What a year can bring...

Wow, here we are approaching the 1 year anniversary of Dan's accident.  We have really been in a reflective and somewhat emotional mindset the last week as we approach Sept 15th.  You never know what a year can bring.  A year ago this time, we could have never imagined how different our lives would be.  A lot about our life is the same of course.  Responsibilities, the demands and chaos that come with a family of 7, etc.  But, so much is different.  The obvious is the physical part for Dan.  Each day he's getting stronger, but still has some work to do.  The other day in frustration he said, "My mind still tells me I can do whatever I see before me.  My body just doesn't quite agree and quits on me quickly."  Well, I began to cry and then he said, "Jen, I like who I am so much more now than who I was before the accident.  So I walk with a limp and can't do everything I did before, I like my outlook on life better, my appreciation of things better, and my faith is deeper than it's ever been."  So many things in that aspect have changed for us.  We've seen our faith strengthen and deepen in us and our children, we've learned to have more of an appreciation for one another, we've learned to not sweat the small stuff (and so much in life is the "small stuff"!), we've learned more to rely on one another and carry the load for each other, learned humor helps tremendously in the midst of pain (it's either laugh or cry... sometimes both lol), we've learned how it is to be on the receiving end of a blessing and that our family and friends are more amazing than what we already knew.  We've felt the prayers, kindness, and generosity of a family, a school, a community, and so many strangers that we'll never meet.  You changed and impacted our lives more than you'll ever know and we've prayed countless times for each person who reached out to us to reap a harvest for what they sowed into our lives.  We're called to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those around us and that is EXACTLY what you were to us!  God has so much more in store and we know that's why Dan is still with us.  We've always tried to live our lives and raise our family like that, but we are more determined than ever to make a difference everywhere we can.  We've seen the hand of God at every turn in this last year and we will share this journey and the goodness of our God as He gives us opportunity!  We know that what the enemy meant to bring harm, God will turn and use it for good. 

As we look back at what has been the toughest and most challenging year we've ever been through, I can say beyond any doubt we are stronger, closer, more aware of what matters, and certain that whatever comes we will come through because of our God.  "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."  Phil 3:14  Whatever comes, and we all know stuff comes, I encourage you to keep pressing onward! 

Love and blessings~
The Deckers

Well, from Dan's surgery last night we found out that this is a different infection than what we were already dealing with.  The bone graft that was done in January didn't take and held some of the infection so they removed it.  They cleaned everything really well and put a concentrated antibiotic cement in there to help fight this infection.  They feel optimistic about the infection not reaching the bone or plates.  We've really prayed protection over this!  The cement will stay in 1-2 wks and then they'll redo the bone graft.  This wasn't news we were expecting yesterday and it will require a couple more surgeries, but we know God is still in control and we continue to trust in Him.  It will all be ok.  We serve a good God and He is faithful!

Thank you to EVERYONE who has been praying for Dan.  Today has been a tough day.  He is back in the hospital because he's developed another infection in his leg.  This is the second one in 2 weeks.  It will be a couple of days before we know from cultures if it's the same thing as the other or if it's something different.  They did surgery this morning to open up a large incision site, irrigate it, and clean everything.  They will do it again on Friday.  This helps the antibiotics he's already on for the staph infection to work better.  They will monitor it closely for the next few days to see how it behaves.  The biggest concern is whether the infection has gotten into the bone or plates.  Normally, they would just go in and remove all the hardware, but that's not an option for Dan because his leg was too damaged and in too many pieces for the hardware to ever be able to come out.  I can't tell you how critical this is and how desperately we need God to move and remove any and all infection in Dan's body.  I'd be lying if I said today wasn't really tough.  We are battle weary, but we kept telling each other we have to stand on what we know, not on what we feel.  Our feelings struggle at times and so we stand on truth that says we've been given authority over ALL sickness and disease and NO weapon that forms against Dan will prosper.  We have to walk by faith, not by sight.  I can't even tell you what your prayers mean to us and the difference they're making.  Thank you so much.  God Bless~

7 months later...

Wow, just to give you an idea of the God we serve...  Here we are 7 months out from Dan's accident.  There's been 5 surgeries, countless hours of therapy, days we thought we'd never make it through, and this morning at his therapy session he rode a bicycle for the first time!  Things have been going so well since his latest surgery 3 weeks ago.  It was so successful and he continues to see improvement.  He started therapy up again this week and came home today so excited about the fact that he could ride the bike!  It was like he was a lil guy again riding for the first time!  He just shook his head and said, "Jen, can you believe the goodness of the God we serve?!"  God continues to let us see one milestone after another and experience His power at work in our lives.  And it couldn't have come at a more needed time.  Yesterday was a really tough day for Dan.  His days continue to be filled with a lot of pain which, for the most, part he just presses right on through.  But, every so often, he'll have a day where it gets the best of him mentally/emotionally and yesterday was one of those days.  God is so true to His Word though because He promises He won't give us more than what we can bear with His help and when one of those days comes along He allows Dan to have a breakthrough moment!  He's teaching us so much on this journey that I'm not sure we could ever pen it all down. 

