December 30 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN!!!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Brian,
Happy Birthday to you!!!!

32 years ago, Brian was born!!

Happy Birthday Brian.
We love you and miss you.


(Sorry this didn't get posted yesterday)

Merry Christmas!!

Livi with her new pink basketball and new "daddy's girl" sweatshirt :)

So we had a merry Christmas and hope that everyone reading this did too!! But we missed Brian and his absence was really felt. On top of that, Livi was sick with a fever and cold - Boohoo! She did enjoy opening her presents and we were all blown away with how much Santa brought!!

Here are a few pictures of Livi opening her gifts.

What is that, Livi??



Woohoo - A Bratz doll that you can fix her hair and put her makeup on!!!

An Easy Bake Oven!!!!!

Thank you again to all that helped out with Santa this year - I know that Jessica and Olivia are very greatful.

Please continue to pray for Brian, Jessica and Livi.

We all miss Brian very much...

We hope you all had a safe and Merry Christmas!

---More pics from Christmas (including Jessica opening her gifts) will be posted later.

Out of ICU...

Back and forth, back and forth.

Brian has been moved out of ICU again -- which is a good thing. It means that he is stable enough to go to the regular floor.

Now he is on the 4th floor, Room 403. Visiting hours are anytime as long as you are quiet and respectful of those around. So we ask that anyone that feels comfortable going to visit Brian do so. He needs to be stimulated and talked to.

As far as his health goes, the doctors changed his medications and his pancreas is improving...YAY! But he is still having some trouble with his hemoglobin - low levels. So they have had to give him blood on a couple of occasions. The gastrointestinal doctor came in today and said that they may need to put a scope (like a camera) into his intestines and stomach to make sure there is no bleeding. It's possible that the combination of medicines and the fact that Brian is not moving around is causing his stomach to be irritated. Right now they are trying to get his body to make more blood cells and monitoring his hemoglobin. So far so good...

He is also still swollen...We're not exactly sure why he's swollen. We think it's from the excess fluids given to him over the weekend. It will take his body a few days to process the fluid out of his cells and back through his kidneys. In the meantime, the doctor said to massage his hands and arms and get the blood flowing. And hopefully the swelling will go down soon.

They also did an ultrasound last night to make sure there are no blood clots in his body...all clear!! YAY!! That's a good sign - since Brian can't move around, walk around and circulate his blood properly, blood clots are always a possiblity. But he's all clear!

But he is still not responding to us. His eyes are open a lot of the day - just today he was sound asleep but once I started talking to him and rubbing his arm, he woke up, and was still awake when I left an hour and a half later - so we know that he is trying to come back to us. The more people that will come visit the better. Talk to him, ask him to blink his eyes for you, ask him to follow your finger, ask him to squeeze your hand - anything that might get a response out of him.

In the meantime, we are trying to have a "normal" (as possible) Christmas for Jessica and Olivia. Several of you helped to play Santa and for that we are so very thankful. It's so wonderful that so many people have come together for Liv....she is such a deserving kid.

We will make sure to take lots of pictures on Christmas of Livi enjoying all her loot!! And post them as soon as possible.

Merry Christmas to you all.
Thanks for your continued prayers.

Back in ICU

Brian was moved back to ICU on Saturday night. He was running a high fever and they wanted to be able to monitor and treat him better.

So he is in ICU - on the 3rd floor: Room 345.
Visiting hours for the ICU are anytime except 7:00-8:30 AM and 7:00-8:30 PM.

Brian has had a pretty rough week. In addition to a high fever, his pancreas is inflammed. He may have what is called pancreatitis - the tests results will be back today to tell us more. But in the meantime they are treating him.

He was also given some blood on Sunday. His hemoglobin was low but after the transfusion it has stabilized. He was also put back on the ventilator when he was first moved to ICU but he came off of that yesterday and is breathing on his own again.

Right now, Brian is really swollen from the extra fluids they gave him but over the next couple of days that should all flush out. So if you come to visit be prepared for a very swollen Brian.

He opens his eyes although he still is not responding. But we encourage everyone to talk to him because we know he's in there listening. We also ask that you try to get him to respond - ask him to blink his eyes for you, ask him to move his fingers, anything that may get a response.

And please continue to pray for Brian. He is having to go through so much and we all know that he is tired.

