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"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up on wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint."

                       ~ Isaiah 40:31.

 
Home Update-June 3rd
Hey Everyone!!

I hope no one got too worried out there! Things have been busy but all good here for us! I don't know where to begin!

Let's see.......Randy is still in his Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy at Kessler Rehab here in Greenville. It is going well. He sees the Speech Therapist (Cindy) twice a week, and he also sees the Occupational Therapist (Jennifer) twice a week. He will probably go to once a week on the Occupational Therapy before too long. His right hand/arm is doing very well although he has not regained any more sensation. He is still numb from the top of his head on his right side, down to his hip on his right side. He is doing very well with his arm though. Unfortunately he still isn't able to check his blood sugar level by himself or give himself his Insulin shots. We are still working on that!

As for his Diabetes, they are going very well. He usually only gets a shot before breakfast and before dinner. He doesn't mind them too much, especially if I give them to him in his right arm where he is numb. They say that your tummy is the least painful place to get your shot but Randy doesn't agree. When he was first diagnosed with the diabetes, I tried to give him his shot in his tummy but it made a nasty bruise the next day. He just didn't have any meat on his tummy! Well, let me tell you he can definitely get his shots in his tummy now! He has plenty of fat! We went to Chapel Hill last week for his transplant clinic appointment. You guys are not going to believe how much he weighs!! Are you ready for the grand total just three months after transplant?? Okay, here it is.................127.8 pounds. Are you amazed or what??? Now that is with his clothes on but even with his clothes off he still weighs in at 124ish. You can really see it in his cheeks, tummy, and tushee!! haha

His exercising is going very well also. He always walks thirty minutes on the treadmill everyday at 3.5 mph. Just last week he started running on the treadmill!! He walks about 22 minutes and then he runs for one minute before starting his cooldown. He has to build himself up to more because the jarring motion still hurts his incision a tiny bit. He is going to run two minutes this week. You can tell he is very proud of himself. If I'm in the living room he always calls me into the bedroom to watch him run. Maybe it's because I squeal, scream and jump up and down....I'm not sure. ha ha

His Speech is coming back but I will ask you to continue to pray about this. He still has trouble understanding people talking. He does very well with me because he is with me all day and all night. We practice a lot and he can try to write words if he can't figure out how to pronounce them. Just last week he started to write his full name, his address, his phone number, and his birthday with just a little help. I think the hardest part for him right now is church. He does okay if one person is asking him how he is doing or some simple question, but he doesn't understand any of the sermon, or anything during Sunday school. It's not only upsetting because he wants to learn, but it also gets tiring when you don't understand anything. Most people have no idea that he doesn't understand them. He looks completely alert and shakes his head a lot. So, we still need your prayers regarding the speech. The good news is that he can laugh about it too. He says some things that are so funny. We laugh together. Here are some things that he says.

If he sees a store that is closed, he says............They're dead.
If we are in a store while they are closing, he says.......They're dying.
He still can't say Stephanie, but if you ask him who I am he says.........The one I love, or My honey. (I like that better anyway!)
If he tries to say Stephanie, it comes out as Sharon or Cassie (our dogs name).
When he's ready to go to bed, he says.......Let's go home.
And..when he tries to say any new word, it always comes out as "Bear" or "Boat"....his two favorite words.


It's really cute and I'm glad he can laugh. The only thing that he really doesn't like to do is answer the phone. He is so worried that the person won't understand. I told him that everyone we know is aware of his condition, and any one else is probably a telemarketer that he can hang up on! I did put a message on our mini cassette recorder with my cell phone number. That way, if anyone calls and Randy just can't seem to help them, he can play that message for them over the phone. We have been practicing using the phone and he is a pro at that now. I leave him for a couple of hours sometimes to run to the store to do errands just so he can get used to staying at home alone. I remember the first time he called me I was in Foodlion. I was so excited to see the caller ID say my home was calling!! That meant Randy dialed my number without any help! He does seem to talk better over the phone that he does face to face. I guess it's because he knows you can't see his hand motions over the phone.

As for his lungs, they are still fabulous!! He had a Bronchoscopy about two weeks ago and no rejection! Praise the Lord! His Prednisone dose will decrease again tomorrow so hopefully that will lower his blood sugar even more. Remember the Prednisone (steroids) is the reason he developed diabetes in the first place. His Pulmonary Function test are wonderful everyday. Those lungs are working for sure. Yesterday we were out buying a couple of flowers for our deck. It was so hot outside!! Before his transplant, there is no way he would have been able to stay out in that heat........but now.......it is no problem! He gets hot like everyone else of course, but being hot and not being able to breathe are two different things! It's amazing the things we take for granted everyday.

I know all of you have been asking for pictures of Randy so I have tried to attach some to this email. I'm not sure how they are going to come out, or if you will even be able to see them. I went though our Transplant photo album and took out some pictures. Then I took my webcam and tried to take a picture of the picture. Kind of confusing but I had some really cute pictures and I don't have a scanner so these will have to do! I'm not sure what order they will be in but here is a list of what order I THINK they will be in. If not, just guess what picture goes with what place.

Cassie (our baby)
Me and Randy at Busch Gardens last Saturday (at the Blarney Stone!)
Randy and I being silly at Busch Gardens last Saturday
Randy at home last week after completing his Lego Battleship....Therapy for his right hand
Randy before his transplant on the treadmill
Randy last week on the treadmill....see that belly!
Randy's first time in the whirlpool after transplant
Randy with Joseph Forte (Carolina Tarheel Player)
Me and Randy at the Beach
Randy at the Beach
This is Randy at this very moment while I am typing this email!! 6-3-01 at 4:00 P.M.

I hope you guys can open all the pictures. If not, I will scan them for you all to see. I just have to wait till I visit someone with a scanner! I have pictures of absolutely everything and everywhere we have been so if you want to see a picture of someone or something in particular, just email me and I will take a picture of the picture and email it to you!

As for things we have done, I guess you saw in the picture that I took Randy to Busch Gardens last Saturday, and we also went to Fort Macon for the day a couple of weeks ago. I think what we are really excited about it our Bermuda trip in July. We leave on July 28th and neither of us can wait! We can't imagine going without Oxygen!


I guess the only downside is that I have to return to work tomorrow. I am enjoying Randy's new lungs so much that I'll have to admit I am ready to retire now. Any ideas how I can do that? Actually, the people at my job have been super nice. I have taken a few weeks more than my Family Medical Leave allowed. To top that off, they are letting me work half days for a little while until Randy is comfortable staying by himself. This was a huge answer to prayer. I was so worried to leave Randy by himself. It's not like leaving a baby at home but it does feel like I am leaving a small child alone. Poor Randy is really not excited about me returning to work. It's one thing to have to stay inside when your sick, but it's a lot different when you feel great and can't go anywhere all day. Anyway, I will be able to work half days for a little while (Thank You SunCom!) so hopefully he will get used to it gradually. That also helps a lot because I will still be able to get him to his Therapies in the afternoons. He still doesn't have his license but we are working on the test questions now. We may try to get him a permit first so that he can drive with me. That won't help him to go out by himself but at least he will be able to drive again. I'm going to call about that tomorrow.

So, life is great for us. It couldn't be better. We are enjoying every moment of being together. I will never take that time together for granted again. Life is such a precious gift and we tend to take it all for granted. It seems that even the flowers smell better these days. The trees are prettier, the skies are so blue, the water sparkles more than before, and most of all, the air is fresh to breathe! It's all perfect!

I'm sorry that this is so very long but I hadn't written in a while and wanted to make sure I told you everything that's been going on. Thank you all again for your continued prayers, cards, and calls! We love you all very, very, much!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy

Home Update in May
Hey Everyone!!

Boy! Long time no hear from me huh? I hope you can all forgive me. I've just been enjoying this husband of mine way too much I guess! I never even took my laptop out of it's case for over a week once we got home! I am so sorry!

Randy has been doing just wonderful! I think even he is amazed at his new lungs. Yesterday we were outside walking and it was almost 90 degrees. Randy looked at me and said, "It's so good out here and even I can do this!"......then he took in a deep breath and let it out. I don't know that we ever went outside last summer unless it was to get in the car.......where I usually already had the air conditioner running.

Randy's arm is doing a whole lot better since we've been home. I've tried my best not to help him with things so that he can make himself use it. He is able to fix himself lunch ( a bowl of soup, or sandwich) and get dressed (all but ties for church). He still is not able to test his own blood sugar or give himself his Insulin shots. We are going to take it to Occupational Therapy and see if they can help us out with that.

As for the diabetes, things are much better. Some days he only has to get two shots! That's a whole lot better than four or five shots! His blood sugars are very good....sometimes they get to 280 or so but that's about as bad as they get. His steroid dose (prednisone) decreased this past week so hopefully that will have an effect on his blood sugars. I am still praying the diabetes will disappear by August when his Prednisone levels will be at their lowest.

Medications are all going great......the only side effect that he seems to have developed is mild cramps. He gets a cramp in his jaw muscle a lot while he is eating or in his middle finger on his left hand. Every once in a while he will get them in his legs while sleeping but not very often. It's strange but nothing major to worry about.

As for his physical therapy......he is doing great. I don't even have to ask him to begin his routine everyday. He just jumps right up and heads into the bedroom to get on the treadmill. He walks his regular thirty minutes everyday except on the weekends. I'm very proud of him!

Eating. All I can say is oh my goodness. Wow. I didn't know skinny people could eat so much!!! He normally eats three eggs and two grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast, then after about an hour he eats some snack like a candybar or a whole bag of chips. Then about 1:30 he wants lunch. He eats a bowl of soup with a whole pack of saltine crackers, chips, candy, chocolate, Popsicles, ice cream, and what ever else he can find until he decides he is full. Then we go out to therapy or somewhere and he always gets an Icee on the way home. For dinner he eats huge. I barely get any of what I fix which isn't a problem. He eats most all the meat, like a whole pork tenderloin, three or four porkchops, a roast.......yes the whole thing....plus his rice casserole, or potatoes and onions, you name it, he eats it. He is even doing much better on his vegetables. He eats his peas, and beans like a good boy now.

Oh, and are you ready for the new weight....................drum roll please.............117 pounds!!! Ta Da!!!! And boy can I see it! I think it all went to his cheeks and to his tummy. He has the cutest little rolls on his tummy when he is sitting in a slouched position. I now encourage him to slouch with his shirt off just so I can see his precious little fat rolls. He thinks it's hilarious and sits up very straight so they disappear. I tell him to just wait........after a while sitting up straight won't help......trust me.

His scar is looking better and it seems to be getting less painful everyday. It still hurts when I have to massage sunblock into it, or if I press on it too hard. He has no problem sleeping on his sides though (the scar runs under both arm pits).

And I guess you all heard that Joseph Forte is going Professional next year! In case you forgot, that is the Carolina basketball player that Randy had his picture taken with before we left Chapel Hill. Well, we saw on the news Thursday night that he was indeed signing papers to go Pro. Isn't it cool that Randy got his picture taken with him that night!? He is very proud of his picture now.

We have our new Speech and Occupational Therapy set up here in Greenville. It is at an outpatient rehab center called Kessler Rehab. It is a very nice place with very nice people!:) Our new Speech Therapist is Cindy Abbott from our church! How lucky are we for that? It is great that Randy already knows her from church. He is still nervous during the session but as soon as it's over he wants to talk in normal conversation. I guess working is no fun but when your talking because you want to it's okay. I'll talk either way so it doesn't matter for me....haha

As for his Occupational Therapist, her name is Jennifer. It's funny because she actually looks a little like Sue, our Occupational Therapist in Chapel Hill. She is very nice also and plans on helping us with checking his blood sugars and his injections. Right now we are going to see her twice a week but soon she said we will go to once a week. He is doing very well with his hand since we've been home. The strength in his arm is fine but we still have to work on the fine motor skills. He is using it a whole lot more than he was in Chapel Hill though.

Oh! Guess what else! We got our baby home! For those of you that don't know our baby, her name is Cassie Lea Beeker. She has just turned four years old and she weighs in at 3.5 pounds. Oh, and did I mention she is a miniature Yorkshire terrier? She thinks she's a baby too so we forget she's a dog. Anyway, my wonderful mother has been babysitting since Randy's transplant. She loves her just as much as we do (if not more) and we had a very hard time getting her back. We were actually home for over a week before we could coax my mom and Jack into giving her back to us. My mom cried the day she brought her home. I knew that was going to happen!! Cassie actually acted depressed for about three days once we got her home. She wouldn't even eat! She is all better now......I think she loves us again. I'll try to send a picture of her soon. I think she misses my mom's pool the most. For three years she was terrified of it and suddenly this year she decided she loves the water. It is so funny to see a little three pound dog jump into an eight foot deep pool. She has figured out that she can get on the first step with the water only coming up to her neck. She walks back and forth on that step barking at us for splashing water at each other. It is hilarious!! Everyone was laughing at me though because I don't like her in the pool. She stands on the edge and if you splash water or call her, she jumps right in the deep end!! She is so tiny that she goes completely under water before she comes up and starts swimming. She scares me to death when she does that! I'm so scared she's going to drown! I think my mom laughed at me more getting so scared than she did at Cassie for jumping in! Now we have to watch her around the pool or she'll jump right in!

Randy's speech is doing better too. He is still very self conscious when he talks but I can understand almost everything he says. He has even started talking to people in church and in restaurants. I'm very proud of him even though he doesn't think he's getting any better.

The only major problem we have run into is his driving license. His license expired in January of 2000. Well, since he was too sick to drive before, we decided to just wait and get them renewed after his transplant. Well, now he has to take the written test and the driving test. The driving test will be easy because his driving is great. The written test is another thing. Because of the Aphasia, he can't really read whole sentences. They can do the test orally but he will be so nervous that he won't be able to answer the man verbally. Please pray about this. He is so anxious to drive again but we aren't sure how or when that will happen.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Today is Saturday and we are going to drive down to Fort Macon for the day. Randy used to love to walk around the fort and hasn't been able to do it for so long. He is very excited about it today. We will probably eat dinner and then come home.

Thank you all for your emails and prayers! Please don't stop now!!

We love you all!
Stephanie and Randy


04.27.01, 04.28.01, & 04.29.01
Hey There!

Guess What?? It's Sunday night at 11:00 and guess where we are?? We are home in Greenville!!

We have been sent home on a test for two weeks! During this time, Randy will get set up with his new Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy here in Greenville. He is also suppose to be learning how to give himself his Insulin shots. No luck yet but at least he is watching me give him the injections now. That's better than him turning his head each time I do it. Also, thank you for your prayers concerning the Insulin shots. They are much better now. We are both doing much better with it.

Friday went well.....we hugged everyone bye for a while and wished them well. We will go back this Saturday for the annual UNC Transplant Picnic and then we have to go back on the week of May 14th for his Bronchoscopy, Support Group, and Transplant Clinic. We will be there for a few days doing all of that but that is just fine with us. We were thrilled to be able to go home. At first I was a little scared. I'm not sure why. I guess it's just comforting to know you are only five miles from the hospital if you need them. Everything has been going just fine though so I'll try not to worry. Randy is definitely not worried. He is enjoying every minute.

When we got home Friday, we were so tired. We had the car packed so full that I could not see out the back window. Randy had to tell me when I could change lanes. That was a little scary but we didn't have much of a choice. Everything had to go home if we were going to check out for two weeks. Thank goodness when we got home one of our neighbors pulled up and helped us get everything inside the house. It took me 2 and a half hours to get everything put away (I'm still not done!). I washed six loads of clothes too since we weren't able to come home last weekend. Whew! Randy slept in his recliner the whole time. He woke up just as I finished and wanted to go eat. I told him he was crazy because I was tired! We ordered a pizza....I still need to go grocery shopping....and went to bed!

Saturday morning we slept in, drove to Washington to eat Bill's Hot Dogs, and then over to my parent's house. We swam in the pool all day since it was heated again! My mom and I made steaks on the grill for dinner and Randy ate all of it! Including a whole rice casserole all by himself. He also ate a baked potato and three servings of Strawberry Shortcake. The funny thing is that he can't have strawberries because they don't have a peeling. Well, my sweet mother peeled almost 2 lbs. of strawberries so that Randy could eat the Strawberry Shortcake that he has been craving! Isn't that sweet. Strawberries are the only fruit Randy likes and it's the only one he can't have. Other than grapes that is. He loves grapes too but I don't know anyone that's going to peel them for him! That is just way too much work!

Sunday morning we went to church with my mom and Jack. I can see we are going to have to visit a lot of churches! Everyone that has prayed for Randy wants him to visit their church! Well, now we have one down and about 500 more to go! haha We had a great service and then went with the preacher and his family to Pizza Inn for lunch. We all went home and my mom and I swam and enjoyed the sun while Randy and Jack dozed inside. What a beautiful day it was!

Now it is 11:00 and we are going to bed in our own house! It feels so nice. The funniest thing is that when I wake up in the middle of the night I have no idea where I am! I am so used to seeing Homewood Suites as my surroundings! I don't even recognize my own bedroom! How sad is that!?

Well, since we will be home for a couple of weeks I probably won't email every night. I promise to let you know if anything changes though okay?! This week will be a little slow since his therapies probably won't get started until later in the week. We have enough things to work with at home to keep us busy. The speech therapists and occupational therapist sent us away with plenty to do!

Just to let you know also, Randy's blood sugar levels have been great in the mornings and at lunch time...very normal....between 100 and 150. We are still having trouble getting the dinner and night time levels regulated. /They are usually about 400 at night.

Thank you all for your prayers! We are one step closer now!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.26.01
Hey There Everyone,

Boy am I tired. It is 12:45 AM and I am just starting this email. You'll have to forgive me if it's a little short.

Today went well. Believe it or not we didn't wake up until 11:30 this morning. I can't tell you when we did that last. It was nice but I was sore from sleeping so long when I woke up! Randy's blood sugar was great.....140. We took our showers, ate and then went to Wal-Mart to pick up the pictures from last night. The picture of Randy with Joseph Forte came out great! I'll see If I can get it scanned so I can put it on the website. In case you forgot the address is www.oocities.org/randybeeker/

Once we got the pictures we had to drive over to the hospital. I know we were suppose to have the day off from that place but I needed to have Dr. Donaldson fill out some more paperwork for my Family Medical Leave from work. Today he was in clinic so it was the best time to catch him. He talked with Randy for a while and we showed him the pictures from last night. By the time we left we had about six people in the middle of the clinic standing there talking! Everyone was happy to see Randy looking so well! We told everyone that Joseph Forte was talking with two men with briefcases and suites and they all think we now have the inside scoop about him going professional. I have no idea but they were all awfully upset about it! I think they like him right where he is playing for Carolina.

After we left the hospital Randy was starving. He wanted to go to Red Lobster (His blood sugar was 345). I told him this was the LAST TIME! He ate and ate and ate. He had about four of those cheddar biscuits, a huge bowl of chicken fajita soup, and a large portion of fried shrimp.....plus some of my lemon pepper shrimp. What a little pig he is......isn't that great!?

When we finished eating w e had to drive back to Wal-Mart really quick to pick up some reprints. I had a reprint made for Ricky and Bobbi Bartee. One of the pictures I took of them at Jordan Lake turned out really good so I got a 5x7 of it and put it in a frame. It turned out really nice and I will give it to them tomorrow.

We left Wal-Mart and drove over to Wayne and Kecia's. We played with the girls awhile until Wayne got home and then we went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner (blood sugar was 525!!). I have got to get out of this eating out habit. I miss my oven and my grill! I will be happy to cook on it again! Ruby Tuesdays is in a mall in Durham so when we finished eating we walked around there for a minute. There is a big Merry-Go-Round in the middle of the mall so we took Julie and Kacey for a ride. Julie has ridden it before and loves it but it was Kacey's first time. She squealed and laughed the whole time. It was so funny! When we got off the man running the merry-go-round looked at me and said, "she's got a great set of lungs!".

After dinner we drove back to Wayne and Kecia's and put the girls to bed. Then we watched Survivor since they had taped it while we were out. We drove back to Chapel Hill and Randy went straight to bed (blood sugar 208). I made up a three week supply of his medications, which took me almost an hour and then started typing this email! Now it is almost 1:00 and I think I will go to bed too! Tomorrow we have all three therapies again but at least it's Friday and we can go home afterwards!

I hope you all have a really great day tomorrow. The weekend is near!!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.26.01
New Pictures have been added to the picture page!


04.25.01
Hello!

Today was pretty good other than the rain.....it was a kind of yucky day but I guess April Showers Bring May Flowers!

