Update: 11/30/10 Good news and bad news.

Today's update from his parents...

Today started out a little shaky for Ronnie. After his wound care the physical therapist put him on the moveo table. He did great, but was exhausted. Then Ron and I brought him some bbq brisket to eat for lunch. He really liked that and ate one piece. About an hour later they came to stretch his right side. He tends to lean to the right side so the new skin there is not stretched out... so they have to roll him on his left side and stretch his right arm above his head to stretch the skin on his side out. VERY PAINFUL!! Of course that was not much fun for him. When they sat him back up, he wanted a drink of boost and choked and subsequently threw up. This was pretty traumatic for him so they let him rest for awhile. About 4:30 they were able to get him up to walk and pivot into his chair! He did great with that.

The not so good news is that his skin grafts on his right palm and forearm did not take at all and will have to be regrafted soon.
How to pray for Ronnie:
*pray that he will be able to eat more food so that he can have his feeding tube removed.
*Pray that he will be able to understand the need to push himself through the pain of therapy.

Update: 11/29/10

An update posted by Ronnie's parents...

Yesterday (Monday) Ronnie made a few big strides in his progress! He has not been able to eat like they want him to eat. He has struggled with nausea and swallowing. They had me run to McDonalds to get him a cheeseburger tonight!! He ate al...l of the m...eat and cheese. As a reward they allowed him to drink a very small amount of water. (he told me he would just about kill for a drink of water!) He really needs to do better with his eating. Pray that he will be able to eat more calories than he has so far. For PT they had him get up in a Moveo tilt bed. It has platforms for his feet and allows him to do "squats" with his legs to build up his leg muscles. Then they sat him up in a real chair (for the first time) for about 5 hours. The best news was that he stood up and took a few shuffle steps from the chair to his bed today! Ronnie's first steps!! Needless to say he was exhausted by the end of the day and was ready to sleep for the night. Thanks for all your prayers! We couldn't make it without them!

11/25/10 Thanksgiving

Ronnie had a nice little thanksgiving meal for lunch. He didn't have a huge appetite, but tried a little bit of everything. He is recovering well from his surgery, too. They opened up his bandages around his donor sites to allow them to air out a bit. He was nervous about the whole thing as he was already in incredible pain. They knocked him out with some heavy drugs to do the procedure and allow him to rest pain free while the sites dry out. Pray Ronnie will be well rested and pain free when they bring him off the drugs tomorrow.

On a thanksgiving note: I am so thankful for my family and friends who have been more than amazing, for my fiance who is willing to push himself beyond what I can imagine, and a God who has shown his protection and provision in mighty and miraculous ways. Happy Thanksgiving to all; don't take for granted what you have. Each day is a blessing and each life is a miracle.

11/24/10 The Surgery.

The Dr. said everything went well in the 5.5 hr surgery. Most of his spots are filled in now and his hand has been completely covered with his own skin. Also, some of his donor sites have taken and did not need recovered. The skin will later slough off with his own new skin formed under, but for now, no new patching. Still no decision on his pinky at this point. Dr. hopes ronnie will be out of ICU in 5-7 days and may only need to be in the hospital for a few more weeks! Pray he is out by xmas!

Update: 11/23/10

Today was a much better day for Ronnie. They did a swallow study on him. It was very interesting to watch. They put a camera in his nose to see how his epiglottis and vocal cords are functioning while eating and drinking. One of his vocal cords is not quite closing as much as it should, causing the other to move more to close off his airway. Although the speech therapist said that it is better. She did clear him to drink liquids without thickener and eat regular food. No more food from a blender. Yea! It's just the little things that are exciting. They tried to have him sit on the side of the tilt table to see how his blood pressure did. He stayed for about 15 minutes then it dropped again so they laid him back down to stabilize it. So he did not stand up, but all in all he did great. Tomorrow will be surgery around 10 a.m. They will concentrate on the right hand and places on his side and chest, and a few other patches that the grafts did not take. Thanks for lifting Ronnie up in prayer.

