The staff at LifeCare met with Ian today, and Mary was involved. They looked at Ian from top to bottom checking all of his injuries and considering various strategies. They plan to look at all the medications he has been on and to wean him off of as many as they safely can. Occupational, physical, respiratory and speech therapists (I probably missed other kinds of therapists) will be working with him, and we were glad to hear that they will be taking an aggressive approach. We told them to show no mercy. 🙂 We want him back.

Most of what we learned from the staff there about how to work with Ian we knew already thanks to Mary Bennett. She taught us how to provide some stimulation that will help him and how to recognize the best timing for those stimuli. If you go, let me give you some tips (Mary B, I’m hoping you’ll provide some comments for us, too).

Ian goes through cycles of wake and sleep that last anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours, and you can recognize signs that he’s awake. His heart rate is usually in the 80s or 90s. When his heart rate is above about 95 or so, his respiration is above 20, and his eyes are open, he’s probably awake. That would be a good time to provide some stimulation. If he’s “asleep,” try talking to him some and see if he responds. If he doesn’t respond, let him sleep; with all the injuries he sustained he needs lots of sleep. Let us (his family) or the staff take care of waking him up if we (they) feel it’s appropriate. Just have a seat and wait for him to wake up.

The best and easiest stimulation you can provide him is your voice. Talk to him. Sing to him. Read to him. Pray for him out loud. You can’t do this enough. If more than one person is there at a time, talk to each other, so he can hear you. Explain his injuries to him as though he can understand you; we don’t know at this point that he can’t. Then, you could hold his hand, rub his arms, and move his toes, but leave any touch beyond that to us and the staff. Bring in one of his favorite smells and move it around under his nose.

Before you go, remember to check in with one of us to make sure there aren’t too many going at once. We don’t want to overwhelm the staff there.

Most of all pray…

Steve Murphy

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I’m sitting in the lobby of a special rehab hospital called LifeCare in Wilkinsburg . We were notified today that Ian was moving today at 5:30pm, and I’m here waiting for his arrival. The staff here will be able to deal with Ian’s medical issues, provide stimulation to wake him up, and help him with some physical rehab.

It seems the staff here are very encouraging of friends and family participating in the whole process of rehab, and I told some of them that I was standing in front of an army of people from our church waiting to help Ian. I think they were excited to hear that. I know that many of you genuinely want to help Ian, and I think this next stage will be the place where you can really help. I’m not exactly sure how, yet, though. He’ll be settling in tonight (in a single room; other facilities we checked have only shared rooms), and the evaluations start tomorrow. After that, I’ll have more information about exactly what you can do.

For future reference, here’s the address of the hospital:

Lifecare Hospitals-Pittsburgh
225 Penn Ave
Wilkinsburg , PA 15221

I know many of you have visited Ian at Presby, and you probably spent a bundle on parking. Parking here is free. If you’re able and willing to help, please plan to make the trip to Wilkinsburg sometime over the next few weeks. I’ll keep you posted on when you can start coming, and I may be trying to work out a schedule so we’re not all down here at once.

The most important thing you can do for Ian is keep praying. Thank you…

Steve Murphy

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Thank you again for all of your prayers. I just got back from the hospital, and while there aren’t a ton of new things to update you on, Ian continues to seem more and more “awake” each time I see him. Tonight he “woke up” (he responded to stimuli well) for his mom and I for quite awhile. When we got there his heart rate was around 101 and at one point it was up to 119, which is a sign that he hears and feels us. It really seemed like he was trying to communicate with us tonight. He was squeezing our hands when we said certain things to him and he deliberately blinked his eyes in response to things we said. I know that he is in there and I know that he can hear us! I know that he is working so hard to come back to us.

We still aren’t sure when he will be moved to a rehab center. Tonight (Sunday) he is having a CT scan to make sure everything from Friday’s surgery is working well. I’m assuming that those results will determine when he moves.

Tonight I am reminded of my tendency to stop praying as fervently when things seem to be improving with Ian. But I need to remember that we are just as much at God’s mercy now as we were five weeks ago after the accident. I want to continue to cry out to God. Ian is not awake. We still don’t know what the extent of his brain injuries are. I believe that God can and will restore Ian, but I need to continue to ask Him for those things. Please be encouraged to continue to pray for Ian’s complete restoration. We serve a God who is able to, with just one word, completey restore and wake Ian up. Continue to ask for the amazing!