We woke up at 7:00 (Blood Sugar was 155!) and took our showers. Randy blew into his PFT machine and did even better than yesterday!! Isn't that wonderful!? Unfortunately the machine does not read in percentages. I will try to figure out how to calculate the percentage on Friday. Tomorrow we are off for the day. We are always suppose to have Thursdays off but we always have to go to the hospital anyway for blood draws, X-Rays, and PFT test. Well tomorrow he gets to skip them all! They are putting him on a two week schedule for those things now instead of every week.

So we got ready to go and ate downstairs. We got to the hospital but all four free parking spaces were full. Boo hoo. It was raining so hard that I parked in Valet so we wouldn't have to walk in the rain! Wouldn't want to get those new lungs sick!

First we had Occupational Therapy with Sue. We tested his hot cold sensation again today in his right arm and hand. I have good news! He could feel the cold prong almost everytime but he could never feel the hot prong. Sue didn't really know why he could feel cold but not hot but at least it was an improvement!!! I was so happy that he could actually feel something! He looked a little relieved when he realized he could feel something too. I'm just praying that full sensation will return at some point!

After Occupational Therapy we had Speech Therapy. I read while Randy did his session. She said he did well again today. We left and went to Physical Therapy but I didn't stay with him the whole time. I talked with Ricky and Bobbi in the waiting room since we were planning on eating dinner together tonight. Susy's mom was with us so we all decided to go to Outback for dinner. Randy finished his walking just as we finished making our plans. We left and stopped at a little Mexican restaurant for lunch (blood sugar 129). It wasn't very good and we didn't each much.

After lunch we drove back to Homewood Suites and Randy took his nap. When he woke up we just kind of rested and laid around. We got ready for dinner (blood sugar 296) and left about 6:15. Susy and her mom were already at Outback and Bobbi and Ricky arrived shortly afterwards. We had a great dinner. It was neat being there with all three of them. I just kept thinking how there were three sets of new lungs sitting at one table. Three new chances at life. It's so amazing when you just really sit and think about it. One of the surgeons, Dr. Eagan, told Ashlee (double lung transplant 2-15-01) that two people had to die for her to be living. Double lung transplants are not as common as other organ transplants. For that reason, Dr. Eagan said this: For every patient that gets new lungs, another will die waiting. Then of course you have the donor that provided the lungs. I am so grateful for their sacrifice. I can't imagine the decision they had to make under the circumstances. We were told that most double lungs come from people with severe head injuries. For instance, a gunshot wound. What a horrible way to lose a loved one. After six months, I will be able to send the donor family a letter through Brandi, the transplant coordinator. They don't have to respond, but at least they will know how their gift has affected our lives so beautifully. I can't wait to write that letter. I think I will start on it very soon so I can make sure I remember everything I want to include.

Sorry about all that. It's still so easy to get caught up in the miracle of organ transplantation.

Dinner went well but Randy was a little upset when we got back in the car because he said he didn't understand anything. Because of the Aphasia, he has a very hard time understanding a conversation between several people. He really didn't talk much at all during dinner because he doesn't understand what is going on in the conversation. I can't imagine what that must be like for him. Please pray specifically for this if you would.

Even though Randy couldn't enjoy the conversation very much, he did have a highlight to his evening. Right as we began to eat, Randy grabbed my leg and told me to look over at a booth behind us. I turned around and guess who was sitting there? It was Joseph Forte. If that doesn't mean much to you, I'll explain. Joseph Forte plays basketball for THE Carolina Tarheels. Randy was so excited and wanted a picture. We all laughed as I got up and stood behind the table and pretended to take a picture of Susy. I was really zooming in on Forte and taking his picture! He didn't suspect a thing because we all had cameras and were taking pictures. Well, Forte was not with friends tonight, he was with two older gentleman. Both in suites and with briefcases. We are guessing that maybe they want him to go professional but that's just a guess of course. They were looking over papers all night. Later when they were getting ready to leave, Randy told me he wanted to take a picture with him.......just in case he turns into a Michael Jordan. I'm not afraid to ask anyone to take a picture so when he stood up I walked right over to him. I said, "Hey there Forte! My husband has just had a double lung transplant and loves to watch you play. Would you mind having your picture taken with him?" He was great and walked right over and put his arm around Randy. Randy was so cute. He patted his back and said, "You good man, you good. I like to see you". It was so sweet. I took the picture and Randy thanked him three times. He told Randy he was glad he was doing so well with new lungs and all. It's funny because on TV he looks really short. Well in person he is really tall! I would guess he's at least 6 ft 3 inches but I could be wrong.

After dinner we stopped by Wal-Mart to drop the film off.......we finished that roll with that picture so I hope it comes out!! We will pick it up tomorrow! We drove back to Homewood Suites and are headed to bed now! (Blood Sugar 455...yikes!)

Well, I hope you guys all stayed dry today! Maybe we will see that sunshine tomorrow!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.24.01
Another wonderful day! I sure love days like today!

We woke up at 6:00 this morning because we had Occupational Therapy at 8:15. Randy's blood sugar was at 249 which wasn't too bad, but he has to get 20 units every morning anyway. So he got his shot and took his shower. He blew in his PFT machine and did even better than he has done at the hospital! I was so excited.

We ate downstairs and then headed to the hospital. We have been here at Homewood Suites for almost five weeks (I think). Well, I just found out today that there are four free parking spaces at the hospital for Physical Therapy patients. .......and here I have been paying up to $6.00 each day to park. That just stinks because there is no way to get it back. Oh well, at least we got to park free today...and for the rest of the week.

Occupational Therapy went really well. I took the camcorder because I didn't have any footage of him with Sue (the outpatient therapist). So he worked with cups full of water, he sanded a board, and he hammered a nail in a board. After all that Sue gave him this long Styrofoam bat looking thing. He held it up like a sword and pretended he was going to stab me with it. Well, there were a bunch of Occupational Therapist in the room and they all started saying, "Give her one too!" So Sue gave me one too and we went at it!! It was so funny! We beat each other until we were both out of breath! Everyone laughed and said there were going to call the police and report spousal abuse!

After Occupational therapy we had Speech Therapy with Lindsay. They worked on the computer again while I read about Cystic Fibrosis Related Diabetes. It really is different from regular diabetes. It is even called "CFRD" ....for Cystic Fibrosis Related Diabetes. Children with CF get diabetes very often when they are put on steroids. I also learned that 50% of all patients with CF that have transplants acquire CFRD. Up to 75% will either stop needing Insulin or just need a small amount. The other 25% have CFRD for life. I'm praying that Randy will be within that 75%!!

After his Speech Therapy we had about an hour to spare so we walked over to Dr. Donaldson's lab to visit him. He was happy to see us and looked over Randy's blood sugar levels that I've been keeping. He said it looked fine and soon it would be more regulated. After our talk, he took us to his lab where he has these huge frogs and salamanders. He takes their eggs and injects all kinds of CF related genes into them to see what will happen. I couldn't begin to tell you what he told me but it was very interesting. Dr. Donaldson always knows something about everything! He has the kindest spirit also! We are so blessed to have him as a doctor!

After our visit with him we walked back over to the hospital for Physical Therapy. I recorded a little of that that too and then we drove back to Homewood Suites. Mrs. Beeker stopped in Chapel Hill to eat lunch with us on her way back to Greenville. (She's been in Greensboro with Mrs. Carol Stewart and Mr. Jimmy Stewart). Bob Evans is right in front of Homewood Suites so I let Randy drive. He did great. He even parked although I didn't want him to try!

I checked his blood sugar level before lunch at it was 140! Isn't that great?! He had a huge lunch .....cheese and backed potato soup, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, and an open face roast beef sandwich. He ate all of it! He drove back to Homewood Suites again and Mrs. Beeker went ahead and left so that she wouldn't get caught in traffic. Randy napped for about two hours while I watched TV a little. I woke him up at 5:00 and we went over to the shopping center across the street from our hotel. When we got bored with that we drove to the South Square Mall and walked around there. Then we checked his blood sugar really fast (280 so he got stuck again!) and ate Chinese in the mall. Randy had Dairy Queen too but I passed. Aren't you proud?

We left the mall because they were closing.....Randy still wasn't tired so we went to Wal-Mart and walked around there for a while. At 10:00 he was good and pooped so we came back and watched a little TV.

It was just another wonderful day though. Everytime I see him walking towards me in a store, I can't help but smile. He still looks funny without his Oxygen on and walking so quickly! Just when I start to think I'm getting used to the New Randy, I get excited all over again! I can't stop myself from telling him how cute he is! He just laughs and bats those long eyelashes!

I'm going to turn in for the night now....I missed my nap so I'm a little tired! I'll email tomorrow!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.23.01
Hi Y'all!

Today was a great day! We only had physical therapy today so we slept in until 9:00. I woke Randy up and checked his blood sugar. It was 289. That wasn't so bad. I gave him his shot and we took our showers. We didn't eat breakfast because the hotel stops serving at 9:30 and we didn't get ready until 10:30.

It felt so wonderful outside today! I just love this sunshine! We went in the Physical Therapy room and everyone was happy to see us. They had all heard about Randy being diagnosed with diabetes. They were all glad he was doing better. Unfortunately, Ashley went home on Friday so we didn't get to say goodbye. Brandi was there seeing Ricky (he had some minor swelling in his neck and ankles) and so I told her that his sugars were still not regulated. She is going to check with the doctors to see if we should increase his Insulin dose before breakfast and dinner. She also had his new PFT machine for us. That is a machine that he will blow into each morning. It measures his pulmonary functions and sends them to Brandi over the phone lines automatically.....kind of like a fax.

Oh, one more thing!! I think some of you know that Jack and my mom have taken us to Bermuda with them the past two summers as our Christmas present. Jack has friends there and we stay with them. Well, Jack told us yesterday that he wanted to take us again on July 28th for a week. I didn't think we would be able to go but I asked Brandi just in case. She said we could go!! Randy was so excited that he hugged Brandi! So I guess that will be our first huge trip! Last year when we went, Randy was on Oxygen and just didn't have quite as much fun as he had the year before. It is the most beautiful place in the world to us!! I can't wait to see it with my new and improved hubby!!! haha

Randy got on the treadmill and did wonderful. Just like he never missed a day. After he finished we left the hospital to find something to eat. He was still craving Subway so that's where we went. Before we went in, I checked his blood sugar. While we were waiting for the results, I was getting the needle out. Then it popped up and said his blood sugar was 80! That is perfect! Probably because he didn't eat breakfast and then exercised. So thank goodness he didn't need any Insulin before lunch. He had another foot long steak and cheese along with some chips. Then he had a Cotton Candy Ice Cream cone from TCBY next door.

Next we drove into Raleigh to go to Crabtree Valley Mall. I've lived in North Carolina my whole life and I've never been to that mall! We drove there and walked around from about 2:00 until 5:30. I found the Yankee Candle shop and spent half an hour in there just smelling candles! They smell soooooo good!!! Randy was never able to tolerate candles burning before so I couldn't buy them. I'm still not sure if it's okay but I did by a small one just in case! We had so much fun. We laughed and giggled, we chased each other, we smooched in the shoe store....oops!!.....it was just great. The mall was almost empty being a week day and all. We walked and walked in that mall! I had no idea it was that big! Our feet were killing us when we left!

My mom and Jack called me while we were in the mall. Jack was interviewing someone from Raleigh tonight at a restaurant in Knightdale. They invited us to eat dinner with them. Well, I kept it a secret to surprise Randy. I made him close his eyes while we drove there. When we pulled up, I checked his blood sugar again.....it was 401. Oh well, at least we got to skip one shot. I gave him his Insulin and then we went in. He was very excited to see my mom and Jack. He ate a great dinner and we talked for a while. Then we walked outside to the truck. Mama had brought Cassie (our little baby--dog) to see us. She was sound asleep in the floorboard. She was so excited to see us that she almost jumped out the window! We played with her for a little while and then Jack made Randy say "Please" so he could get his special beanie bear. He said it perfectly and Jack gave him two bears.......Cubby III Beanie Baby and Cubby III Beanie Buddy (the big one). I also got a beanie baby....a really cool new fish..his name is Jester.

By then we were so tired and still had to drive back to Chapel Hill!! We got back just a little while ago....about 8:30. Randy is watching TV and I think we are going to bed soon! Tomorrow we have all three therapies! Fun, fun, fun!

Also, thank you for praying about the injections. They went much better today....even for me. (Not that I enjoyed it) Please continue to pray for us!

We Love You!
Stephanie and Randy


04.22.01
Hey Everyone,

We sure missed you all today. It's sad that we couldn't go home this weekend. We sure missed it.

Today I woke up at 9:30 and let Randy sleep till 11:15! I only woke him up to check his blood sugar since it was getting so late. It was 282 when he woke up. That wasn't too bad but he still needed a lot of Insulin. I can't tell you all how much I hate giving him these shots. It just kills me. I feel like he is going to slowly begin to hate me. I know he wouldn't of course, but that's how it makes me feel. I would feel much better if he would give himself the shots but it is a little difficult with only one hand working well.

Well, we took our showers and drove over to Wayne and Kecia's. I had to check Randy's blood sugar again before we ate. It was 265 so he got another shot. Mrs. Beeker had brought a turkey breast and she fixed that for us. It was very tasty! We all were full! The girls went down for their naps and we all played Survivor (the board game). Or should I say the "bored" game. I don't think any of us were too impressed with it. After we played the game a little while, Randy and I watched the Survivor episode from last week. Thursday was the night we had to go to the Emergency room so we missed it. So we watched the show and cried when Kentucky Joe (Roger) got voted off. He was our favorite and we had hoped he would win. Oh well.

Randy wanted a milkshake since we all had one so I had to check his blood sugar again.....it was 487. I didn't give him Insulin though since it hadn't been two hours yet. He ate his milkshake and then we went to church with Wayne and Kecia. Kecia's parents go to their church. Her mother has diabetes also so I was able to ask her some questions. She told me a different way to give the injections that would be less painful. After church we were all going to go out to eat. I checked his blood sugar again and it was 418. I had to give him 22 units of Insulin again. This time I tried the new technique and Randy said it felt much better. I was glad to hear that but I still hate it. I don't know that I will ever get used to it. I'm just going to pray that they will be taken away soon. I think it hurts me more than him.

After church we went to a little place that has a Subway, Baskin Robbins, and Dunkin Donuts. We had a big crowd. Me, Randy, Mrs. Beeker, Wayne, Kecia, Julie, Kacey, Kecia's sister, her husband, their three kids, and Kecia's parents. We had to put several tables together! Randy ate a foot long steak and cheese sub and some of my chips. We had a great time but were pooped by the end.

We went back to Wayne and Kecia's house and scanned the pictures and chatted for a while. Finally we grabbed our thing and drove back to Homewood Suites. I checked Randy's blood sugar once more before bed time...it was 401. I feel like this is never going to get regulated! I gave him MORE insulin and tucked him in bed. Tomorrow will feel like a big day because we haven't had all his therapies since last Wednesday.

Please pray for Randy and me concerning his diabetes. It is not something you get used to like his Cystic Fibrosis. It stays on my mind constantly and I know it stays on his too even though he is doing so well. You guys are the best!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.21.01
Me again!

Do you think I could get a nursing degree from experience and not college? Oh well, Just checking.

Did I mention we didn't go home to Greenville this weekend? I guess you figured that part out, huh?

Today we woke up at 10:30. I don't think I moved all night. When I woke up I thought it was only about 6:00. As soon as I sat up I checked Randy's blood sugar. It was at
349 so I had to give him some Insulin. He ate breakfast and then we took our showers. He was still fine this morning. No shaking and all smiles. I cleaned the room a little and checked his blood sugar again at 1:00. It was 397. This is not a good trend. I had to give him more Insulin. I'm really not liking this.

We drove over to Wayne and Kecia's and stopped at Bojangles on the way. Randy ate pretty good. It was a beautiful day and Wayne was working outside when we got there. Wayne wanted to go to Home Depot and Randy wanted to go with him. What?? and leave me??? I knew this was going to be hard but so soon?? They finally talked me into it but only after I made sure Wayne had my cell phone number and strict instructions......just kidding. I think I did pretty well! I didn't panic or anything even though Kecia did threaten to give me a tranquilizer. haha

They were gone about an hour and a half and he did just fine, of course. Since we didn't go home for the weekend, Mrs. Beeker drove up to see us. She is staying with Wayne and Kecia this time since she doesn't get to see them as much. We sat around and talked and decided to go out to eat. I check Randy's blood sugar at 7:00 before we left. It was 428. If his level goes above 400 I am suppose to give him a lot of Insulin and take him to the Emergency room. Well, he still seemed to be fine so I paged Brandi. She said to give him 22 units of Insulin.....10 units of "N" (a type of Insulin) and 12 units of "R". The "N" is the longer lasting Insulin and the "R" is the fast acting Insulin. From now on, I have to give him 10 units of the "N" before breakfast and dinner each night automatically. I will follow with the "R" Insulin when his levels are still high. So I gave him a huge shot and we went out to eat. We had shrimp and he ate pretty good again. After dinner we went to Baskin Robbins and had Ice Cream. For those of you that think I am crazy by now, let me explain. Most of you probably know that diabetics can't eat lots of sugar. Well, Randy HAS to eat lots of sugars......or junk food to keep any weight on him. The doctors kept telling us how important it is to make sure he doesn't stop eating every thing he wants. That is why his blood sugar levels are so hard to control. As soon as we get a regimen that works, it should level out.

After dinner we were both really tired so we drove back to Homewood. I had to make him stay up until 11:00 so I could check his blood sugars once more. This time they were 349. At least that's a little better. So I gave him another shot and tucked him in bed. It's now about 12:30 and I think I will head to bed also. I'm sorry we won't be able to make it to church tomorrow! We will miss you all!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.20.01
Oh goodness, where do I begin?

Let's see. The last time I wrote to you Randy had just been diagnosed with Diabetes. His blood sugar level was 389 Thursday morning and they had given him 5 units of Insulin at 4:30. We had eaten Chinese food and then came home. That is the last I wrote.....I think.

Well. To put it mildly, we had a long night. We sat down to watch Survivor at 8:00. As we sat down, Randy's legs started to shake. Before, his legs were only shaking when he was standing. Well they were kind of jumping as he was sitting there. At about 8:10, he got up to go to the bathroom and had to hold on to the walls because he was shaking so badly. I helped him get back to the couch and sit down. I tried to help him relax since they said that the shaking had no relation to his elevated blood sugar levels. Well, at about 8:20, he had to go to the bathroom again. I helped him again but this time he almost didn't make it back to the couch. I decided to go ahead and check his blood sugar level even though I wasn't suppose to check it again till 11:00. Well, I pricked his finger and waited the forty five seconds for the results. Finally, the machine had a reading. It said.........CRITICAL--GO TO HOSPITAL. I tried not to be alarmed.......after all, I figured the machine just couldn't read very high. I checked in the manual that came with the glucometer to see how high it would read. It said it would read up to 600. A normal blood sugar level is 80-120. Needless to say, I paged Brandi (transplant coordinator) to ask her what to do. By now his shaking was uncontrollable and his eyes were jerking back and fourth when he tried to stare at something. Brandi said she would call the doctors and call me right back. When she called back she said I had two choices. She said I could give him 5 units of the Regular Insulin and then I would have to go pick up a prescription for a different kind of Insulin and give that to him also. The other option was to take him to the Emergency Room. Well, like I said before, I know absolutely nothing about Diabetes so I opted for the Emergency Room. She said she thought that was best anyway.

When I got off the phone, Randy had to go to the bathroom again. I got him to the bathroom and then he couldn't stand up because he was shaking so bad that he couldn't control his legs. I told him I was going to have to call an ambulance. He kept trying to stand up but just couldn't do it. I dialed the hospital's number. Just as it started to ring, he made it to his feet. I hung up and grabbed the keys. It was a very long walk down the hallway and to the car but we made it. Even his head was shaking by this point and he was so out of breath. Once we got in the car I called Mrs. Beeker, my mom, and Wayne (Randy's brother) to get the prayer chains started. I have heard so much about people going into Diabetic Shock and Diabetic Comas. That was what I was most worried about on the way there. We got to the hospital about 8:45. I put him in a wheelchair and got him checked in. They were expecting him and took us right back. From the time we got him back he was practically yelling for something to drink. He was very agitated and kept licking his lips and sighing loudly. (They wouldn't let me give him anything to drink until the doctor came in). Finally we saw the doctor and they said he could have some water. Randy hates water.......he drank seven cups straight down. They checked his blood sugar level immediately but it wouldn't even read on their machine. It just kept saying "Critically High." They put in an IV line and started running a saline drip..........except they were pouring it in FAST. They drew blood and sent it to the lab. In the meantime they ran in two liters of saline within 30 minutes. The results came back and his blood sugar level was 719. They gave him Insulin so many times that I couldn't keep track. They continued to prick his finger and take blood every 30 minutes to an hour. Slowly his shaking stopped and he fell asleep. He was on a very small bed and the only other furniture in the room were two stools. Want to guess where I sat all night?