Just another day, Just another miracle

So, I had to share this one....

As I mentioned yesterday, I rented a car for a day but then returned it and was given a company car to use for the remainder of the week free of charge. If this was not a miracle enough, God did even more. When I returned my car after less than 24 hours of having it, I was given a receipt. I glanced at it and asked the clerk, "so this is what I owe? $169?" He glanced over and mumbled, "guess so," and off I went without another thought. Last night, as I was reflecting on my day, I got to thinking, "That was awfully expensive for one day..." So I checked the receipt. I was surprised to find that it said -$169 but there was no total on the receipt. So I called the company. I explained what had happened and the clerk told me where to find the total. When I told her there was no total, she promptly looked it up in the system. She was baffled. There was no total.

"Did you have bad customer service?" she asked me.
"No," I replied, "in fact, he gave me a free upgrade...."
"I'm showing here that you got a free car..."

Turns out, in order to give me the free upgrade, the guy credited my bill the upgrade amount times 11 days... the amount of time I was supposed to have the car. I asked the lady what I needed to do to fix the problem and she replied that she could fix it on the spot, but quite honestly didnt want to. She spoke with her manager who agreed. They kept the bill the way it was... free. All-in-all, three complete strangers, knowing nothing of my current situation, blessed me in a way they will never even realize. It was just another day and just another miracle that touched my heart and blessed my life. Thanks, God.

God is SO Good

I am back down in Texas again with Ronnie. I can not tell you how good it feels to be able to hold his hand again. We had so much to talk about when I got in last night and he fought through his tiredness to make sure we had the time. We talked for a couple hours!

Today was a good day too but, just as yesterday, Ronnie has been very drowsy. He dozes in and our throughout the day no matter what he is doing. They got him up on his tilt table and slowly inclined him until he was standing. While his blood pressure did drop a little, he did a great job and managed to stay up for about half an hour. Afterward, they put him into his chair. I fed him his dinner a little bit ago too. He is on a puree diet, but it is kind of funny because they mash up all his food, then put it into molds to make it look like the food again! We got a kick out of that. Anyways, he managed to force down some mashed potatoes, some soup, and juice, but cleverly avoided the "meat." He did a great job on dinner. His nurse said it is the most he has eaten in quite some time!

I also wanted to take a minute and tell everyone how AWESOME God is. He has brought so many strangers into my life, each who have touched my life in the way only an angel could do. I was gifted plane tickets round trip from Indiana to San Antonio through an army affiliated organization. And while housing seemed out of the question, the day before my trip, a room opened up in the Powless house here on base across from the hospital! And on top of it all, the day I got into San Antonio, some amazing new friends connected me with a company car (a little Toyota Prius hybrid) to use for the remainder of my trip! But these are only a few of the "angels" that have touched my life recently. there are so many others...
*My work managers and co-workers who have granted me time off whenever needed
*Hospital volunteers who talk to and pray for me
*Friends who have sent notes and cards to me and Ronnie
*Military personnel who have made calls and gotten information for me
*Senators who have visited and encouraged Ronnie
*Family who have loved me and supported me to the ends of the earth
*Teachers who have graciously moved tests and assignments for me
*Advisers and department heads working with me on my school schedules to make them flexible
*And so, so many others...

It is almost overwhelming how incredible the body of Christ has been. Thank you Lord God for showing me your hand.

I left my heart in TX... but not for long!

Yesterday was not a bad day for me neither. I had a showing at the condo in the early afternoon and, thanks to a lot of help from Cori, the condo was perfectly in order for the affair. During the time in which I was to be kicked out of my house, I went shopping with Mom and Cori. Isn't that a wonderful alternative?!? I thought so. Afterward, we went out to Qdoba for lunch. What a great afternoon. It was nice to be able to relax and let loose a little bit.

After classes and a late night at work, I came home and packed until the wee morning hours. I cant wait to leave for Texas tomorrow! I miss my army boy.

