Here are the arrangements for visitation and the funeral.

Visitation is tomorrow (Thursday the 11th) from 6pm till 7:30pm.
The funeral is Friday, the 12th at 10am.

The funeral home is Burks-Walker-Tippet.
215 East Front St.
Tyler, TX 75702
903-592-6553

This is the last post on this journal, as I've got to shut down the computer to take it to his parents. I want to invite you all to join Memories of James, a Yahoo group created in James' memory and honor.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/memoriesofjames
While anyone is welcome to join the group, it will be a closed membership. When you join, please put in the comments where you heard about the group.

James loved all of you, and I know you all loved him. We'll miss him terribly. We hope to see you, and get to know you and love you as much as James did at the new group.

Kaycee

James died shortly after my last post, about 6pm US central time, August 9th, 2005.

He is no longer in pain.

He is at peace.


Please, pray for his family and his many, many friends in this loss. He was a wonderful person. Remeber him as the bouncing, happy person he was, and always will be in our hearts.

If you are comfortable with it, please continue to donate. His parents are now burdened with his medical bills, and they are likely to be high. They will need to be able to cover the cost of his bills and his funeral.

As soon as I know what the arrangements are, I will let you all know. That will be the last post from me on this journal.

Again, I'm so sorry to have to bear this news to you all.

God, I hate having to be the one to do this...

After everything was going so well, after he even woke up this morning and gave the doctor's a "What the HELL are you doing to me?" look, things went wrong.

His blood pressure dropped quickly this morning. The doctors have been fighting it since the transplant, but it looked steady.. they couldn't get it back up. Shortly after, his organs shut down, one by one. The doctors have done everything they could. There's nothing left to do.

It'll be a matter of hours before he's gone.

I'll post one last time either later tonight or tomorrow with a finalization.

I'm so very sorry...

First off, this is White Howler again. I apologize that this update is alot later than the update on carepages' website is, but I'm relaying what's posted there by Siscily (who's in Little Rock, at the moment) to here, Greyson's livejournal. I'm unable to post any sooner, because I only just recently got home from work, so this is the earliest I could copy/paste her update, which is as follows:




Well, yesterday went pretty well. They tried to close James' chest, and for a while, everything was ok, but his blood pressure was varying to a great degree, so they had to re-open him. The doctors said this is a step sideways, not forward or back. He's stiff, and it'll take a while for everything to loosen up.

I've not been up for an update yet today, but I'll post one a bit later this afternoon unless something major happens.



P.S. I also thank all of you who've donated both blood and funds. Every bit of anything to help out James is a major help.

Ok. James made it through the surgery fine, with no complications. His heart's beating fine, he's off the ECMO. He made it through the night with few problems. There were a couple of times that his heart started racing, and they had to give him a tiny shock, but he's doing ok.

His lungs still aren't working right, his kidneys and liver are still shut down. The doctor said this is normal, because his body is used to having a flow system, and now it's working on a pulsing system. It'll take time for him to get used to this.

He's on dialysis to restart his kidneys. He's on a light narcotic (not morphine), and (if I understood correctly) he's no longer on the chemicals for the coma. He's not awake, but he's not in a drug-induced coma anymore. He's also on a ventilator.

He's been fighting a bit, moving his head back and forth. The nurse was trying to suction out the tube in his mouth, and he was biting on it. So he's reacting to things.

He's currently in the process of having his chest closed up. The doctors are working carefully, watching his blood pressure (which is low at the moment), and within a couple of hours, this should be done.

All in all, he's doing better than expected. It's expected that he'll be out here for at least six months, and probably longer, for rehabilitation.

Things are still very critical, and the doctor point blank said that he could still die at any given moment. They're going hour by hour, and each hour he survives is one hour he's closer to getting out of this ok.

Please keep him in your continued prayers. Also, please remember, he's still going through lots of blood, so he still needs blood donations. We've also not gotten any monetary donations (that've shown up in the bank account), and we *have* to pay his September car and insurance payment. Please, do anything you can to help.

We'll keep you all posted as best as we can.

James has made it through his surgery alright. His heart is beating on it's own, he's extremely fragile right now. The next 12 hours are really critical. He's on dialysis until his kidneys are working again. His lungs aren't working very well, but that's a result of him being on the ECMO machine, which he's no longer on, at this moment, and he shouldn't be going back on it.
That's about it. I'll get another call in the morning or afternoon with more details, so I'll update after I get them.

This is White Howler, Greyson's other roommate. Siscily left with her mother last night around 10pm to head out to Little Rock, since they have a heart for James. They got there this morning around 6am. Siscily called me and told me that James is going into preperation for surgery at around 11:15 or so this morning, and the heart should be there for them between 12:00 and 1:00pm, since a doctor had to go out to Utah to pick it up, and they'll start the surgery immediately when it gets there, and that the surgery is expected to last until this evening sometime. This is very good news, but it's still a rather large hurdle that needs to be crossed, so we still need to keep him in our prayers and hope for the best, that everything works out well. I shall update this journal tonight, or tomorrow morning, depends when I get a call that tells me what went on and how it all went. If anyone needs anymore information about donations or other information about James, go ahead and email me at WiteHowlr@hotmail.com. Be sure you put "James" in the subject. Hotmail is known for letting their users recieve spam.

I'm gone. James has a heart, they're starting work first thing in the morning. I'm leaving.

PRAISE GOD!!!!

:D

I got a minor update today.

The doctors are gradually taking James out of the chemically-induced coma, so they can make sure he doesn't stay in it. They won't bring him out completely, but enough to be sure they can wake him up. He's responding to all sorts of things. In the process of changing the dressing on his chest, he grimaced. He's turned his head slightly toward his mother's voice. He squirmed away during a bath. He gagged when they were brushing his teeth. So he's at least responding to things.

Also, his heart is beating more strongly. The doctors think they will be able to wean him from the ECMO, and his heart should be able to sustain him for a little while. For instance, they should be able to have him on the ECMO for a few hours a day, and his heart should sustain him the rest of the time. If this isn't good news, I'm not sure what is.

There are, of course, still plenty of concerns. For one thing, he still needs the transplant. Even with his heart sustaining him, it'll only be for a few weeks.. he can't hold out much longer than maybe three weeks after the ECMO goes off. Second, after he gets the heart, his body's got to accept it. Then, he HAS to remember to medication, daily, the same time every day. If he forgets one dose, it could kill him. Now, don't anyone panic yet, cause that's not yet an issue. Also, he's going to pissed off. He had an advanced directive not to take heroic measures if something went wrong, and his mom over-rode it. He's going to think it's July 30th when he wakes, and he's gonna find out it's not only August, but he's in a different state.

We at least have a bit of a larger window of time, and bit more hope for him. Please pray. Pray hard. Also, keep in mind, despite him responding, he very likely could be brain damaged. The doctors can't tell the extent of any brain function until he's awake and recovering.

Dear God,
Thank you for this little bit of extra time. Stay by him, continue to hold his hand through this. He's still got so far to go. Stay with his family and friends, and work your miracles with him.
Amen.

Oh. And he's at Arkansas Children's Hospital, the only children's hospital in Arkansas and the best children's hospital in the south west, with the best pediatric transplant center in the US.

Hmm. No wonder I'm so calm. Things are going remotely better.

No news at the moment. I'm just letting you guys know, the instant I recieve word that he's got a heart or that he's on his least leg, I'm leaving straightaway with Mom. I will probably not have enough time to update you. I'll see to it that my husband does update, but it could be some time after I've left.

Continue to pray.