At 2:00 AM the prayers must have been going strong because his blood sugar was 119. At 3:00 AM it was 168 and at 6:30 AM it was 248 again. He hadn't had anything to eat or drink and it was continuing to increase. I think they had given him a total of around 30 units of Insulin. At 7:30, they gave him 5 more units of Insulin and moved us to a room on the eight floor. I can now say we have stayed on every floor in the hospital. Is that something I can brag about?

Well, Randy slept pretty well from about midnight until 12:30 Friday afternoon. I didn't sleep at all. When he woke up he was fine! He went to the bathroom with no shakes at all. So, Dr. Donaldson was right all along. The leg shaking was from the blood sugar level even though no one else thought so. That was a great piece of information for me because I was afraid we were going to have to have something on top of the diabetes to figure out. I forgot to mention a whole team of doctors came in before he woke up just to go over what happened during the night. They said this is common among transplant patients because of the steroids. Common??? They obviously hadn't just been through what we had! haha Once he woke up he was being his normal sweet self! He was smiling and laughing and joking and well....just being my Randy! He didn't remember hardly anything about the night before. He remembered arriving at the hospital but not how we got in the car or the drive. He remembered being thirsty and that he was being pricked a lot. Brandi even came over and stayed with us until about 10:00 but he didn't remember her being there. That was really strange since he was so alert while we were there.

They had to continue to give him Insulin during the day to keep his blood sugar level down. At 1:00 we were allowed to walk down to Wendy's. Yes, I ate there too. I was starving since the last time we ate was about 5:30 Thursday afternoon. He had his usual meal....I'm sure he missed it. We walked back to the room and we BOTH got in his bed and slept for almost two hours. I was exhausted and Randy couldn't quit apologizing to me for having to stay awake. Isn't he sweet? We checked his blood sugar again at 4:00 and it was 364. Oh boy does this ever stop?! He got some more insulin and this time the nurse made me inject it. It wasn't hard but my eyes filled with tears. It just hurts your heart to have to hurt someone you love. I felt like he was going to be mad with me or something. He was great though and told me I did a good job. I don't think I would have said that if it were me getting the shot.

At about 5:00 our dietician came in to chat with us about diabetes. Her name is Linda Llampe and she has been working with us for about two years now. She is the reason (along with Dr. Donaldson) that Randy got all the feeding tubes he has had. Thank goodness for them though because he gained about fourteen pounds while waiting for his new lungs! Linda is very sweet and brought in some booklets for me. We went over them in great detail. Boy, this diabetic stuff is not easy!! There are so many different types of Insulin, plus counting Carbohydrates.......whew! After an hour I was barely catching on. At 6:00, a doctor came in and said they were discharging us. WHAT????? Go home??? Now?? I was feeling very unprepared but of course I didn't want to stay in the hospital either. Linda went over everything once more for me and I felt a tiny bit better. We left at 6:30 PM and drove to Wal-Mart to pick up the Insulin prescription. Randy was still laughing and playing the whole time. I got all the supplies we needed and we left. We drove over to Durham to eat at the Italian Pizzeria with Wayne, Kecia and our nieces. I had to give him a little Insulin before we ate because he was at 168. Randy ate a pretty good amount and his blood sugar was only 243 when we got home. Hey, that's better than 719!! I gave him so more Insulin before we went to bed.

That was the end to our day. Thank you so much for your prayers! I'm going to end this kind of quick because I am going to try to type today's update also.

Goodnight!
Stephanie


04.19.01
Hi Again,

Well, today has not started off very well I'm afraid. We got up and took our showers but Randy is feeling very weak. He has the shakes or tremors very badly, especially in his legs. We went to the hospital for blood work (already scheduled) and they also took a urine specimen to check and see if sugar is spilling into his urine. He drank some chocolate milk after his blood work but still had the shakes. It almost looks as if he is limping when he walks because he is shaking so badly. We spoke with Brandi at the blood lab and she asked him if he was having headaches, or nausea. He said he wasn't; that he just felt weak and shaky.

After he finished his milk, we went down to have an X-Ray for tomorrows transplant clinic appointment. He seemed a little short of breath on the way back to the car so I took all his vital signs when we returned to Homewood Suites. Everything looks normal except his blood pressure is a tiny bit low for him. He took a short nap while I worked on the email from yesterday. Unfortunately we have to be back at the hospital at 12:30 for his Pulmonary Function Test (PFT's) and then at 1:00 he has a bone density scan to check his bones for progressed osteoporosis. Hopefully he will be able to rest a little after all that. I will write more as soon as we return.

Well, it is 6:00 and we have just returned from the hospital. Yuck. I'm sorry to report that Randy has Diabetes. Normally a persons blood sugar level should be between
80-120. Randy's was almost 400 this morning before he ate or drank anything. He also showed a great deal of sugar spilling into his urine.They said his blood sugar level was probably between 500-600 on Wednesday when I emailed you all that he was so thirsty. There are two good pieces of news though. (The Lord always gives us something doesn't He?) First of all, there is a possibility that the diabetes will "disappear" once his Steroid dose is decreased. That make take up to a year, but at least it is a possibility. The second piece of good news is that Randy does not have to watch his diet. He is still able to eat whatever he wants, whenever he wants to. I will be giving him Insulin injections twice a day. Once before breakfast and once before dinner. That way the Insulin will offset the sugar in the foods he eats.I asked Brandi to do the first injection and then she had me practice on a roll of tape.......not like flesh but it was good practice I hope! The needle is small and didn't seem to bother Randy much at all. I am so thankful that it didn't upset Randy to find out about the diabetes. I had been telling him the past two days that I thought it was a good possibility so that he wouldn't get upset.

We got to the hospital at 12:30 and met Brandi in the PFT lab. I had called her right before we left because I was worried about Randy's tremors. She said she would meet us there with a doctor. Well, basically they couldn't find anything wrong. They said the blood sugar levels didn't have anything to do with his legs shaking so badly. We went over his medications but nothing has changed. They said we would just have to wait and see if it went away. After transplants, all kinds of weird things can happen. I remember someone once saying that a transplant is not a cure. It is trading one disease for a lesser one. That is okay though, I will take the lesser one any day! If we trust in the Lord we can't go wrong.....right?!

By the way, his lung function was at 67% today. Not bad since he felt so awful with the tremors. The bone density scan went fine and I took him over to visit Dr. Donaldson (his CF doctor) since we were in that building. Dr. Donaldson checked his legs out but didn't know what to think either. He sugguested that it could be the blood sugar levels but couldn't be sure. He is so sweet. He still told me to call him tonight if it got worse.

We didn't get to leave the hospital until 5:15 and we hadn't eaten anything all day. Brandi said since she just gave him the Insulin we would need to eat immediately. We were so tired and ready to go home. We didn't feel like stopping to eat but we had to. We ate Chinese but it wasn't half as good as it should have been because we were too tired. My fortune cookie made me laugh though. It is the first time it's been right. It said......Look! There is good fortune all around you!

Well, we don't have anything left to do tonight except rest. Tomorrow we will have another big day. All three therapies and transplant clinic. I hope the finding of the diabetes does not keep us from going home this weekend.

Thank you all for your many prayers. Please remember to pray for Randy's tremors also. They make him feel so weak that it is hard to walk. The tremors seem to be scaring him more than the diabetes. He keeps saying, "I don't like it!"

I know I don't usually write on the weekends but I will try to send one on Friday or Saturday night to keep you updated on the blood sugar levels. This is all new to me so I'll have to do some reading. Please pray for me also as I have to stick Randy with a needle. I'm not used to having to inflict pain on my poor sweetie! I'm suppose to be the one to hold his hand while someone else does it. That will be the hardest part for me.

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and a nice weekend!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.18.01
I'm so sorry I'm late! I was just too tired last night to unpack the laptop and type! I'll try not to let it happen again! haha

Well, Wednesday was a busy day. We woke up early and took our showers and ate breakfast. We had Occupational Therapy first. Randy worked on writing on a chalkboard, bouncing a ball, and cutting out shapes with a pair of regular scissors. He did pretty good at all of them. I just wish he would use his hand more during normal daily activities. He uses it in therapy just great, but once we leave he tends to ignore it. The more I try to get him to use it, the more annoyed with me he gets. That may be another good prayer request. It's not that he can't use it, just that he tends not to try to use it.

Next we had Speech Therapy with Lindsay. I had to take my laptop (that's why it was still packed up) so they could work on the Aphasia program called "The Rosetta Stone". I can't quite figure out where the name came from. Anyway, Randy worked on that while I wrote some more thank you notes in the Recreational Therapy room. While I was there another lady came in to play on the computer. I had met her once while Randy was still in the hospital (rehab). Her name is Shirley Wheeley. Her husband had surgery on his Carotid Artery and also had a stoke during his surgery. His stroke affected his left side. Mainly his arm, leg, and vision. His speech is fine although the stroke did affect one side of his vocal cords so he sounds kind of scratchy when he talks. I can't remember how we got on the subject but we were talking about churches. She told me she was raised in a Church of God. I began talking about our church (Grace) when she suddenly said, "Oh, but I'm a Mormon now." I asked her how she went from church of God to Mormon and she said her husband was Mormon. I don't know much about their beliefs but she filled me in a little. If anyone knows a lot about how Mormons believe, I would appreciate you emailing me back so I can talk with her more. They don't actually attend any church right now.

After speech we went to Physical Therapy. Everyone was doing well. Little Ashley will be leaving us Friday. I call her "little Ashley" because she is so tiny! She is twenty years old, about 4 feet 8 inches, and about 89 pounds. Her transplant was on 2-13-01 and she has done just wonderfully. She and her mother are from Sanford, NC so they will be going home Friday for good. She is cute and bubbly so I sure will miss her. Between me, Ashley, Susy (the other transplant patient from March), and Lisa (the physical therapist), the room is never quiet! Even Randy will through in a line every now and then.

As soon as we were done with Physical Therapy, we drove to Burger King for a quick hamburger. Stephanie (the Speech Therapist) asked us to attend the Stroke Support Group at 1:30 so we didn't have much time. Stephanie was giving a talk on the different computer programs for stroke patients, especially the ones with Aphasia. It was at the Senior Citizen Center so you can imagine how funny we looked walking in. The place was packed with Senior Citizen's playing Bridge. We got a few strange looks when we walked in! Needless to say we were the very youngest there. Mr. and Mrs. Wheely came also but we didn't get a chance to talk again. It was pretty good but I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to meet other people that had strokes similar to Randy's.

The meeting lasted about an hour and then we went back to Homewood Suites where Randy slept for two hours. You would all be proud of me. I read some more and stayed awake the whole time! It was quite hard! At 6:00 we left for the Lung Transplant Support Group. It started at 6:30 and tonight I was able tell our (Randy's) story. Those of you that know me know how very much I love to talk so it was no problem. I actually took a miniature cassette recorder so I could record the session. Susy told her story first, then mine, then Mary Lou told her story. Mine of course was the longest! oops! I must have been overly excited telling our story because someone came up to me afterwards and asked me had I ever considered being an Inspirational Speaker about organ donation! Wouldn't that be a cool job?

When we got home, I fixed hotdogs. Randy at four! His appetite has not been as good as it was while we were in the hospital so I was glad he ate four hotdogs. His weight is not increasing either yet. We may use his feeding tube again to see if we can add some extra pounds to him quickly. He sure could use some! I just wish I could had it over to him.

After we ate we watched a little T.V. and then went to sleep. Sorry I didn't send the email first! At least now I can get a head start on Today's email!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.17.01
Hello!

Well first let me tell you that it snowed here today!!! How weird is that?? It was 92 degrees last week and snowing this week! Wow! Randy didn't even believe us when we told him to look out the window!

Today we all woke up about 7:00 and took our showers. We ate breakfast downstairs and then headed to the hospital. We had Occupational Therapy first. Randy did really well today. Sue is back from Vacation so it was good to see her again. You get attached to that one person you work with and really miss them when they are gone. She has a great personality and Randy enjoys working with her also. Today she had him work on holding cups of water. He had to hold them without spilling them, and then pour half the water out into a basin. He did really well. We were all impressed. After that she worked more with the sensitization kit. Unfortunately, he still isn't able to feel anything with that hand or arm. We are praying it will return at some point. She said his arm feels like it isn't there. She said it is kind of like when you go to the dentist and get the Novocain shot. You know your lip is there but you can't feel it at all. She said the only difference is that your arm is an extremity so he doesn't even know where it is unless he is looking at it. That is why it is so hard to hold a cup of water. He has to look at his hand to make sure he isn't applying too much pressure, but also to make sure he is holding it upright. I really can't imagine what it is like. Randy keeps saying it feels dead. It's really sad. I'm so thankful he is not depressed about it. He still has a vision field cut, trouble using his right arm, trouble speaking, and trouble understanding or interpreting what your are saying. The speech and the understanding are impaired because of the Aphasia.

That brings me to Speech Therapy today. We met with Stephanie today. She is really very educated about Strokes and answers a lot of my questions.
Today I took my computer with me to the hospital and she loaded the program that helps stroke patients. She let me watch Randy use the program and it is very helpful. I was really impressed by how much he was comprehending and then using the computer. She called me outside the room while a student worked with Randy on the computer. I'm not sure if I've explained the Aphasia very well before so I will try to do that first.

Aphasia is basically difficulty with speech and understanding speech. You all know that Randy wasn't able to say anything when he first woke up from the transplant. Along with not being able to talk, he also could not understand anything you said to him. For instance, we would tell him to stick out his tongue and he would just stare at you with a blank look on his face. Now he can follow directions pretty well, but he still has trouble sometimes. If you show him what you want him to do, it is no problem for him. Then sometimes if you ask him a question, he answers incorrectly because his brain isn't interpreting the command correctly. All of that is part of the Aphasia. I hope I haven't confused you too much!

Anyway, Stephanie (speech therapist) was talking with me outside about the Aphasia. I have been praying for two things daily. First of all, for Randy's speech to fully recover, and secondly for him to regain his understanding or cognitive abilities. What I didn't realize until today was that Stephanie thinks that Randy's primary problem is Aphasia. She believes his cognitive abilities are all there....just confused by the Aphasia. I have been so very thankful for how far Randy has prograssed already. I didn't know how much more improvement to expect. When I asked Stephanie this question, she said, "Oh he's going to get a lot better than he is now." That was such a blessing to hear. It was as if God answered my prayer right through Stephanie! He does work in mysterious ways now doesn't He! I was so excited after that! I'm so pleased with how he is doing now.......to know I should expect more improvement is just overwhelming! God is so very good to us! He just continues to amaze me everyday.

After Speech we had Physical Therapy. He did very well as usual.....never getting sore at all! He walked thirty minutes and then we left for Homewood Suites.

We were all so tired that we took a nap again......I guess being out yesterday all day really wore us out! I read for a little while and then napped for about an hour and a half. We woke up and drove to FoodLion for a few more groceries. When we got back we all went out to Outback before Mrs. Beeker drove home. We all ate way too much! While we were there, Randy learned how to say "Please" on queue! Jack, my stepdad, told Randy once he said Please that he would give him a beanie bear that was a collectors item! Randy was so excited that he could say it that we called Jack in Florida while he was on a business trip (on the cell phone)! Jack was so excited to hear him. Randy said please about three times and then said into the phone.......PLEASE MAN!.....it was so cute. We called my mom next so she could hear him too. It's the little things that make us happy if you can't tell.

After dinner we drove back to Homewood and Mrs. Beeker left to drive back home. Tomorrow will be another busy day and we have the Transplant Support Group meeting also.

I have one additional prayer request for you tonight. Randy has been drinking everything in sight for the past two days. Just tonight he drank three glasses of Kool-Aid, a bottled drink, and then five Coke's at Outback. Drinking a lot and not quenching your thirst is a sign of Diabetes among transplant patients with Cystic Fibrosis. We will have blood work done on Thursday so please pray that everything with his blood sugars is normal. Thank You.

Well, I think I'll say goodnight for now. Thank you all so very much for your prayers. It is almost as if we can feel each one and we are seeing answers daily. We feel so blessed to be where we are and to have friends and family like you all.

We Love You,
Stephanie and Randy


04.16.01
Hey Guys,

Today we only had Physical Therapy. Randy has moved up a little on the treadmill. Today he had to be at 3.2 mph after just five minutes, and then 3.5 mph at ten minutes. At twenty minutes he had to increase the incline to 1.0........the incline does just that.....it raises the treadmill so that it feels like you are walking uphill. He did really well and said his legs never really hurt him today.

After Physical Therapy, we went to Chic-Fil-A and had a sandwich for lunch. Next we drove to Wayne's office since today was the last day for taxes! We visited just a few minutes and then drove over to Greensboro to visit Mr. Jimmy Stewart. I wrote about him last night. He and his wife (Carol) are good friends of Mrs. Beekers. Mr. Stewart was recently diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer. He and Mrs. Stewart continue to trust in the Lord. We were able to visit with them from about 3:00 until 9:30!! Some other friends from Greensboro came over that Randy grew up with and we all had dinner. It was a wonderful time! We have not been back to Homewood Suites long and we are all beat! Randy went to bed as soon as we got home!

I really don't have too much to write about today. The only negative thing is that Randy seems to be having a little pain with his Kidney Stones. For those of you that don't know, Randy has passes over 30 kidney stones. It is related to Cystic Fibrosis, but both sides of Randy's family also have a history so he has been given a triple dose of kidney stones. He seemed to be fine when he went to bed and he has not had to take any pain medication yet.

Tomorrow will be a busier day. We have Occupational, Physical, and Speech Therapies. I should have more to write tomorrow!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.14.01 and 04.15.01
Hey There!

What another wonderful weekend we have had together!!

We had a safe trip home and got Randy a haircut Friday night. We always get his hair cut in the Plaza Mall at Georges. Cathy is the girl that always cuts his hair. Every time we go in to get his haircut he is in a wheelchair and on Oxygen........and every time she says, "You haven't gotten your new lungs YET??" Well this time we went in and she couldn't believe her eyes! She gave Randy a big hug and got started on his hair. It took her forever to finish! She made sure she had it just perfect and then she put this funny mouse stuff on and made it stand straight up! Randy and I laughed but she thought it looked great so we let her keep it in. She told us that her last day would be on April 30th, because she is moving back to Michigan. When we got to the counter, she smiled real big and said, "Have a good night!" I got my wallet out to pay her and she smiled again and said, "Have a good night and a nice Easter!" Wasn't that so sweet?

We went to bed pretty early because I had a surprise for Randy on Saturday. We got up Saturday morning and took our showers. Then we got in the car and drove to Washington for Bill's Hot Dogs again. What Randy didn't know was that I had packed a little bag and put it in the trunk while he was in the shower. After we ate our hot dogs I suggested that we ride over and visit my mom. My mom and Jack have an underground pool that she just got about three years ago. Randy was never able to enjoy it before because the pressure of the water on his chest was too much and he couldn't breathe. Well, as far as Randy knew, my mom still had the pool covered up for the winter. He didn't realize that my mom had been working every night this week to clean the pool and the deck area. She also turned on the heater in the pool up to 90 Degrees!!

When we pulled up in front of the house, my mom gave him a big hug and told him she had a surprise for him. She lead him out to the pool area and said,
"Surprise!!.......the only bad thing is that it's freezing cold!!". Randy made a sad face and reached down to put his hand in the water. Then he jumped up and said, "No, it feels warm!" We all laughed and I ran out to the car and showed Randy that I had his bathing suit and some towels. He was so excited. I loaded him down with sunscreen and we swam from 1:30 until 6:00!!! He was scared to go under at first but once he did it one time he was okay. He swam laps several times. I was really impressed with his right arm. When he swam, it worked the same as his left arm. I was worried that it would just be limp. He even swam in the deep end without sinking! That's always a good thing when you don't sink...haha

After swimming we went out to eat with my mom at Castaway's in Washington. We had stirfry and Randy had shrimp. It was really good! After our dinner we drove home and went to bed. We were tired!

Today we woke up and then got dressed up in our new Easter clothes! I must say that Randy looked just fabulous!! He had the prettiest blue shirt that matched his pretty blue eyes! Church was wonderful!! We had many singing specials.......two of my very favorites......."Arise My Love" and "I've Just Seen Jesus". If you've never heard those two songs, you should buy the "Almighty God" CD. It is wonderful and both those songs are on it! On top of the wonderful music, we had four more baptisms! How wonderful is that! Especially on Easter Sunday!

After church we went to my grandmothers to visit all my family and eat lunch, and then to Mrs. Beeker's to eat lunch again! (And I wonder why I can't lose weight!)

