Hi,
Yesterday morning(Friday) Joey was taken by ambulance to another building where he sat for some hours in an oxygen tank or oxygen room. I forget what the name of it is a something or other chamber, anyway, it was used to help with his healing process. The nurse had said the plan was to release him today (Saturday). I came home to pick up the little ones from school (my mom left yesterday) and got a call from the hospital. Both of the doctor teams and the nurses working with Joey had had a meeting to discuss his progress and reported it to the head neurosurgeon who all thought it was best that they keep Joey in over the weekend. Although I miss him terribly and want him home, I do want him to be fully recovered.
Joey insisted that I go to Joey B's homecoming game (they won!) but it was hard for me to be away from the hospital. Thanks to Tina and Brian White's loan of their video camera, I got a lot of good footage to share with Joey when he comes home. Brian and Cindy Lilly spent several hours with Joey at the hospital so he wouldn't have to be alone.
My sister (Stephanie) flies in from NY and will be here this afternoon. I am so blessed to have a family willing to fly 3,000 miles to help me. My brother Mark and Joey's sister Eileen will be out this month also.
"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised" (Hebrews 10:36).
Thanks for everyone's prayers and lets keep praying we get Joey home on Monday.
Love
anneke

Anneke here. Tough day for Joey, very uncomfortable from the shunt. He had difficulty breathing and a lot of pain. X-rays showed nothing serious, no pneumonia or anything out of the ordinary. Just probably pressure from the shunt and some swelling and maybe having SIX surgeries is getting to him. Ya think. He was leaking from the original incision quite a bit this morning which concerned everyone, but tonight he hardly had any leakage. They had him sitting up quite a bit. He really wants me to go to Joey's big homecoming game tomorrow, so if anyone is interested in going down to UCLA sometime tomorrow evening I can give you my parking pass. I hate to see him alone for such a long time. He gets very lonely. I plan to video tape the game and the half time show where Joey will be nominated for homecoming king. Little Johnny is his stand in because Joey will be in the locker room for half time.
Still thanking everyone for their thoughts and prayers.

9/27 Another Update

Anneke did go to the hospital today & talk to the doctors. Joey is having some discomfort in his side & chest which could be from the shunt itself. They have taken x-rays to see what is causing the pain & the leaking & whether the shunt is doing its job. He may just be in pain from spending so much time on his back, so they are sitting him up & having him walk more. Joey is getting very anxious to come home as he is really missing all his family & friends very much. Anneke & Little Joey will go back down to visit him tonight & may have some more test results later.
Until then,
Melody

Just came back from the hospital. I brought my mom and little Johnny with me tonight. My mom will be leaving Friday morning, so it is probably the last visit for her. It did Joey good to see Johnny who was of course very curious.
Joey is stilll leaking. I haven't spoken to the Dr. since surgery, but he had been paged. My plan is to call the nursing station around 5 or 6 tomorrow a.m. to see if I can catch the doctors. Please continue to pray.
I love you all.
Hey Mark( my little brother) Stephanie (my littel sis) will be here on Saturday. You are welcome to come any time. Just let me know.

9/26 Joey B Update...

Joey finally had his 6th surgery last night. After an original attempt to begin surgery at 7:30 pm, Joey's surgery had to be stopped due to an emergency with another patient. So, they woke him back up, sent him to recovery & back to his room again. Then 20 minutes later, back down to surgery around 10:15 pm. Anneke spent the night at the hospital & we are all still waiting to hear from her this morning with the results.
Thanks for all your prayers!!
Melody

9/25 Joey B Update...

Good Morning All,
Yesterday afternoon they did another MRI on Joey and saw nothing conclusive. Sometime this evening he will have his 6th operation. The plan is to insert a shunt which will provide an alternative path for the drainage of this fluid that is leaking from his incision. If this works as planned he will be able to go home in a couple of days.
Anneke is so grateful for everyone's support and prayers. Thank you.
Blessings,
Tina White

All I can do is pray that God gives me the strength to follow His plan.

