Prayers for Wheelhorseman & Family

[wheelhorseman 3,211]

Update on Scottie:

 

Hello friends and family...Scottie has had yet another surgery last Friday that was not planned on our part.  About a week ago Scottie started having difficulties urinating and he was complaining of a burning sensation when he urinated and he also was complaining that he felt like his bladder was full.  He was going to the bathroom every 5-10 minutes and he was unsuccessful in emptying out his bladder.  He asked if I would hook him up to the catheter bag and call Rochester to see what we could do for him.  I did just that I hooked up his catheter bag and I was surprised to see that he had a lot of urine in his bladder and that he was unable to urinate through his penis.  When I called Rochester we were informed to give him the ditropan (his bladder spasm medication) until he felt better and that is exactly what we did.  The down side to this medication is that it relaxes the bladder and it does not allow him to urinate properly so we don't like to use that medication unless we have no other choice.  We then received a phone call on Monday from his urology doctor and we were told that the doctor wanted to do a cystoscopy and was wondering when it would be convenient for us to have that procedure done.  Now what exactly is a cystoscopy?  A cystoscopy is when they take a microscope and start from the penis and go up to the bladder to visually see what is going on inside the urethra.  This procedure is done in the operating room and only lasts 5 minutes or less.  So we had them schedule that procedure.  We found out on Tuesday that the doctor wanted to have this procedure done on Friday.  We were scheduled to report to St. Mary's hospital at 10:30 am and he was the last case for the day.   We got all checked in and was in the preoperative stage and then the resident doctor came in and informed us that the plan for the day was to remove the suprapubic catheter and to see what was going on in the urethra.  The reason for the removal of the suprapubic catheter was to stop his bladder spasms.  However, I did not like what the resident said and I requested that Scott's urology doctor come in and talk to us.  I then informed him that I did not think that it was a good idea that he remove the suprapubic catheter as Scott still relies on that as a backup when he feels full and that his can not empty out his bladder.  The doctor agreed and stated that once he is in there he will just change out the suprapubic catheter instead of removing it.  Scott left for his 5 minute procedure and 90 minutes later he came back to the recovery room and I was brought back to his recovery room and was told that he not only had his suprapubic catheter but he also has another urethral catheter in place.  When the surgeon came in to talk to me, I found out that Scott was having difficulties because he had formed so much scar tissue in his urethra that is was completely closed except for a tiny pin hole.  So what the surgeon did was take a knife and made a little incision to open up the urethra and then put in the urethra catheter.  Scottie has to keep this catheter in for 2 weeks and then we go back to Rochester and have that removed.  Then we have to retrain his bladder again and keep track of his urine output.  

 

I asked several questions but the main one that I was concerned about was if this does not work what's our next option.  Our next option would be having another surgery which would entail removing Scott's appendix and taking a portion of that and attaching that to his bladder and making a duct or a port so he can catheterize himself every three hours for the rest of his life.  This surgery would require about a week stay in the hospital.  This is ultimately not what Scott wants nor what Lowell and I would like to see happen.  This is when the surgeon asked me to step outside and that is when he told me this.  "I never believed in God until that day in December when I met you and Scott.  When you told me that you have to call your pastor and get the prayer chain going for Scott and the medical team for the procedure that only has a 5% success rate and that you would pray to God about this.  It was when we were able to get that completed in the first attempt.  Since then I have been praying to God that we find cure to Scott's situation and that he can pee normally and lead a normal life.  I am asking you could you start another prayer chain for a miracle for Scott, as we are running out of options for him."  I was baffled and I told him that I could.  Please continue to pray for Scottie and that God has a plan for the medical team for Scott.

 

We have also learned that Scottie will be having migraines from his concussion.  Instead of adding additional medication to Scott's list, the doctor decided to prescribe 400 mg of vitamin B-2 daily.  We were also sent to the sleep specialist and we found out that Scottie has insomnia and post delayed sleep disorder (which means that his sleep clock is off).  The reason that he has this is from his bladder and his spasms that he experiences during the night.  We have already done one sleep study and we start another one tomorrow for another seven days.  The sleep specialist had prescribed 3 mg of melatonin 30 minutes before bed.  This is working for him to fall asleep faster but it is not the complete fix when he is having a bladder spasm.

 

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and a special thank you from Scott and his medical team at Rochester.  We truly appreciate each and everyone of you!

[Razorback 1,035]

Continued prayers for Scottie, your family, the doctors, nurses, techs, and everyone involved. God is good, and I love it when an unbeliever or even someone who is indifferent to the Lord can be shown the power of prayer!

[Lost.soul.collecter 76]

My family is sending praying prayers to Scottie and family and all that are involved in helping God bless you all

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

Thank you Joette for the update.  My heart continues to ache for Scottie and all that he has had to go through since the accident.  I prayed for him and your family once again, moments after I read the above post.  It is hard for me to put into words the physical, emotional, and mental strain that you and Lowell must be feeling through all of this.  I keep reminding myself though that God was so gracious to spare his life in that horrific accident.  Because of that, God has a plan for his future.  It is my earnest desire that one day you all will be able to look back on this difficult time and say, “now I see why we had to go through this challenge!”.  

