03.12.01 2nd Update!
I forgot to tell you guys that Randy is really moving his arm today! Even his hand! We are working on the fingers now but we have seen great improvement today!

Also, some great friends of ours made a website for Randy!! The address is:
www.oocities.org/randybeeker/
Check it out and make sure to sign the guestbook!

Love, Stephanie and Randy

03.12.01
Hello There!
We have had new lungs for two weeks today!

Today was good but a little stressful. We woke up about 7:30 this morning to all the doctors in our room. They are all so sweet and always rub Randy's head and hold his hand while they are here. They told us that he was going to have his first Bronchoscopy this afternoon. A Bronchoscopy is when they put a flexible tube down your nose and throat into your lungs. Then they use another instrument in the tube to pinch off small pieces of your lung to test for rejection.

Well, Randy has been really worried about this procedure since he got listed for transplant. He will need to have a "Bronch" at one month, three months, six months, nine months, and twelve months. After that he will only have to have them if he is sick.

The nurse came and got us at 12:30 and took us down to the procedure room. Poor Randy was so scared that he was in tears. Once we got in the room, he inhaled a solution for about twenty minutes to help numb his throat. (I'm going to explain this in detail so if you have a queasy tummy you may want to stop here and pick up in the next paragraph). Next they took four long Q-tips and dipped them in a gel that would numb his nose and throat. They inserted two Q-tips into each nostril.......straight back. It really only bothered him going in. Once they were in he was fine. They left the Q-tips there until they were ready to begin. Next, they did something I could not believe! They brought over a huge needle.............you will never believe where it went. Right in his Adams Apple!! I never knew you could put a needle in your windpipe!!! It looked so painful but Randy had so much numbing medication that he really only noticed the pressure. I was so glad for that! They took the Q-tips out and started to put the tube in his nose. He flinched just a little so they gave him a little something extra to make him drowsy....but he never closed his eyes once during the whole thing. I was able to see the inside of his lungs on this T.V. screen. It was so cool!! I took my camcorder in there (gasp!) and recorded the inside of his lungs breathing. It was so beautiful! God is so detailed! They were pink, fluffy, and so clean and clear! They even printed me two pictures in color! They pinched off seven pieces of his lungs to send for test. Then they injected water into his lungs and drew it back out about five times. They will send that to the lab also to see if it grows any bacteria. We should have the results by tonight or tomorrow morning. Please pray there is no rejection and no bacteria. All the doctors kept saying how beautiful and healthy his lungs looked. The whole thing only took about twenty minutes and his Oxygen level was 99%-100% the whole time, even being so nervous! He slept about two hours once we got back.

For dinner, Randy ate two packs of chicken nuggets from Wendy's, a french fry, a pack of nabs, four york peppermint patties, and some candy. Oh, plus a tea. He is going to put on those pounds quick!

We just finished walking tonight. A whole NINE laps! We tried to go for ten but we were all too tired! This morning we went outside again..it was a little cold so we didn't stay long.

The only thing I have left to do is to give Randy a bath....I don't mind that too terribly much. Ha ha

Love, Stephanie and Randy

03.11.01
Hello You All!
Today was a lazy day. You're suppose to rest on Sundays so that is exactly what we did. We slept till 10:00 since we don't have X-Rays anymore. Randy woke up and took all of his nine pills without any hesitation. I'm still so thankful for that! Because he was still swallowing his pills well, the nurse came in and took out the catheter is his neck. It was a large catheter that had three different lines coming out of it. It was not painful to have it taken out but it did take a good long while because there were four stitches that decided to embed themselves in his skin. Randy still needs some antibiotics that can only be administered intravenously so we are using his Hickman catheter that he had implanted back in August. It is in his chest and very convenient. We haven't been told how much longer he will keep that one or how much longer he will need to be on the antibiotics. (It's just a precaution to make sure his immune system stays healthy since he is taking immunosuppresants/anti-rejection medication)

He did make certain he watched the Carolina vs. Duke game. However, when Duke was up by 23 points he decided quick that it was time to go outside! He was coming out of that bed with or without our help! We walked outside again and it was such a beautiful day. The sun was on our backs and we all really enjoyed it. We walked back and rested some more. Then he ate a large Frosty!!