9/24 Update...Joey's not coming home today

Dear Family and Friends of Joey,
Well, as it turns out, Joey is not coming home today. I don't want to believe it, but it is true.
Anneke and Joey were all set to go leave the hospital. Joey was unplugged from all of his tubes and wires. All they were waiting for was confirmation that a nurse was available and scheduled to see Joey at home beginning tomorrow. While waiting, Joey's incision was checked again. His dressing was soaked and he was leaking a large amount of red fluid. In an emergency procedure, they added three more sutures to the incision, without any numbing to the area! Talk about insult to injury!! They are keeping him overnight for sure and his surgeon has ordered another MRI which they hope to get sometime today. Poor Joey and Anneke feel like they are back to square one.
Please, please continue to hold them in your prayers.
The obvious silver lining here is that they were not checked out of the hospital yet. Praise God. Otherwise, they would have had to go through the entire routine of re-admitting him, hoping his bed had not been filled already!
Disappointed by this new development,
Tina

9/24 HE'S COMING HOME TODAY!!!

HE'S COMING HOME TODAY!!!
10AM Monday. I just heard from Anneke. She is on her way to the hospital to pick Joey up and bring him home. Right now!
THANK YOU, GOD!!
Love & blessings to you all!
Tina White

I visited with Joey today. He was having lunch and looking stronger. He was peaceful and calm. They removed one of the drains (the hand grenade looking one) the lombard drain is still in.
This is the one with the spinal fluid. They are keeping it in until they are sure everything is under control.
After lunch he drifted off to sleep and I curled up next to him and did the same. (okay, so I was in the chair next to him, but as close as I could get!)
My mom (Stephanie) has been running the house and taking care of the kids this past three weeks and could use some prayer too.
I really miss him so much and so do the kids. Please pray really hard for him to heal and come home soon. I am so empty without him.

Amesage from Megan

hi my name is megan i am his eight year old dauter i have not seen my dad since the 30 of august but yesterday something amaseing happened i got to see him it made me cry to see him since i hadent seen him in so long but the first look at him i could tell he had been growing stronger i love him so much i can't wait till he gets home
love
Megan

9/21 msg from Anneke

Joey was doing great today. Walked back and forth in his room a few times. I have been at work in the a.m. and cannot wait to see him, but very tired at night. This afternoon I took Megan out with me to see her daddy. Johnny and Megan have not seen their dad since August 30th. It was a bautiful moment of huging and tears of joy.
I am so glad to be home a little early tonight to get some rest. Thank you all for your prayers. I often wonder why I am so amazed with God, when I should already know His great love for me surpasses what I could ever imagine!
Ginney Owen is one of my favorite singer/songwriters and she is blind, so in the words of one of her songs....

"It may not be the way I would have chosen, when you led me through a world that's not my home. Though you never said it would be easy, you always said I'd ever walk alone.
So when the whole world seems against me and I'm all by myself, and I can't hear you answer my cries for help, I remember the suffering, your love put you through and I will walk through the fire if you want me to."

Thank you God, I could not do this without you. Thank you to my family and friends..I just can't say it enough.
love
anneke

9/21 Another good day for Joey

Things are looking good for Joey since this last surgery. He had a very good day yesterday!! He was chatting away right after he woke up from surgery & continued to talk for most of the day. Anneke said she fell asleep to him talking & woke up to it as well, what a huge praise!! The doctors & nurses are very optimistic about his recovery as things continue to improve. He has had several of his caretakers pop in on him when they see that he is still there & they are amazed at how well he is doing. Praise God for all the answered prayers!!

9/19 11:50 PM Successful Surgery

Tina's words say it perfectly.........

