humorous. She has already had several visitors. We made it up last night, along with Jess’ parents, on the Harley’s…we got caught in one heck of a storm on the way home!! A couple other visitors were Pastor Darren, and our new Associate Pastor Aaron Thomas. Matt told us one of the things that the the therapists told the pastors was asking them to ignore certain things in the future during rehab as far as her speech. They say that the first clear words that typically come our are curse words because of the frustration and hard work!! Needless to say, this is going to be an interesting experience. Wendy will also get some visitors tomorrow as well. These visitors dont know this yet, but Kylee informed us “Im staying with Uncle Bryan and Jessica!” Taryn ended up going back home with Mom. I will surprise them by taking them to see Mommy tomorrow afternoon for the first time at HealthSouth. We have to be careful, though, because Taryn said that since Mommy is getting to wear normal cloths, then they can take her home now. this could mean that Wendy will be teaming up with Taryn to try and convince us to taker her home!!! Well, I will end for tonight. May you all have a blessed evening and continue praying please.

Bryan

Well, if you havent heard yet, Wendy has FINALLY been moved to HealthSouth!!!! This happened late in the afternoon since her fever had been down. Matt was excited to know that the next step has happened towards getting Wendy better. He continues to realize that this is all on God’s time. So as it continues to seem like this is a never-ending experience, God has it all planned out and He knows the healing outcome. So please keep praying for her recovery and thank God for all that He has done to this point, ad for everything is WILL do!!

Visitation at HealthSouth is a little different than the hospital. Due to the fact that they will be getting down to business with rehab, they limit the hours available to visit. Monday-Friday is 4:30-8:30pm. Saturday/Sunday is 12:00-8:30. At this point, Matt is understanding that he is allowed to stay, but he has to be willing to do anything they ask of him. He was fine with that in order to have someone with her a this time to get used to everything there. So…Let the fun begin!!

I also wanted to thank everyone who made the blood drive a success. I am excited to find out what the total number of units received were. I was in awe at the number of people who came out to support. It was an amazing experience, and I had a great time. Thank you to all that participate.

Have a great day tomorrow!! Bryan