We also ask that you pray for all of us here, especially Jessica and Olivia -- it's been almost 3 months since the accident and we are all very tired and in need of some good news. But we still have hope that Brian will come back to us. And with everyone praying, I think God will give us a miracle!

Thanks to all.
Happy holidays!

Happy Times:

For those that don't personally know the Hatton-Tougas clan, here are some pictures from our (Jamie and Greg's) wedding this summer.


Brian, Jessica and Olivia - August 19, 2006.



Livi has brought so much joy to her Mom and thanks to Jessica, she has turned out to be quite a little lady.

BUT she's definitely Daddy's little girl! And sounds just like him as she's running around saying "dude"!!! She loves her Daddy very much and has started wearing his Grateful Dead t-shirt to bed at night...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!!



For me, my life changed as soon as I met Livi -- she is my "sister" and I adore her. Of course, everyone knows that she has me wrapped around her little finger!!




And I have to say, that she's pretty much got these two boys under her spell too!!

(That's Greg for those that haven't met him!)

And as for Brian, well he's been a big part of our lives -- of everyone's life. And we miss him very much.



Get well soon Brian -- we miss you and need you with us to make us smile!!

The Latest from Jessica

12/12/06

I need to apologize again for the delay in updating this site. The main reason for the delay is that there really is nothing to update. Brian is still in a coma-like state. He does open his eyes, but, he is still non-responsive. I was very encouraged on Sunday evening when I was shouting his name and several times his mouth said “What”. No sound came out- but it’s a great sign that he can hear us, knows his name is Brian, and knows the correct response when someone shouts your name is to say “What”. I was so excited. That was the confirmation I needed to know he’s in there wanting to come out and play!

He is still fighting very hard. The swelling in his brain has been fluctuating; they are trying to determine what infections he is suffering from as well as if his on-again off-again fever is caused by an infection or if it is due to the thermostat in his head being “broken”.

We are still playing a waiting game. When Brian takes the time he needs to heal, we should see some more improvement. But as it stands right now, we all must wait. I wish I had some better news for you all. But once I do, I promise I will shout it from the roof tops (as well as post it on here…..)!

Olivia is doing well. She really misses her daddy. The excitement of Christmas coming up is helping to keep her mind off exactly how much she misses him. We talk about him all the time and remember fun and happy times we’ve had together -we also are coming up with ideas of more fun things we can do with him in the future. She prays for him every night before bed. She sends messages with me to the hospital for him such as “What’s up, Dude?” or “Hang 10 Dude” or “I love you and I miss you- get well and come home!” She also picks out cards for him. She loves him so much. She is a very lucky little girl to have a daddy like Brian. I am a very lucky girl to have them both in my life.

Thank you all so much for all your prayers and concern for Brian. Please continue to keep him and Olivia in your prayers.
~Jessica

A Note from Jessica

12/4/2006

As Jamie posted last week, Brian had a bit of a set-back a few weeks ago. I can’t go into too much detail- but I can say he had a cardiac arrest. His heart stopped and he was not breathing for a short period of time. We’re told there was no more long-term damage caused by his arrest. However, his brain re-swelled and he went back in to a coma as well as having some seizure activity. He was back in ICU for a little over a week.

Now he is on the 7th floor in room #768. He hasn’t been running a fever as often as before and the swelling in his brain has finally begun to go down. He has not been very responsive since the episode- but last night and again today he attempted to squeeze my hand when I asked him to. Yay! That is the first response we’ve gotten in several weeks and I am very encouraged by that. I think as the swelling continues to go and stay down he will be able to fight his way back to us.

Thank you all so much for all your comments and words of encouragement. I am so thankful to know I have so many peoples support, prayers, and good thoughts.

Jamie, Thank you so much for all you’ve done for us. I wouldn’t be as “sane” as I am today if it weren’t for you and all your help, support, emails, flowers, Livi time, pasta, and so much more……. I love you and thank you!

If you’d like to visit Brian, visiting hours are M-F 12-8pm. But you can go anytime you’d like as long as you are quiet and respectful of the patients around you. We’d like to have as many people visit him as possible. Now that he seems to be coming out of it, the more voices, music, stimulation, etc around him, the better. Talk to him, tell him stories or tell him jokes….whatever you want. I believe if he knew how many people were behind him, he will work even harder to come back.

Olivia really misses her daddy.

Please continue to keep Brian in your prayers.

Thank you,

Jessica