Camille

Tuesday, May 18th: Jerry called Le Bonheur and said Camille came through her heart surgery fine. The cardiology team came out and said her heart was beating better already. They removed the “dead” area and repaired a leaky valve. She will be in CVICU for a few days. Thanks so much for all of your prayers!!

Sunday, May 16th: Camille Davis will have surgery on Tuesday to remove a section of her heart below the left ventricle. The cardiologists at Le Bonheur say that it is “dead” and has formed an aneurysm. Blood is going into it but the blood is not being pumped out. They have no choice but to remove it. The heart cath and MRI have shown that she had a heart attack at some point. Please continue to pray for Camille, Lois & Casey.

Prayer Request for Camille.

UPDATE: Thursday, May 6th via Denise: I talked to Lois tonight. After taking out Camille’s chest tube on Tuesday, the cardiologists determined that her heart was not functioning properly (not squeezing the blood out of the bottom chamber). So, she had a heart cath today to see if there was any blockage. They found none, but went ahead and took a biopsy to try to find out what is going on. Please keep praying!

UPDATE: Sunday, May 2nd Camille is out of ICU, off the respirator, and has had most of the tubes removed. She even felt like watching TV yesterday. Her older sisters, Kelsey and Chloe, came up from Louisiana with their Aunt Sallie for a visit, so it was a wonderful day.

UPDATE: Friday, April 30th Granna Bec said that Camille had a really good night and that her vitals and blood gases were super in the first 24 hours following surgery. The docs were going to start weaning her off the respirator today. Granna Bec, Papa Ben, Aunt Britney, Uncle Johnny, & Abigale were settled in at the Grizzly House and taking turns going to the hospital to relieve Lois & Casey. God is so good!

UPDATE: Thursday, April 29th Camille had to be taken to Le Bonheur hospital by ambulance last night. She went into cardiac arrest twice. Doctors had no choice but to open her up because the needle procedure did not work. They removed 2 liters of fluid from her chest and also inserted a drain tube. The next 48 hours will be critical so please continue to pray for her.

I’ve been trying to get an update on Camille the last couple days. Denise just posted this on Facebook:

Would everyone please pray for Jerry’s niece, Lois Martin Davis, and her little girl, Camille, who has been treated at St. Jude for the past two years for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. A lot of you will know Lois as the daughter of Ben and Becky Martin, a counselor for Teen Week at Indian Creek Youth Camp (and sister of Corey, Brandon, Sallie and Britney). Camille had to be admitted back into the hospital last week for fluid around her heart. They have been treating her with steroids to reduce the fluid but it seems to be getting worse so she has been moved to ICU. Her breathing has become very labored and this morning her heart stopped and they had to do CPR to revive her. As a last resort, they can do a surgical procedure to draw the fluid off but it is very risky, she cannot be asleep while they do it, and, according to Becky, they have prepared the family for the worst.

As if there wasn’t enough going on, Lois went into premature labor Sunday night and had to be rushed by ambulance to another hospital here in Memphis where she delivered a 4 lb 14 oz baby girl, Keeley. Since we were out of town and no other family had arrived, some of the church members from Cordova stepped in and sat with Camille and Lois until the baby was born. Lois has been released and is back at St. Jude with Camille but the new baby, Keeley, is still in The Med, as a precaution because of her low birth weight.

Ben, Becky, and Casey, Lois’ husband, is now in Memphis and we will be home tomorrow and will send an update as we can.

an update on Camille

So far Camille’s heart looks fine but there is fluid around her heart so they have started Prednisone(steroids) to see if it will start to get rid of it. Friday morning they will be doing another ECHO-EKG to see if the meds help and if not then they will put her in to have the surgery to remove it that way…….She was still positive for the RSV virus so she is in isolation and we will know more Friday.

granny’s bunnies

I have such fond memories of Granny crocheting things for all us grandkids.  One of my favorite things has always been the little bunny pins.  I can remember wearing one every Easter.  I had several colors so that one would always match my dress.  It’s still one of my favorite things about Easter.  I love pinning those little bunnies onto the girls dresses on Easter morning.

Celebration of Stone’s Life

The following was borrowed from Jerry Lee’s facebook note – I thought all would enjoy this.

What a wonderful celebration of Stone’s life we had yesterday. After several days of gorgeous, warm, spring weather, we awoke to a beautiful blanket of snow. Conditions worsened throughout the day, and by the time we left for the memorial service we were dealing with a blizzard. Even so, the service had to be delayed, not because of the weather, but because of the long line of people waiting to sign the guest book. Almost 400 people braved the storm to pay their respects to the family and honor Stone.