 

Scottie—the Stertz family will continue to pray for you for complete healing and that the Great Physician would continue to make believers out of the earthly physicians attending your case!  Keep your eyes up and on Him through your most difficult times.  Whenever you wear that hat I brought you back from Kiev Ukraine remember that there are folks praying for you in Wisconsin and also across the country as a result of this great forum.  And remember the Lord’s promise, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee!”

[JC 1965 1,530]

Prayers just sent for Scottie, your family and the medical team.

[953 nut 55,188]

10 hours ago, wheelhorseman said:

"I never believed in God until that day in December when I met you and Scott.  When you told me that you have to call your pastor and get the prayer chain going for Scott and the medical team for the procedure that only has a 5% success rate and that you would pray to God about this.  It was when we were able to get that completed in the first attempt.  Since then I have been praying to God that we find cure to Scott's situation and that he can pee normally and lead a normal life.

Father in Heaven, you are the giver of life and the great physician.

You know our needs and wants. Please heal Scott and comfort his family. We know that his body has been damaged and the physicians are doing what they can, we know that with your healing hand on him Scott will  be cured. We also know that you can make him whole again, you can repair damaged tissue, you can enable him to continue to serve you on this Earth.

Lord, hear my petition. Be with his father and mother and all family as they experience this storm in their lives. I don’t always understand your plan for us, but I do trust that you work all things for the good. I only ask that it be your will to give Scott good health.

I ask these things in the name of your Son and my Savior, Jesus Christ. All glory and honor belong to you.
Amen.

[roadapples 6,983]

Prayers sent for Scott. Wishing you all the best.

[SylvanLakeWH 25,534]

Continued prayers for Scottie, your family and the medical team...

[Pullstart 62,834]

Merry Christmas Scottie, Trav, Bryan, Lowell and Joette!  We hope that Scottie’s healing continues to be on the up and up!  By the way, these sweatshirts absolutely rock!  Top notch quality!

 

From Kevin, Taylor, Jada and Rylee

 

 

[dells68 7,498]

Good morning @wheelhorseman and family!  Sorry I haven’t been in touch for a little while.  I pray that everything is going well for Scotty.  I received Emory’s blanket and waited for him to get to tear the package open Christmas morning.  He was thrilled!  He’s been sick the last couple of days and has really enjoyed his blanket.  That thing is so soft!  If you do another order, might even have to get one for myself!!  Just wanted to share.  Hope you guys had a great Christmas and have a very happy New Year!

[Gordyhogg 150]

I will be praying for a complete recovery as well in jesus name may he be healed also praying for the whole family 

[Darb1964 1,042]

I had the same procedure in July and it has made catheter insertion much more comfortable for me. I just had my second botox treatment done in my bladder. That helps relax the bladder enabling it to hold more fluid so now I can go longer between catheterization. It was a hard time for me excepting the fact I will need to use a catheter the rest of my life. I feel for Scottie and will keep him in my prayers, I do believe it helps. For someone so young it is hard to keep Faith and understand how a loving God can allow such thing to happen. Life is a test,that takes friends and family to get through, it's obvious from the support and love found on Red square, Scottie is in good hands. God bless!

[wheelhorseman 3,211]

Update on Scottie:

 

This past Monday Scottie and I went to his two week check up to do a urine flow procedure and to figure out what our plan for the future.  What we found out was we only have three options left at this point in the recovery process for Scott.  The first one is to allow time and medications to work in his favor and hope that his urethra will not close shut with scar tissue like it did before.  Keep in mind that his urethra completely shut after 3 months that is why we had the unexpected surgery in November.  The second one is to do the appendix surgery and have the surgeons create a mitrofanoff trough which is taking part of his appendix and attaching it to his bladder and attaching it to his belly button and that is where he will have to catheterize himself every three to four hours.  With this procedure, he will be looking at in vitro later in life if and when he chooses to have children.   If we do this procedure there is no going backwards and this is the last hope for him to urinate.  The third procedure is to do a urethral graft.  This procedure has only been done in the US two other times.  Both procedures that were done came back with no drawbacks and no rejections.  Scott's surgeon said that Scott is an ideal candidate for this procedure and he will be the first adolescent to have this done in the US.  Talking this over with the surgeon and with Scottie and Lowell we have decided to go ahead with the urethral graft and we set the surgery date on January 31, 2020.  Scottie, Lowell and I did not want to take our chances with the medication and time to allow his urethra to close.  We do not know if this procedure will work for Scott or if Scott's body will reject the foreign object in his urethra.  Scottie will be in the hospital until Monday and he will have two catheters when he comes home and he will have to retrain his bladder once again and the typical recovery time is 8 to 12 weeks but the surgeon told us that his recovery time will be longer since he is an adolescent and has been dealing with this for over a year. 

 

Scottie is continuing with his home bound school and he is not far behind his class at all.  He is maintaining his 6 class course load and he is right along with his class mates.  He will be starting 3rd quarter the end of the month and so he is finishing up his assignments and projects before quarter end.  Please keep our family and Scottie in your thoughts and prayers as we prepare for his upcoming surgery.  