Dear Life Group,
11:50PM Thursday. We just received a call from Anneke. Joey is out of surgery #5. His doctors were surprised and hugely relieved. What they found was not another spinal fluid leak but rather a bruise that had developed a pocket that was oozing fluid of the same color and consistency of spinal fluid. The spinal column does not appear to be leaking at all. It's wonderful news! They told Anneke Joey could be home in as little as four days!
Wow! What an amazing illustration of just what we were discussing tonight. God answers prayer in ways we could never dream up ourselves!
Anneke also spoke of what a comfort it was to know we were all together tonight praying for Joey.
Love you guys! Our God is good, indeed!!
Tina

9/19 8:30 PM Joey is in surgery

I just got off the phone with Anneke, she’s been there at the hospital today with Joey since about 3:30 & they just took him in for surgery at about 8:30pm. The surgery will last about 3 1/2 to 4 hours, so to any of you who are receiving this email tonight, please remember to be praying for Anneke & Joey. She will be spending tonight at the hospital as it will be very late & she will be too tired to make the drive back. Again if you have a chance to send her a message, the blog address is http://welovejoeyb.blogspot.com/ she’d love to hear from you.
Thanks,
Melody

9/19 Surgery rescheduled for today

Hello all......I did talk to Anneke this morning and she is at work & waiting for a call from the hospital. They have rescheduled surgery for today, but once again it is a waiting game, so as soon as she hears anything she'll take off for UCLA with her laptop in hand so she can continue to work while in the waiting room. She is quite tired from a long day at UCLA yesterday, but needs to get some work done. Again she sends her love & looks forward to hearing from you all as she will have a chance to read through the blog from her laptop as well.
Melody

Random notes of encouragement

"I've been reading all these emails and my heart and prayer are with you Anneke - I'm so sorry you have been going through this. I hope and pray the doctors at UCLA will get this taken care of." "God bless the Bernardo family during this difficult time." "I was out and about tonite and I had such a strong urge to go and sit with Anneke at the hospital....and I don't even know her other than brief conversations with her" "I have been praying ever since you informed me of what is going on and have asked my life group (via email) to pray for him even if they don't know what is going on." "I just feel so drawn to Anneke right now. They are some of the nicest people I have met at Discovery and I would be honored if I can help out in any way." "Please let Anneke know that I am thinking of her and her family and wishing them the very best." "Please let me know how I can help." "Thank you for the update! Just continuing to pray, pray, pray......." "All of us at the Sawyer household as well as at Toyota are praying for Joey." "Thank you for keeping me updated so that I know how to pray." "If Anneke needs help with carpool, please let me know." "Praise God for answered prayers." "The awesome power of prayer and the goodness and graciousness of our Healer, Jesus Christ." "Praying for the family." "I would like to do whatever I can to help out" "I would love to be on the list to provide a meal" "thank you so much for the updates, it's been great to be able to know what to pray for" "please let Anneke if she wants a ride down to UCLA so she can rest her head or close her eyes or just not have to worry about giving the energy to drive-I'm available" "please send Anneke my love" "Joey, Anneke, the kids and all those angels that are there for them are in my prayers" "I'll watch kids, clean house, cook meals, run errands, whatever it takes to help them out" "Wow - oh my goodness. I'm praying." "wow, I didn't even know. I can take the kids the next two days if Anneke needs help. Please let her know." "Thanks for the update, we will be praying. Keep me updated...I will be checking email from Hawaii. My daughter will be praying too." "Joey & Anneke still need our prayers. It's one of the most powerful things we can do for them."
"God bless you all"

9/18 msg from Anneke

took me 2 hours to get to UCLA Med Center this morning. Waited all day only to have Joey's surgery bumped back twice so he is re-scheduled for tomorow(this will be surgery #5). Still leaking spinal fluid from that same awful tear. They will be trying another repair, still some more exploratory stuff since the mri seems to be "inconclusive" whatever that means. It means they still can't figure it out. So while in there tomorrow they will put in a semi permanent shunt (sp?) so that even if the leak doesn't stop he may be able to come home sooner. My mom is leaving Sept 28, my sister (who is a doctor of Physical Therapy) will be coming in from NY on Sept 29 for a week, my brother will be here sometime soon after my sister leaves.To my mom and dad, Stephanie and Mark, Discovery church, my life group, all the pastors and friends, meal makers, my cursillo firends, St. Francis parishioners, DR buddies...everyone, you know who you are.. words could never express my gratitude for your prayers and support.loveanneke