Update: 11/17/10

Wednesday was a full but very good day for Ronnie. Below are the posts from his mom.

He had a short wound care today since they did a huge one yesterday morning. Then PT was in to keep all his joints bending to prevent tightness. They had him sit on the edge of the bed today too! Pastor Johnston flew all the way from Tulsa just to visit Ronnie! He recited Psalm 121(since paper is not allowed in the room) The Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your shade at your right hand!... Very encouraging words for Ronnie and all of us! We were so encouraged by his visit! On the heels of Pastor's visit, Texas State Senator Brian Birdwell came to visit. He was burned at the Pentagon on Sept. 11th. He was able to encourage Ronnie about the future! It has been a tiring, but blessed day for Ronnie and us! Thank you for your continued prayers.

We had such a great visit with Ronnie tonight! He was very talkative and so much more alert! He said he wished he hadn't been doped up when Pastor Johnston visited! Medically Ronnie is doing great! He had a chest x-ray that showed some ...patchy areas still, but his lungs are stable. His skin grafts are adhering very well. Of the skin grafts that are his own skin (auto-grafts) 97% are "taking" leaving about 3% to be re-grafted. 5-7% of his burn is still cadaver and will have to be grafted with his own skin. So all in all about 10% of his burn is left to be re-grafted! He is not healing as fast as they would like, but they are still very pleased with his progress. His liver enzymes levels have been high due to a medication he has been taking, so they have cut back on that medication. They are still giving him zophran every 6 hours for nausea. The speech therapist suspects that his vocal chords have become "paralyzed". With therapy the damaged vocal chord may function normally in time. Ronnie's temperature has been normal for the last 5 days after surgery! (high risk time for infection) Ronnie is dealing with so many issues... continue to pray for him to have strength to work his way through this ordeal. They are concerned with the fact that he lays so stiff and doesn't want to move around much. He is starting to acquire some pressure sores! But... overall they are so pleased with his progress and disposition!! Sorry about the long update, but there are so many issues to report! We love you all and thank you for lifting Ronnie up in prayer!!

A more complete version of the article on Ronnie. I'm actually in this one....
Tulsa World

Update: 11/16/10 11pm

Ronnie had a full day today. They checked his grafts this morning and everything seen to be looking good. The estimate is that about 97% of his grafts are now in his own skin! Ronnie was also able to get up in his chair for a few hours and they let him sit by a window for a little while and relax. He will be seeing a speech therapist in the mornings to try to work some more on his swallowing and also with a slightly damaged vocal chord. Pray his throat will continue to heal from all the tubes and that the remainder of the tubes (especially the feeding tube) will be able to come out soon.

Article on Ronnie

There was an article printed in the Tulsa Times this morning. Special thanks to his uncle, Robert Lindsey for making that one possible. The following is a link to the article though I have been informed that this is NOT the full version as the full version also speaks of his recent leave to Indy just over a month ago. Enjoy!

Owasso Soldier Recovering from Critical Burns

Update: 11/16/10 1pm

Sorry I have not updated this over the weekend except for the surgery post. It has been a crazy week back in Indy. I had a grand total of 3 tests, a paper, and a quiz on thursday and another test yesterday. PTL~ All went EXTREMELY better than expected and my grades have not suffered at all from my lack of interest in school the past couple of weeks. In other news, my house also looks like it has been in survival mode... yikes.

As for Ronnie, he is doing INCREDIBLE. They left him sedated and with the ventilator tube all day Saturday so that he could rest and recoup easier. They took him off the vents on sunday but left him mostly sedated so he could sleep pain free. Yesterday was a good day for him. He was cleared to consume pudding-like/thick liquids after they removed one of his two feeding tubes. He has been fever free since Saturday which is a huge praise. Also, they have not seen any traces of the blood bacteria he tested for a couple weeks ago. They believe the infection is gone! Now that he is awake and coherent, they are confident that all is going well.

