Our Story Begins

Dear Family and Friends,

It is 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 and I am sitting in Randy’s hospital bed at Providence Hospital in Southfield, MI as I wait for him to return from an MRI. Randy and I both wanted to take a moment to send a little something to update everyone on the events of the past few days. If this is the first time you are hearing from us since Sunday we sincerely apologize.

About a week and a half ago Randy began experiencing varying levels of dizzy spells. They would come and go without any particular pattern. Towards the end of the week they seemed to come a bit more frequently which prompted me to encourage him to go get it checked out. He agreed to make a doctor’s appointment for the following week if they didn’t clear up. On Sunday, Randy had a more significant episode of dizziness that led us to visiting the Botsford Hospital ER. After explaining his discomfort and going through a series of neurological assessments we believed he had Vertigo. He was given some medication that seemed to really help. The resident doctor on staff left for a few moments to speak to the attending physician and returned to say that she just wanted to be safe and send Randy for a CT scan…THIS IS MIRACLE NUMBER 1.

After two CT scans it was determined that there was a mass in Randy’s brain. The only information we had was the location and that this was of course very unfortunate news. He was admitted to the hospital and told that he would go for an MRI in the morning.

In all of this Randy has been and continues to be an absolute beacon of joy and strength which we know is a direct result of his unwavering faith in his Lord and Savior Jesus! I, on the other hand, have been more emotional. However, God has given me a tremendous amount of peace and strength as I go through each emotion…THIS IS MIRACLE NUMBER 2.

As I was driving home to gather a few things God put it in my mind to call a girlfriend of mine that I have known since the 1st grade. Although we have not been in contact recently I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was supposed to call her and I was almost certain that her husband was a neurosurgeon and she, an incredible nurse. Praise God for MIRACLE NUMBER 3.

She called me back immediately and it was as though not a second had lapsed from our days of sleepovers and giggling over which boy we had a crush on in Middle School. Her husband guided us through our next steps and graciously offered to see me the next day after Randy’s MRI. To the Veyna family….THANK YOU, THANK YOU, and THANK YOU again…you are a HUGE part of our MIRACLE story!

On Monday with CT’s and MRI in hand my aunt took me to see Dr. Richard Veyna and he was incredible. His honesty, simple explanations and willingness to give of his time to our family was overwhelming and appreciated beyond words. After much discussion he recommended a surgeon closer to our home with wonderful credentials, Dr. Dan Pieper of Providence and Beaumont Hospitals. He was gracious enough to contact Dr. Pieper for us and help move along to the next step in the process.

Dr. Pieper accepted Randy as a patient and had Randy transferred on Monday evening to Providence Hospital. We have since met with Dr. Pieper and he is phenomenal. His bedside manner, gentleness, confidence and expertise have put our minds at ease. I asked him if he believed in the power of prayer and he was thrilled to say, YES!!! Hallelujah…MIRACLE NUMBER 4.

Dr. Pieper informed us that Randy has tumor in the fluid space of the 4th ventricle of his brain. He will be undergoing surgery tomorrow morning (Thursday…around 11:00ish). The surgery is anticipated to last 5 hours with a couple of days in the ICU and a few more in a regular room. Randy will have an incision at the base of his head (4 inches or so) and a tube at the top of his head to allow excess fluid to drain (our prayer is that this is able to removed quickly). The goal of the surgery is to completely remove this tumor and get Randy back to his spunky self as soon as possible.

We are asking for each of you reading this to agree with us in prayer that Randy will make a REMARKABLE recovery and blow the minds of each physician and nurse that are treating him. Specifically, we are praying that this tumor has not spread into any portions of his brain, but has remained in the fluid space – that this tumor is able to be completely removed – that there are no trickle down cells from this tumor in Randy’s spine – that he has absolutely no side effects be it temporary or permanent from this surgery – that this tumor NEVER returns – that he does not need to undergo radiation or chemotherapy – that Randy is completely healed from head to toe in JESUS name - that we can add miracle after miracle to this chapter of our life – that God will guide
Dr. Pieper’s hands through this surgery and that Randy will be able to return to work within 6-8 weeks. We are believing in, and knowing that miracles are ours and that healing has already begun…praise God with us…read 2 Chronicles 20…praise God in advance. We can’t wait to send out our celebratory letter and celebrate with each of you the good news of what God has done in our lives.

Finally, we thank each of you for your support and offers of help. Please know that I will be calling on many in the upcoming days and weeks and will graciously accept your assistance in a variety of ways. Right now we are just trying to keep life as normal as we can for Joshua and concentrating on getting his daddy home…quickly!

All of our Love,

Randy and Rachel Cripe

p.s.
We so appreciate all of the wonderful phone calls and visitors that we have received in the hospital. We are requesting that Randy be given the opportunity to get as much rest as possible today as he prepares for surgery (sleep hasn’t been happening as it should be). Please understand that while we would love to visit with each of you at this time we need to be certain that Randy and I get some sleep per the doctor’s request and orders. We have set visiting hours today to take place from 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm and Randy would like to go to the lounge to visit. He is in room 511 bed 1 and the lounge is located near the elevators. If you have any questions please contact me on my cell phone 248-763-6492 and I or a family member will do my best to speak to each of you and/or return phone calls. Thank you for understanding.