43 But now, this is what the Lord says—     he who created you, Jacob,     he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;     I have summoned you by name; you are mine. ² When you pass through the waters,     I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers,     they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire,     you will not be burned;     the flames will not set you ablaze.

Derek just said, "What's your blog about today? About how depressing yesterday was?" I couldn't have said it better myself. 

Yesterday started out as a hot, humid day in Chicago. As I walked to the rehab facility that morning, I couldn't help but have a little spring in my step! Today was the day we had an ear appointment a whole 2 blocks away from the rehab hospital. If it didn't rain, Derek and I would able to adventure there together in his new electric chair.

After 3 hard hours of rehab, we headed off to his ear appointment. The doctors had also scheduled a CT scan for us to attend after the ear appointment. Derek's heart rate had been consistently running high and his oxygen levels had been a little low. These can be signs of a blood clot but the doctors were doubtful. They felt the levels could be present due to the spinal trauma. I asked the doctor what he would do if it was his son.  He then offered to order a CT scan in order to put our minds as rest.

The ear appointment did not take too long and the doctor determined that Derek has permanent hearing loss in his right ear. He does qualify for a hearing aid and we will be going through a doctor in Indiana once we return. They are not sure if the loss was caused by a fracture in his ear (or the orbital fracture) or just by the impact of the accident.

We then headed down to the CT scan. After about an hours and a half, a nurse came in and said we were cleared to head back the the rehab center. We strolled back and celebrated the news with Panera cheese soup (minus the broccoli due to chewing restrictions) and Wheel of Fortune. Our party was quickly halted when the doctor came in and explained that the radiology department at the other hospital actually did find a clot. We were then ushered back to the hospital via an ambulance.

We spent 3 hours in a downtown Chicago ER in a little room waiting for our officialhospital room. We were both feeling incredibly frustrated and scared but God provided us with some great entertainment via the drunk young man who was right outside of our door. Apparently the cops had been called because he was at the beach with some friends and decided to start tackling random women. Hearing the doctor explain this to him for the first time was pretty hilarious. Young man:"You mean I was tackling the girls I was with?" Doctor: "No sir, you were running down the beach tackling random strangers". Young Man: "O no. I am so sorry!"

Regarding the clot, Derek was and is quite disappointed. Although the clot did not do any damage to his any damage to his heart and has settled into his lungs, it is a decent setback for rehab. They say every day to spend in the hospital is about 3 days of work to regain the strength lost. At this point, we will be here until Monday or Tuesday. Since we were transferred out of the rehab institute to a different hospital, we now have to reapply for the rehab facility through insurance and go through that whole process again. Yuck.

They are placing Derek on a blood thinner for 6 months which should break up the current clot and keep other clots from forming. Obviously clots are nerve wracking. When going through the heart, they can either get stuck there or head to the brain or lungs. Very thankful this guy ended up in the lungs and not in the brain.

For prayers, please be praying for those blood clots and also for the Spinal Cord study. Derek WAS chosen to do the study (yay!!) but it is suppose to start on Monday. We are hoping this speed bump will still allow him to participate in the study.

On the bright side? This hospital room is private and we have an awesome view of the city. Derek keeps saying we need to pretend we are in a hotel for the weekend :)

With Love,

The Lavenders