9/17 Update

Hello Friends,
I got a call from Anneke this evening. She did go to work this morning for a few hours & then off to the hospital for the rest of the day. Joey did have another good day, however the doctors have decided that he does still have a spinal fluid leak & have scheduled him for another surgery for tomorrow morning. By my calculations that is the 5th one in less than 4 weeks!! The leak is in the front of his spinal column which is what is causing all the problems, so their plan is to go in through his side so they can get a better look at things this time. Please pray that they are able to get a good view of what’s going on & fix the leak once & for all. Anneke will go to the hospital first thing in the morning and wait at least until they take him in for surgery. The time has not been confirmed yet, but it could be as early as 7am. Thanks again to all of you for your prayer’s & support & also to everyone who has been forwarding these updates as we just don’t have everyone’s contact info on the list.
Thanks again!!
Melody

9/16 Update

Hey There,

Things are looking a little better for Joey & Anneke the last couple of days. Friday & Saturday Joey was much clearer in his responses to people. He was much less agitated and had very few moments where he didn’t know what was going on around him. The doctors were finally able to get an MRI on him on Friday night, but as of today the results are inconclusive as to whether or not he still has a spinal leak, so there is still the chance of another surgery in his future. He has been getting a lot of rest which is helping him heal a bit faster. He was able to shuffle to the restroom a couple of times with some help from the Physical therapist. He is looking so much better than he looked earlier in the week which is a real encouragement to those of us who have seen his progress. His spinal fluids are still testing clear of infection, so the doctors are encouraged that the E-coli & Meningitis are decreasing. He is able to have brief occasional adult visitors, but he is still susceptible to infection, so he is in a quarantine situation where gowns & gloves must be worn (FYI parking is $8). Thanks again to everyone who has been helping out with meals, rides, kids, laundry, and most importantly prayer!!!! The kids are really missing their dad, it’s been almost a month since they’ve seen him, so please keep them in your prayers too!!

Melody

P.S. Little Joey would love to see any of you who can make it at his Football game this Thursday night at Simi High School. He’s starting this year & all he wants is for his dad to be able to make it to a game before the season ends.

9/14 Update

Good morning everyone,
Just a few words to let you know what’s going on with the Bernardo family. Anneke has had a couple of very long days down at UCLA without any opportunity to speak to a doctor about Joey’s progress. Mentally, his situation seems to be improving very slowly which was causing her concern as to what is causing all the problems. Physically, he is improving. He finally got to sit up in a chair for about an hour & was up on his feet for about 2 minutes or so on Wednesday (that’s the first time since August 30th). She was finally able to track down a doctor yesterday who was able to give her an update on his situation, so here goes. At this point the fluids that are being tested from his spinal column are not showing any further infection. There could still be infection in his brain that has not yet cleared up, but the antibiotics are working. Praise God!! There is still some seepage from his spine, which could indicate another small leak. He said it could heal itself, they have to wait & see (they aren’t ruling out another surgery just yet). So the question remains as to why his progress is so slow. Apparently with this type of infection it can take quite some time & some “acute rehabilitation therapy” for the brain to rewire itself & for things to get back to normal for Joey. Once Joey’s medical issues have passed he will most likely be moved to a facility where he will have that therapy available. Please pray that there is a facility available to him that would be located closer to home as it is important that Anneke be able to go back to work. She has used up all her available time off & the family could really benefit from some normalcy right about now.
Thanks again!!
Melody

9/11 Update

Hi All,
Sorry for the delay in the update, I have been having a little problem with my computer. I just returned home from a trip down to UCLA with Anneke. She is extremely exhausted from making two trips down there each day, so she needed a ride tonight. Physically, Joey seems to be healing well since his surgery. He is in some pain, and is not able to get up out of bed yet, but hopefully they will have him up tomorrow. Mentally, he is not doing as well as he was before this surgery. He is not quite as lucid & is having some problems with paranoia & hallucinations. The doctors have said that this should lessen as the Meningitis heals, but it is a very difficult thing to see & emotionally is quite hard on Anneke. Please pray for her as this is really starting to wear her down. Anneke hasn’t had much sleep and is having some panic attacks now as a result of all the stress. Many of you have asked how you can help. I know Anneke won’t ask, but she just might accept a ride to UCLA & a friend to sit with her day or night if you find yourself with the time. Other than that, continue to pray for the Bernardo family during this very trying time.
Thanks,
Melody

