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longtooth wrote:I have prayed for Joe & all your family at this post.
May ALL of God's good grace flood over your Spirit.
In Jesus Name
AMEN.

Wayne,
How's Joe?

Dear friends;
Sorry for the delay in updates, the past several days have been crammed. Defib put in Mon and all was well. Hickman Port put into his chest this morn to be able to hook the portable I.V. pump to. He is to be discharged tomorrow, and will have home health come daily to dress the port site, evaluate his overall health and change I.V. bags as needed. The Drs keep stressing the there is about a 1% chance of this working, but that the bottom line is they cannot predict what a young person's heart, who has been in good health, is capable of doing. He will have cardio rehab and is to alternate his visits between the cardiologist in Brownwood and here. Needless to say, Brownwood is not capable of this type of work. They had never heard of the heart pump in Brownwood. In fact, the homehealth had not heard of the I.V. pump and the nurse here had to explain it all to them over the phone.....that's a little frightening. We plan to spend the night in Dallas tomorrow after he is discharged and he back to Brownwood on Fri morn. The wife has been clearing a room out, buying a bed and carpet for what will be his room. He went off to college about the time we moved. He told us that he would only be home on weekends sometimes, and he was going to get an apt to live in during the summer...so we did not buy one with another bedroom, and had opted for having him sleep on the pullout couch when he would come home. So, we have had to clear my office/sewing room/computer room out to make him a bedroom. That has kept Gina busy so as not to dwell on things.
Thank you all for your concern and well wishes.
Wayne

Hang in there, Wayne. Thanks for the updates. Your family is in our prayers.

Here is a link to the article in the Abilene paper about him that just came out this eve. Overall good article, quotes and facts not quite 100%, but gives the general idea.
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2010/a ... lant-list/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wayne,

I haven't seen an update on Joe in a few days. How's he doing?
Did you get him home and moved into his new room?

Tregs wrote:Wayne,

I haven't seen an update on Joe in a few days. How's he doing?
Did you get him home and moved into his new room?

Sorry for delays... After all of this, been exhausted and catching up on sleep. Going to Tarelton tomorrow to clean out his dorm and get his car back home. He is adjusting. Goes to see the cardio and surgeon in Dallas on Thurs for check-up. Have appt with Social Security next Mon to talk about disability. He is to start cardio rehab this week (wait till it gets around he is in rehab, lol).

The newspaper story was picked up by UPI and gone worldwide http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2010/04/ ... 272600720/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I will post things here as things progress or we have new info to share,

Thanks again to all for such encouragement
Wayne

Prayers continue to go out for Joe and the Lord's healing power over him.

Thank you for keeping us updated, as we are all concerned. And do not worry if you are not able to check in regularly. We understand.

May the Lord be with Joe, you and your family. Amen.

Here is a note my wife sent out to friends that gives her current motherly insight into the situation
Wayne

Dear friends and family,
Joe was released from the hospital Thursday afternoon. He and Wayne spent the night at the Taylors in Richardson after letting Joe shop for a few clothes-after losing close to 40 pounds in the hospital, he needed tighter things. They made it home Friday afternoon. Home Health came out to get acquainted with his situation and make sure he had everything he needed . He wears a fanny pack containing an iv bag and portable pump. Each bag lasts 3 days, so keeping up with that isn't as much of a hassle as we feared. Trying to come up with low sodium/high calorie foods that taste like what he is used to is a much bigger challenge. Wayne and I have found a few things for him, and Joe plans to accompany Wayne on the next grocery shopping trip. This may serve to revive Joe's old interest in cooking-he had wanted to be a chef at one time, before he got a job in a restaurant. The summer will be spent learning to cook for his special needs and trying to rebuild his strength. He still hopes that he can go back to school in the fall. He goes back to Dallas for a checkup on Thursday,the 6th.

Joes newspaper story got picked up by UPI and is now in newspaper around the world. http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2010/04/ ... 272600720/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Interestingly the Abilene paper didn't get several things right and misquoted a few things. Then UPI picked it up, re-wrote it and get even more things incorrect. But still neat he is now a "rock star." Google "Joe Goforth +heart" and see how many newspaper have reprinted this from New York to the Netherlands.

Thanks for all the cards, calls, visits, gifts and other forms of encouragement throughout Joe's ordeal. Please pray for his continued improvement.
Gina

Our daily prayers continue for you, always.

Joe went back to Dallas on Thurs for a one week checkup to both the cardiologist and electrophysiologist. Cardio mostly asked questions and took blood samples. She increased a medicine called coreg which is to restore heart muscle. How it knows one muscle from another is betond me. Electrophys wanded his defrib and determined that it has not gone off any since it was installed. He is to be back in June as they will continue evaluating him to either reduce the IV pump drug or prepare him for the heart pump. He was interviewed today by Social Security in an effort to receive disability and tomorrow he meets with a local cardiologist who is to be the local eyes and ears for the Drs in Dallas. This Dr is to set him up for local heart rehab to try to strengthen his heart muscle.
Thanks for your concern and prayers
Wayne

I am extremely sorry to hear about all of this. I hope that everything is going as good as can be. I will be praying for you all.