01.31.12

Peter is definitely doing better after his recent return of some pneumonia, but he still has a lot of congestion that we think is partially due to the all of the allergens in the air. Please continue to pray for healing and Pete’s progression in therapy, removal of his trach, and speaking. Also be praying that an upcoming trial we are being given with a special computer would go well. It would allow Peter to communicate with us using his eyes to “type” out words or pictures. Thank you!

01.11.12 – Update!

The Lord has answered some prayers recently for Peter, that we need to share with you faithful prayer warriors.

First, we are thanking the Lord that due to the generosity of the Lord’s people, Peter now has a wheel chair van he fits in very comfortably. It has a fourteen-inch dropped floor and a ramp and CD player/radio, so that Pete can ride right beside Dad as he always has and listen to Michael Medved and Dennis Prager. It will now be so much easier to take him places. In the past, we were always dependent on Doug to do the one-man lift to get him in and out of our suburban. Now any of us can just roll him up, buckle him in and take off.

Second, we have consulted with a speech pathologist and a speech therapist, both of whom, after procedures on Peter, gave a more hopeful strategy for getting the trach out than the doctor we visited before the holidays. So we are currently using the therapies recommended to keep Peter moving forward with his speech therapy and getting the trach out. It still may take some time, but we are back on track.

We are still waiting on a computer program that will let us test out possibilities with him of communicating/typing words, etc, with his eyes. Please pray that Pete will be able to use it.

For the family,

Selah

12.21.11 – Update

Thanks to all who have remembered us and Peter during this holiday season! He continues to make small steps of progress, but so far he is still not ready for formal rehabilitation. Last week, Peter had a doctor’s appointment during which the doctor said it will be more challenging than we originally thought to get the trach out because of where it was originally (incorrectly) placed and he has weakness in his throat that is causing it to collapse whenever he breathes in. There are limited options of how to deal with this, some of which are potentially risky. There are other upper airway issues as well. Please pray for wisdom and a way that Peter can be weaned off the trach. We will follow up on this in earnest after the holidays.

Our prayer requests are 1) that the Lord would lead us to a way to get his trach out, since this is a prerequisite for the rehab program, 2) that the trach issues would not hinder him from developing a form of communication with us. He is on schedule to try out an eye recognition device shortly, here in home therapy, and 3) that the Lord would lead us to the right wheel chair van for him–we are shopping currently for one.

The Helms family truly appreciates all of you who have walked through this difficult ordeal with us and have been so persevering in your prayers for Peter. We ask the Lord’s great blessings on you for your faithful commitment to pray for him. We know even now the Lord has only good plans for his life.

Selah

12.12.11 – UPDATE

Mom has been working on the book that so many have encouraged her to write about things we have learned through Peter’s accident and recovery. In doing so, she has gone over many messages, posts, and notes that people have sent over the last year and some months. We continue to be very grateful for all that the Lord’s people have done to encourage our hearts and strengthen our hands for taking care of Peter.

 

Prayer update on Peter and his recovery:

 

1. Peter has been pretty responsive at various times over the last several days, now that the effects of the anesthesia and benadryl have worn off. We seem to see him moving his arms on command, and holding objects in his hands and discriminating between the two by moving the right one we ask him to manipulate at the time.

 

2. He also has been very attentive to conversation and reading from books at times. The other night during the family celebration, when Beth’s new fiance, Joshua, described the evening of his proposal to Beth, Peter’s eyes were locked on Joshua the entire time.

 

3. When we hold choices of books or movies in front of him, he continues to respond accurately most of the time we ask him to do things like “Look at the one that is a cartoon,” or “Look at the movie  that has Bob Cratchit as a character,” or “Look at the one about a detective.” We all think he enjoys those kinds of questions.

 

Continue to pray for the trach removal. There have been several newly discovered obstacles around this process, including that Peter’s epiglottis is weak, (no one knows the reason why), and he seems to lock up his vocal chords sometimes when he should be letting him open to breathe.

 

Thank you so much for your faithful and continued prayers!

11.18.11 – UPDATE

Peter is home from the minor surgery he had to remove scar tissue inside of his throat caused by the trach. The doctor also switched the type of trach out to the one we can cap fully that will teach Peter how to breath in and out through his nose instead of just breathing in through his nose and out through his trach.

This week we started the first capping trials with him, and the first day he did really well. Other days it seems to cause Peter to panic a little bit, but we think that’s fairly normal since his brain still hasn’t developed the strong connection and muscle memory of breathing through his throat and nose.

I think Peter is still dealing with some pain from the surgery, but definitely recovering. Please continue to pray that he would heal and that we can make steady progress with the new trach towards weaning him off completely!

For the family,

Hope

11.09.11 – Update

Peter is continuing to get stronger and we have been able to resume some of our regular therapy sessions with him. We are still working to wean Peter from his trach, but have received many conflicting opinions from his doctors as to how far the pneumonia set Peter back on getting his trach out and continuing with further rehabilitation.

Pete is somewhat held up on getting into the rehab program until either his trach is out or he can communicate with us. This week we saw a doctor that gave us a little more information about weaning Peter from the trach. He mentioned the possibility of doing a minor surgery to make the process smoother, but nothing has been decided.