Since Randy was in the mood for pizza tonight, we ordered Dominos. He ate over half of a pepperoni pizza. He looked stuffed when he was done! He is resting again now waiting for Touched By An Angel to come on. We always watch that after church on Sunday nights.

I'm sorry this email is so short but like I said, it was a very peaceful, relaxing day. I'm sure tomorrow will be busy as usual. Thank you for all your prayers today. We sure missed being at church!

Oh, I did have one more prayer request but not for us this time. If you all will remember I told you about Mary Lou last week. She is the one that had the double lung transplant five days after Randy. She is already experiencing her first bout of rejection (when your body tries to reject the new organ). Please pray for her body to accept those new lungs so she is able to breathe again. She also has Cystic Fibrosis.

Thank you so much and I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Love, Stephanie

03.10.01
Okay, Okay, I'm sorry!!!!
I can't believe how many of you have called because I haven't sent the email for today!

What can I say? The Lord has given us another truly marvelous day! We started off with our daily X-Ray. They were fabulous! At lunch time we went walking. If you will remember, six laps around the floor is half a mile. He walked seven laps this morning! Of course he didn't even get out of breath. I'll try to stop saying how amazing it all is to me.

At lunch time we let Randy walk all the way down to the 2nd floor (elevator of course) and then to a different part of the hospital. We walked outside and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine for several minutes. Then he walked all the way back to the room. At about 8:00 he walked around the floor again.....EIGHT laps this time!! It is so amazing.....ooops.....I forgot I was trying not to say that!!

I haven't mentioned something in my other emails that I should have. For those of you that don't know, Randy has to take enzymes with everything he eats. That is six capsules with all meals and three capsules with all snacks. Because of Cystic Fibrosis, his pancreas does not function properly. The enzymes help him to digest food. He has not been able to swallow pills at all since his stroke. This has caused his tummy to be very upset. We have put so many pills in his mouth over the past three days just to watch them dissolve and then get spit out. Well, his surgeon (Dr. Detterbeck) decided it was time to try to stop all IV's and have him take everything by mouth so he can go to rehab next week. Well, Mrs. Beeker and I just looked at each other with worried faces. We tried the enzymes again in the afternoon but they were spit out again. Then we tried to open the capsules and put them in ice cream. It went down, but not very well and it took us a long time. At about 9:15, the nurse came in with three pills. Calling them horse pills is a joke. Two of them were at least an inch long, and the other was a small round pill. We all cringed when she handed them to me. I got Randy some apple juice and told everyone to be a little quiet so he could concentrate on getting them down. I'm embarrassed to say that I had not thought to pray about the pill swallowing. As soon as I handed Randy the pill, I closed my eyes and said a very short prayer. Randy put the first huge pill in his mouth, took some apple juice, swallowed and opened his mouth to make the AHHHHH sound. We all literally screamed!!! We clapped, we hugged, we kissed. His smile was ear to ear! (By the way, both sides lift when he smiles now!). After that he took two enzymes capsules and he has just finished taking three other pills! If all goes well he will be off IV's by tomorrow evening!

My other wonderful news is Randy's appetite today! When his breakfast arrived, he sat himself up on the side of the bed before I even got it ready. He ate a jelly biscuit and some rice krispies. At lunch he ate ice cream......but let me tell you about dinner!!! He ate for a solid hour!! He had a box of chicken nuggets from the Wendy's here, some french fries, a fruit ice (like ice cream), one hotdog and half of another one, and half of a Frosty from Wendy's. Then a little while ago he ate all MY fries from Wendy's and some Doritos!! I can't imagine what his tummy is thinking! We all made bets on how much he will weigh at this time next year. The bets ranged from 135 to 160 lbs!! He is currently at 108.6. lbs.

Well, again I am so sorry for being so late! Things just kept going so well and so busy! I have pictures for everyone to see once we get home. I took pictures of all the nurses, doctors, and everything else he has done. And by the way, I found something besides pretty nurses that makes Randy smile. One of our nieces (Kacey-7months old) came by today Randy's face lit up all over for a good ten minutes. Babies have a way of doing that to us. She was just as excited as he was. It was great to watch.