My friend Laura sent me this quote and I wanted to share it to encourage you:
“Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time, before you intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!” -Andrew Murray

Thank you!

-Larissa

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The staff at Presby have been slowly putting Ian back together. They’ve done a superb job with Ian throughout this whole process (thank you!). They installed the shunt and put his bone flap back. Their theory in putting it back on is that the brain tends to recognize the absence of a portion of the skull and is reluctant to get fired up again after a trauma like that. They say that sometimes patients do better when they reinstall it. So, that’s done as of Friday in a 5 hour surgery.

Since the surgery, we’ve noticed that Ian’s eyes open all the way more often. I think he can hear us. I played a tape of us talking, and Ian’s heart rate went up 5 points when Mary’s voice came on. He still squeezes our hands.

I think their hope is to move him to the rehab place in Wilkinsburg (LifeCare) early next week. We’ll see….

Thank you for your prayers.

Steve Murphy

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Everything went well in surgery. No problems at all. He just needs to wake up. Thank you for praying…

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“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29

Abraham didn’t understand how God would bring a son to him and his ninety-year-old wife, but the next year their son was born. It didn’t make sense for God to tell Abraham to sacrifice his son years later, but at the last second God stopped Abraham and provided a sheep instead.
But Abraham was a man who knew that “the secret things belong to the Lord,” and Abraham’s job was to follow what he did know. And he trusted God.
(Genesis 17:17, 22:6-13)

Ian’s dad didn’t understand why God chose to put his son in the middle of an accident, and it didn’t make sense why God would interrupt Ian’s life and injure Ian’s brain at such a young age. But Steve is a man who knows that “the secret things belong to the Lord,” and Steve’s job is to follow what he does know. And he trusted God.

These men don’t know why God works the way He does, but it’s not up to them to question God. It’s their job to obey what has been revealed to them. When things don’t make sense to them, these men recognize that they are to follow what God has told them, not to demand an answer to what they don’t understand.

Let’s be inspired and encourged by my dad’s example. Let’s keep praying, because our job now is to trust God, and we show our trust in God through relying on Him in prayer. God has revealed to us what our task is, so let us do it with excitement!

-ben

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The book of Hebrews has been very meaningful to me lately. The author throughout directs our focus to Christ, the Giver, rather than on things we might seek from Him. In chapter 11, the author tells us that Abraham went out from his own country at God’s command, “not knowing where he was going” but “looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” He never even received what he was promised, but he believed God was faithful to fulfill His promises in whatever way He chose. Sarah, his wife, looked beyond her infertile body and beyond the promised son to the One whom she believed was faithful. Later, Abraham, when told by God to sacrifice their son, believed “God was able even to raise him from the dead.” The heroes of the faith in that chapter all looked beyond any outcome they hoped for to God who was infinitely capable and wise and perfectly faithful.

Ian is still in a coma. The focus of our faith is not on his healing but on the One who is perfectly wise and infinitely powerful and who loved us enough to sacrifice His Son. If Ian remains in a coma, we want to trust Him and to praise Him for the mystery only an infinite God could have. If Ian wakes up (we’re praying fervently that he does), we will praise him for His power to heal and His kindness in sparing him. If Ian takes a turn for the worse, he will go home to be with our Savior, and, though sad, we would want to rejoice with him.

We prayed that Ian would respond to commands yesterday when the medical staff visited him. He didn’t respond. But, we got the news today that he was approved anyway for the treatment we felt he should have. We thought it was critical for Ian to respond yesterday, but our all-wise God knew differently.

Today, we thought he was moving to his new treatment facility, but at the last minute they discovered fluid on his brain. He won’t relocate today, but instead he will have surgery on Friday to install a shunt in his head. My son, Caleb, highlighted the kindness of God in this new development when he noted that God showed the doctors this problem before Ian moved. It’s not what I would have chosen; I’m too impatient to get moving with his therapy. But, God knows what’s right and best.

God is also kind and lavish, so I’m going to continue to ask for a miracle. Regardless of what actually happens, though, I want to look beyond the outcome to the Lord of every outcome who is kind and compassionate and gracious and powerful and mysterious and lavish. I want to trust Him.

