David Spears 
Thank you for visiting our website. We want to thank each of you for your support in the days since David's accident. Your prayers and visits have meant so much to us. Please continue to pray. We will be providing updates to David's condition as often as we are able. Thank you,
Robert Spears
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Click here to go to
latest update at David's new online
home. A big thanks to Nathaniel Johnson
for providing this new site.
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Update - November 4, 2004 Day 532Psa. 73:25-28 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works. We have several pieces of good news to report to you: (1) David's prosthetic eye is finally "finished" - at least for now. He still needs artificial tears in both eyes. (2) In addition, Dr. Tucker, our family opthamalogist graciously and kindly searched out and found a special head band for David's glasses so that they won't fall off his nose!!! David really needed this modification to his glasses so they won't slide down his nose. Dr. Tucker has also ordered a special measurement device that he can use on David and other patients that cannot use his standard diagnostic equipment. He has already checked David's eye and this will allow us to have a "baseline" for comparison in the coming years so we can track David's prescription changes (hopefully none!!) so that he will be eligible for laser surgery or contacts, which ever would serve him better. (3) The therapists continue to use serial casting to help David gain more flexibility and range of motion. David has had several different casts on his right arm (his good arm). He has now "graduated" to a bi-valve (2 piece) fiberglass cast on this arm (which he likes much better since it is only on about 50% of the time!! YEAH!!) Now he has a plaster cast on his left arm for the same purpose. At night, when he has both casts on, he looks pitiful, like he was in a bad car wreck. (Well, he was, but didn't break any bones other than his skull!!). (4) He continues to eat well by mouth and we are down to 2 or less cans of liquid nourishment per day (from 10). In fact, we are having to cut his caloric intake to keep him from gaining weight. He has very little "tonality" or spasticity since the baclofen pump was implanted (except for his neck muscles which are above the insertion point of the baclofen). David PASSED a swallow study and a chew study so he can now eat about anything he wants. At church last night, I feed him what everyone else in the church was eating (pork tenderloin, rice, green beans, etc.). (5) David is sleeping a little better, but still wakes Jenny sometimes. We finally have the seminary student that stays with David 3 nights a week. It is great because we can get 8 hours of sleep. The doctor also changed David's prescription to Trazodone, which works the best of all medicines so far to keep him asleep. But we didn't get very clear directions, so the first night we gave him a whole pill (150 mg) and he stay asleep for almost 20 hours!!! We reduced the dosage to 50 mg/day. It seems to be working well. (6) The speech therapist continues to work with David on his tongue movement (so that he can chew more solid foods) and on making fundamental sounds for talking. We are still waiting for a communication board that will enable him to more easily communicate - it has been ordered but has not arrived yet. He is still using "uh-huh" and a "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" to direct us. He seems to have VERY good memory and cognative ability. He follows conversations, jokes, TV programs, and movies. We really like it when he laughs - which he does to jokes, comedies, and funny recollections of the past (esp. those involving him). (7)We are SO THANKFUL to God for providing a registration, title, and tag for the van. WE ARE FINALLY LEGAL!!!!! In addition, the people at the Department of Motor Vehicles were kind to us and didn't charge us all the late fees and other taxes they could have - it cost us about $200 instead of a possible $7-800!! Now we feel freedom to go more places with David although with the price of gasoline at ~ $2/gallon and the van only getting 11 mpg, we don't want to go too far!!! Praise God with us!!! (8) David still communicates primarily through "uh-huh" and with "thumbs up" and thumbs down" - We've decided (along with several of the therapists) that David's cognitive ability is higher than at least 49% of the population - He gives a big "thumbs down" to John Kerry and John Edwards and a big "thumbs up" to President Bush and Vice-President Cheney!!! (9) Other news: the siding and windows on the garage addition are FINALLY COMPLETE. Now all I have to do is pay for the work!! Yeah!!! (10) Thank you again for praying, writing, calling, making meals, cleaning house, and a thousand other kindnesses!!! Please continue to pray for David's Spiritual, physical, mental, social, and relational health and growth. Pray specifically for his ability to speak, for the use of his left arm and leg, relaxation of the muscles in his neck, his ability to feed himself. Pray for Jenny as she ministers to him along with our CNAs, esp. Vardry (she comes every day during the week). I would ask you to pray for one other thing: that we could get enough caretakers to help with David next week (Wednesday through Saturday) so that Jenny and I could go to a Christian counseling conference in Philadelphia . John 11:17-27 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha *said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.” Update - December 21, 2004 Day 579Romans 12:15 "Rejoice with those who rejoice…" We have much good news to report!!! First an apology for not updating the site - my wife decided that she was tired of our house being a wreck (for most of the past 2 3/4 years since we started some renovations a year before David's accident) so she scheduled an "all-church" and "all-friends" open house for Saturday, December 18. She made this decision about 6 weeks ago and since then it seems we have worked night and day to finish the inside renovations and then clean up afterwards. But we made it!!! The inside of the house (and most of the outside) is 98% complete!!! This included new hardwood floors in the living room, dining room, and entrance way, new door and window trim throughout, new baseboards and shoe molding, new paint everywhere including the ceilings and doors. But the best news is about David: He begain to
talk (alot)
early in November and hasn't stopped. We really like hearing him talk.