The doctors and nurses planned to change his bandages today and see how his grafts are coming along. The hope is to also get him up in his chair for a few hours. Pray that all goes smoothly and with minimal pain and that his grafts are taking well and will continue to heal.

It is expected that Ronnie should be able to undergo another surgery in about a week and a half. Pray for courage and strength.

Thank you!

Update: 11/12/10 4pm Surgery #2

From Brenda: Ronnie did well during surgery, but a 2 1/2 hour surgery turned into a 4 hour surgery. All of his burns are now excised, and covered. His right hand and a few spots on his chest are still cadaver skin and will have to be grafted again at a later surgery. They have put wires in his pinky and ring finger (right hand) to hold it still and keep it from bending. They are still determine the viability of these fingers. They will keep watching them. He will be intubated until tomorrow barring any set backs. They felt they needed another central line for increased fluids, while they were putting this into the juggler vein, they accidentally put it in his carotid artery. He bled a lot but they were able to control it. Now there will be a balancing between wanting to have the blood clot, yet not wanting to cause problems with the clot in his leg. The bronchoscope went well and they were able to get a culture. They said his lungs did look good and it was not necessary to treat his lungs therapeutically with the bronchoscope. The Doctor did say that his lungs have not looked good since he was admitted, but they can change from day to day. Ronnie will probably have 2-3 more surgeries and then some more smaller reconstructive and functional cosmetic surgeries later. They are estimating 3-4 more weeks in the ICU.

I feel so in over my head. How am I ever going to do this?

Update: 11/10/10 10:30pm

Collection of updates from today....

(9am) "Ronnie ran a fever over 103 last night. They changed his central line and use the tip to culture. He threw up again at 6:00, but it was not as much as last night. ( it wasn't contents from his feeding tube!) Unfortunately his oxygen levels dropped so they increased his levels! We love you all and thank you for caring for Ronnie and us!"

(1pm) "After looking at Ronnie's chest x-rays, they do feel like he aspirated last night. They are watching this but feel like the antibiotics he is on have it under control; will know for sure in about 24 hours. His stats are not quite as good and he is back on oxygen, but overall he is still doing well. They believe the nausea is due to some of the antibiotics he is on and will be changing some of those today to help alleviate the nausea. He is scheduled for surgery on Friday for more grafting."

(9pm) Ronnie is winding down after a long day. They have cut back on all but two of his medications to see if it helps his nausea. Only time will tell. They also changed out his nasogastric tube for a smaller one that the dr hopes will cause less nausea and irritation. Pray for a good night's rest so he can master tomorrow.

Update: 11/9/10 late!

Just got home back in indy. But somehow, I left half of my heart in Texas. How am I going to do this?

Ronnie started eating real food today! He was really excited but felt a little too full from all the other stuff to eat a lot of it at once. Next step is getting that tube out! Pray he is able to sustain a 10,000 calorie diet by himself ...so the tube is not needed. Also, as stated yesterday, his pneumonia has cleared up! It was verified this afternoon! PTL! We were so encouraged by his progress this past weekend. He is no longer heavily sedated, is completely coherent, pneumonia free, talking, eating, and doing incredible with his therapy despite little set backs here and there. So proud of him.

From Ronnie's mom a little bit ago: Ronnie had another set back tonight. He was nauseous and threw up. They think he may have aspirated and did a chest x-ray immediately. However, they will not be able to determine anything until they x-ray him tomorrow. We will keep you posted! Thanks for your prayers for Ronnie and us!!

Please join our "like" page on facebook to follow updates and post your prayers and comments. Thanks!

Praying for Ronnie McCulley, wounded in Afghanistan

Update: 11/8/10 10:30pm

Today was a day filled with milestones. Ronnie passed his swallow test and is able to have high protein drinks as well as ice. Tube should be coming out next! He was also taken off his oxygen and his levels are staying at 100% with normal air! He was able to sit up in his chair even after a nauseating first try. They were also able to remove all his staples and burn coverings so he is ready for new grafts. He is exhausted tonight but satisfied with the day. Pray he sleeps well b/c they are changing his "sleepy-med" dosage so it wont lower his bp. Thank you all for your prayers, notes, and constant encouragement. We couldn't do it without you!