We drove back to my house to finish packing and then headed back to Chapel Hill. Mrs. Beeker came with us tonight so she can visit Mr. Jimmy Stewart tomorrow in Greensboro. Please be in prayer for him also. He is a dear friend of Randy's parents and has just been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. He is a wonderful man of God. Please pray for a miracle in his life.

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I know we sure did! Good Night and Happy Easter!!!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.12.01
Hi There!

Today was......let's see........unusual and long!

Thursday's are suppose to be our days off but we were at the hospital until 3:30. Don't worry though, everything is fine.

We woke up at 5:30 since we had to be at Pre-Care check-in at 7:00 for the Bronchoscopy. We made it there by 6:50. That was very yucky.
First, they sent us to get blood drawled. Next, we went to X-Ray and then to the Pulmonary Function Lab for PFT test. (He was still at 69% lung capacity today).
After all that we had to go to Pre-Op. We waited about fifteen minutes and then they called us back. Poor Randy was so nervous. He did very well though. The nurse came back and checked his vital signs (all wonderful of course) and put in an IV since his Hickman Catheter had to be pulled. Finally, Gary from Bronchoscopy came with a wheelchair to get Randy (just normal procedure). He was great. He was funny and kept Randy at ease.

When we got in the Bronch room, Gary hooked Randy up to the heart monitors, blood pressure cuff and the O2 machine. Everything looked fine. Randy had to nebulize Lidocaine for about fifteen minutes to numb his throat and airways. Gary was preparing the injections to put Randy to sleep when the door suddenly opened. Brandi (transplant Coordinator) and Dr. Gilby (the doctor that was going to do the bronch) walked in and said to Randy, "How would you like to skip this bronch today?" I thought it was an awfully cruel joke to play since Randy was so nervous about it already! Then they said they were serious! His first Bronchoscopy was at 3 1/2 weeks which they said could count for his month bronch since everything looked fine. So Randy was thrilled and we don't have to do the next one until the end of May.

Well, Randy was suppose to have an IV medication during the bronchcoscopy that still had to be infused. It is called Pamidrin (definitely spelled wrong) and it is for his bones. People with Cystic Fibrosis almost always have some degree of Osteoporosis. The Pamidrin strengthens his bones. He will have to have this medication infused every three months. Well, since he still needed the IV, we had to go back to Pre-Op about 10:20 AM and had to wait for them to get an order for the medication. Then we had to wait for the Pharmacy to mix the medication and bring it to the nurses. When we finally got the medication from the Pharmacy, the didn't have an IV pump so we had to wait on that. To make a long story short, the IV didn't get started until 1:00. The medication took two hours to infuse so that is why we were at the hospital until 3:30.

By then we were bored to death from sitting around all day! We drove to the mall and walked around for a couple of hours and then drove over to Wayne's job to say hello. It happened to be his dinner time and Randy was begging for Red Lobster so that is what he got. I wasn't very hungry so Randy ate all his food and half of mine! We dropped Wayne back off at work and drove a little more. We found some other strip mall area so we walked round there too for a while. We got back to Homewood Suite at about 7:45....Just in time for Survivor! I am so tired from being up since 5:30 and not doing much! Randy has already crawled in bed so I think I will follow!

Thank you for your prayers today! As my mom said, this was just the Lords way of telling us Randy's lungs are doing fine right now!

Also, we plan on going home again for the weekend tomorrow. I probably will not send an email on Friday, Saturday or Sunday..........well, maybe I'll type up something quick on Sunday to let you know everything went well! I hope you all have a very Happy Easter! Remember the wonderful gift of salvation we were all given over 2000 years ago! I hope you've chosen to accept it!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.11.01
Howdy Ya'll!

I don't know about you all, but I sure was shocked when I walked outside this morning! I thought it was going to be hot again and I went out in a tank top and shorts. Boy did I get a surprise! I turned my little self right back around and put on some jeans and a T-shirt! Randy was laughing at me the whole time. He had shorts on too but I guess he didn't mind the cold. It was yucky and overcast all day. It drizzled most of the day also. Yuck.

We got to the hospital at 10:00 for Speech Therapy. Today he saw Stephanie. She said he did really well today. He began working on this computer program for stoke patients. She told me he answered the majority of them correctly and showed me a few examples. I was really impressed. There would be this picture with a map and then a question like "How do you get to the hospital?" Then there were four choices. The answers would say things like, "Go to the post office and take a right, then walk north two blocks". I couldn't believe he had gotten any correct! Those would have been impossible just a few weeks ago.

Just now Randy is sitting beside me on our tiny couch. Those of you that know Randy know how much he loves to rock. He stays (oops, I guess I mean stayED) in his rocking chair/recliner at home. Well, we don't have a rocking chair here so he sits on the couch and rocks back and fourth. It is so funny. I keep looking at him and laughing. It's all Mrs. Beekers fault. She said she rocked him from the time he came home from the hospital and he has just never stopped! I just thought I'd throw that in for no good reason.....haha

Now, where was I? Oh yes, after Speech we had Physical Therapy. Our schedule was a little off today because Occupational Therapy couldn't see him until 12:15.
Anyway, we had a ball at Physical Therapy today. There are two other transplant patients that we have PT with. They are Ashley (2-13-01) and Susy (Middle of March).
Well, Susy and Lisa (Physical Therapist) both brought CD's to listen to while they walk. They all get pretty bored while they are walking. Well, Lisa was dancing all over the room and we were all having quite a good time laughing at her! I wish I had my camera is all I can say! By the way, Randy was at 3.0 mph at five minutes. At ten minutes he was at 3.5 mph and he did that for the remainder of the thirty minutes! WOW!

At the end of Physical Therapy, some other transplant friends came in and told us that Kathleen (a lady waiting for her transplant) had just gone into surgery!! That was at
12:00 so she is probably not out yet. I will try to find out how she is doing tomorrow.

After Physical Therapy we had Occupational Therapy. Sue is still on vacation so we had Cheryl again. It went well. He pushed some huge contraption around to strengthen his right arm and hand. Then he did the bean bag toss again. Last he worked on a game where he had to use his right hand to pick up pegs on a board.
It was a pretty boring game and he was very ready to leave.

So we were finally ready to leave the hospital. We drove back to Homewood and Randy ate two sandwiches and was ready for his nap. I let him lay down by himself today because I have GOT to get out of this nap habit!! He slept a little over two hours. I watched a great sermon/skit while he was sleeping. If you are ever flipping channels and here of a Dr. Keith Reed Sr. doing a skit called "Dialogue With Death" make sure you watch it! He is the pastor of "Sharon Baptist Church" but I'm not sure where it's located. Anyway, Dr. Reed was dressed as death....all black with a hood. He was death, his father was Satan, his brother was Sin, and his cousin was Grave. The neatest part was that he played all four parts. It was just a dialogue but it was wonderful! Basically it was about Satan, Sin, Death, and the Gave all thinking that they had overpowered Jesus........until the third day. I won't do it justice if I try to explain it further but he really did do a great job. It was very inspirational!

Well, Randy was still sleeping when that went off so I read a little. Finally he woke up........hungry again!! I cooked some kind of beef stir fry and rice and he ate all of it. I did manage to steal one bite off his plate but that was all!! It's okay though because I really wasn't hungry. I was feeling kind of lazy from laying around all day so I did something really strange........I left Randy and walked down to the Fitness Room. Gasp!! Even I did the treadmill for thirty minutes today! That is the first time I've left Randy alone since the Transplant. I told him not to burn the room down and he didn't.....haha

It is only 8:45 now and Randy is ready to go to bed again! Boy is he being lazy. I think he is worried about his bronchoscopy tomorrow. We have to be at the hospital at 7:00 tomorrow morning for pre-care. That means he will have an IV put in, PFT's (pulmonary function test), and blood drawn first. The Bronch is scheduled for 9:00 tomorrow morning. They should put him completely out this time so I'm not sure how long I will be at the hospital waiting for him to wake up. Please continue to pray for this Bronch. He will have to have another one at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after transplant.

I hope you all had a wonderful Bible Study tonight. We still can't wait to join you again!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.10.01
Another Perfect Day for the Beekers!!!

I just love days like today!

First of all, we slept in until 9:00!! The only therapy we had today was Physical Therapy at 11:00. We went to the hospital and did his usual routine there. Then came the fun part. We met up with Bobbi and Ricky Bartee (double lung transplant recipient as of 2-14-01) and drove to University Mall to eat a Chic-Fil-A Sandwich. Then we all piled in my car and took off for Jordan Lake. None of us had ever been before and I was a little concerned that Randy was going to clam up and not say anything while we were gone. If he doesn't know you, he is likely not to say anything because of his speech. Well, I had a good talk with him before we left and it must have done some good! He was a complete cut-up the whole time! He did just wonderful and I saw a great improvement in his speech today. The harder he tries, the better he does!

Well, it was about a thirty minute trip to Jordan Lake and it was beautiful scenery all the way! We thought it was going to be cooler today than yesterday but boy were we wrong! We got to Jordan Lake about 1:30. It looks just like a beach with sand and everything. The lake is about ten miles in diameter so it is pretty large. It was very crowded and people were swimming everywhere! We have a beach pop-up tent that I had brought from home this weekend. I also took the pillows from the hotel so the guys would have something to sit on.........people with CF don't have much cushion on their backsides!

Bobbi and I sat up the tent and took the pillow cases off the pillows. Randy and Ricky got under the tent (remember they have to stay out of the sun because of their medications) and laid back on the pillows. The tent is open in front and they had their legs stretched out in front of them. Sooooooo, Bobbi and I walked back to the car to get the sunblock. I'm sure it was a great sight to laugh at. Two guys laying on pillows under a colorful tent, with two girls rubbing sunblock all over their legs. I'm sure it was the life for them.........we had to tell them not to get used to it. haha

After about five minutes, Randy informed us that he was hot and was going to take his shirt off. That was quite a shock because he is always so self conscience about his body being so skinny. On top of that, he now has two large scars on his chest and lots of little scars from the chest tubes. Soon after, Ricky followed with his shirt. Bobbi and I had to suffer in our shorts and shirts. We sat on the pillow cases in the hot sun while the guys were nice and cool under the tent. We stayed for about two hours!! After about an hour, we got so hot we decided to dip our feet into the lake to cool off. I got so tickled thinking about what everyone on the beach must be thinking. Randy and Ricky are about the same size, with the same color hair, the same color eyes, and the exact same scars on their chest. I told Ricky and Bobbi that everyone probably thought that Randy and Ricky were Siamese twins just recently separated. We got a good laugh out of that.

While we were talking we found out a lot of similarities about each other. We have both been married four years, and believe it or not, we got engaged within three days of each other!! Both on Valentine's Day weekend in 1996.......and it poured rain on both of our wedding days. There were so many other things but I can't remember them all now.

At about 4:15 we got back in the car and started back. We were so hot that we had to stop and get a drink! The air condition has never felt so good. I can't believe it is so hot already! Ricky and Randy did so well in that sun. Before the transplant, neither one of them would have been able to sit outside on a day like today. There has been such a miracle performed in both of our lives! I'm still so excited about it that I just can't stand it!

After we dropped them back off at their car we drove back to Homewood Suites for about fifteen minutes. We laid on the bed just to catch our breaths for a minute. I got a little sunburn but Randy didn't get any at all.....thank goodness. While we were laying there, Randy got upset looking at his arm and asked me what if he could never work again. I'm not sure where that came from but it gave me a chance to really talk to him about using that right hand more. Even though he was upset, I know it was good because it helped him to know how hard he really needs to work for a complete recovery.

After our short rest we met Wayne, Kecia, Julie and Kacey at Taco Bell just down the road. Randy ate three tacos and then some salsa and chips when we got home! We hadn't been here more than ten minutes when he was ready to go again .......at almost 7:00! So we drove across the street to Best Buy and to Wal-Mart to look around. When we got back at 8:15 he ate a whole batch of Spanish Rice I had made Sunday night! Goodness!

Now it is about 9:15 and we are tired because we were in the sun all day AND we missed our nap!! That's okay though, it was worth it! We are going to bed early tonight because we have all the therapies tomorrow.

Oh, please remember Mr. Don Chastain in your prayers. He was the 63 year old gentleman that had a single lung transplant on 2-13-01. He was put back in ICU on Saturday. At first they thought he had blood accumulated in his lungs but today they diagnosed it as heart failure. He has been on the respirator since Saturday and it is breathing for him 100% which is not a good thing. They are trying to find the cause of the heart failure (maybe one of the medications). He is doing a little better than yesterday so we are thankful for that. He and his wife really do love the Lord and are trusting in him right now. Please pray for him as often as you can.

Also, one more prayer request. Randy's second Bronchoscopy will be Thursday at 9:00. He is very nervous and tearful about it. He remembers most of the first one and it wasn't very pleasant. Even though he should be asleep for this one, he is still very nervous. Please pray that it goes well and shows no rejection.

Well, I hope you all had as wonderful a day as we did......I'm sorry if you didn't get to enjoy the sunshine!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.06.01, 04.07.01, 04.08.01 and 04.09.01
Now you know your gonna get the short version if I have to do four days at one time!!

Let's see where I left off!

Friday we had blood draws and transplant clinic first. He weighed in at 114.1......if you remember he was 113.9 last Friday. Not too much gain but at least he's moving in the right direction! We only saw one doctor, Dr. Rivera (not a surgeon). I believe she is a Pulmonologist. She has followed Randy since he was young also so she was excited to see him with new lungs.

We left from Transplant clinic and went to Speech Therapy. I worked on my Thank You notes again while Randy worked with Lindsay. After they were done she came out to tell me how much better his voluntary speech is doing. She said he was reading the note cards pretty well. Next we had Occupational Therapy with Sue. That went well again and then we went over to Physical Therapy where he did his usual thirty minutes and got up to 3. 5 mph.

Since we got the go ahead to go home at transplant clinic, we drove back to Homewood Suites, packed some things up and grabbed a sandwich. Randy slept from the time we turned on I-40 all the way until we turned onto the road that leads to our house! I woke him up when we got there so that we could stop into SunCom (where I work). Last weekend when we were there we only got to see two people so we stopped again to see the rest. We stayed just a few minutes and then went home. My mom and Jack (my step dad) picked us up about 5:00 and we got treated to dinner at Logan's (steakhouse). Randy ate a big steak, bowl of soup, and onion rings. We went home and watched a movie we had and then went to bed.

04.07.01
Saturday was nice. We slept in and then got up and took our showers. Randy wanted to go to Washington AGAIN for his Bill's Hot Dogs. I love them just as much as he does so I didn't mind. It was such a beautiful day to sit on the waterfront and eat hotdogs! Randy hasn't been able to sit out in the hot sun and breathe so it was a whole new experience for him. He kept laughing and holding his fingers up saying, "It's just a little bit hot".....IT WAS 90 DEGREES!!

After our lunch we drove over to Mrs.Beekers where Randy's Uncle Jack and Aunt Zena were waiting to see him. We had a great visit and dinner until 8:30! We had to go home because we didn't bring Randy's evening medications with us since we didn't know we were going to be out so long! Randy had a small fever when we got home,
99.3, so he went to bed while I went through all the mail. We slept wonderful again and got up to go to church Sunday Morning! No fever when he woke up!

04.08.01
Church was great again. We had a wonderful service! Five baptisms and five more family's join! It was fabulous! You can really see the Lord working at Grace Church in Greenville! Everyone was excited to see Randy again. It feels so good to be able to be there again.

After church we went home and ordered Chop Chop (Chinese). Can you tell I am trying to avoid buying grocery's at home?? Mrs. Beeker came over to eat with us and we watched "The Other Sister"......good movie my mom bought for me......while Randy dozed since it was a sappy woman movie. Haha

We left for Chapel Hill about 4:00 and stopped at Kroger for more groceries. We got back to Homewood around 7:15 and unpacked everything again. We didn't stay up very long (driving makes me so tired!).

04.09.01
This morning we got up and took our showers and went downstairs for breakfast. Then we drove to the hospital and had Occupational Therapy. Sue is on vacation in Florida this week so we saw the other therapist, Cheryl. He did some more bean bag toss and some sensitization therapy where they put his hand into different things to bring the sensation back. They use things like marbles, cotton balls, rocks, and poker chips. He still doesn't have any sensation in that hand so it makes everyday chores difficult.

Next we went to Physical Therapy again......he did great as usual!

We left the hospital and had to make a quick run to the bank. Randy was craving some Baked Potato Soup so we went to Bob Evans and got his big bowl of soup. Of course as soon as he got his soup he decided he wanted a Roast Beef Open Face Sandwich.......so he got that too. After our bellies were good and full (I only had a salad thank you very much..haha) we went back to Homewood Suites for our wonderful nap! We didn't sleep too long today....only two hours. I am really going to miss these naps!

I think we are going to be lazy tonight and just relax here. I believe we are going to Jordan Lake tomorrow with Ricky and Bobbi (one of the other double lung transplant recipients) to just enjoy being outside. They aren't allowed to get sun anymore because the main immunosuppressant drug increases the risk of sun cancer. They have to wear at least a 30 SPF sunscreen. That's okay though, I'll take a healthy husband over a tan husband..haha. Anyway, you can get a tan out of a bottle right?

Well, sorry I didn't give as many details as usual but I couldn't remember four days at once so well!! I will probably stop sending the emails on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. It is difficult to find the time to work on the email when we are home and so busy. Don't worry though, if anything changes significantly over the weekends, I promise to let you guys know!!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.06.01, 04.07.01, and 04.08.01
Hey Everyone!

Sorry I didn't get to do the updates this weekend while we were home! We've just gotten back to Homewood Suites not to long ago and we are really tired! I just wanted let you all know that we had another wonderful weekend and everything went well!


I will email you guys tomorrow as soon as I get a chance to let you know all the details!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.05.01
One More Day Before the Weekend!!

Today was a good, relaxing day. We woke up at 10:30!!! Of course we had to wake up at 8:30 for the medications, but we went right back to sleep. When we woke up we just laid around and watched TV until about 12:30! Then I took my shower and waited for Randy to take his. While he was in the shower, I heard him yelling suddenly. I ran in and threw the door and shower curtain open to find Randy clinging to the back of the bathtub away from the water. He was trying to turn the water off but he turned it the wrong way........all the way to hot, hot, hot!! Once he did that he couldn't remember which way to turn it so he just yelled for me. Thankfully, he got away from the water enough that it didn't burn him. It's a good thing too because the water here is hot enough to boil and egg!

So, that was the start to our day. We got a good laugh out of it as soon as I got the water off.

Next we drove down to the mall and ate a little lunch at the food court. Chic-Fil-A again for me and Chinese for Randy. After we ate we drove straight to the hospital for
X-Ray's and PFT's (Pulmonary Function Test). We could have done them tomorrow but that would put us getting to the hospital before 7:00. We decided just to get it over with today instead. The X-Ray went well and very quick. Then we went upstairs to the PFT lab. For this test, Randy has to take a deep breath and then blow it out very forcefully into this machine. He has to make sure he expels every last bit of air so that the results are accurate. Before the transplant, Randy's lung function was down to only 17%. On the first PFT, he got a 66%, on the next one, a 69% and a 60% on the third one. We were kind of disappointed but then we found out that 69% is great for just six weeks after transplant. They said it will slowly increase with his pulmonary rehab and with his new lungs healing. That made us feel much better but I think Randy was still a little disappointed. On the other hand, the more I thought about it, the more excited I got! I think it is just wonderful! If he feels this good at only 69%, what in the world am I going to do with him when he gets to the ninety percentile????!!!

After we left the hospital, we drove to Wal-Mart and walked around for about ten minutes before going back to Homewood Suites. I cleaned up a little while Randy ate half a bag of chips and salsa.

At 6:00 we met Wayne, Kecia, Julie and Kacey at the mall for dinner. This time I had Chinese and Randy had Sbarro pizza that he wasn't that impressed with. We came back to Homewood and watched Survivor and Randy just went to bed. His tummy is hurting tonight so he isn't feeling that well. Tomorrow we have blood draws, transplant clinic, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy and the Physical Therapy. Busy day! After that I think we are going to drive back to Greenville again for the weekend. (As long as we get approval from Brandi!).

Soooooo, I hope we will get to see many of you again this weekend! I hope you have a great Friday!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.04.01
Today went pretty well with one exception.......don't worry, it's okay now though.

We got up and took our showers, ate breakfast and drove to the hospital. Randy had Speech Therapy first so I wrote some more thank you notes. Thank goodness for that one hour I have to sit down!!! I sat in the Recreational Therapy room with Gina. She is the recreational therapist that worked with Randy. A couple of patients came in and we chatted as they did their therapy. It was nice. I think I would like to work in Occupational Therapy someday. It is so rewarding to watch patients improve everyday! I get excited for them!

While I was there many of the other therapist came in to see Randy's pictures. They were all really excited about them also. They even made me leave them there so everyone could see them!