Well, I am a little sleepy so I'm going to turn in for the night. Tomorrow is Sunday so I know even more prayers will go up! Thank you!!

We love you all, Stephanie

03.09.01
Good Evening Everyone!
Sorry I'm a little late tonight. I've been a little lazy today! I've got good news for you all!

Today started a little off. Randy woke up throwing up again. We think it is because he is swallowing the residue in his lungs instead of spitting it out. He only threw up once and then it was all over. We had X-Rays done at lunch time and all was well! The right lung has healed also! At about 2:00, they pulled his last 2 chest tubes! He was very scared because he is never sure what those guys in the white coats are going to do to him! It is a little painful when they are taken out but it only last a few seconds. So now, all we have are staples, a feeding tube (or button), and an IV pole. He is looking more normal everyday! I love losing those tubes!

The walking was wonderful today also! We didn't let him hold on to anything. I carried his last chest tube (before it was taken out) and Mrs. Beeker pushed the IV pole. He walked FIVE laps around the floor!! Six laps is half a mile so I was sooooooooooooooo proud!

....................................

Okay, you all are not going to believe this! I just took Randy walking after I typed that last sentence. He walked SIX laps around the floor!!!!! Half a mile! Can you guys believe it??? I can't even believe it. I checked his Oxygen level at lap four and it was at 99%! I am just so overwhelmed with this whole thing. It is so amazing to watch. I know he is tired of me and his mom saying, "You are amazing!!! We are so proud of you". He is going to slap us if we say that one more time. We can't help it though. It's just so great!

Randy and I bought Nike shoes at Overton's back in August of last year. We knew we would not wear them until he had his transplant. I put them on him for the first time today. (I was in a hurry to wear mine!) Maybe that is why he did so well walking! The shoes are Carolina Blue so we turned lots of heads. All the doctors and nurses cheer us on as we go.

While Randy was having his X-Ray today, I was reading his chart. I found where Dr. Tawney (it wasn't Dr. Tony) from the Rehab center wrote......"Randy is an excellent candidate for rehab. Will place in next available bed. Possible Tuesday/Wednesday." It looks like another prayer was answered! Thank you again for praying.

The other wonderful news was at dinner time. He got out of bed, sat in a chair, and ate a hotdog and half of his chocolate ice cream. That is the most he has eaten in eleven days. Hopefully he will keep that up so he can get his strength back.

We also heard some more sounds today. He is trying to talk in syllables. We get overly excited if we figure out what he is trying to say. He just looks at us like it was obvious the whole time. We try to encourage him to talk and make new sounds but you can tell it is frustrating for him. He gets very teary and upset but they say that is normal and healthy.

Right now he has his eye on the T.V. I think Duke and State are playing in this March Madness stuff. I'm not into it at all so I thought now would be a good time for my daily e-mail. Mrs. Beeker is so bored that I think she will turn in early. We just found out another game follows this one.......oh boy.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We plan on taking Randy outside tomorrow for some fresh air. I'm sure he will enjoy it. Good Night!

Love, Stephanie

03.08.01
Hello!!
We can certainly see that lots of you guys had Prayer Meeting last night!

Today was wonderful!! Randy fell asleep last night at about 10:30 and didn't wake up till 6:45 this morning! That is the best night we have had! We went for X-Ray at 8:30 and then he walked 4 laps around the floor! That is the best ever! His Oxygen Stats were better than mine!

After his walk, the speech therapist came in and worked with him for a while. Her name is Linda Hube and she is great. They keep saying he is the perfect rehab patient because he is so young. Linda wrote a number 1 on the dry erase board and Randy wrote a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10!! Wow! Then he drew some more circles, triangles, and rectangles and copied his name.

I saved the best news for last. Randy has been moving his right arm all day!!! It started this morning when we woke up. His arm was hanging off the bed. I walked over to him and told him to put his arm back on the bed. He stared at his arm for a long while and then shook his head no. I tapped his arm and then tapped the bed. Slowly, his arm moved up to the bed. I jumped for joy beside him and clapped. It must have been painful because he wasn't as excited as me. Especially since I have told him to move his arm for every single person that walks in the room. The doctors are very optimistic about rehab. They seem perplexed that he is moving his arm so much one week after such a massive stroke. That's the power of God!