Here are the things you can pray for:

1) Pray for Peter to keep regaining strength and for his healing.

2) Pray that we and the doctors will have wisdom about getting his trach out with the right procedure as soon as is safely possible and that the rehab program will hold Peter’s spot until we can get this worked out.

3) Please continue to pray we find a wheel chair van. Peter’s height has proved a challenge in finding the right vehicle.

For the family,

Hope

Peter Douglas, The Name

Life keeps moving forward since Peter’s accident. For one thing, Doug and I recently found out that next May we are to become grandparents – an announcement that has generated no small excitement among the Helms clan. Of course, the first order of business has been for all the family to propose suitable names for Caleb and Hope’s child. The temptation has been quite irresistible. Soon-to-be Uncle Andrew, for example, eagerly threw “Thomas Aquinas” into the ring. As you might imagine, this offering drew an unenthusiastic reception from Andrew’s less philosophic family members.

As Christians, we hope that the name we give a baby will prove meaningful to him as he grows up. Believers over the span of history have used the opportunity for naming to impart some spiritual blessing or quality or vision they have for their children. Little did Doug and I know as young parents 19 years ago how aptly Peter’s name would fit him for this time in his life. Surely the Lord guided us to the name we chose for him, as well as to the words we spoke to him the night of his high school graduation, providentially ignorant of the way it would apply to his tragic struggle two months later. Here is the exhortation that Doug and I gave Peter that night in May, 2010. We mean for the words to encourage him even more today:

“Peter, it gives your mother and I great joy today to celebrate the graduation and coming to young adulthood of our youngest son and child. You are the last fledgling to leave the nest of home, and so it is a bittersweet event for your middle-aged parents.

“Seventeen years ago, when you were born, our country faced startling challenges. Bill Clinton had just been elected, and we homeschoolers were apprehensive about what the change in administration would bring to our liberties and to our government. We wondered what his morals would bring to our culture.

“So we named you Peter Douglas. Peter means ‘rock’ and Douglas means ‘out of dark waters.’ We envisioned for your life one of those paintings of craggy boulders in the midst of crashing waves, the kind in which foamy green waves splash the canvas with ominous foreboding, while in the corner, large brown boulders meet the waves unmoved and unaffected, steady and solid.

“This has been our desire for your life, Peter, that when you see threatening waters swirl around your life, or the life of your country, when Clinton’s plans seem paltry compared to what you may face in your future, you would bravely as the Scripture commands, ‘Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.’

“We have rejoiced already in the first years of your young life, Peter, as we see the Lord’s hand on you, giving you grace to live up to your name. You have been, as one of your church family described you once, ‘quiet, steady, and tenacious.’ You have gone through challenges in the years God has given you, and you have met them with a quiet fortitude. Mom and I remember that there were several years that on your birthday, you would end the day with a prayer that went something like, ‘Lord, thank You for these (9 or 10 and so on) good years You have given me, and if You are so good as to bless me with another year, I pray You’d help me live it for Your glory.’

“You were on the right track here, Peter. You can’t face life’s storms without the Lord’s help. Many times in the future, you will be reminded of your utter dependence on the Lord and on His merciful strength. Keep seeking His face to give you the steadiness to live for His glory, when you feel you’d rather cave in, or you see others giving way around you.

“Remember that your ‘hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. You dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. When darkness seems to hide His face, rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, your anchor will hold within the veil. His oath, His covenant, His blood, will support you in the whelming flood. When all around your soul gives way, He still is all your hope and stay.’ Christ is your Solid Rock, Peter. Stand firm on Him.”

Selah

10.26.11 – UPDATE

At Peter’s appointment with the rehab doctor yesterday, we learned that his bout with pneumonia had set him back some on gradually weaning him off the trach. We don’t know yet what it will look like, but the doctor wanted to wait a couple of months to ensure that he was fully recuperated and not at risk before attempting to do any aggressive rehab.

Peter continues to get stronger every day. We let him rest a lot because he is still recovering from being in the hospital, but there are times when he is very alert and doesn’t seem to have lost any of the progress we made with him cognitively over the last few months!

Here are some things you can pray for:

1. That Peter would stay healthy as we head into winter months, so that his rehab will not be delayed any further.

2. That we will know the avenues to take that will enable him to get off the trach as soon as he can safely do so.

3. That the timing of him entering rehab will coincide with the time in is healing that will be most conducive to him gaining a lot from rehab help.

4. That the Lord would provide us a wheel chair van. So far, every doctor’s appointment Peter has, he must be accompanied by Doug, who is the only one who can lift him into our suburban.

For the family,

Hope

10.17.11 – UPDATE

Peter is doing well at home. Although he is still very weak, he is getting better by the day. It is going to take him quite a while to regain his strength and responsiveness and we would appreciate your prayers for his continued healing. Peter also has an upcoming appointment with a rehab specialist on October 25th (it was set before Peter went to the hospital). Please be praying that would go well also. Thanks!

For the family,

Hope

Peter is Home

Moving Peter home wore him out. He had fever and dropping O2 stats during the night and is pretty pale. The nurse put him on oxygen through the night. We pray that we can resume therapy soon and that this won’t set him back to receive the rehab funding. It is definitely going to take some time for Pete to recuperate after this ordeal! Please keep praying for his healing and comfort.