Steve Murphy

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Ian didn’t move for us at all yesterday except for a brief period in the morning. For the most part, he slept. Moving for the doctors was a key to getting him to another level of care that we think is appropriate, something called LTAC (Long Term Acute Care). However, despite Ian’s lack of responsiveness yesterday, the staff at the hospital agreed that the next level of care for Ian ought to be LTAC. I was hoping he would go to a facility in Monroeville, but there’s another in Wilkinsburg that’s more likely for insurance reasons. If we can get everything approved by the insurance company, he’ll be moving somewhere at some point in the next few days. Thank you for praying.

I asked the nurse if he would be in pain if he woke up today. From what I concluded, he would be uncomfortable if he woke up but not in pain today. His bones are healing. The skin graft is healing “perfectly” according to his doctor. He just needs to wake up. Please pray that he wakes up. Thanks….

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He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”–so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. (Matthew 9:9-13)

I read this passage in my devotions the other day and was greatly encouraged by it. What struck me most was how eager Jesus was to do good to the man with the withered hand. The Pharisees were slaves to their own laws. All they cared about was obedience to their man-made laws regarding the Sabbath. They could have cared less about the man with the withered hand. But not so with Jesus. Oh how deeply he loved the man with the shriveled hand. How disgusting that hand must have looked! A shriveled and shrunken hand that probably had not been used in years would not have been a pretty sight. But He valued the man with the withered hand and longed to do good to Him. Jesus is absolutely bursting with goodness. Like a ripe orange that is simply bursting with juice, so the Savior is full of goodness. He longs to do good to His people.

Jesus greatly values Ian Murphy as well. Not because of anything good or meritorious that Ian has done, but because of the cross. Ian is saved and is therefore covered in the precious, valuable blood of Jesus. God delights in Ian and longs to do good to him because Ian is washed in the blood of Jesus. Let this encourage us to pray boldly! Jesus is longing to do good to Ian. He is longing to bless Him and pour out mercy on Him. Let us appeal to our good and generous Savior to heal and restore Ian, full of faith that He longs to do good. For His glory alone…

-Stephen A

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We need you to pray that Ian would move on command for the doctors tomorrow!

Ian continues to take many small steps toward recovery, which when taken together add up to some pretty major advancements over the past month. In Larissa’s words,

Ian has moved for us like this for over a week, but for some reason up till now he wouldn’t respond to the doctors’ requests. Today, though, for the first time Ian responded to a nurse’s request to lift his arm and to move his toes, and she showed that response to a neurosurgeon. That, I think, was the primary reason that a rehab facility is even a consideration this afternoon.

However, tonight one of the doctors asked Ian to respond to commands, and he would not. It was after a long day of activity, so it’s no surprise. That led the insurance company to refuse a move to a rehab center. Tomorrow, we’re going down to appeal and show that Ian does respond to commands. Please pray that Ian would be in one of his wake cycles at the time the doctor tests his responsiveness tomorrow morning (between 9am and 10am), so we can get approval for a move. Pray that the insurance company would be agreeable to this move. We, the neurosurgeon who witnessed Ian’s movements, and most of the nurses who have worked closely with Ian think this is the best thing for him at this stage. Pray that the all-wise God would rule over Ian’s situation and that the right course of action for his recovery would be taken. Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails (Prov 19:21). Pray, most of all, for miracles for Ian.

Ian really is making progress. I learned last night, for example, that some of the medical people were actually considering not doing surgery at all on his vertebra, because they thought it might just heal on its own. I don’t know for sure if they will or they won’t do surgery, but it’s amazing that such an idea was even considered.

His knee still has a long way to go, though. I still can’t imagine the pain he would be in if he were awake, so I still thank God for the coma. He doesn’t feel the pain of his knee injury. I still pray that Ian would wake up soon, but I still praise God that He is wiser and kinder than I am. He knows the perfect time to wake Ian up.

Ian has come a long way from where the doctor said he was three days after the accident. Remember the doctor saying that brain death was imminent? Last night, one of the medical people said, “I think we have something of a miracle here.”

Remember, pray that Ian would respond to the doctor’s command tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers. We know you’re praying.

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