Bill update

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated on Bill. He is still in rehab here close to home to get off of the vent. Dale, Grandma Vada, and the boys headed over last Saturday morning before the party to give him a much needed hair cut. I kind of wish I was there to take pictures of the moment. Dale cutting his dad's hair ... that image of love is burned into my mind. I guess I really didn't need to be there.


Bill is fighting and he isn't close to giving up. I'm not really sure how a couple of months can feel like years. I can't even imagine how Bill is feeling. He has had some great visitors that really help lift his spirits. I love seeing the sparkle in his eye when his grandsons walk in.

Bill and Linda recently celebrated their anniversary. It was a pretty emotional day for Linda. We sent flowers to the room that I hear are still holding up nicely. That night when we went to visit he had a little spell. We got there and were gowning up. His face looked white and panicked and he didn't have a smile on his face and didn't seem to be watching the boys with joy getting their huge gowns on. Soon he called Dale over. He does this by blowing through his lips since he still is unable to talk. Dale ran over to see what he needed and there was nothing but panic in his eyes.

Dale went to get the nurse. The nurse was telling Dale that everything was fine, but he would go check just in case. Everything wasn’t fine. His heart rate was way up and his blood pressure was extremely high. Soon it seemed like the entire medical team swarmed his room. All the while the boys are standing there seeing this. I tried my hardest to get them down to the end of the hall out of sight. Wyatt was curious about what was going on, naturally. Soon Dale came out to hand me the keys so we could go to the car. It wasn’t looking good. Dale had fear in his eyes. He thought he was losing his dad right there in front of him.

It was his heart. He didn’t have a heart attack, but I honestly can’t tell you what it was besides scary. The team worked on him for quite awhile. They bagged him and gave him an immediate shot and continued to work until he was stable again. Apparently he was on some heart medicine in Springfield that they didn’t continue at this rehab. I guess things are straightened out now and things have been pretty smooth since. But that was seriously one of the scariest moments we have had. We made sure that the boys saw their grandpa in the state he was in before we left, which was a good state. He was smiling and talking and everything seemed to be fine.

This week they have been keeping him off of the vent and he has been breathing on his own for most of the day all by himself. I hear it is going pretty well and they are hopeful that he will be weaned by the end of the week. I hope so. As much as we like having him close to home we would really like to get him in rehab to regain some function and get further down the road to bringing him home for good.

Thank you to all that continue to pray for him and ask how he is doing. Could I ask that you also pray for a man named Scott Cooper. Dale worked with him when he was teaching at Smithville a few years ago. He fell from his tree stand recently and broke his neck. He is paralyzed from the neck down right now and has had surgery to fuse his neck like Bill had. He is just starting his journey down this difficult road. Please continue to keep them both in your prayers. If you are interested in his story here is his CaringBridge site http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/scottcooper1/journal. Dale has finally started a site for his dad too. You can find it here http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/billsharp. We will hopefully be updating that frequently.   Thanks again, all!