9/9 Update

Hello Friends,
I just got off the phone with Anneke & she is on her way home from UCLA for some much needed rest, she has been at the hospital since early this morning with Joey. Joey is having a much better day mentally and actually got some sleep himself for the first time in several days. The doctors were able to remove him from his restraints & he was aware of the fact that he was going in for surgery again. Joey did have surgery today at about 2:30 pm & he is now in recovery. Good News!! The doctors are very happy with the results of the surgery. They are 90% sure that they were able to successfully patch the leak in Joey’s spine. Within the next couple of days they should be able to know for sure & then they will be able to treat his infection more aggressively. They are confident that he will begin to improve much more quickly from this point on which was a big encouragement to Anneke.
Thanks again for all your prayers!
Melody

9/8 Update

Dear Friends,
Thank you all for your continued prayers & words of support to Anneke. Joey is continuing to improve. Today he was able to eat a little bit & also was able to answer some questions in between his moments of confusion. He still has quite a way to go in his recovery as the bacterial meningitis will require at least 2 weeks of continued antibiotics and the doctors have said that his neurological condition should continue to improve as that infection clears. His CAT scan was able to locate the leak in his spinal column which must be repaired in order for his condition to be treated further, so he will be going back in to surgery tomorrow morning. The surgery could take place as early as 7:30 am, but the time has not been confirmed as of yet. Anneke will be at the hospital with her dad during the surgery. Joey Jr. did get a chance to see his dad today, but they are still requesting immediate family only as Joey is extremely contagious & also his immune system is so weak that he can not chance getting any other kind of infection. Thanks again for all the prayers, meals & help you have all provided along the way. Anneke says she loves you all & she can not thank you all enough!!
Melody

9/7 Update

Hello Friends,
I just got off the phone with Anneke & I know many of you have tried to reach her today to no avail. She spent the entire day at UCLA today with Joey & says that he had a slightly better day. He is still quite agitated & restrained, and has not submitted to an MRI, but the doctors were able to get a CAT Scan on him. His mental state is a bit better today as he can remember some dates & addresses & his families’ names, which he could not remember yesterday. That was an encouragement to Anneke that the antibiotics are starting to do their job in addressing the infection & that his neurological problems will be reversed as the infection clears up. Anneke knows that many of you would love to see Joey, but at this time he is in isolation and the hospital is requesting no visitors other than his immediate family so that he does not get any other type of infection. She is hoping he will be well enough over the weekend that she will be able to take Megan & Johnny to see him as they haven’t seen their dad in over 2 weeks. Thanks again to everyone who has been praying for the Bernardo family.
Anneke has found great peace in knowing that she has so many great friends praying for her.
Melody
Matt 17:20

9/6 Update

Hi Gang,
Joey did make it UCLA late last night. He has spent most of today getting settled in & having a battery of tests run to determine his status. As it stands right now, the infection has spread to Joey’s brain & he now has Bacterial Meningitis. He is being isolated, mainly for his own protection from any further infection. The doctors do believe that his infection can be treated & that he will begin to improve. The infection is causing Neurological problems that the doctors believe will improve as the infection clears up. Please pray for Anneke as it is very difficult for her to see Joey in this condition & also for Joey as he has become quite agitated now that he is no longer sedated. Thanks again to everyone for your prayers!!

