Casey Cease

It is hard to believe that all of this began over 2 weeks ago.  A fever, a cancelled ‘Babymoon’, upper-respiratory infection, flu, emergency room, admittance to the hospital, emergency transfer to ICU, intubation (life support), pulmonary arrest, emergency C-section, induced coma, waiting, waiting, waiting, awakening from the coma, hallucinations, confusion, meet Abby for the first time, forget meeting, second first meeting with Abby, forget, sleep, new day, meet Abby for the third first time, walking, transfer out of ICU, discharged from hospital, stay with Abby in NICU, released to go home.  Come home, start new chapter of our life…

In the midst of all of this, there were thousands of you praying.  I mean, thousands!  While I am overly impressed with the doctors and nurses, with the technology and medicine, I am most humbled by the power of prayer.  God heard our prayers.  God answered our prayers.  God showed to us His mercy and grace, not because of anything we could do to earn it, but because it pleased Him to do so.

The morning Steph came off of the ventilator, the anesthesiologist who worked on Steph, who didn’t have high hopes for her pulling through walked into her room and saw her off of the ventilator and said, “That’s not what I was expecting at all, but I’ll take it!”

We were at the doctor earlier this week and she is a brilliant woman.  She said that Steph’s recovery was miraculous.  From a medical stand point, it didn’t make sense.  As a Christian, it made total sense.  Jesus healed my wife!

The other day I began writing out the back story leading up to the updates that I posted on my blog, but it was much more difficult than I had imagined.  This past week has been one of the hardest weeks of my life.  I almost lost my wife and baby daughter.  While there is overwhelming joy in God’s miraculous care, a deep sense of gratitude, there is still a sense of fatigue and coming down from all of the adrenaline   I’m grateful for the people God has placed in my life to walk with me through this, and I covet your continued prayers.  I am okay.  I’m not losing it, or in a dark place.  However, I am trying to be faithful with where I am and trust the Lord has much to teach me during this time.

Steph, Braelyn, Abby and I are overwhelmed by all of your prayers, love, and support.  Many of you have sent gifts from our registry, provided meals, sent words of encouragement, served us, cleaned for us, and loved us.  We are so thankful for you.  Thank you.

I will write more as I am able, but please know that Mama and Baby Abby are doing very well and for this we thank Jesus!

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The past two days have been a whirlwind to say the least.  On Monday my wife was being slowly awaken from an induced coma, removed from life support, and forced to begin the process of trying to recover not only from a serious bout of pneumonia, but also from an unplanned c-section.  She was sedated pregnant, and woke up not pregnant.

I want to thank all of you who were praying for Steph and Abby, your prayers have been heard, and God has answered almost all of them they way that we have requested.  For instance, the way the reduction of sedation worked, they were able to remove the tubes with very minimal discomfort to her.  We were able to tell her about Abby’s birth numerous times during the waking up process, so that she was not scared about not being pregnant.  Her voice returned.  She was able to see Abby.  Her health improved, dramatically.  In fact, one doctor who was involved with the surgery on Saturday night walked into her room on Monday after she had been removed from life support and said, “This is not what I was expecting at all, but I’ll take it!”  Let’s just say bed-side manner isn’t his strong-suit, but apparently he’s quite amazing at his specialty.  I needed the guy to do his job well, and it didn’t matter if he was a tender teddy bear or not.

Apparently, Steph was having some pretty intense hallucinations while coming off of all of the medication.  She said some pretty hilarious stuff, and had some pretty wild dreams.  Her memory was sparse, and her personality was a bit off.  However, by the latter part of Tuesday, she was very much returning to the Steph that I know and love.  She was tender, sweet, funny, and ready to work hard to get better.  She definitely turned a corner on Tuesday afternoon.  Unfortunately, she had not remembered meeting Abby on Monday or even Tuesday morning, so we committed to helping her meet Abby again on Wednesday.

Wednesday was a very productive day for Steph and Abby.  They would meet again and would begin the process of teaching Abby to nurse.  Since Abby is a month premature, we knew there would be some complications, and there have been, but nothing too major.  Steph was also moved out of ICU to a regular room on the floor.  The first room she was moved to smelled like a filthy truck stop bathroom with a strong scent of urine.  It was disgusting.  I had gone home to take care of a few things, so our friend Catherine was able to talk the nurse into making a change of room.  At first they were told that they could not switch rooms, but I showed up a little later.

When I walked into the room the uria smell was awful.  I didn’t dishonor God with my response, but I pointed out to our nurse that the puddles of water on the floor of the not yet used bathroom signified that perhaps there was a plumbing problem.  I then asked that if she would talk to her boss and see if there was anything we could do to find a different room.  They were able to find another room and we moved to another room on the same floor.

On Wednesday morning the doctors all came by and commented on how great they thought Steph was doing and how amazed they were at her recovery.  On several occasions all we could say was that we knew that God had blessed us.  God heard all of our prayers, God answered them, to God be the glory!  Steph was then discharged from the hospital.

Unfortunately, Abby was not able to be discharged yet, because she had nto learned to eat without her feeding tube.  So, tonight they allowed us to stay in the ‘Parent Care’ room in the NICU so that Steph and Abby could learn to work together so that Abby can be fed without the feeding tube.  If all goes well, then I will be able to take my girls home today (Friday).  Exactly one week after this whole thing began.  I am prayerful.  I am hopeful.  Let’s pray to the Father, through His Son, by the power of His Spirit and see what He does!

Charity Update: Yesterday I asked for prayer and help for Charity and her family.  The surgery was successful, but they had to transfer her to the Memorial Hermann in the Medical Center near downtown Houston.  I gave my contact information to the family, and if they reach out, I am hopin connect them to some churches out in that area.  Thanks to all of you who were praying and offering to help, it meant a lot to her family, and it meant a lot to me.