Urgent Prayer Request from Friend Jean

UPDATE FEB. 25
Psalm 28: 6-7 "Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trust in him and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song."What a day!! It started off slow and sad with Alex in and out of sleep, not even able to lift his arm off the bed. His eyes were glazed over, like last time and I wasn't even sure he could see me. He didn't respond to anything I said and that made my heart sick (no leaping yet!)At the 2 visit, he slept most of the hour with a few moments where he would open his eyes and then look immediately down. I told him at one point that he at least needed to squeeze my hand so I knew he heard me and he did! (a bit of heart leaping!) At the 5:30 visit, they had taken him completely off the ventilator and he had on what they called a "cuff" which was only a single tube going to the oxygen. He was breathing completely on his own! That was major heart leaps! He was awake the entire hour and responded to almost everything I asked. He put up the correct amount of fingers (and I even tried to trick him by putting up 6, but he wasn't fooled!), I asked him to lift the foot that he had tucked under the other one and slowly but surely, he lifted his foot. Then I asked him to lift the other one and he did and clapping and cheers were heard by all!!He had many faithful friends come to visit and he enjoyed each one. They were a great encouragement to Alex! By the end of the hour, Alex was spent and closed his eyes from sheer exhaustion!! God had heard my cry for mercy for Alex and gave me much cause for songs of joy!! I am actually looking forward to the night nurse's call. And that's a first!!May you be as encouraged as I am for the great day Alex had and spend time praising God for His mercy and faithfulness!With heartfelt thanks for YOUR faithfulness,Love,Susan

Subj: morning update
Date: 2/20/2009 8:11:40 AM Eastern Standard Time

Lamentations 22-24, "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him."God had compassion on Alex last night and showered him with His great love. When the nurse called this morning her first words were, "I was talking with your son this morning...." WHAT!! "Oh yes, he's more alert and can communicate with me so I asked him if he knew where he was and he shook his head no, so I told him he that he was at PGHC, then I asked him if he knew what happened to him and he shook his head no, so I told him that he got beat up". She continued to share with me all that she and Alex talked about this morning!! (tears and sobs of joy!!)Alex doesn't like having his hands tied down (news flash!!) so she explained to him why they were tied down so hopefully he's beginning to realize that his struggling is making it worse for him.His medication was all over the place last night because of his two fevers so she is going to try and wean him off of most of them before the next shift takes over. She asked me if he smoked (that's the second nurse that's asked me that question) because of all of the gunk she got out of his lungs last night. So pray that the fever wasn't caused by another infection in his lungs. They took another chest xray and I will get the results of that this morning.I am looking forward to seeing Alex's strength being renewed today just like God promised in Isaiah!!I have a feeling the rollercoaster is going up today!Thanks for your prayers,
I love you all,
Susan

UPDATE: I really like this kind of update!

Philippians 4:6,7 "The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."Alex had a rough night last night and my heart aches that I couldn't be there with him calming his anxious thoughts. They had to put his legs in restraints also because he was trying to pull out his tubes with his feet. Please, please pray that Alex will feel the Lord's presence surrounding him this morning, that he will be calm and less anxious so that improvement can continue. When he fights, they have to give him more medication which messes with his blood pressure and other numbers so it's a constant battle with his nurse to try and keep him stable. He must be so afraid not having any familiar voices to hear and that just hurts my heart. I asked if we could come in early to try and calm him but they said no. So please pray that the Holy Spirit would speak words of comfort and healing to Alex, the Lord would "guard his heart and his mind in Christ Jesus" and that Alex would supernaturally experience God's peace.I could use a dose of heavenly wisdom and patience this morning also as I minister to him with my words, countenance, and touch. God bless each of you as you faithfully lift up prayers for my dear son.Love,Susan

Urgent Prayer Request from Friend Jean

Dear friends,

Our nephew, Alex Bryan, who lives in MD, was assaulted at 1:30 am Sunday morning and is in ICU at Prince George's General Hospital off BW Parkway. This hospital specializes in head trauma. Alex has a shattered jaw and skull fractures. He is being kept in a drug induced coma until the swelling in his brain goes down; he is on a respirator and there is still bleeding in the brain. The ENT doctor has been unable to determine how much damage has been done to his ear because there is too much blood - there will be some hearing loss, he just doesn't know how much at this time. The doctors cannot begin repairs to Alex's jaw until his brain is doing better. The way the jaw is broken is causing much pressure on the ear so that is not helping the situation.


There was marked improvement in brain activity from the time of the first CAT scan to the second CAT scan on Sunday but no improvement in brain activity since then. A nurse put in 2 ports (chest and arm) to make administering medicines more easy. When she was putting in the chest port, she punctured Alex's lung. As a result, he now also has a hose inserted through his side to keep the lung inflated. The lower part of his lung is not responding so far.

The doctors have been slowly reducing the medicine that keeps Alex in a coma in hopes he will be able to be taken off the respirator. They check his responses during these times and Alex thrashes around and tries to pull out all his hoses. It takes two people to hold him down while they sedate him again. At 5 AM this morning, Alex managed to push the respirator out so they had to sedate him again and insert another tube. As a result, Alex is now back up to the maximum drug induced state and will have to begin lowering the dosage gradually all over again. Alex has not regained consciousness since the assault and has only squeezed the nurse's hand once when asked to do so at 3 pm yesterday.

My sister, Susan, husband, Danny, other sons, Andrew and Adam would covet your prayers for Alex's healing and for no infection or blood clots to occur during his hospital stay.

Also, prayers for the boy who assaulted Alex. The boy turned himself in to the police Monday. Unprovoked violence is a complete mystery to me. I am thankful God understands and can use any circumstance to show his power and mercy. May others come to know him as a result of this trial and may he bring healing to Alex very soon.

Thank you very much for your prayers. If your church has a prayer chain, please add Alex to it. I will update you when there is something new to report. Intercession is being made on Alex's behalf all over the world and we are so grateful.

God bless and keep you all.