9/5 Update

Hello Friends,
Things have changed over the past 24 hours. Joey is not doing as well today as he was yesterday. The antibiotics no longer seem to be working to fight off the infection & Los Robles Hospital no longer has the ability to treat him as needed. The decision has been made to airlift Joey to UCLA as soon as a bed becomes available for him. UCLA has the ability to monitor him more closely and also to more specifically treat his infection. This could happen within the next hour, or in the next day or two. Joey could certainly use your prayers that a bed opens up for him immediately as it is urgent for him to get to UCLA ASAP!! Joey has also been taken off of all of his pain medications because it is important that the doctors know his neurological state at all times. Please pray that Joey can be kept comfortable & that the doctors can quickly find the root of the infection so that they can treat it properly.
Thanks,
Melody

9/4 msg from Anneke

I just want to thank Melody for helping to keep you all updated as to everything going on. It seems to be changing so fast. Thank you to everyone who stayed with me and prayed with me, brought us food, watched the kids, so many things and so many people. From the bottom of my heart I can't thank you all enough. My strength in the last few days has come from God, from all of you and from Mattew 17:20 If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, nothing is imposible for you.
Thanks isn't enough.
love
anneke

9/4 Update

Here's what I've heard from Anneke as of 9:00 tonight. Yesterday's surgery was quite long, over 5 hours & was not as successful as the doctors had hoped. On a positive note the doctor was able to put three drains into Joey's spine which all seem to be doing their job & as of now, the excess fluids which need to drain from the surgery site seem to be draining properly. On the flip side, the doctors were unable to pinpoint the source of the E-coli infection which is making Joey's infection difficult to treat. There is talk of either bringing in a specialist from UCLA, or transferring Joey down there for treatment. As of this evening Joey is still in ICU, his infection has not really gotten any better & he is being treated with heavy duty antibiotics, which at the very least are keeping the infection from getting worse until the doctors can decide on their next course of action. Joey is very uncomfortable & has had a hard time getting rest & Anneke has asked for prayer for him to just get a comfortable night's sleep as the medications really seem to be agitating him.

Thanks for all your prayers!!!

Anneke did finally reach her parents today, they didn't know any of this was going on. They have been out of the country on a mission trip & they will be flying in to be of some very needed help to her & the kids tomorrow

9/3 Update

Here is another quick update for those of you who have not heard. As of today at 3:00. Joey was back in Surgery for the 3 rd time. He has developed an E-coli infection surrounding one of the screws that was placed in the original surgery & his drain is not working properly. The doctor is currently removing the screw & working on the drain. This surgery is expected to last 3-5 hours as the doctor wants to take his time & be sure not to miss anything. Please continue to pray for Anneke & Joey & the kids as this has a very difficult couple of weeks.

9/1 msg from Anneke

For those of you that don't know, Joey had back surgery a week and a half ago. He went back a week later to get the staples removed only tho find out that he was leaking spinal fluid and ended up back in emergancy surgery yesterday. This is the result of yesterday's surgery.

Thanks Tina for beaing so digilent in letting everyone know what's going on. Doug's son will be in our prayers as well.

Joey had surgery yesterday at noon. He got out of what was suposed to be a one hour surgery 3 hours later! The doctor said they confimred there was spinal fluid in there and had found a leak and fixed it (whatever that means). He is in ICU for the next couple of days with a special drain that measures the liquid and they shut it on and off in hourly increments. (Margie maybe you know about this) and he also has to stay completly straight. They turn him on the hour as well. ICU visiting hours are 10 a.m. -6 p.m. Scott Irwin came by yesterday and got to pray with him. Dan McSwain and Brian Berman also came by and prayed with me. After the surgery I had to go home and see the kids that I hadn't seen in a day and a half. So while he was in recovery I got some good lovin' in for Johnny and Megan. Joey Jr was at his Fire Department boot camp. Brainerd came over and watched the kids for a few hours so I could go back to the hospital. When I got back to the hospital around 5:30 he was being transported. By the time he was actually on his way, visiting hours were over. They said there was one more visiting hour from 8-9 p.m. if I wanted to wait. I explained that I hadn't seen him since before he went in for surgery at noon so around 7:30 p.m. after he was pretty much set up, they let me in. I stayed till about 9. Little Joey will be home from football today at 11 and I plan on going back over after then. I got a pretty good sleep last night. I have been runing on empty. I hope Joey did too. Please pray for Candice and the Jones family. They wached Johnny and Megan for almost two whole days and picked them up from school, fed, bathed, you name it! They too have some family illnesses going on right now, so please keep them in your prayers.
Love
anneke