We began by watching a very touching slide presentation of Stone’s Life. Preston Silcox, a long time friend of Paul and Vanessa’s, said a prayer. After that, Vanessa’s father, Benton Allen, Jr., read the obituary, followed by the eulogy, which was drafted by Paul and Vanessa, and presented by Paul’s father, Jerry. The eulogy began by pointing out the gifts of life that Stone donated to others: his bone marrow, his eyes, his skin and his heart valves. He also used Stone’s favorite verses to illustrate each point. Jerry pointed out that just as someone will draw strength from Stone’s bone marrow, Stone drew strength from God (”with God all things are possible” Matt 19:26). Just as Stone’s eyes will help another have sight, we should have eyes that see God through His Word (”thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” Psa 119:105). Just as Stone’s skin will help a burn victim regain the sense of touch, others should feel the touch of God through our compassionate hands (Matt:25:34-30; Luke 10:30-36). Finally, like Stone, we should have the heart of God. We should lay up our treasures in heaven (”for where your treasures are, there will your heart be also” Matt.6:19-210). Also, we should “be kind one to another, tenderhearted…” Eph. (4:32).

Paul closed the service with a heartfelt prayer. The line again was long as people waited to speak with the family before braving the storm to get home to places as far away as Grand Junction, Longmont, and Boulder. A delicious meal was then provided by many of the community for the family and close friends. Today the remaining out-of-town guests and and family members will begin the journey home to Denver, Arkansas, Memphis, and Florida.

We want to thank all of you for the thousands of e-mails, messages on fb, cards, calls, and especially the prayers you have offered to God on our behalf. Please continue to pray for Paul, Vanessa and Alahna in the weeks and months ahead. We love you all!

Alahna’s new cast

Alahna says, “I think I will make a full recovery because so many people are praying for me!” Thanks to you all for your continued prayers. We got to make a Chuck E. Cheese trip this weekend and made some great memories. Alahna’s cast came off…..and then she got a new one. She is trying to keep her chin up for another three weeks in a cast. She can’t wait to get it off.
We continue to make progress here at the house; sorting through mail, organizing, going through Stone’s things, and also doing regular household duties. We are all ready for more normalcy (as much as we can have after our loss) though it is difficult getting there.
My hand is getting stronger and healing. It is still sore and I have a small range of motion, but it allows me to take off my brace for short periods of time without hurting too badly. I am thankful for that.
Keep praying for us. God is listening! Don’t forget to THANK Him when you pray also He has done so many wonders in our lives! We have so much to be thankful for! To Him be all glory and praise.

a letter from Paul, Vanessa & Alahna

This Lord’s day was full of thanks and honor to our most gracious God. He is so good and showers blessings down upon us in times of distress. We are so happy that Alahna could join us today in spirit and in truth in our small group at services. She is a shining light to us. Though Stone was absent, we talked of him in class and reviewed his favorite songs and verses. It is empowering to know that he is in heaven and happy.

Thank you all once again. God blesses us through your support!

Alahna is home!

I just received this update from Vanessa.

“Thank you to everyone for your prayers and love for our family! We are so glad to be home and in our own bed! Alahna visited school after lunch on Friday and was surrounded by the love of all of her friends. She was so excited!! She has mastered the stairs at home now, and for those of you who wonder, she has no crutches or walker or wheelchair. She makes having a full cast look so graceful. We are so proud of her. Alahna’s memory continues to amaze us as it heals. It will be a long recovery for her. School will be a gradual thing. The doctors said for her not to learn anything new for about 5-6 months, so when she does go back to school it will only be one class for a while. She will gradually add another class later and will depend on the support of her friends for notes, etc. We do not anticipate full time classes for the rest of the year. We will see. More updates to come. We love you all.”

Alahna update 2/8

I pulled this off Facebook.  It’s from yesterday (2/8).
From Vanessa: Another great day for Alahna! She was cleared for thin liquids today so now there are no limits for her liquids, and her food intake is the same-high protein and she can eat what she wants pretty much…even ice cream and chocolate! Tomorrow we go to the Den. Aquarium for PT/OT. She is so super excited. I will post pix asap. Love you all!!
There is also a very touching follow up news article.

Stair Stepping!

I got this update from Vanessa this morning:

“Today Alahna braved the stairs!!! She is amazing! We had a meeting with the Dr.s and they set a discharge date for next Wed. 10th. Praise God! She is getting so much more intellectually alert and even read for almost 2hrs. today. I thank God for her progress and for blessing us with the light that shines in her! Love you all!” -Vanessa