After Speech we walked over to the main hospital for Occupational Therapy. We saw Sue again today. We worked with sensation today. She had several containers of different items like rocks, cotton balls, and marbles. She would put his left hand in first so he could feel of the items, then she would put his right hand in next. Everytime she would put his right hand in, he would shake his head no. He still doesn't haven't hardly any feeling in his right hand. This makes it very hard to judge how much force to exert when doing everyday task. For instance, he had a Chick-Fil-A cup in his left hand the other day (it's made of Styrofoam). Well, he went to put it in his right hand and when he gripped it with his right hand, his thumb went right through the cup because he put too much pressure on it. Things like that are what we have to work on.

After Occupational we went to Physical Therapy where he did very well again. Up to 3.5 mph and for 25 minutes. We had to cut it a little short so we could head over to the clinic to have Randy's Hickman Catheter pulled out.

That's where things didn't go very well. I don't think I have mentioned this in the emails, but Randy has this Catheter in chest that he uses for IV's and sometimes blood draws. I think you can see part of it on the last picture on the webpage. Well, I have to flush it with Heparin everyday to make sure it doesn't clot. Well, when I went to flush it the other day it wouldn't flush. I called Brandi and she checked with the doctors. Sure enough, they wanted it out. So that's where we went after Physical Therapy.
It was suppose to take all of about five minutes. It took about 45 minutes. He has had the catheter since August of 2000, and they said his body tissue had surrounded it. One doctor worked on it forever and had to go get help from another doctor. Finally, she got it out. It was not a fun process. I don't usually feel sick watching anything but with all the blood and pulling under his skin, even I got a little quesy.

When it was finally out we got to the car and I ran back over to Rehab to pick up our pictures. He was feeling fine by then so we ate at Subway and TCBY for dessert!! Yummy!

Next we went back to the room and took another three hour nap!! I'm going to have to get out of this habit soon or I'll be sleeping at work all day when I get back! When we woke up I fixed a few days of his medications up and then we got ready to go to Support Group meeting. It was really good again.Tonight Ricky got his turn to talk. I still didn't get to tell our story but I did get a few tidbits in. After the meeting we went out to eat (Elmo's Diner) with five of the post transplant patients and their caregivers.
(Randy 2-26-01, Ricky 2-14-01, Ashley 2-13-01, Don 2-13-01 and John 2-7-01) We are all pretty close since we were all done near the same time and see each other everyday at Pulmonary Rehab (Physical Therapy). They are a great bunch of people. All of them have Cystic Fibrosis except for Don. It feels really strange to be able to
talk to other people that have been through the same thing. I really enjoyed it and even Randy had began talking a little bit by the end of the meal.

We have just gotten home and Randy is begging to go to bed! Poor thing! He is always so ready for sleep at night!

Goodnight!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.03.01
Boy are we tired!!

Today started as normal at 7:00 with our showers. No help from me though. Now I just take my shower and wake him up. Then he goes in the bathroom and takes his (with the door closed) while I get ready. I know it sounds normal to you all, but it is quite a change for me!! I usually hear him drop the shampoo bottle or the soap a few times because of his right hand but that's okay. He gets it eventually.

We arrived at the hospital about 9:00 (yes, it rained here all day here too!) and found out we were an hour early!! Oops! They had changed his Speech Therapy from 9:00 to 12:00 just for today. So for that hour we went to the accounting department to check on a few things with the insurance.

At 10:00 Randy had Occupational Therapy with Sue. He did great today. I had her fuss at him because he really does not use his right hand like he should. He at least needs to begin to use that hand and then if it is too difficult he can switch to the left hand. ........he just works with the left hand right now. In Occupational Therapy he moved the clothes pins from one rack to a bucket first, and then he had to unscrew these pegs off a board. Next, he worked with the Theraputty. That's the putty they put the little pegs in and he has to get them out with his right hand. He did really well with everything today.

Next he had Physical Therapy. He did the same as yesterday....up to 3.5 miles per hour and thirty minutes. His Oxygen stayed at 100% most of the time. Still higher than mine!!

Next we went to Speech Therapy. I walked with him there and then walked back to the coffee shop to write some thank you notes. I don't have much time to just sit down and do little things like that with a brand new husband! I feel like I've just married a whole new man! He won't let me sit still for over five minutes! So, I went back and got him from Speech Therapy about 1:15. Stephanie (Speech Therapist) said he did much better today than he did when she saw him last week!

You will never guess what we did after that...........we ......ate......at......WENDY'S!! I know you don't believe me but we did. We were both starving and it was already 1:30. So we went to Wendy's. It wasn't horrible but it sure wasn't what I wanted. I tried to talk him out of it but it was too late. He had the usual. The Randy Beeker Special.

On the way to Wendy's he told me he wanted to go back to the 4th Floor again......I can't imagine why. We went up there and guess who was working today........Nurse Monica! She was really excited to see him again and reminded him that she wouldn't be getting married until August 25th.....my birthday. I had to break them up before something developed..haha

After Wendy's we drove back to Homewood Suites and dozed for about an hour. After that we drove into Durham where Randy's brother Wayne lives. My sister-in-law had a Mary Kaye Meeting tonight and Wayne was working late. (He's a CPA and it's tax season!) So we ate Lasagna and then Kecia went to her meeting while Randy and I babysat our nieces! Boy, that will wear you out! A two year old, almost three, and an eight month old that can't be still! They were both very good though. Thank goodness for bouncy seats! haha

We got home about 10:20 or so and I've just tucked Randy in for the night. He tried his hardest to wait for me but just couldn't do it. Tomorrow is another busy day so I will say goodnight also!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.02.01
Happy Monday Everyone!

Too bad we had to come back to Chapel Hill!!! Being home was so wonderful! That's okay though, I'll take Randy with new lungs anywhere in the world!!

Today we woke up about 7:00 because we had to be at the hospital by 8:15 for blood draws. They had to stick him twice this morning but I don't think it was too awfully painful. Since he can't eat or drink anything before blood draws, we always go to the coffee shop to get him some chocolate milk so he can take his 8:30 medications. Well, halfway through his chocolate milk he looked at me all wide eyed. He had left his medications at Homewood Suites. So we rushed back to the car and drove back to Homewood. It's a good thing that the only therapy he had today was Physical Therapy at 11:00. So we got back to the hotel and he took his medicines. We watched TV just a little and then headed back to the hospital.

His Physical Therapy session went very well. He walked 30 minutes today. He started out at 2.0 miles per hour. After five minutes he went to 2.5 mph and at ten minutes he went to 3.0 mph. Then, at fifteen minutes he went to 3.5 mph!! We aren't sure if he did it by accident or not, but he had it turned up to 4.2 mph for about twenty seconds. We slowed him back down though because that is a little too fast for him right now. After his walking, we strapped some four pound weights on his legs and he did a few sets of leg lifts and some stretches. Then we were all done for the day!

We walked out of the hospital and down the road to another building where Doctor Donaldson (his CF doctor) works. Dr. Donaldson hadn't seen him in a week so I called and got directions and we made the trek over. It was a pretty long uphill walk for him but he did great. We visited with Dr. Donaldson for about ten minutes. I told him all about our weekend and how wonderful those new lungs are!!! He is the best doctor in the whole world. You will never know how much he has done for us. He's not just a doctor, he is also a great friend.

After we walked back to the parking deck Randy had his tongue hanging out of his mouth and panting out loud. I laughed and told him I didn't even want to hear it!! Next we went to the University Mall (a small mall near the hospital) to get a Chic-Fil-A Sandwich. We ran into another couple that just had a double lung transplant on Valentine's Day. His name is Ricky and his wife's name is Bobbi. (Ricky was the one to have the transplant). He has CF also but he had a few problems to begin with. He was just discharged from the hospital the Saturday before last. His lung collapsed and he also had a blood clot in one of his lungs. He was on Oxygen until just last Friday. He hasn't needed it since and they are so happy. He is 27 and Bobbi is 30 but they both look like they are about 20 or so!! They are really sweet and his wife looks just as excited as I am about his new lungs. I think the spouses get just as, if not more excited than the patient! Everyone in the Physical Therapy department calls us the "slave-driver wives" because we both push our husbands so hard. It's really funny!

After we left the mall we went back to Homewood Suites. I think this weekend really wore us out because neither of us could hold our eyes open! We fell asleep on the bed and we slept almost three hours!! I don't think we would have woken up if my mom hadn't called to check in! We got up and went to my favorite place! Chilies!!! Randy isn't very fond of it but I Love it! We ate and then walked around Wal-Mart and Marshalls for a little while. I love daylight savings time because it was still light outside at 8:00!!

By the way, if any of you think of something fun to do with our days after 12:00 please let me know! It's hard to find things to do that don't cost money around here!

We came back to Homewood and I'm sure you can guess what Randy is doing while I am typing this email.....let me give you a hint......it's 9:00 and the date is April 2nd.
If that means as little to you as it does to me, I will tell you! That means that Duke and Arizona are playing for the championship tonight. Whoop-T-Do.

Oh well, at least I get a chance to respond to some emails!! I hope all you guys our there are enjoying the game!

Take Care and See ya tomorrow!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


04.01.01
Wow, it's April already!

I didn't even get to play any April Fool's Day jokes on anyone!!

We woke up this morning at 8:15, thanks to my mom calling to wake me up! I completely forgot that time changed last night!! So we jumped up and took our showers. Randy put on his suit for church that I haven't seen him wear in forever! He looked great..............okay, so I'm a little biased.

He was a little nervous on the way to church but he did fine. He was a little quieter than usual but that was understandable since there was such a large crowd. Church was wonderful and everyone was so happy to see him. We heard a beautiful sermon about the glory of God from Psalm 19. It couldn't have been more perfect for our situation. We talked to everyone at church until all the lights were turned out!

Next we went home and Mrs. Beeker came over for lunch. We just had chicken sandwiches since I still needed to pack and get on the road. Randy ate two sandwiches and I packed up some more clothes plus everything that I brought from Homewood Suites. We left about 3:30 and ran into a horrible rain storm in Wilson. It poured all the way to Durham! We stopped in Durham to visit Randy's brothers church (Cornerstone). We had a great time and then went out for Pizza with Wayne, Kecia and our nieces. We all ate plenty of pizza and then we drove back to Homewood Suites. Randy is already out like a light and I guess I should go too since we have blood draws early tomorrow morning! Yuck!

I forgot to mention one wonderful praise item!! Friday night while we were out at Red Lobster we noticed that Randy can see a little bit out of his left eye!!! He still has a pretty large field cut in his vision but at least it is improving! I was so happy that I asked him 100 times if he could really see my fingers moving when I covered up his right eye!! Thank you for your prayers concerning his vision!!

Oh goodness I have something else I forgot to tell you!!! Once we turned into the subdivision where Wayne and Kecia live, I pulled the car over and told Randy to get out and drive. He was a little nervous but excited at the same time. His license has expired but we weren't on a real road and it was only less than a mile. He did just fine but he got up to about 40 mph and scared me to death!! I expected him to drive really slow since he was nervous and knew he had the field cut in his vision!! I took my seatbelt off (not very smart) because I was trying to get him to slow down!! He just laughed and kept going! He really did do well though. We will have to see a little later about when he will be able to drive again. Because of the stoke he still has trouble remembering how to do things. For instance he forgot to put his foot on the brake at first.....he pressed the gas while the car was in park. As soon as I said, "press the brake first" he said, "oh yeah" and rolled his eyes like he couldn't believe he forgot. When we pulled into their driveway, my sister-in-law was coming out with the girls. You should have seen her face when she saw Randy driving! It was so funny!

Well, I think I'm going to call it a night myself. I'm so glad I was able to see so many of you this weekend! I hope we will be able to visit the rest of you all very soon!

We Love You!
Stephanie and Randy


03.31.01
I will never forget today as long as I live.

Have you ever had a day so perfect that you wouldn't have changed a thing even if you could?? Well today was that day for me. The whole transplant, and the whole stroke was worth everything just for today.

We woke up in OUR bedroom and in OUR bed at 8:30 to the sound of Randy's watch alarming. His first dose of medications is at 8:30. We looked at each other and smiled then hopped out of bed! Then something truly amazing happened. Randy helped me make the bed!!! WOW!!! I couldn't tell you the last time he did that! I've left him in the bed sleeping every morning for the past year and a half while I've gone to work.

Next, I made apple turnovers while Randy watched cartoons.....yes, he still loves cartoons. We ate our breakfast and then Randy got in his chair and rocked while I laid on the couch and played with our little doggie, Cassie. I noticed Randy's head kept falling forward where he was falling asleep again. For the last couple of years, Randy hasn't been able to lay back because of his lungs. It would feel as if he were drowning because of all the mucus in his lungs. Well, I walked over to the recliner and laid it back while he slept. I put a blanket over him and he never moved. I unpacked our suitcase and washed all the clothes before he even woke up. It was the neatest thing to see him sleeping in his recliner that he could never recline.

When he woke up he kept asking me, "Do you want to go to .........?" I could not figure out for the life of me what he was saying! I got him some paper and a pen and do you know what he wrote?? "Hot Dog" I couldn't believe it!! I said, "You want to drive all the way over to Washington just to get Bill's Hot Dogs??" He gave me that sweet smile and a very clear yes!! Well, whatever Randy wants, Randy gets....in case you haven't figured that out by now. We took our showers and I didn't have to help him at all. After his shower, Randy did something that he hasn't done in at least three years. He put on cologne!!!! It smells sooooooo good!!! I missed that wonderful smell! He just smiled and tilted his neck over so I could get a good whiff!!! Yummy!! Then Randy was ready to walk out the door.....without anything!! No oxygen, no inhalers, no tubes.....nothing! It is the oddest feeling!!

We drove to Washington (about a 35 drive) and got our hot dogs. We walked down the waterfront in Washington (very pretty if you've never been) and sat on a pier with our legs dangling over. Randy ate all four hotdogs in record time. We enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and then walked back to our car. Next we drove over to my grandmothers house in Blount's Creek for a surprise! She didn't know we were home and was very excited to see us. The best part about being home is watching everyone's face when they see Randy for the first time. It is just wonderful! I wish I could take a picture of everyone when they see him because the look of surprise is worth a million dollars!!

After our visit we drove back to Greenville. When we passed the cemetery where Randy's daddy is buried (he passed away on November 1st, 2000), Randy pointed so we stopped. It was not easy but I know Randy needed it. I reminded him that his Dad was watching his progress from heaven and telling all the angels how proud he is. He would always tell Randy that he was his hero.

We drove a little further and stopped at PetSmart to pick up a few things for our aquarium. My job is right around the corner so we decided to pop in to see the look on everyone's face. It was great! There were only two people working today; my supervisor Mark and one co-worker Daryl. They didn't even see us when we first came in because there were customers in the store. As soon as Mark saw us his mouth dropped open! It would have made a great picture! Speaking of pictures, Mark had to go out to his car and get his camera to take pictures of Randy. It was so funny! Randy was talking a lot while we were there. He did great! We showed them the pictures and before long Randy was pulling at me to go again! I just can't keep up with him!!

Next we went to Goody's....one of Randy's favorite stores. Okay, okay, so I love it just as much as he does. I have not bought any clothes for myself in forever so I did get
a few shirts to take back to Chapel Hill. The weird part was when Randy went to the men's department and I was looking in the Ladies department! I am not used to being without him in a store so it was so strange!! It was a good strange though. He kept popping up behind me saying, "hey baby". He says it with this really deep voice that will just crack you up!

So we left Goody's and went to Wal*Mart. We walked around for about five minutes and then left. We drove to Burger King to get Randy and Icee and then to his mom's house for dinner. She had fixed Spaghetti, bread and a salad but I was so excited about the day and talking so much that I hardly ate anything! I don't think I closed my mouth the whole time we were there!

By then it was 7:30 and Randy started saying he was tired. We came home and Randy sat in his chair while I cleaned out the aquarium. By the time I finished he wanted to go to bed. He picked out his clothes for church tomorrow.....something I've had to do for him before. He is sleeping like a baby now and I am about to be myself. It is 11:15 and I have been typing nonstop since 9:45! I had to type yesterday's and today's updates.

I hope you all are going to forgive me for not sending two days out on time!!!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


03.30.01
Hello Everyone!!

Guess what!!?? No fevers today!! Yeah!!!

We got up at 7:30 and got ready and ate breakfast at the hotel. I'm going to have to be careful here because the food is so yummy I want to eat all of it!!

We got to the Transplant Clinic about 8:45 and we saw Brandi (transplant coordinator) first. She was excited to see Randy in real clothes. He talked with her a little and then we waited in the room by ourselves. Randy was a huge cut-up the whole time. He had me in stitches before the doctors came in! Oh!!! They weighed him first and guess how much he weighed!!??? He is up to 114 pounds!! Can you believe it! Finally, Dr. Ares came in and asked us about the fevers. We told him nothing else was going on, just a low grade fever. He said if it continues during the weekend, Randy will have to have another Bronchoscopy on Monday. Even if he doesn't have a fever this weekend, he will still have to have a "Bronch" on Thursday because he his due for one at one month post transplant. Randy was not very happy to hear this news. Dr. Ares promised that he would put him out so he wouldn't remember a thing this time. I don't think it made him feel much better at all! Then we got the very best news!!! The news was this!!........We can go home for the weekend!!! That's all the way home to Greenville!!! They said we would have to return if the fevers got above 100.5 but that we could go home and come back on Sunday!!! That is why I have not sent this email to you all yet!! I wanted it to be a big surprise!!!! Wow!!! Two whole days away from Chapel Hill!

We left the clinic at 10:30 and his Speech Therapy appointment was at 10:00. They told us just to wait until his appointment on Tuesday because there wasn't enough time to do anything significant. Since we had 30 minutes to waste, we first went to the coffee shop to get Randy a drink. Then I took him up to the 4th Floor to see his girlfriend........I mean his friend.....nurse Monica. Unfortunately, she was not working today so we visited the other nurses instead. They were all thrilled to see Randy. He wouldn't talk much for them (he is very self conscience around a lot of people) but he did say a few things. The surgeons just happened to be on the floor also so they all came over to see him. They were amazed at how well he is doing. They all shook his RIGHT hand and tried to get him to talk but he was so excited that nothing really came out that you could understand. They laughed because they knew he was just nervous. They all gave him a big squeeze and we walked down to the 1st Floor where Physical Therapy is located.

We saw Lisa in Physical Therapy. She started Randy off on the treadmill and had him at 3.0 miles per hour after only nine minutes of walking! He walked on 3.0 for almost twenty minutes and then he did his five minute cooldown. After the treadmill she put weights on his legs and he had to do all kinds of exercises to strengthen his leg muscles. He did very, very well! Finally we were done and Lisa said we could go! We rushed back to Homewood Suites, packed up a few things and ate a quick sandwich......or two sandwiches if you are Randy.......and some Doritos......and some cake........and some ....haha just kidding.

So we hit the road at about 1:30. Randy dozed for about an hour and woke up just as we were outside of Greenville! We haven't been here in a little over a month and everything looks different. When you are away from home you notice every little change! When we pulled up at the house, Randy was all smiles! He couldn't hardly stand it! We walked up the sidewalk and then we stood at the foot of the stairwell. Randy looked at me and smiled and then up he went!!! Without me!!! He flew up the stairs, turned around to look at me and said, "I can breathe!!!!". It was just wonderfu it brought tears to my eyesl! I will never forget that moment as long as I live. Next, I gave Randy the keys and let him go in first. My mother had come over last week and cleaned my house really well so it would be nice and spotless. (The night we got the call we threw everything everywhere!) She also had our home health agency pick up all the Oxygen equipment. She put out some silk flower arrangements (Randy can't be around real flowers) and some pretty candles. Randy walked through each room like he had never seen it before. He stopped in each room at each table and picked things up to feel of them. Then he would turn around and smile. He never said anything unless it was an Ohhhhhh,,,,Ahhhhhh,,,,,,,or something like that. I think I told you all we have been sleeping in our spare bedroom for sometime now since Randy's Oxygen wouldn't reach in our master bedroom. Well, my mother had changed the mattresses out so our soft, comfy mattress was back in our master bedroom. As soon as we got into our master bedroom, he immediately noticed and started trying to talk while he was pointing to the mattress. All he could get out was, "Is this??, Is this??". I told him yes and he was so excited. Then he informed me we would be sleeping in THIS bedroom tonight.