 

Thank you for all of your support and love to our family and to Scottie.  Lowell and I do appreciate you all!

[Pullstart 62,834]

Best wishes again to you all and prayers for the surgeon’s hands and for Scottie’s recovery!

[Ed Kennell 38,133]

Thanks for the update.   Our hopes and prayers are for a complete success with this new procedure.

[SylvanLakeWH 25,534]

Continued prayers...

[Jennifer 1,877]

Prayers sent...  our hearts go out to Scotty and his family!!  This has been a long haul for them...  May God bless your family greatly, with fast healing and recovery!  

[Lost.soul.collecter 76]

My wife , daughters and I continue to pray for scottie and your family and please let scottie know that I think hes  really brave and I'm really proud of him for not letting this defeat him it take alot of courage and strength to go through what he has and is continuing to go through and to keep up with school and all I'm vary proud of him and our hearts go out to me and stay brave just remember god would give you anything he didnt think you could handle things will get better god bless you and the whole family 

[dells68 7,498]

Continue to hold fast to your faith in God.  With his help and Scottie’s strong will and determination anything is possible.  We’ll certainly remember him in our thoughts and prayers!  Love you guys!

[wheelhorseman 3,211]

Update on Scottie:

 

On January 31, 2020 Scottie was scheduled for a urethral graft surgery that would allow Scottie to urine properly like he did before the accident.  His medical team included the current urology surgeon that has been on his case since day one and another surgeon from Texas who was helping via face-time on the internet.  It was then determined after Scottie was in the operating room that the urethral graft was not going to be done at this time.  The medical team then decided it would be best if the scar tissue was completely removed from the urethra in order for the chances of it not coming back full force.  However, Scottie had to have an epidural to help with the pain after the procedure and the medical team had to complete this surgery with out the use of robotics like they used during his reconstruction surgery.  During this procedure the medical team had to cut open his pubis bone ( which is located in the middle of his pelvis) and separate it in order to get the his urethra.  Once they cut his pubis bone open, the medical team decided that they would cut out the area of the urethra that had all of the scar tissue and remove that from his urethra.  Then they had to release more of the urethra from just underneath the bladder and then reattach the new clean ends of the urethra.  He has another foley (penial catheter) in place to help with the healing of the urethra.  During this procedure Scottie had some blood loss which required him to have 5 blood transfusions.  He then woke up and could not see temporarily due to the swelling and amount of anesthesia he received.  The swelling went down and he is able to see just fine.  He was very anemic in the hospital but he has since rebounded very quickly and is no longer anemic.  He was in the hospital until Monday February 3, 2020.  He has been doing well, except for the pain that is associated with the type of surgery that he had done.  His recovery time is about 12 weeks for his pelvis and on March 2, 2020 he has an appointment with the urologist and they may take out the foley (penial) catheter.  Scott will then have to retrain his bladder and wait about four months to see if the scar tissue will form again.  Lowell, Scott, and I are all praying that this is the last of Scottie's procedures and that he will be able to be himself again without the catheters.  

 

Scott is still doing home bound school and his teacher comes out to our house every week with homework for Scott to complete and to gather the completed stuff and return it to school.  Scott is on a pass/fail program and he is able to stay up to date with his fellow classmates.  

 

Each day is a blessing from God and a miracle in and of itself.  Lowell and I are very blessed by each and everyone of you and we are so lucky to have you all in our lives.

[Razorback 1,035]

Scottie is one tough kid!!! So are you!!

 

We will continue the prayers...... hang in there, and happy healing!! One day, this will all be behind you!

[SylvanLakeWH 25,534]

Every time I wear your hoody I think of Scottie... Never had the pleasure of meeting him yet in person, but please know that continued prayers are sent for him and your family...

[953 nut 55,188]

3 hours ago, wheelhorseman said:

Lowell, Scott, and I are all praying that this is the last of Scottie's procedures and that he will be able to be himself again

I also pray that Scott will resume a normal life soon.         

[Darb1964 1,042]

It will be worth it in the end, God bless!!

[Horse Newbie 7,068]

On 12/14/2018 at 12:03 PM, wheelhorseman said:

Scottie Would love to get cards or whatever you want to send to him.  Please mail to our home address.

 

For Scott's address please click here

 

Just a little update on our other son Bryan...Bryan who was driving the car had no physical injuries but he has the emotional injury of being the driver.  We ask for prayers for him as well and the continued prayers for Scottie and our family!

 

Thank you again you don’t know what this means to us!!!!

Lowell, Joette, Scottie, and Bryan,

This is the first time I have read this thread completely. My heart and prayers go out to you and the rest of your family. I would like to say a prayer for you...

 

Our most gracious and Heavenly Father, thank you GOD for the many blessings and  the healing that you have given this family, and thank you LORD for the ones yet to come. I know LORD through faith in you mountains can be moved !

Lord I humbly ask you to help us, your children, through prayer and faith in you, to move whatever mountains stand in the way of Lowell's family's complete and whole recovery from this trial that they are facing. I ask in your son's, and our Saviour's Holy name, JESUS.

Amen.

Edited February 23, 2020 by Horse Newbie
Misspelling