Update: 11/7/10 9pm

It was a rough day for him. He had a fever twice and a blood transfusion to help him feel a little stronger. His burns are looking "perfect," though there is concern that he may loose all or part of one or two fingers on his right hand. Pray for the fear that is bound to come with the waiting. Also, there are numerous decisions to be made, so pray for wisdom and peace.

Update: 11/6/10 11:30am (TX time)

bear with me, my thoughts are kind of everywhere today....

yesterday was quite an emotional day. Mom and I flew standby to San Antonio to be with Ronnie. We made it in around 2pm and were able to get our rental car and hotel with no problems.

Before we knew it we were in the burn ward gowning up from head to toe to go see Ronnie. He was very excited to see us and smiled and held my hand. The combination of emotions, sweltering heat, mask, and not eating made me have my first true moment of "I'm going to pass out..." My vision blurred, my legs went weak, and my hearing went hollow and I had to step out and sit down. Within a few minutes the nurses said I was getting my color back and let me talk to him from the door. then, when I proved I was able, they let me gown up and go back in for a couple minutes.

It was good to be able to talk with the doctors and therapists too. They asked me questions about his deployment and medical history and seemed excited that I understood most of the medical terminology and diagnosis. The assured us that there was a long recovery road ahead of us, but that he is strong and doing well. We know he will have good days and bad, but we have to just look at today. They also discussed some of the possibilities for Ronnie including a medical extension that could allow him to stay in Brooke Army Med Center and get the therapy he needs for an extended period of time.

After getting a quick dinner, Mom and I headed back to the hospital. I felt a lot better the next time around and was able to stay in the room without feeling faint. Ronnie's fever broke and we were able to talk to him for quite a while. His voice is soft and raspy and hard to understand. The poor boy would do anything for a glass of water too but is not able to swallow well enough to have one. Also, he seems to be confusing/blending event from his deployment, imagination, and hospital all into one big story and is frustrated that no one "understands" or believes him. We assured him that though things hurt, he is safe and very loved.

All to soon, we were saying goodnight and promising to return tomorrow. Which we plan to do in just a couple hours. Today Ronnie is supposed to get a bath, a little bit of physical and speech therapy, and hopefully will be sat up in his chair to make him more alert and help his lungs. Needless to say, Ronnie will probably be exhausted and could end the day with a fever, but will hopefully be all the better for it.

Thank you all for your prayers and for bearing with me in this scatterbrained update... it's kind of just where my head is at today.

Update: 11/4/10 8pm

Brenda just called has several items for prayer. Ronnie has water on his right lung which they don't want to drain because they would have to go through the burn area and that could cause infection. Please pray that the fluid will go... away naturally. Second item of prayer: Ronnie is having alot of agitation . They are not sure what is causing this--possibly nightmares or post traumatic stress - he will be having some testing to help them select the drugs he will need. Learning to swallow is a big deal - pray that this will go well. He has had a speech therapist to help today. ROn and Brenda appreciate you all and your prayers.

Update: 11/2/10 10:30pm

Ronnie was doing really well today. He is off the vents and talking in a raspy voice. I was able to talk to him for a minute of the phone when he first had the tubes removed. I cried for joy. Please pray that his body will be able to fight off the infections that are likely to attack. After his long day, he was worn out and running a 103 fever. Pray for continued strength.

Update: 11/2/10 3:30pm

Ronnie's tubes are about to be taken out because he has been uncomfortable and moving around a lot. Sounds like he is a little more coherent but still quite sedated. They checked his grafts today and everything looked good. They were able to cover 25-27% of his burns with his own skin (this is a correction from earlier posts). Cant wait to see him on Friday!