After he walked around he sat in his favorite recliner and rocked for about two minutes. Then he looked at me and said, "Ready?". I asked him for what and he said, "To go......somewhere!". So out we went. We walked over to our friend's house....just across the street. They are the ones that had the baby two weeks ago. We met little Richard "Caleb" Armstrong....so tiny and sweet!! After that we walked back to the car since Randy still wanted to go! We went to Sam's and got all the pictures developed that I had taken at the hospital. I am happy to say they came out wonderful!! I was so pleased with them that I didn't know what to do! Randy hates pictures so everytime I took the camera out he would wrinkle up his face at me. Well even Randy liked the pictures! I think it helped him to remember a lot of things. We found a picnic table, umbrella and chair in the middle of Sam's and we sat down and looked at all four rolls! When we got to the picture of Monica, Randy looked at me and said,
"Yeah, what's her name???" I laughed and reminded him it was Monica.............and that we would not be seeing her again .........ever......haha.

Next we went home and rested for a whole twenty minutes. We had made plans with Channing and Chastity (Little Caleb's parents) to eat at Red Lobster. I ordered Randy an extra serving this time and he still ate all of it! Before we ate, our favorite waiter, Patrick, came over to the table and unrolled toilet paper all over Randy's head while yelling out loud, "Can I have your attention please?? This here is a friend of mine....Randy.....and he has just returned from having a double lung transplant! Can we give this man a round of applause please???" It was great! Randy was smiling ear to ear and everyone started clapping. I just wished I had taken my camera!!

After dinner we visited with the baby and our friends again and then headed home. We were so tired that we went straight to bed. I must say it was the first night that I have slept all the way through without waking up in the middle of the night 100 times. I slept soooooo good and so did Randy.

I am not going to send this email until Tomorrow because I don't want anyone from our church to know we are home yet!! (I am typing this email on Saturday night!).

I hope I didn't worry any of you too much! I just wanted to surprise everyone! By the way, Randy never got a fever at all Friday!!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


03.29.01
Did you all enjoy the liquid sunshine today???

Boy, did we get enough of it! We woke up at 7:30 and it was still dark outside! I took a quick shower and woke Randy up. I threw a hat on him and some jogging pants and off we went to the hospital for blood draws. His temperature was 99.2 when he woke up and 99.5 when we got to the hospital. They got his blood drawn on the first stick this morning!! Yeah!! After that we walked down to the coffee shop to get him some chocolate milk so he could take his 8:30 medications. (He has to have food or milk to take his medicine but he can't eat or drink before blood draws). So he drank his milk with his 12 pills and we had to go back out in the nasty weather to get in the car. We were only at the hospital less than an hour. When we left, his temperature was 98.6.

We drove back to Homewood Suites and crawled right back in bed. I will have to say that the mattress padding was definitely worth the money. The bed feels so much softer now and we slept much better last night.

Today was kind of a make up day for all the going we've been doing. We slept off and on from 10:30 to 3:00 while watching T.V. Does that make you all jealous or what?? I can't remember when we relaxed so much in one day. Anyway, his temperature was 99.4 again by the time we got back to the hotel. Throughout the day it ranged from
99.2 to 99.9. It was never normal after this morning. He has just fallen asleep beside me and it is 99.9. There doesn't seem to be anything else wrong so no one is really worried right now. He just seems more tired than normal.........which is still new to me because I'm not used to all this new energy he has!! The computers at the hospital were down today (not good huh?) so they couldn't see the blood results yet. I'm sure they would have called by now if anything was wrong. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for these fevers. We really do need to know the cause.

Well, at 3:30 Randy was ready to go to the mall again. I forgot to mention he got mad at me several times today because I dropped him off at the entrance so he wouldn't get rained on. He thinks it is just ridiculous since he has new lungs. He doesn't understand how important it is right now for him to wear his mask everywhere and stay away from colds and germs!

At the mall we walked around for about an hour. Thank goodness he didn't try to buy anything!! (For those of you that know Randy well, you know how much he loves to shop!) We just walked and looked and then got back in the car and drove over to Kroger to get some grocery's for dinner tonight.

We got back around 5:30 and I started cooking. Tonight I made barbeque chicken, rice casserole (again!!......it's his very favorite) and beanie weenies. I know it sounds weird but that's what he picked out at the store. Right now I'm willing to cook whatever he wants to get him fat!! That will be strange because the most he has ever weighed is 125 pounds. I don't have scales here so I don't know what his weight is. Last week he weighed in at 110.4. I should find out tomorrow because we have a transplant clinic appointment every Friday.

After dinner we sat on our little, cozy couch and did his Speech Therapy homework. It is so frustrating for him because he knows it is simple but because of the stroke he just can't get it sometimes. The homework is a lot of filling in the blank. For instance, it will say........."You read a B_ _ _". He only has to fill in the "ook" but because of the stroke it may take him several minutes of thinking very hard to get it. He writes the wrong letters in the blanks sometimes but he always realizes that they are not correct. That is when he gets the most frustrated. He really is doing much better with it than he was before. It's hard for him to see but I remember when he couldn't write anything! It is just hard to see him struggle.

We did most of the homework and then watched Survivor and CSI Files. (Our two favorite shows). He could hardly hold his eyes open so I tucked him in. I guess I'd better turn it too since we have a big day tomorrow. We have the clinic appointment at 8:30, Speech Therapy at 10:00 and Physical Therapy at 11:00. At least we are sleeping better!

Have a nice Friday!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


03.28.01
We need your prayers!!!

Randy started running a fever tonight. The highest it has been so far is 100.0 degrees. Any temperature over 99.0 can be a sign of rejection. Please remember to pray for Randy whenever possible.

Today was pretty tiring. It almost feels like we haven't really been discharged from the hospital. We got up at 6:00 after a bad night of sleep. This bed is pretty hard and we tossed and turned all night. We took our showers and then went down for breakfast. Poor Randy wasn't allowed to eat anything because he had to have his blood drawn this morning first thing. The breakfast buffet is great. Waffles, pancakes, French toast, eggs. grits, biscuits, sausage, bacon, cereal, yogurt, juices, fruit.....you name it and we've got it! Randy just watched us eat. That made it not taste all that wonderful.

We got on the road and arrived at the hospital about 7:45. He had to be stuck four times before they got in a vein. After that we went to get him some food but he wasn't hungry by then. He drank some chocolate milk and then we headed over to Occupational Therapy. We have a new therapist now since it is outpatient therapy. Her name is Sue. She looks like she is about eighteen but she has a son that is eighteen! She measured the pressure in his right hand again .....it was 29 pounds of pressue today!! Even better than yesterday!

After Occupational therapy we went back over to the rehab building for Speech Therapy. He saw Lindsay again today. Since he no longer has a room, he has to see her in her office. That meant there was no room for me and Mrs. Beeker so we walked back down to the coffee shop and split a Krispy Kreme Donut! (Hey, we gotta keep up with Randy..haha) While we were eating guess who walked in!! If you said Nurse Monica again, you win!! She had heard Randy was back at the hospital for rehab and came to find him. She was a little disappointed that he wasn't with us but I promised to bring him up to the fourth floor to visit her soon. She is just the sweetest little thing! How many nurses do you know that try to find their previous patients just to check in with them???

Well, we still had time left so we walked up to the fourth floor to visit another friend that has CF and had her double lung transplant last Tuesday. Her name is Susy Dirr and she is doing pretty well except she is having a lot of pain. Please pray for her quick recovery.

We went back over to rehab to get Randy. Lindsay said he did really well. Next, we took him back over to the main hospital for Physical Therapy. The new therapist name is Lisa. She works with all the post transplant patients. Today Randy didn't have to do too much with her. He did a six minute walk with her and then she tested the strength in his legs and arms. Then we were free for the day!!

We got back in the car and went back to Homewood Suites. Randy ate two ham sandwiches (anything is better than Wendy's) some Doritos, and some Easter Peeps! Then we all took a two hour nap! We were all exhausted. Randy woke up and was ready to go again! We went to Wal-Mart (his favorite store) but after about twenty minutes he was ready to go. We quickly walked over to Linen's and Things because we HAD to have something to make this bed softer. We found a king size padding and came back to put that on the bed. I'm sitting on it typing right now and I think it will be a little softer than last night.

Randy acted tired and just not like himself so I checked his temperature. It was 99.2. I have to call the hospital if it goes above 99.0 so I called Brandi (Transplant Coordinator). She said to call her back if it got above 100.0. Well, tonight was the night we were suppose to have his "Welcome Home Dinner" at Red Lobster. My mom and Jack drove up and Wayne and Kecia came with our nieces, Julie, and Kacey. We had a great dinner and Randy ate his shrimp, some of my shrimp and a lot of his mom's shrimp! In the middle of dinner I checked his temperature again and it was 100.0. I called Brandi in the middle of Red Lobster. She said if he wasn't coughing that hopefully it was just a virus. I am to call her back if it goes to 101.00 tonight. Tomorrow was suppose to be our day off but she said we would need to be at the hospital in the morning for blood draws because of the fever. Please pray that it is nothing to be concerned about.

Well, after dinner everyone came back to Homewood for a few minutes. Then we said goodnight and my mom, Jack, Wayne, Kecia and Mrs. Beeker all went home. I've got Randy tucked in bed and just checked his fever again. It is 99.2. Better already!!!

Well, goodnight to you all. I will send out an email as soon as I have more information about these fevers!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


03.27.01
WATCH OUT WORLD, HERE WE COME!!!

(In case you didn't notice, I've attached three pictures of Randy before he left the hospital today!! He is wearing his normal clothes! He hasn't put those on in almost a year!

What a day!!!! We woke up at 7:00 so excited that we could not sleep anymore!! We got up and Randy ate his breakfast and then we took our showers! Randy did great again! After his shower he put on his "before I got really sick" clothes! He looked great! I'm so used to seeing him in pajama pants and a T-Shirt that I almost didn't recognize him! I made him pose for some pictures from my web cam........even he was happy with the pictures and he always hates pictures of himself!!

Anyway, after we got all dressed the doctors came in to tell us goodbye and good luck! All the nurses from Rehab came over and even some of the other patient's family. All his therapist stopped by also. They are all so sweet! So at 10:43 AM we walked out of that hospital with Randy!!! He was so giddy about that whole thing!! When he got in the car he just squealed and rubbed his hands together. It was so cute! His eyes were shining so bright and you couldn't get him to stop smiling if you wanted to!
We drove out of there and he just looked at everything! He looked amazed to be outside in a real car!

My driving was a whole other story. I already get picked on about it and to make matters worse I haven't driven in over a month!! Randy laughed at me all the way here!

When we pulled up in front of Homewood Suites, Randy said, "Yeah Baby!!" The hotel is nice but we were a little disappointed. We had been looking on the internet at www.homewoodsuites.com Well, the rooms on the internet look huge! This place is nice but it is no where near as big as we thought. When you walk in we have a little miniature kitchen with a 2 burner stove, a microwave, a refrigerator and a dishwasher. NO OVEN!! The sad thing is that I could pay my mortgage at home FOUR TIMES for what this room cost us for one month!! After the kitchen we have a tiny sitting area with a sleeper sofa, and end table and a nice size TV. We have a good size bedroom and guess what else???!! A KING size bed!!! I am so excited I get to sleep in a real bed again!! No more couches for me!! It's not the softest bed in the world but it will work! Off the bedroom is the bathroom and it is just fine also. Well, we unloaded our house in here...haha....and then Randy kept saying, "Ready??? Ready??? Ready???" He wanted to go, go, go!! We unpacked a little more and then took off for lunch.

We met Randy's brother and ate at Pizza Inn......Randy's choice of course. He was a little upset because he is never allowed to have any food from a buffet again because of health reasons. We ordered a pizza and he ate pretty well. Then we took Wayne back to work and Randy was ready to go to the mall. We just can't stop this boy!!! At the mall we walked for about an hour before Randy started holding his back. His muscles are still not used to all this movement. Even though his lungs are ready to go, the rest of him gets tired fast. He did manage to find two more Beanie Bears at a Hallmark. On the way out, he saw an Icee machine and got himself a blueberry Icee. Unfortunately he dropped it outside the hotel so I had to give him mine!

When we left the mall, we still had to stop at the grocery store to pick up something for dinner. Randy's back was really hurting by now so he found a nice little outdoor setup in the middle of Kroger and sat while we shopped. Once we got back to the room we took a nice nap for about an hour. We woke up and Randy went to look out the window and he started making all kinds of noises. We thought something was wrong! We ran to the window and you will never guess what we saw! There were two guys jumping in the pool! This pool is outside and not heated!! It had leaves all in it! The temperture here today was about 45 degrees! Last night it froze so I can't imagine how cold that water was. They jumped in and out until the hotel people came and got them out! We found out later tonight that there are forty of them! They are from Germany and they are playing Rugby here in a tournament!

Believe it or not, between me and Mrs. Beeker, we fixed a great dinner with our microwave and two burner stove. We had lemon peppered porkchops, a rice casserole, green beans and Velveeta's shells and cheese!! It was so yummy and Randy ate forever!! I know he enjoyed it better than Wendy's! I know I did!


Oh, by the way, here is our new address and telephone number:

Homewood Suites
Attn: Randy Beeker Room 305
3600 Mt. Moriah Rd.
Durham, NC 27707

(919) 401-0610 Ask for room 305

Well, now it is 9:30 and we have to leave here at 7:30 tomorrow morning to be at the hospital by 8:00 for blood draws and rehab. Randy is sitting beside me so tired that he can't even hold his eyes open.

All in all it has been a wonderful day!! God is so good to us!! I can't wait to get all the way home so we can see you all!!

We love you!
Stephanie and Randy

P.S. I've been picked on today by two people about my spelling in my previous emails!! It seems I keep typing the word secessions when I'm really trying to say the word sessions!!! SORRY!! I really did a spell check but I guess sessions is a word too! Anyway, you'll have to forgive my grammar!! I promise to proof read from now on!! haha


03.26.01
We're Going Home Tomorrow!!!!!!

Well, close enough anyway! Our home in Chapel Hill will have to do for a while! We just can't wait! And to top it all off, we have had a wonderful day! The best since we have been here!

First of all, Randy laughed until he cried today! He just had a great day. All smiles and he joked with everyone!

He ate a little of his breakfast and then had his first Speech Therapy session with Misty. I did my morning cleaning and then took my shower. Randy came back at 10:00 and Misty said he did very well. When showed flashcards, he got 19 words out of 30 correct. He always thinks he has done really bad when he comes back so I always have a talk with him to remind him that just two weeks ago he wasn't saying anything! I think that makes him feel better because he knows he can talk now....even if we don't always understand it.

After Speech Randy got his very last IV!!! At 11:00 Randy was disconnected from his IV pole! He is all done! It was great! No tubes holding him back today! Our room still looks funny to me without that IV pump and pole.

After he got rid of that IV pole we went down to Occupational Therapy. Tim tested his range of vision and the speed of his right hand again with the Dynavision. That is the machine with all the lights on it. Randy did very well. Last time the response time with his right hand was 4.9 seconds. Today it was 2.3! He was proud of himself also. Next, Tim tested the pressure in his hand again. Remember when we first got here he could squeeze 10 pounds of pressure with his right hand. Today it was 25 pounds of pressure! Tim said he thinks it may take 6-8 months but he feels like he could have a complete recovery in his right hand if he really works on it and tries to use it as much as possible! What great news that was to hear!

When we arrived back to the room the hospital tray was here. Randy took one look and said, "Well, let's go".....so off we went to Wendy's where he got his same old order. After we ate we walked down to the gift shop again. They had a new Beanie Bear that Randy saw in the window on Saturday. It's name was Halo II and it is white with gold wings and a gold halo. I bought it while he watched and then the sales lady put it in a bag. In his left hand he was already holding his drink from Wendy's. I told him the only way he could have it would be if he carried it all the way back to the room with his RIGHT hand. He looked at me and laughed while saying, "NOOOOOO!!!".
Well, to make a long story short, he dropped it four times on the way back but picked it up each time with his right hand! When we finally got back to the room he sat on the bed and let out a long WHEW!!! He was almost to tired to open the bag!

After lunch we went down to Recreational Therapy where Randy chose the game. He picked "SORRY" which I had never played before in my life! It was very fun though and I must tell you that I was in the lead when we stopped playing an hour later! Randy did great. He used his right hand and talked a lot while we played.

Of course he didn't have time to rest after the game because Bren came to get us for Physical Therapy. Randy did excellent today!!! He walked 30 minutes and 23 seconds! You won't believe how fast he walked today!!!..............3.0 miles per hour!! His little feet almost looked like a blur! We definitely got him breathing heavy today! After the treadmill he dribbled the basketball again and played a little catch. Then we went to the stairwell where he walked up and down the two flights four times!! WOW and WOW again!!

We came back to our room and had another Speech Therapy session with Misty. He did great again. That was the last therapy but I needed to walk over to the pharmacy to drop off some more prescriptions and to pay for our new suite we will be moving into tomorrow. Randy wanted to walk with me. When we got outside he began to jog!! He went for about 10 seconds....sounds short but it was forever to me!! When he stopped he said it hurt under his arms. His incisions go all the way under both arms and I know they are tight. I was still in shock that he ran so far!! Don't worry he didn't hurt anything!

After that guess where we went.....you got it.....Wendy's. He ate the same thing and I got a Taco salad. I ate a whole five bites before I was sure I was going to throw up if I ate one more thing from Wendy's. If we weren't leaving tomorrow I guess I would just starve. NOTHING on that menu looks good anymore!!!

Well, Mrs. Beeker came back today and we loaded up her car with some of our things so we won't have so much to put in my house tomorrow. Hopefully we will be out of here by 11:00 tomorrow! I will email you all with the address and phone number tomorrow!

The funny thing for today was this. Randy's new catch phrase today was........Yeah Baby!! He has several versions of this phrase. Let's see......we have yeah baby, whoa baby, and wow baby. He adds that on to just about everything he says. It is just too funny. I even added it on to my transplant video I am making. I can't wait to watch this movie! I'll have to charge admission and invite you all over.....haha just kidding. It will be free for everyone who can stand to watch it!

Sorry this email got so long! I knew I was going to do this and I didn't even get to tell you about all the funny things that happened today! Oh well, I'm sure I'll have new things tomorrow!

Thank you for your prayers! Praise the Lord we are going home tomorrow!!!

We Love You All,
Stephanie and Randy


03.25.01
Hello All You Happy People!

I love Sundays. Don't you all? It was a very peaceful day. We mainly just enjoyed each others company. We only had one therapy today and that was Speech for only thirty minutes. I cleaned the room a little while he was gone and when he returned he took a shower. He did it mostly by himself again. He is really doing a great job.

After his shower we rested and listened to some new Praise and Worship CD's that we got as gifts. When his lunch came he turned his nose up so we walked down to Wendy's. He had his usual. Three packs of nuggets, fries, and tea. After lunch we walked back and rested again till 3:00. Randy was so bored that all could he say was, "I'm bored". He was very restless (that bed is getting old) so we grabbed a blanket headed outside again. It was another nice day, though not quite as nice as yesterday. We enjoyed the sunshine and then walked back since he had another IV to be hung at 4:00.

His dinner came at 5:00........what the hospital calls pizza. He ate a little of it and then we watched a little T.V.

I'm sorry I have nothing else to report today!! It was very relaxing though! I hope today was the same for all of you!

Please continue to pray for a full recovery and a safe discharge on Tuesday!!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


03.24.01
Hi There!

What a beautiful day it was! I love waking up with the sun shining through the window and brightening up this whole room! It almost feels like summer time!!

We slept till 8:30 because they came in every fifteen minutes after 6:00 to check on getting his blood drawn. I kept telling them it was not ordered until Monday morning but it seemed that everyone just "kept checking" anyway. Randy ate a little of his breakfast and then had Speech Therapy with Lindsay. It went really well. He is pretty good at making letter sounds if he can see you doing it first. He said a lot of words and Lindsay was very proud. He really is doing better with his speech even though it sounds slurred. Sometimes he will start a sentence and you can understand most of the first part but not the last part. That's quite alright though. It is just great to hear him trying so hard!!

Next we had Physical Therapy. They woke him up from his nap so he only walked about 22 minutes. He did get up to 2.4 miles per hour again though. When we started he heart rate was at 123.........it got up to 142 before we even started walking fast. That's another reason we let him stop at 22 minutes though. Don't let it worry you though.......it was back down to normal after two hours. We think it may have been because he had Nebulized a strong antibiotic just before he starting walking.

After Physical Therapy it was time for lunch. I asked Randy if he wanted to walk to Wendy's but he said no. I asked him if he was going to eat his lunch tray and he said no. Then he got his dry erase board and wrote H O T D O G S. I just happened to have three Bill's Hot Dogs left in the fridge......he ate all of them and then his Lime Sherbet from his tray. Guess who got stuck eating the tray? If you said Stephanie, give yourself another star. Yuck!!

Next we had a small session with Occupational Therapy. This time he had to take small pegs out of one board and put them in holes in another board. (With his right hand of course). He did very well. The thumb and finger motion is getting much better. After the pegs, he had to take these oversized clothes pins off one wire and put them on another wire. He did great with that also.