You all will be happy to know that Nurse Monica is off until next Monday.I sure do miss her. ha ha

Actually, we have had the best nurses and doctors ever! They have all been so wonderful and caring. I'm very thankful for all of them.

The head doctor of Rehabilitation (Dr. Tomey) came in today to evaluate Randy for the Rehab program. He has been accepted to the program pending all his tubes come out and he is still doing well physically. Tuesday will be the day we move as long as nothing else changes. Keep praying for a great rehabilitation! God has done a great work in Randy and we know he will continue to do so. It is so awesome to see Him at work!

One last thing. As long as the X-Ray's are good tomorrow, the last two chest tubes will be pulled! That will make him much more mobile! Thank you all again for your many, many prayers. They are certainly being answered!

We love you all, Stephanie and Randy

03.07.01
Good Afternoon Everyone,
To avoid saying today was bad, I'll say that hopefully tomorrow will be better :)

This morning started at 5:00. Randy awoke throwing up. We aren't sure why, but it continued until lunch time. The Doctors took away his Morphine pump last night so he was in a lot of pain today. They are managing his pain with small amounts of morphine in his IV when he needs it...which is a lot.

At lunchtime we went and had a small procedure done to put in a "button" or a replacement for his feeding tube. That was pretty painless and went well. He was in a great deal of pain when we got back, so at this point he hasn't done any walking today. He is getting his chest Physical Therapy right now, which he hates because he has to lay on his chest tubes.

The good news is that his left lung has completely healed and they removed the two chest tubes from that side. That was painful too but he did really well. It's a little easier to get around without those. Hopefully the other two can come out in a couple of days. The Lung Transplant Coordinator said clinically, his lungs are perfect. She said she wished her other transplant patients were all walking and doing as well as he is. If it were not for the stroke, we would be looking to be discharged in a couple of days.

One other thing I forgot to tell you all is that they did another double lung transplant on Saturday. It was a friend of ours that we had been emailing since July. She is doing very well. Her name is Mary Lou. There is also a gentleman on this floor that had a single lung transplant on 2/16/01. He is doing great and will be discharged Friday. The Egyptian man that got the heart from the same donor as Randy went home today. He looks great and feels such a connection to Randy without even being able to talk to him.

We found out today that we may be changing rooms in a few days to the Rehabilitation Center. UNC has it's own Rehab program/hospital. Randy has to be evaluated first to make sure they think he can tolerate the program. They say it is a very tedious program and he has to be willing and able to participate. It is a little difficult right now because he still can not respond correctly most of the time. Please pray for that situation also.

It's about 6:50 right now and I think I will try to talk him into taking a walk around the floor. Maybe I can coax him with a little shot of Morphine from his favorite nurse. Her name is Monica and he smiles from one side of his mouth every time she walks in.......I'm trying to remain calm. ha ha

All in all, today wasn't bad as far as procedures, but he really didn't feel well at all. Tomorrow is a new day though so I'm looking up! Thank you all for calling and for all the cards and balloons you've sent. You wouldn't believe the stack of mail we get from the candystriper every day! I'll need a trailer to get it all home!

God has been so good to us and it is such a blessing to be able to watch Randy's chest rise and fall. He sleeps so peacefully flat on is back. That is something he has not been able to do since about April of last year. I watch him breathe normally all day. Periodically throughout the day, I get out his PulseOx machine that shows me his Oxygen level just so I can watch it range from 95% to 100%! How amazing is that!! I can't tell you how wonderful it is to see color in his cheeks again and to see his face without that Oxygen tube!

Love, Stephanie

03.06.01
Hello Again,
I just wanted to let everyone know that Randy moved his right arm today a couple of times. I tricked him by putting some Hand Sanitizer on his left hand. He always carried it when we went out. It was a natural reflex to rub his hands together so his right hand moved about 4-5 inches on it's own. He also brushed his teeth and helped wash his hair with the occupational therapist. He tried to shave but cut his upper lip. That was painful to watch and he did get a little upset but we were thankful that he tried so hard.