Normally, speech improvement is a slow, step-by-step process that
progresses from basic sounds to short words that are repeated after
hearing them, then repeating short phrases, then saying words on your
own, then short phrases or sentences in response to questions, and
finally initiating conversation or asking questions on your own. David
progressed from a few single repeated words over the past few months to
asking questions and making statements on his own in 2-3 weeks. It was
amazing!! Here are some examples: He also can tell us helpful things - "My arm hurts" or "I want the applesauce" or "I want my blue shirt" One early morning, Jenny (who gets up very early and is a "morning person") was giving David some medicine and water through his stomach tube and she was chatting cheerfully about the events of the day when David suddenly said, "Stop.....Talking......Please"!!! We are very encouraged and helped by David's progress and are very thankful to our Lord and to His people who have prayed faithfully for months. We would ask you to pray for some more things: 1) Pray for continuing therapy for David - in occupational, physical, and speech. 2) Pray for his continued improvement in speech 3) Pray for wisdom for us as we decide about possible surgery to help David 4) Pray that some needed new equipment will arrive soon - a new bed, a lift to raise David from his room level to the first floor of our home (so we can eat meals together at the table) and a new room in our new garage for at-home therapy(more construction work for me!!) 5) Pray that David's Spiritual growth and interest (as well as our own) will grow and deepen!! Thank you all again for all your help, prayers, and support. Romans 5:3-8 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.Day 596 Please, please forgive us for not updating the website. No real excuses except that it is difficult to update. I can’t do it and Robert is VERY busy. David is making great progress. Many things have happened in the months since the last update. He was discharged from all therapies in February. There were really two underlying reasons for this. For one thing, the therapists (mainly occupational and physical) did not feel he was making any progress. (We, of course, disagreed.) The second and over-riding reason was that David underwent tendon release surgery on February 16. His feet and toes were so curled under due to the muscle tone, that he would never be able to bear weight nor stand. The orthopedic surgeon recommended a fairly radical, though routine, surgery. The Achilles tendons on both ankles were severed as well as 4 “toe” tendons on his left foot and 1 on his right foot. He was supposed to be in the hospital 1-2 days. That stay grew into 13 days. Someone (Jenny, Robert, Rebekah, friends) stayed with him 24 hours a day. He had various medical problems unrelated to the surgery. We were expecting to have the casts on about 4 weeks. They are still on!! Molds have already been made for the orthotic braces he will wear once the casts are off. He is scheduled to get the casts off on Friday, April 22. Please pray that all is well with the healing process and the casts will come off then. David asks many times a day, “How many more days?” His short-term memory is very poor, but he will often ask us to multiply the number of days by 24 so he can know how many more hours are left! I just asked him what he would have friends pray for and he said, “my feet.” Other good news: David no longer has a feeding tube. He is able to take his medications by mouth and can eat most foods; but he still has to have thickened liquids. We are waiting for another swallow study to clear him for all foods and liquids. Please pray that the swallow study can be completed soon. More good news: He is talking more and more. Those who are with him on a daily basis can understand him most of the time. He remembers most things before the wreck; not much since. When watching TV, he asks questions and makes editorial comments. He says, “boo” and gives a thumb’s down if he ever hears anyone on TV take the Lord’s name in vain. Any talk of adultery or infidelity gets the same response. Last night we were watching something and a commercial came on for a “feminine product.” He asked me to mute the volume and then said, “Some things shouldn’t be talked about on TV.”!!!! We do appreciate your prayers and concern. |
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Communication is desired and appreciated. However, phone calls can be overwhelming at times. Therefore, we ask you to send cards and letters to: David Spears Email can be received at res3@bellsouth.net. Please feel free to sign our guestbook.To view our guestbook click here. To see the "many faces of David Spears"
click here. To view previous reports: Archive Page NEW: Index of Scripture Texts. |
