Thank you for your prayers -- and an update on my father

#1 · October 16, 2008, 8:41 am

Quote from Forum Archives on October 16, 2008, 8:41 am
Posted by: virginiaknowles <virginiaknowles@...>
Dear family and friends,

Thank you so much for the outpouring of prayers on behalf of my father, Phil Quarrier, who was hit by a motorcycle while jogging on Monday. He is listed in stable condition in ICU at the Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. The diagnosis is subdural hematoma and multiple intracerebral contusions. The doctors say that he is critically injured and may still require neurosurgery. Yesterday they installed a central IV line in his chest and were considering putting him on a ventilator.

My mom wrote around midnight last night: "He is still mostly sleeping and unresponsive, but then occasionally gets very agitated, trying to pull his hospital shirt off and pull out all the monitors and IVs. He gets very combative at that time and yells and hits. He can't seem to understand why he can't get up and keeps struggling at it, at one point yelling,"Get out of my way, Mary!" So at least he knew it was me standing by him restraining him. There was more bruising and swelling in the brain today, so he was a little less responsive. The neurosurgical nurse would come in occasionally to test him. If he didn't respond when she told him to open his eye, she'd start jabbing him on the chest. He's try to push her hand away, but she'd tell him that she wouldn't stop until he gave her a thumb's up. It would go on a few minutes before he'd do a thumb's up. That's one way they're keeping track of his mental status. They gave him a stronger concentration of sodium, because that would pull some of the excess fluid from the brain. They'll do another CAT scan in the morning. If his responses lessen, they may have to do surgery, drilling a small hole in his skull and inserting a small tube to draw off excess spinal fluid."

We've been told that it takes about a week for the swelling to go down enough to determine whether there will be any significant long-term damage. My dad is a very capable, resourceful, intelligent, and physically fit man. But he obviously still needs God's help and healing touch! I am asking you to pray with me that:

the Holy Spirit will calm him so that he can rest well

the doctors and nurses will have wisdom in how to treat him

he will begin to understand what is going on and cooperate with his treatment

the bleeding will stop and the swelling will go down

my mom and other family members will continue to have the strength and grace to walk through this with him

If you would like to read the tribute that I wrote to my dad on Father's Day, you can find it on my blog here: Tribute to My Dad, Phil Quarrier. I also wrote one for my mom last week: Happy Birthday to My Dear Mom, Mary Quarrier. She's been such a champ!

Blessings and Gratitude,

Virginia Knowles

www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com and www.VirginiaKnowles.com
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Visit my web site at www.VirginiaKnowles.com

Posted by: virginiaknowles <virginiaknowles@...>

Dear family and friends,

Thank you so much for the outpouring of prayers on behalf of my father, Phil Quarrier, who was hit by a motorcycle while jogging on Monday. He is listed in stable condition in ICU at the Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. The diagnosis is subdural hematoma and multiple intracerebral contusions. The doctors say that he is critically injured and may still require neurosurgery. Yesterday they installed a central IV line in his chest and were considering putting him on a ventilator.

My mom wrote around midnight last night: "He is still mostly sleeping and unresponsive, but then occasionally gets very agitated, trying to pull his hospital shirt off and pull out all the monitors and IVs. He gets very combative at that time and yells and hits. He can't seem to understand why he can't get up and keeps struggling at it, at one point yelling,"Get out of my way, Mary!" So at least he knew it was me standing by him restraining him. There was more bruising and swelling in the brain today, so he was a little less responsive. The neurosurgical nurse would come in occasionally to test him. If he didn't respond when she told him to open his eye, she'd start jabbing him on the chest. He's try to push her hand away, but she'd tell him that she wouldn't stop until he gave her a thumb's up. It would go on a few minutes before he'd do a thumb's up. That's one way they're keeping track of his mental status. They gave him a stronger concentration of sodium, because that would pull some of the excess fluid from the brain. They'll do another CAT scan in the morning. If his responses lessen, they may have to do surgery, drilling a small hole in his skull and inserting a small tube to draw off excess spinal fluid."

We've been told that it takes about a week for the swelling to go down enough to determine whether there will be any significant long-term damage. My dad is a very capable, resourceful, intelligent, and physically fit man. But he obviously still needs God's help and healing touch! I am asking you to pray with me that:

the Holy Spirit will calm him so that he can rest well

the doctors and nurses will have wisdom in how to treat him

he will begin to understand what is going on and cooperate with his treatment

the bleeding will stop and the swelling will go down

my mom and other family members will continue to have the strength and grace to walk through this with him

If you would like to read the tribute that I wrote to my dad on Father's Day, you can find it on my blog here: Tribute to My Dad, Phil Quarrier. I also wrote one for my mom last week: Happy Birthday to My Dear Mom, Mary Quarrier. She's been such a champ!

Blessings and Gratitude,

Virginia Knowles

http://www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com and http://www.VirginiaKnowles.com

--

To subscribe, send ANY message to: [email protected]

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: [email protected]

Visit my web site at www.VirginiaKnowles.com