The focus right now is to strengthen his leg.  A funny thing was he told someone, "My hamstring is gone."  They said, "They took it out?!"  He laughed and said, "No, it's just withered away to nothing during this!"  So needless to say, there's still a lot of work to be done.  He goes to PT 3x a week and then does the CPM machine 8 hrs/day.  His leg is weak and his brain and his leg don't always agree on what it can do!  We're still in prayer about the nerves regenerating for his foot.  He's stopped wearing his brace on his foot and it's not because it's not needed anymore, I think he's just stepping out in faith trusting that God is going to fully restore it so the brace won't be a permanent part of things.  I love this guy.  He keeps pressing on no matter what!  "Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4  We have so much to be grateful for~

Recovering

Today has been a good day.  They took him off the epidural this morning and have been able to manage his pain well.  He's been up and on the side of the bed.  It's so good to see his leg bending like it is!  It's not gonna be an easy recovery, but he is up to it because he's so thankful for how successful things are going.  We're hoping to go home tomorrow if all is well.  We're ready to get home and get back to the kids.  They always step up to the plate in such a big way to make sure they take care of each other and take care of things while we're gone.  God is so good!  He has answered so many prayers and we're grateful for everyone who has prayed for us!  God bless~

It's been a pretty quiet day.  They've kept him pretty comfortable and just keep his leg on the CPM machine so it will keep moving while he's asleep.  All in all things are good~

Good News!

Well he's out of surgery and it went very well!  They are really pleased with everything so that is good news!  They shaved off quite an extensive amount of bone that had formed where it wasn't supposed to and was causing him trouble.  They also went in and released all the quad muscle that had adhered to the rod in his thigh.  They said it was pretty bad and took quite a bit of work (about 2 hrs longer than expected), but got all of it separated from the rod and got his knee to bend to 110 degrees.  This was HUGE because his knee hasn't been able to bend much at all since the accident.  There were so many risks involved in this surgery, but it all went without any complications and for that we are so grateful!  He is now on a machine that is continually bending his knee to keep the maximum motion range to prevent it happening again.  They have him on an epidural to keep him comfortable while this is in place.  They said it is common to lose range of motion after surgery, but we know that through prayer and Dan's hard work God is going to prevent that from happening!  Thank you so much for all of your prayers!  God answered them!  I'll keep you posted~ 

Surgery day~

Well, we left early this morning and got here and got him all situated.  His nerves are long gone because the "feel good" medicine has kicked in!  They're gonna take him back and surgery should take a couple of hours.  The plan is to get him quite a bit of motion in that knee and shave off the excess bone that's growing, so that's what we're praying for!  Now we wait~

Dan had an appointment yesterday in Columbia.  He's 5 1/2 months out and they are VERY pleased.  You can see all this new bone growth and it's pretty solid now.  It's always cool to see the evidence of what we're believing God to do!  He will be having surgery again on the 24th of this month.  It's going to be more invasive than we thought and will entail a couple of things.  Early on the tissue adhered to the rod inserted in his thigh and prevents his knee from bending.  They will go in along the side of his knee and up into the thigh to release it.  The other area to fix is on the side of his femur where the big break was.  With all this new bone growth, there's an area splintering off so they will saw if off.  They will look at keeping him a few days to put him on a machine right out of surgery that will have that knee bending.  Then they'll proceed with agressive therapy to get the maximum results out of this.  There are a couple of big risks involved and this is where we need people to pray.  The first is, when they go in at his knee there is a risk of the tendon in his knee snapping.  This would not be good at all.  After all this he doesn't want a knee replacement!  They will do everything to prevent it, but we will be in much prayer about it.  The second is, they can't guarantee how much movement this will give him and sometimes it decreases over time.  We believe that it's God's will that he be completely restored so we are asking God to let this surgery be very successful.  He needs to be able to bend his knee!  To say that Dan is weary of all of this would be a great understatement.  The last 5 1/2 months of his life have been radically changed and some days it's hard for him to see a day when things are normal again.  But, this we know... We serve an AMAZING God who is able to do more (and has done more) than we can even think or imagine.  He has shown himself to be faithful at every turn and we stand on the promise that He will be faithful to complete it!  You will never know what your prayers have meant to us and the difference they've made.  We believe prayer changes things so when we're confronted with what the Drs tell us is truth we know that we hold on to what the real TRUTH is.  God Bless!

Look, Ma, no hands!

WOW, it's been 4 months since Dan's accident and God continues to amaze us!  We went to Columbia a couple of weeks ago and they were very pleased with what the xrays are showing.  Said things are healing quite nicely and all the work they've done looks good.  They said he was ready to begin putting weight on his leg in therapy.  He began with mixed emotions.  He was definitely ready and excited to begin this next phase and work hard to use his leg, but also, a little uneasy that his leg will support him and be able to do what it needs to.  The times of anxiousness pass quickly and he doesn't allow himself to stay there at all!  He knows there's too much work to be done!  Each week they are increasing the amount of weight that he can put on it and each week we see God strengthening his body more and more.  I am in awe of him over and over again because the smallest tasks take so much effort, but he's determined to let praise and thanksgiving be what comes forth from his mouth.  Most days his body uses every ounce of strength and energy, and so the nights usually come with a host of aches and pains deep down in the muscles and bones.  He relies on God continuously as his source of strength.  At his last session this week he was able to stand FULL weight bearing without assistance!  No walking yet, just standing.  He was like a little kid at Christmas he was so excited!  He is hoping in the next couple of weeks to be able to work towards using 1 crutch and then maybe a cane.  God has brought him so far and we continue to have such a resolve in our spirits that He will continue until there's FULL restoration.  More surgeries are still to come so I will keep updating you.  I'll try to not wait so long in between!  We sure appreciate your continued prayers!  Be Blessed~