After that session we grabbed a blanket and his sunglasses and headed outside! As soon as we hit the steps Randy said, "Wow! It's nice out here!"
He kept trying to get his coat before we went outside and I had a hard time convincing him that he wouldn't need it. We took the scenic route to our usual sitting spot. Instead of walking through the hospital, we waked outside on the sidewalk all the way around. It was beautiful. While we were walking I couldn't help but smile. It seems just yesterday that Randy was saying how nice it would be just to walk holding hands again without having to stop and cough or having to wear oxygen. It was just great. Randy was even humming as were walking.

After we sat outside for a while, Randy decided we could both use a Frosty. So we headed up to Wendy's and got a Frosty. Then we walked back outside for the scenic route again. Another funny thing was this. We had to cross a road heading back to our building. I was walking in front kind of playing and pretending to drag Randy behind me when he suddenly snatched away and said, "I going home!" and started walking the other way. It was hilarious! I grabbed his hand while laughing and said, "I don't even have a car here!" .....to which he replied...."Well Somebody does!". He is so very ready to go home. I can't wait to take him there. Life will be so different for us at home! We are used to having 25 foot of oxygen tubing all over the floor, this loud oxygen concentrator making noise so you can't hear the T.V., a wheelchair to get around, and a liquid oxygen system that takes up a lot of space also! The most exciting thing will be moving back to our master bedroom!! Back in May of last year, Randy went on Oxygen full time. Since the 50 foot oxygen tubing lost the concentration of the oxygen, we had to use the 25 foot tubing. Well, if the oxygen machine was in our bedroom, he couldn't reach the living room. So, last May we moved into our guest bedroom. That allowed Randy to get to the guest bathroom, living room and the dining room. He was never able to go in the kitchen because his oxygen wouldn't reach. That meant he couldn't even get a drink unless someone was there to get it for him.Then of course I always had to have a trashcan near Randy because he would cough so hard that he would throw up. Getting ready for bed at night took at least 30 minutes. First I had to make up the night time feedings for his feeding tube, turn his Oxygen up, and set up his tray table with all his medications and breathing treatments. Then we had to hook him up to the feeding pump. He hated that so much! That only tells a little of what life was like before........I just can't imagine what it will be like when we return!!! How exciting!!

Anyway, after we returned from walking, Randy's brother Wayne, his wife Kecia, and our two nieces (Julie and Kacie) came to visit. We ordered Pizza again and then they had to finish watching the basket ball game .....again! How much longer can these games go on!!!!

Now it is 10:30 and my sweet Randy is fast asleep. He can't hold his eyes open past 9:30 since all this rehab! Just think.....only three more days and we can leave the hospital!!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


03.23.01
TGIF!!! (Thank Goodness it's Friday!)

I am so glad it's Friday because that means we can rest a little tomorrow! Even though we still have therapies, they are much shorter secessions.

Okay, let me see if I can remember what happened today! I didn't get my early start and it is already 9:45 at night!

Breakfast is getting old quick. Randy didn't each much. After breakfast he had Speech Therapy. I let him go alone again while I took my shower and cleaned up a little. (This room gets more cluttered everyday!) Today he had therapy with Misty. He has only had her once before. She is sweet and said Randy did well again. She worked on a lot of writing personal information like full name, telephone number, birthdate. It was hard for Randy because of the Aphasia. (From the Stroke) He may write down half of his phone number and then get the last part wrong........or he gets it right and then looks at me to make sure he was right.

After Speech he had Occupational Therapy with Tim. We worked on strengthening exercises with his right hand. There was this strange contraption that they put weights in and then bolted it to the table. Randy had to push it up and down using his right hand. He did it about 32 times. Not bad! I could even see his muscle working. After that Tim had him crush some Coke cans with this little wall cruncher. He used his right hand for that also.

Lunch was next......one BBQ sandwich. He had a good reason for only eating one though. He knew my mom was coming with Bill's Hot Dogs!! Bill's Hot Dogs is this little tiny place in Washington, NC that serves the best Hot Dogs with this great chili. You either love it or hate it! They are very spicy and just wonderful! She was suppose to be here at 3:00 and he asked me at least twelve times how much longer he had to wait!!

At 1:00 Randy had Physical Therapy. He walked 26 minutes on the treadmill again........but this time he got up to 2.4 miles per hour! It is getting better everyday! After the treadmill he did his two flights of stairs and then he took an hour nap. I know this routine is getting old for him because he is so fidgety in the room. He hums, he shakes his foot, and he just can't get comfortable. I know he is just ready to get out of bed and go, go, go!!

Oh, I forgot to mention that we are going to wait to go home Tuesday. It was just too much trouble to leave tomorrow. The place where we will be staying is not reserved for us till Tuesday so it was just easier to stay here. It's okay though...we can make it four more days! Randy looked at the calendar on our wall today and said, "one month!!!" He can't believe he has been here so long! For me it feels like we've been in the hospital forever, but then again it seems like we just got our call last night! Everything is running together!

Misty came back in for his second Speech session at 3:00. We stayed in the room this time and Randy did very well. We did have several interruptions during the session. Two of the doctors came in from the transplant team (I called them because I noticed the incision under Randy's left arm looked like it was open a little). They said everything looked fine and it should heal by itself. After they left we started again and my mom came in with the Bill's Hot Dogs. Randy was so excited that Misty couldn't get him to pay attention anymore so she had him write the words hot dogs, and Linda (my mom's name). Then she made him tell her how many he was going to eat. He held up four fingers and said "FIVE!!" It was really cute. He ended up eating four of them and I put the rest in the fridge.

At 5:30 we decided to walk down to Wendy's for my mom since she didn't want Bill's Hot Dogs again! Randy did great while we were there. He talked up a storm!! It is funny that he decides to start talking a lot about 5:00 each afternoon. It was even funnier in Wendy's because my mom hasn't heard Randy talk a whole lot. Everytime he would stay something that she could understand she would repeat it very loud and squeal in delight. EVERYONE in Wendy's would turn around to stare at us. I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt! Randy just thought the whole thing was great. We he hears that he said something right he gets louder too. Between the two of them, everyone in Wendy's was entertained.

We walked back from Wendy's and Randy had to watch more basketball. Don't you men ever get tired of this stuff???? If I never have to watch another game I will be ever so thankful!! haha He is asleep right now and the T.V. is still on the same channel. I'm going to change it as soon as I'm done with this email!

Well, I guess that will do it for the night. Please start to pray for Randy's next Bronchoscopy. I think it may be next Thursday. Please pray for his body to continue to accept those precious new lungs!

I hope you all have a wonderful, restful weekend!

Love,
Stephanie and a sleeping Randy


03.22.01
Good Morning!!

I say good morning because I am going to try something new today. Instead of trying to remember all the days events at night, I thought I would try typing a little throughout the day! Just an experiment! After I send the email each night I think of 100 things I forgot to tell you all! It may end up way too long if I do it this way but we will try it out for one day and see!

Randy ate a little more for breakfast than he did yesterday but still not much. He had his blood drawn at 7:00 this morning and then they came in again at 8:30 for more blood. (Do you think they sell the stuff??) Anyway, since this isn't really a medical floor it takes them anywhere from three to five sticks before they get in a vein! Poor Randy! This morning it took three. He is not a happy camper when it comes to getting his blood drawn.

They didn't finish until 9:00 and I hadn't had my shower yet! When I got out, Randy was gone. I guess Lindsay came and got him for Speech Therapy............or maybe he ran off with Nurse Monica..........nah. Maybe this is just my payback for leaving him alone last night. Well that's all for now. See you shortly!

Okay..it's almost 4:00....I knew this was not going to work as well as I hoped!! I's just too busy to type during the day!

Speech Therapy went well. It turned out he saw the new therapist today......the one named Stephanie also. Randy came back with seven words that he can say VOLUNTARILY!!! They are no, fine, more, eye, I, ice, and fight. He can say more of course but those are the ones he can say on queue. I had to make her a list of the words and phrases he can say so she can work on making those voluntary also.

After speech we had Occupational Therapy. Today we worked with Frieda since Tim is off. We worked with the PC Piping again. Basically he builds something and then has to take it apart using both his left and right hand. He then worked with this thing called a slide board. It had several blocks of wood with numbers on it. They were all mixed up and he had to slide the pieces around until they were in order. Mrs. Beeker and I laughed because we know we couldn't do it but Randy caught right on. That was to use his problem solving skills and his left hand.

We came back from Occupational and had lunch. The appetite was a little better. He had two hotdogs and one chicken sandwich.

After lunch we had Recreational Therapy with Gina. We played Scrabble but today he did much better. We made him use his right hand. His fine motor skills are improving everyday. He was able to pick up the little srabble tiles with his thumb and index finger. Yesterday he had a really hard time doing that. He spelled GLUE right from the start. The he spelled life and run. The funniest thing was when Gina told him he could make a word going off the board since we were just trying to make words. He didn't want to do that since he knew it wasn't right. Well Mrs. Beeker made a word and it went off the board. Randy looked at her and said "Hey! You can't do that!". We all got a good laugh, including him!

We came back to the room and washed our hands (something we do about 20 times each day now) and Bren from Physical Therapy came to get us. We first did our stretches and then walked on the treadmill for 26 minutes!! And the great news.........his speed got up to 2.0 miles per hour!!! His heart rate only reached 126 on the treadmill. After the treadmill Randy did something he hasn't done in about three years. Are you ready for this??? He dribbled a basketball for about two minutes. He walked back and fourth dribbling it with is left hand. He even did a little with is right hand! It was great to watch and you could see the smile sneaking out from his face mask!! (He has to wear a mask anytime he leaves the room). After the basketball game, Randy did the stairs twice again. Finally we got his heart rate to 140 on the dot!! Finally!! I took us forever! We came back to the room and Randy got to lay down for all of fifteen minutes before Speech Therapy came in.

He has just returned from Speech with Stephanie (I let him go alone again). I think he does well alone with her because he doesn't have anyone else to look at or think about. He didn't seem upset about it today so I think we will keep doing that awhile. It is now a little after 4:00 and Randy is going down for his afternoon nap. I may do the same thing!!

.......................................................

Okay..we slept for a whole hour! It was nice. After our nap we walked down to Wendy's. The funniest thing happened on the way down. It is a very long tunnel from this building to the main hospital where Wendy's is located. As we were walking downhill, Randy suddenly broke into a jog and said "woooaaaaaahhhhh!!!". It was great. Me and Mrs. Beeker couldn't stop laughing!! He only jogged about 6 or 7 steps and then continued walking and said "I'm gonna run!" It was great!!! What a smile he has! It wins my heart all over again!!

For dinner Randy had his three packs of chicken nuggets and French Fries. Same old, same old. I can't wait to cook for this poor boy again! This time I will really be able to fatten him up some!

After dinner Wayne (his brother) came by. Randy hasn't seen him since Monday and was really excited. He practically yelled "Hey!!" when he came in. He talked REALLY well while Wayne was here. It seems so much of his speech has suddenly come back today! The therapist said we would probably see a great improvement over the next week since he started talking so well today.

Well you guys should be really, really proud of me!! It is only 8:00 and I am about to send this email!! Wow! One more piece of good news.........we MIGHT get to go home on Saturday. Home being here in Chapel Hill of course. They will let us know tomorrow if we can stop his IV's two whole days early. I sure hope so!!!

Goodnight!!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


03.21.01
Hello!!

I am going to have to quit promising these emails by 7:00 each night and change it to midnight! It seems it keeps getting later and later when I am able to send them!

Well, today would be eight years and three months if Randy and I were still dating! Thank goodness we are married now! The reason I am telling you all this is because we always wish each other a Happy Anniversary EVERY MONTH on the 21st! Randy is asleep for the night and I want him to be able to read this later and know I still remembered!!

Where do I start! Breakfast was at 8:00 of course...Randy ate his biscuit with jelly and that's all.......he is really, really tired of the same old thing! Then Lindsay came in at 9:00 for Speech Therapy. It went pretty well. More of the same writing and making sounds.

After Speech we had Occupational Therapy again. Randy continued to work on his wooden ship model. It was a little difficult because the pieces are so small and he has to use his right hand a lot. Hopefully tomorrow we will do something new. I don't think he enjoyed working there today. A little too tedious and no fun!

After Occupational Therapy, Mrs. Beeker was nice enough to bring Chick-Fil-A Sandwiches for lunch!! Wow!! They were wonderful!

No sooner than we had finished lunch, Recreational Therapy came in. Randy was not happy. I think it is the least favorite part of his day. The Recreational Therapist's name is Gina and she is great like everyone else here. They really are a great bunch of people. They all care so much about how well everyone does here. Anyway, she had Scrabble out on the table. Randy got seven letters and had to put them together to make words. She had to help him a little at first but then he caught on and spelled sun, run, ran, tan, and a few others I can't remember. After Scrabble, we played that same dice game that we had played a couple days ago. He did really well with that. He even read most of the questions by himself.

We got back in the room and then Jen from Physical Therapy came in!! I wish I could show you a picture of Randy's expression everytime a new therapist comes in. He looks at them like "You can't be serious!!??? Another Therapy??" It is really cute but so pitiful! Anyway, Jen came and took us down to the gym. His stretches went much better today. It looks likes his muscles are trying to relax a little bit. Right in the middle of his stretches, I looked up to see this pretty little thing walking towards Randy. You will never guess who it was!! .......okay......one guess...........................If you said Nurse Monica give yourself a star!! She came all the way over to Rehab to see Randy. His face lit right up and he gave her a big "Hey!!!!!" Monica gave Randy a big hug and I gave him a dirty look.....ha ha ha. She talked to us awhile and I recorded them a little on the transplant tape. After his stretches, he walked twenty three minutes on the treadmill. We got him to walk 1.8 miles per hour today! We only stopped because we were running out of time and still had to do the stairs. Even at 1.8 mph, his heart rate only got to 118!! Can you believe it? We still can't get those new lungs tired! As soon as he sat down to rest a minute, he came out with this.........."I could have done more!" It was still slurred but we all got a good laugh out of it! After about a minute of rest, Randy headed for the stairs. He walked up and down the two flights of stairs TWICE! He went very fast today and we even got his heart rate to 126! We are almost to 140!!

We got back in the room and washed our hands just as Lindsay walked in and said, "Don't you get too comfortable!". It was time for Speech Therapy again. This time we tried something different. She took Randy down the hall to the Speech Therapy office by himself to see how he would do alone. When they returned, she said he did a little better with the sounds. Starting tomorrow we will try doing the first session in the room and the second session in the office. He wasn't very happy about this but I think it may be good for him. Lindsay walked out and then popped her head in the door again. She said, "I just wanted to tell you guys that I am praying for you. One of the Physical Therapist, Bren, and I are in a bible study together at church so we are both praying for you." I thought that was just the nicest thing. She has over heard us talking about church and we always have Praise music playing when she comes in to get Randy. It was wonderful to know she and Bren are both believers! The Lord truly puts us where he wants us doesn't He?

After the second Speech session we walked down to Wendy's. Randy had his three packs of chicken nuggets and his French Fries. Then Mrs. Beeker and I did a little something new. We were asked to go to the Lung Transplant Support Group Meeting tonight at an apartment complex. We are required to go once Randy is discharged but they asked us to go tonight. So, after I explained to Randy where we were going and told the nurse to keep checking on him, we left. It was really hard because Randy has not been left alone in such a long time but we knew it would be good for him and that he had the nurses anytime he needed them. It was only for an hour but he looked so nervous when we left! I will go ahead and tell you here that he did just fine. He was sitting up in bed watching T.V. when I came back. He gave me a big smile and nodded his head that he did fine!

There were about 40 people at the Support Group Meeting. I felt so strange there. It was like there were two different sides. The pre-transplant people that look so scared and alone, and the post-transplant people (only about 6 of us) that were so excited. I felt so much compassion for those pre-transplant patients. It was like I just crossed over to the "good" side and they were all left over on the "unknown" side. I'm not explaining this very well but that's kind of how I felt. It makes you want to reach out to those people (all so young!!) and tell them it's going to be alright! They don't ask many questions, they just listen and look so afraid. Most of them have Cystic Fibrosis so I feel such a connection with them. I wanted to go tell them all to be strong, hold on a little long and it will be their turn soon. Please pray for all those people waiting for transplants. Pray that they will be comforted and keep their present health until their time arrives.

Well, this email got a little longer than I expected. It was 10:00 when I started typing and it is 11:25 now!! Boy are my eyes tired!!

Goodnight all of you!!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy


03.20.01
Hello Again Today!

Randy has tried to say so much today!! Let's see.....he has said, "Oh my goodness, See ya later, yes, no, what?, What'cha doing?, nothing, good, okay" and lots of other things that I can't remember! This involuntary speech thing is great! The even better part is that a lot of it today was VOLUNTARY!!! I just now asked him what he was doing and he smiled and said "nothing"...kind of sounds like "nutten" but hey, I can understand it and it is music to my ears!!

The even better news is that they came in today and told us we would be discharged on March 27th!!! That is next Tuesday! They said he is doing too well to be in inpatient rehab! He will still have outpatient rehab for Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy. Then he will also join the regular Pulmonary Rehab for lung transplant patients! He was really excited to hear them say he would go home next week.

We had a pretty slow morning. No therapy until 11:00. First we had Occupational Therapy. Randy started to put together a model of a wooden ship with sails. He also did a really fun test for his eyes and response time. He stood in front of this huge blue board with little red lights all over it. There had to be over 100 lights. Well one light would come on at a time and Randy had to press each light to turn it off. The response time on his left hand was 2.4 seconds (to find the light and turn it off). The response time with the right hand was 4.9 seconds. Not bad at all! It was good to see that he is using his right eye so much. He knows to turn his head and find the light that was on. He never missed one. He just kept looking till he found it. He even giggled when it took him a while. I told him I enjoyed it so much I thought I would put one on our wall at home for fun!

After Occupational Therapy he ate lunch. Fried shrimp again. That is his favorite hospital food. Too bad it is only on Wednesdays! Everytime I said "fried"...he would say "shem!" for "fried shrimp". It was so cute!

After lunch, we had Speech Therapy. He did great today! We had Lindsay again today and he opened right up. She did a lot of writing and had him fill in blanks. Suddenly he started trying to pronounce the words! Some of them he did just right! Lindsay was great today and he seemed very pleased with his progress.

Next was Physical Therapy. He did his stretches again and then walked 25 minutes on the treadmill! No stopping!! Not only did he walk 25 minutes, he even got up to 1.4 miles per hour. He wasn't too thrilled when we increased the speed, but he soon figured out he could do it with no problem! We still only got his heart rate to 122!! Then we made him walk up and down the two flights of stairs again. At least we go his heart rate to 124......still no 140! We have got to find some harder work for him!

No rest for the weary!!! After that we had Speech Therapy again!!! We did some more writing, talking and filling in the blanks. Lindsay would write,
"Ring the ----" and Randy would fill in the word "bell". Then she would show him an object like a toothbrush and make him spell the word. Sometimes he would have a little trouble and she would just give him about five letters to choose from. He would always pick the right one! She said the best part was that he knew when he made a mistake. If he writes in the wrong letter, he immediately says "no" and erases it! She said that realizing his mistake was a huge step!

Mrs. Beeker got back during the last Speech session. I think I forgot to mention that she went home last Thursday to get a few things done. She came back today during that last speech session. Randy was still trying to talk when she came in. She was really amazed at the improvement. I can see the improvement of course, but it is fun to see everyone's face after they haven't seen him for a few days.

After all the therapies, I gave Randy a shower. All the steri-strips came off and his scar looks great! I'll try to get another picture on the website soon! For those of you that forgot the address, it is: www.oocities.org/randybeeker/ Make sure you sign the guestbook if you visit! I check it everyday and love seeing what everyone has wrote!! Thank you for all the kind words and prayers!

Lastly, we ordered Pizza for dinner. Randy didn't eat quite as much as usual but he did eat pretty well. He has just dozed off now and I think I will follow his lead. I wanted to thank you all again for your prayers. It is great to see Randy's speech finally coming back. Please continue to pray that it returns quickly. I am so very thankful for Randy's attitude. I was so worried that he would be upset and feel hopeless in rehab. I couldn't have been more wrong. He has been so cheerful and always giving me that wonderful smile that I love to see! So thank you all again! Hopefully we will be able to visit you all very soon!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy



03.19.01

I was laying my head on my soft pillow when I sat up and gasped! I forgot to send the email!!!!!! I'm Soooooooooo Sorry!!