Also, his feeding tube got pulled out today trying to get back from X-Ray. It is unbelievable what he has to take with him when he moves. He has over 70 staples in his chest, 7 heart monitors, 4 chest tubes with waterseal systems, a feeding tube (that came out), 5 IV lines in his neck and an IV pole with 4 machines on it. It takes a while to get him loaded up!

We are continuing to work on his speech but it isn't coming back so easily. We are told we may see an improvement in another week. He is sleeping a lot also; possibly from the morphine button he is able to push every 8 minutes. We may cut back on the dosage tomorrow. We just returned from walking and he did a great job. He walked 2.5 laps around the floor. Those lungs are still looking great!

Remember to Pray, Pray, Pray!

Love, Stephanie

Transplant Update!!!
Hello Everyone!!
First of all, let me thank all of you for your prayers. They have meant so much to us. I'm sorry it has been a week since Randy's transplant before I got a chance to email you all. It has been a very long week. It feels like we have been here much longer. For those of you we have not talked with, here are the chain of events.

On February 25th at 11:30 P.M, Randy and I were watching The Mask of Zorro. The phone rang and it was the transplant coordinator at UNC. We knew before we answered that it was time for the transplant. Randy did really great. We prayed together as soon as we hung up and we had a peace about the whole thing. We called our friends Channing and Chastity and they drove us to the hospital. We were told the surgery wouldn't start until 4:00 A.M so we didn't have to rush. We got to the hospital at about 1:30 and they took blood, got lots of information and told us to wait awhile because the operation had been delayed until 5:00, then 6:00, then 7:00, and then they said 8:00. Well, at 6:00, they came and got us and took us to the operating room. His mom and I went back and they put in some IV's. Suddenly they wheeled in a gentleman in a bed and put in behind a curtain on the other side of Randy. Next, a man walked through carrying two coolers. He said to the Doctors, "Here is the Heart and the Lungs." We knew the man was getting the heart from the same donor. (By the way, we found out the donor was a 33 year old white male that weighed in at 210 lbs. over 6 foot tall). The heart recipient is an Egyptian man that is a professor at Clemson University in S.C. He is very nice and keeps calling Randy his twin brother. He is positive we are going to have family reunions every year and he wants to take us to all the games........great, another sports fan in the family. (haha)

Anyway, the surgery started around 8:00 and he got out about 7:00 Monday night. It was the longest Twelve hours of my entire life. The news didn't sound all that wonderful when he first came out of surgery. They said his blood pressure went up and down the whole time and one of the lungs wasn't functioning like they wanted it to. They said they were going to keep him paralyzed and sedated for a few days to let his body rest and try to make his lung work. They also said they were going to leave the respirator in for a few days. We prayed all night and by the next morning he was awake and the doctors said that his lung picked up to 100% function in the middle of the night. They took the respirator out Tuesday at 1:00....just 18 hours after the surgery!!

After the respirator came out, we noticed Randy was not trying to communicate at all. No talking and his right arm was limp. They suspected a stroke but were not for sure. He was taken for a CT Scan and a MRI. Unfortunately, Randy did have a stroke that affected both sides of his brain. The amazing thing is that his right leg was not affected by the stroke. He is still able to walk and keep his lungs going! All the X-Rays and blood gases are just wonderful. The lungs look great.

He isn't able to talk...everything seems to come out sounding like yee-ha. He has pretty much quit trying to talk since he knows we can't understand him. He is still disoriented also. He can shake his head yes and no but he doesn't always answer correctly. The Neurologist say that it was a pretty massive stroke and they can't tell us how much he will improve. They said we would know where he would be after two months. Please pray for a full recovery. Once he can understand and communicate with us, we should be able to try and help him talk and get him to try to move his right arm. Please keep praying for those three things. His disorientation, his speech and his arm. We are still praising God for how far he has brought us and for these new lungs. Also, that the stroke did not affect his leg so he is able to walk.

I will try to check my email each day from now on if you have any specific questions. Again, thank you all for your prayers. Please continue to pray daily for us.

Love, Randy and Stephanie