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| I have been a single army wife for almost 2 months now. It has been a long, but fast, 2 months. It was a hard decision for us to make, but Scott and I felt that with how things are going with our finances and the economy that we should be making this decision. He is at BCT at Fort Jackson in South Carolina and will then go to AIT at Fort Eustis in Virginia until March 3. We will get our orders sometime in January or February. I am driving with my mom down to SC and then driving my husband from there to VA. I will also fly out there for t-day, and he'll fly back here for x-mas. | | |
| After a week and a half in the hospital, Rick died at 12:43am on June 18th in Freeman Hospital. Mom was accompanied by a friend of the family at the hospital. They were both sound asleep when he passed, unbeknownst to them, and was discovered when kim woke up to use the restroom. This was our first sign of peace to lead us down the road to recovery. There is only one way to go from here, and it sure ain't down! We are at peace with where Rick's heart was and am comforted by this fact. We just had our viewing at Ulmer Funeral Home, and the line was out the door for at least an hour. He was truly loved by many people from all walks of life. Our memorial service will be held next Friday at Fairview Christian at 6pm. We are presently celebrating his life and will continue to past the closing of the memorial service. Please keep our family in your prayers. Mom will be starting a new journey as a widow. Please keep her in your prayers. In lieu of flowers, we are accepting donations to the Rick Kean Memorial Fund in care of Ulmer Funeral Home. He loved taking care of people and that's what we would love to do in his honor. | | |
| Today has been a long day, along with yesterday. We have felt their are many positive responses throughout the week, even having some affirmation from some of the staff. After some observation, those responses didn't seem so positive. The nurses started to observe them as a sign called posturing, which is a response of the brain stem. When a patient shows these signs, it is a result of lack of brain fuction. I was no longer able to do his stretching and simple therapy, to keep him from getting stiff, until we had another CAT scan to make sure that his brain was not swelling. His CAT scan came out positive yesterday, but we also had an EEG. The EEG showed that he did not have additional brain activity, showing us that his brain stem was the only part that was bringing about his natural responses. We decided as a family that we did not want him to live in a vegetated state or one that could make him have multiple heart attacks that would be fatal. Rick wanted us to let him go if he was no longer able to function on his own. We are now in a private room so that we can have the freedom to be with him whenever he is ready to pass. The comfort we have right now is his snoring, which we haven't heard in at least a week. It is a natural response of the brain stem, but at least it's comforting and helped mom sleep some. We have had nothing but wonderful responses as to how much Rick was loved. Thank you all for your love and support for Rick and our family. It will be a long process, even after he passes, so we will need continuous support. Thank you for all that you have done. The encouraging phone calls, treats, meals, time, money, etc has helped tremendously. | | |
| Today has been a slow day. I was here by myself while mom went to work for a couple of hours. Rick was breathing on his own for about an hour. They took off the sedative for a few hours but put him back on the ventilator and sedative to keep him from getting too tired. The respiratory therapist is a little concerned that he could be coming down with pneumonia, but we’re keeping an eye on his breathing and the fluid in his lungs. The heart surgeon moved his tentative surgery date to Monday, but we don’t want to rush it. It is better to let his body rest than to rush him into waking up. We would rather see his little movements, gradually, than to see him wake up quickly and panic. -Amy Amy is using her nurturing skills with Rick, he is following some of her commands. She has been massaging his arms and legs. When she puts her hand is his and tells him to push down he does! She also told him to swallow and he did. When he is on low doses of sedatives he yawns a lot and moves his arms to the center. He is using his face muscles more. Watching Amy is amazing! This whole thing is a VERY long process. Please keep him in your prayers. Love, Casandra | | |
| Today is now our time to start really feeling the lack of sleep and sufficient eating from practically living in Freeman's ICU. Rick had a heart attack early evening Saturday, and was rushed to McCune Brooks Hospital in Carthage after my mom tried to put an aspirin in his mouth and the neighbor began CPR, which helped save his life. He was med-flighted to Freeman hospital in Joplin. It has been a long few days. We got mom to leave her number with the nurses so that she could stay at my house and at least get some sleep. It's good she did because Rick had two 4 min seizures that were 45 minutes apart. They said it was not a good sign. The past couple of days have shown slight responses. He slightly opened and fluttered his eyes occasionally following mom and I's voices. He had an EEG and a CAT scan, both showing good brain activity and no swelling. Today, mom and I put on Comedy Central for Rick and he opened his eye and was looking in that direction. He was taken off of his ventalator for a total of 3 hours breathing on his own. He started to gag due to one of his seditives so they switched him back to deprivin, the seizure medicine, so that he could relax and not have his coughing fits. Mom told me that Rick did a really big yawn while I was out of the Room. That's the first time he's done that. | | |
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