My sister-in-law's wonderful mother made us a homemade dinner last night! Homemade Spaghetti and meatballs, bread, green beans and chocolate cake!! It was so delicious and I ate so much I nearly got sick! By the time they left and we watched a few minutes of T.V., we were both so sleepy that it never crossed my mind again!
So I guess you are going to get two updates today! Today's and yesterdays!

Yesterday went well again. We had speech at 9:00 where he mostly went over gestures and writing. I told the therapist I really wanted to work more on his speech since he is trying to talk so much "involuntarily". She said she would make a note of that.

Next we had Occupational Therapy. When we first arrived, the therapist had Randy put away two plastic containers (pretty big and about fifteen pounds each!) in the storage cabinet. He did great! His right side didn't even droop! Next, Randy was able to use (special) scissors with his right hand and cut a small piece of paper. Then he used what was called "The Talking Pen". There were thick black lines on this pad and you have to trace the lines with the pen. If you go outside the lines, it makes an awful buzzing sound! He did pretty well on it. Of course he was only able to use his right hand for the exercise.

After that we walked down to that awful place for lunch. Just kidding! We went to Wendy's of course and Randy had three packs of chicken nuggets, a French Fry, a tea and his Frosty. I hate to say it again but I think he is losing his appetite for this Hospital food and Wendy's.

As SOON as we got back from lunch and our long walk to Wendy's, the Physical Therapist came in to have Randy do his therapy. Poor Thing!! With the Physical Therapist, he did a lot of stretches. I had no idea how tight all his muscles were! He couldn't sit up straight and keep his legs straight out in front of him. We will really have to work on keeping him all stretched out! After about twenty minutes of stretches, he walked up and down two flights of stairs, and walked on the treadmill for fifteen minutes. The fastest he went was 1.2 miles per hour. He could have walked much faster but he is so nervous about increasing his speed! The very fastest he has walked in the last year on the treadmill was 1.0. I think that even though he knows he has new lungs, it is still hard to let them do their job. The physical therapist wanted to get him working so his heart rate would go up to 140 beats per minute. After fifteen minutes of walking, his heart rate was only at 118!!! No matter how much we showed him his Oxygen Level (98%) and his Heart rate of 118, he would not let us increase his speed. The therapist doesn't want to push him or scare him so she let him stop without increasing past 1.2 for now. He'll get there but it will take a little trust on his part that his lungs will work for him!

After we got back from physical therapy he was really tired. We had not stopped since 8:00. I told him he could take a nap and rest for a while. As soon as he fell asleep his doctors came in from the hospital to check him out and make sure everything was going okay. He sat up and talked with them for a while They did decrease some of his IV's but he will have to stay on them until next Monday just as a precaution. The wonderful thing is that he doesn't have any in the middle of the night anymore. One at 10:00 PM and then no more until 6:00 AM. At least we can sleep without many interruptions now. (It was much better last night).

So when they left, I told Randy...."Okay, you can really rest now". He laid down and hadn't even gotten comfortable yet when the Recreational Therapist and the Speech Therapist came in again! They took us down to the Recreation Room and we played a little game where we read a card out loud with a question on it. They were all yes and no questions so we answered yes or no. Randy had a little piece of paper with yes on one side and no on the other. I read the card for him and he chose the correct answer. He did very well.

So finally we got back to the room at 3:30 and Randy did sleep until 5:00. Then he woke up and we talked a bit (or I did) while we waited for our dinner to arrive! Wayne and Kecia came (Randy's brother and sister-in-law) and her parents (Linda and Donald Haith). They had such a wonderful meal prepared and I was ever so grateful! Randy was so happy to see our nieces, Julie and Kacie. They make his smile even bigger!

And so now you know why I forgot the email last night! I hope you will all forgive me! I will try to do better tonight!

Love,
Stephanie and Randy



03.18.01
Good Evening!!

Today was a pretty lazy day. We got up about 8:00 to eat and then the speech therapist (Betsy) came in again. We worked on saying "My Pie" because he is getting good at "M" sounds and "P" sounds. Since "Hi" was his first word, most things end in "igh". He can say "sigh", "pie", and "my" really well. He still gets frustrated saying those words though because he has trouble switching to different letter sounds.

After breakfast and speech we dozed off and on until 12:00!! Unfortunately, Randy seems to be getting tired of the food here. Wendy's AND the Hospital food! He didn't eat too much lunch. For dinner we ordered Chinese. He did eat a lot of his Shrimp Fried Rice but not as much as usual.

I gave Randy another shower today. He is still a little funny about getting his scars wet. When I was drying him off I noticed the funniest thing. I found one little staple left in his chest! I'm sure we can get it out tomorrow. He was nice and fresh for his company!

About 1:30 we had some visitors from our Church. They brought in this huge basket filled with snacks and drinks. We sat in on the bed in front of him and he said almost as clear as day, "Oh My Goodness!". Everyone looked at me and said, "I thought he couldn't talk!". It was great.

I talked to the speech therapist about it this morning. Starting yesterday, he sometimes says things that you can make out....whole sentences sometimes! She said it is called Involuntary Speech. It is great and Randy gets so excited when he hears himself! When one of the men from church asked Randy what time the Tarheels played today, he said "Three,......no.....Four". Sometimes it comes out so clear and sometimes you can understand it but it is slurred. It is just wonderful! The funny thing is, if you ask him to repeat what he has said, he can't do it. I guess that's why they call it involuntary!

We went outside again today at about 3:00. It was beautiful here even though I hear it was pretty chilly at home. We enjoyed the sun until Randy made it clear that he wanted to be back by 4:00 to see Carolina play. I think he wishes he missed it now!

After our trip outside, we ate our Chinese and then dosed a little bit more and munched on our goodie basket. I'm going to try to get him to go to the recreation room in a little bit. They have scrabble and I hope he can put some words together for me.

I know I promised a long email today but I just don't have more to write about!! I'm sure tomorrow I will have plenty to write about! We will have one hour of Physical Therapy, one hour of occupational therapy and two hours of speech (two one hour secessions).

I hope you all have a nice start to your week tomorrow!

Love, Stephanie and Randy


03.17.01
Happy St. Patrick's Day! (I didn't even wear any green today!)

Sorry I'm late again. Today was good but we are so tired! We are still not sleeping great because of these IV's. This email may be a little shorter than normal because it is almost 11:00!!

Today we woke up at 7:00 because our friend called to tell us their baby was born last night! So Congratulations to Channing and Chastity Armstrong on the birth of their new baby boy!! Only a little over five pounds!! He is doing very well!

Randy ate his breakfast....all of it.....and then we had speech therapy again. It went very well today. We had one of the graduate students that visited us while we were in the other room. Randy is still working on some sounds but sometimes it sounds like he almost says things like, "Really?, Yes, No, I hope so, Bathroom". When he wants something it almost comes right out but when you tell him to repeat it, he can't. I think that is just part of his brain trying to recover. He knows when he almost says something correctly and then he gets all excited.

During his Physical Therapy session, he walked 20 minutes on the treadmill without stopping!! We had a new therapist named Sylvia who was really sweet. She only wanted him to do ten minutes but he just kept going! It was great to watch!

At Occupational Therapy, he did even better with that right hand. Another Therapist named Frieda worked with him today. He can hold his hand above his head and is using his fingers more. Today they put some putty in his hands and let him mold it (with both hands). Then she put in some small plastic pieces and had him find each one and pull it out. He did really well and enjoyed doing it. All smiles!!

We had several visitors today. His Aunt and Uncle, my mom and step-dad, and then my cousin and her fiancée that I haven't seen in over ten years! We had a great visit and we are now all done in for today.

Oh, by the way, he ate a whole pint of Brunswick Stew and 4 hot-dogs for dinner!!

We will continue his therapies again tomorrow but it will only be 30 minute sessions like today. That way we can rest a little!

Well, I think I'm going stop for now. I promise to resume my usual "long" update tomorrow! I'm just so sleepy tonight for some reason!!

Please enjoy the worship services for us tomorrow!! We can't wait to join you again!

Love, Stephanie and Randy


03.16.01
Whew!! What a day!

Today began at 7:30 this morning. Actually it felt like we didn't sleep because the nurse was in here all last night hanging IV's and turning on all the lights. It was no fun. Anyway, at 7:30 we woke up for good, and I took my shower. When I got out, breakfast was already here. Randy ate everything on his tray and then the Speech Therapist came in. Her name is Lindsey and she is about my age. She is very sweet but I don't think she knew exactly where Randy was in his speech. She kept asking him to say words and read sentences and fill in blanks. It was way too much. She went to take a call and Randy got very upset. When she returned, I tried to explain that we are only really working on sounds right now and that this was more information than he was ready to take in. I'm not sure if she was trying to give him a push or if she was really rushing things. She didn't seem to slow down at all. When she left, Randy was very upset for about an hour. He was just devastated that he wasn't able to talk and understand what she was saying. It was very hard to see. They are thinking about putting him on a small dose of an Antidepressant just so that he doesn't feel overcome with emotion while trying to regain his speech. Please pray really hard for this situation.

Randy took about a fifteen minute nap and felt better when he woke up.

Next, the Occupational Therapist (Tim) came in. He is really great and Randy seemed to take right to him. He worked his arm some and then we went to the "gym" on this floor. It's really one end of the hallway that is opened up and cleaned out. It has several little exercise machines and games to help with coordination. Tim tested the amount of pressure that Randy could exert with each hand by squeezing this metal device. He could squeeze 55 pounds of pressure with his left hand and 10 pounds of pressure with his right hand. I was impressed with that though because he only began making a fist and squeezing yesterday. We did find out two important things during occupational therapy. We learned that Randy can not feel his right hand from his elbow down. It is completely numb. We had him close his eyes and then open them when he felt a prick. Tim took a sharp, metal prong and touched his left hand and he opened his eyes. He felt everything on his left hand but when he closed his eyes and we moved to his right hand, he never opened his eyes until we got past his elbow. When he opened his eyes we did it again and he shook his head no. Secondly, we found out that he is missing a huge line of vision in his left eye. We knew that he was having a little trouble with his eye because he holds the board funny when trying to write. Also, we knew the stroke affected the occipital lobe of the brain (the part that controls vision). He can only see out of his left eye if you hold something directly in front of his nose. It will depend on how much his brain rewires itself before we see how much sensation will return in his arm, and vision in his eye. We could see progress up to two months. That gives us about five more weeks. The Lord has been so good to us so far that we will not worry. He is the Great Physician! It is great that we understand what kind of losses Randy has experienced because that means we can work on it!

Next, we ate lunch. We walked down to Wendy's again. (It's really getting old!) You will never believe what Randy ate today......or maybe you will by now. He ate FIVE orders of chicken nuggets!!! That's 25 chicken nuggets!! He also had his frosty again......I'm gaining weight just watching him!

Just as he was finishing up, the Physical Therapist came in. Her name is Bren and she is great also. We did some balancing exercises and stretches. He was a little wobbly at first then caught right on. He walked on the treadmill about five minutes (faster than ever before and at 98% Oxygen the whole time!). Then he used this machine that is like a bicycle for the hands and arms. We had to put an ACE bandage around his right hand so it would stay on the handle. He did that for about three minutes. In all, we worked about 45 minutes with Bren. It went very well and he was pooped afterwards!

No one came in after 2:00 and he slept for almost two hours! This his CF Doctor, Dr. Scott Donaldson came in to visit. He has come almost everyday since his transplant. Randy woke up while he was here. He loves Dr. Donaldson and always gives him a big smile! He showed him his hand again and his new sound for the day. It is the "S" sound. He even wrote Scott for him on his board! Dr. Donaldson was the only one that could make him smile while he was in ICU!

For dinner, we walked down to Wendy's AGAIN!!! He ate four packs of nuggets this time. (You can't tell he's a picky eater can you??) We walked back to the room and now he is bored. It's hard keeping someone entertained when you don't have much to play with. I'm gonna have to get some games up here!

Well, I guess this email is long enough for one day! All in all, today was good except for the upset with Speech Therapy. I'm sure it will only improve. Tomorrow we will have the other Speech Therapist. Her name is Stephanie....I'm sure she will be wonderful......haha.

Good Night! Stephanie and Randy



03.15.01
Guess What Everyone!!??
We are in Rehab!!!

I think we got the best room on the floor. It is one of the oldest buildings beside the hospital. Back in the 1950's this building was used to quarantine patients with Tuberculosis! Sounds scary for someone that just had a double lung transplant but I was assured nothing remained behind. haha

Anyway, even Randy's face lit up when they opened the door. Even though it is old, we have a huge window that overlooks the main street (Manning Drive), the parking deck, and the walkway that joins the parking deck to the hospital. Not a bad view! The funny thing is instead of a thermostat, we have a huge, loud radiator! It works well though so we won't complain! I was really worried that Randy thought we were going home instead of a different room. I kept telling him that we were going to a different part of the hospital to learn how to talk and move his right hand again. Thank goodness he understood.

Today was really a very boring day. We got up and went to X-ray, then Randy ate while I packed everything!! We waited and stared at the clock from about 10:00 till 3:15 when they finally came and got us. We didn't even do any walking because we thought they were coming anytime. Oh, we did get to do one new thing! Randy took his first shower. He was very nervous about it but he did help me wash his hair. I helped him out with the rest and I know he felt so much better afterwards. That was the highlight of my day :) haha.....I even gave him a good shave! He is bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed and my mother would say. haha

Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you all! Last night, about thirty minutes after I sent the email update, the doctors came in and removed all of Randy's staples and his stitches from his chest tubes! It wasn't painful at all. He only flinched when three of them came out. They did put these steri-strips on them though so you really still can't see the scar! I want to see it so bad without all that stuff on it! I even recorded some of it on my transplant tape. I don't think I've told you guys that I have had a running video tape for transplant going since about last September. It starts with us having a picnic and I tried to record different parts of the transplant process. Hey, maybe I'll air it on CBS one day. Or maybe it would do better on Emergency 911: Life in the ER. haha

We did get in some walking about 8:00 tonight. We walked all the way back to the main hospital by underground tunnel, and then to the Wendy's. By the way, if I never eat at another Wendy's again it will be too soon. I have been living on Wendy's for almost three weeks now. Thank goodness they have a little bit of a selection. After the walk to Wendy's we walked to the gift shop again (he's still looking for those beanie baby bears!) and then back to the room. It was a very long walk and some of it was uphill.

Let me just update you on Randy's dinner tonight.......2 hot-dogs, a bowl of potato soup, french fries, chocolate ice cream and three chocolate twinkies with icing. What a pig!!

Well, tomorrow starts the hard part. He has breakfast at 8:00, lunch at 12:00 and dinner at 5:00. In between he has Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy. No more sleeping in until 9:00. He has to be ready to go after breakfast. I'm not sure of the exact schedule yet. Please pray that he does well and doesn't get frustrated with himself or any of the therapist.

Hopefully we will only be here a week or so. I am so anxious to hear Randy start talking again. It will be music to my ears! Oh, here is the new address and phone number for those of you that wanted it!

           UNC Hospital 
           Attn: Randy Beeker 
           Gravely Building-Room 3919 
           101 Manning Drive 
           Chapel Hill, NC 27514 
           (919) 966-1513 

I hope you all have a wonderful end to your week tomorrow!

Love, Stephanie and Randy

P.S. Keep checking that website of ours www.oocities.org/randybeeker/ You may be seeing some pictures tomorrow if I sent them to my web connection friend correctly!!


03.14.01
Howdy Everyone!
Randy has definitely said his first word. He has said "Hi" to everyone that he has passed and everyone that called today! When the transplant coordinator came in (she is great and her name is Brandi) I pointed to Randy and he said "HIIIIIIII!!". She started crying immediately! Everyone was so excited to hear him say his first word!

His hand is getting better and better everyday. It is unbelievable! Today I put several items on his lap and had him pick them up with his right hand and hold them in the air. We started with a small bottle of lotion and worked our way up to a heavy flashlight. You can tell he is very proud of his hand. We can be watching T.V. and when I glance at him, he is holding his hand in the air and staring at it while he moves it. And he can't say "Hi" without a huge smile on that sweet face!

We went for only one walk today. Walking around this floor twenty thousand times is getting old fast. The walk was really long though. We went down to the 2nd floor and went outside, then back to the main hospital to look in the gift shop. We had a visitor from our previous church today (Doug Johnson) and he said he almost couldn't keep up with Randy! We will walk again tonight though....even it is just laps!

Everything still looks good for moving to Rehab tomorrow. We thought we may move today but they said we would just wait till tomorrow. Also, we found out that Randy will be IV free as of tomorrow! No more pushing a pole around! That will be the last thing to go!

Oh, today Brandi (transplant coordinator) came in to give me a handful of prescriptions to get filled at the hospital pharmacy. I dropped them off at 1:00 and went back about 4:00 to pick them up. MY GOODNESS!! They gave me two huge paper bags full of boxes and bottles!! I've never seen so many drugs in my life! And I thought Randy was on a lot before! I unloaded all the bags and placed everything all around Randy and took some pictures. It was really funny. It is worth taking all those pills if it will keep him healthy!

Well, we just finished our second walk. Eight laps....we could have done more but it's time for Survivor. We have to watch that along with the rest of America. haha He is getting faster everyday. I'm looking forward to getting rid of the IV's. Pushing the IV pole gets difficult!

It's getting a little boring around here because we are doing so good and so ready to go home. Hopefully I will be emailing you from Rehab tomorrow. That's when the real work will start for Randy. The recuperation from the transplant went so well. The mental work will be much more difficult. It is not easy to learn how to talk again but he is a trooper! Please pray really hard for his speech. It is so frustrating for him when what he wants to say doesn't come out correctly.

I hope you all have a happy Thursday!

Love, Stephanie


03.13.01
Hey You All!
I'm sorry I'm late again! I almost forgot!

It's been another fabulous day! God continues to amaze us through Randy everyday! Some of the results from the Broncoscopy came back today....all negative for rejection! That is just so wonderful! Also, thank you for praying for Mary Lou. She is doing a little better everyday. She finally got her chest tubes out today.

Today started off with an X-Ray (still checking them every once in a while). Everything went well. We came back and Randy ate his eggs, jelly biscuit and hot chocolate. It looked so beautiful outside that we decided to walk out a little early. We sat outside for about thirty minutes and then came back. We rested a while (that sunshine wore us out!) and then came back and lunch was here. Randy's favorite...shrimp! He ate all of those and then he ate two of my three hotdogs!! I'm gonna starve if he keeps this up!

My mom came up for the day and it was still pretty so we walked outside again. On the way down we passed a gift shop. Randy saw the beanie babies and just had to go in and get him one. He collects the bears so he got "kicks"...with a soccer emblem. He held onto him while we sat outside and all the way back to the room. For dinner he ate a double portion of Lasagna.

While we were watching T.V, Randy kept trying to tell us something. We finally figured out it was a Frosty! He has been eating those for the last few nights and now he expects them before he crawls in bed! We told him he had to walk once more if he wanted his Frosty! Mrs. Beeker walked down to Wendy's while we walked. We only did seven laps because he saw his mom coming with the Frosty! How spoiled can you get!

As far as other things today, his arm is still moving great. He is even beginning to move his fingers a tiny bit. The speech therapist came in today and worked with Randy on copying words and matching symbols. He did better today that he has the whole time. Even the therapist was shocked!

As far as his weight, I can't remember what I emailed out last. Anyway, he is up to 110.8 lbs now.

The best part so far is the wonderful smiles we keep getting! His face could light up the world. If you could see him right now you wouldn't believe it! Everyone at the hospital keeps saying how sweet he looks. That smile is just hilarious. He looks like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar all the time!

Tonight he accidentally made a word that sounded like "Hi". Of course we jumped right on it and had him repeat it over and over. I told him to say that to everyone that came in the room. He didn't really understand so when he was doing it pretty good, I ran out the door and ran back in and said "HI!!". He got so tickled that he couldn't even make a sound. When he laughs nothing comes out but it is so cute! His shoulders just shake. It took him several times of me doing that before he could stop laughing enough to say "HI!" back to me. It kind of sounds like "higher" because he puts an "r" on the end. It is so sweet sounding though! It's like watching your child try to say their first word.

We were being so loud with our laughing, clapping, and screaming that the nurse came in laughing. She said there were two rooms beside us with elderly patients. BOTH rooms asked her if there were children in this room! We all got a kick out of that!

I'm sorry I'm so late again. I really will try to have these sent out by 7:00 each night but I won't make any promises! Oh, I forgot one more thing! We found out that Randy will be going to Rehab sometime Thursday. If I am late with my email, please forgive me....it's probably because we are moving. I think we have everything in this room except our kitchen sink!

Thank you again for your cards and prayers. Please continue to pray for Randy's speech and right arm. We feel so confident that he will have a complete recovery!

We love you! Stephanie

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Transplant Update through 03.12.01 Update

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Contact the Beekers at thebeekers@PRODIGY.NET

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