Updates on Andrew Stringer

Some of you may know Pastor Andrew Stringer. He is a 32 year old graduate of Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, FL and is married to Evangelist Ray Brown's daughter Andrea.

Andrew & Andrea are dear friends of ours, and he suffered (and miraculously survived) a massive heart attack Tuesday. The doctors don't think it's the first heart attack he's had.

We're looking at a bad situation, although God has miraculously pulled him through this week. They were shocked that he even walked into the hospital alive.

Instead of retelling the entire story, I am going to post the emails that I have been sending to update family and friends:

Click here to submit a note to the Stringers

Tuesday, March 11

Of course, Andrea is very stressed. They have 3 little kids and one on the way, so pray for the whole family.

Tuesday, March 11 -- Email from Amanda Coupe

The dr. just told Andrea that every major artery in Andrew's heart is blocked. He has a balloon cath for now and is stabalized till the dr. decides what to do. We're talking about open heart surgery. Either I'll fly there and Arnold come later or we'll drive starting tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 12 -- 2:00 a.m.

Anyway, he had a massive heart attack; and it was probably his second one. She said he's not been feeling well for the past month or so but hasn't said much to her about it. She noticed he'd been taking lots of Rolaids for the past week or so, and he thought he was having major indigestion or gas or whatever. Well, this morning he woke up around 6 with pain, and she wanted him to go on to the hospital. He decided to wait it out awhile and finally after about half an hour, he wanted her to take him. She drove him to the local hospital, but he had to be transferred to a place with a coronary care unit. They immediately did a balloon cath, and he is scheduled to have a triple bypass on Friday. He can't have it immediately because of the trauma to his heart. The fact that he is diabetic and so young makes the situation even more serious. They considered it a miracle that he walked in the hospital alive.

Pray for both sets of parents as they are driving in through the night. Pray for Andrea as she can't be with him through the night. Pray for their finances, as he won't be able to work for awhile. And certainly continue to pray for Andrew, as he is by no means "out of the woods."

Wednesday, March 12 -- Email from Amanda Coupe

The doctors are discussing options. Transporting him to the University of Virginia and even a heart transplant have been discussed. This is just being discussed, no decision has been made.

Please continue to pray. Andrea is still alone. Her parents and Andrews parents are on their way, but not there yet.

Thanks.

Amanda

Wednesday, March 12

He has a disease, caused by the diabetes, which has rotted his arteries & caused them to collapse. There's nothing left there to grasp to, meaning that a bypass or graft would not be possible.

Wednesday, March 12 -- Email from Amanda Coupe

Wednesday Evening, March 12

Thursday, March 13 -- 2:00 a.m.

(In the middle of the night -- is that not so like her?!?!)

She hasn't taken any calls all day; but being her night owl self, she's pretty upbeat right now.

And WOW -- I am just amazed by her faith and positive attitude.

She is just hanging in there and praying for more miracles. They have had their share of them this week. She is being very hopeful in a hopeless situation.

One tremendous blessing though is this:

The hospital where they now are is 3 hours away from the previous hospital. Andrea hasn't seen her kids since 4:00 yesterday afternoon. If any of you know Andrea, then you realize how extremely difficult it is for her to leave her children with someone besides maybe their parents.

Well, Andrea happens to have a cousin who is a doctor at this hospital. This cousin has a nice townhouse, and Andrea's folks are staying with them. Also, she (the cousin) is going to drive all the way to Berkeley Springs in the morning, pick up the kids, and bring them to her house. How sweet is that?! Andrea was just giving God the glory for putting them in a place where this blessing is possible. (Keep in mind that they've only been in WV for about a year; neither of them is from that area)

There are literally hundreds of preachers calling and praying for them, and many will be traveling tomorrow to be with them. We are praying for the best. Andrew & Andrea are such a terrific, awesome couple who are some of our greatest friends. I would love to see all this work out great for them. I have seen firsthand how *magically* (it seems) that Andrew has the amazing ability to encourage and energize my husband to do more for the Lord. I wish I could do it so effectively!! I am hoping for a miracle in this grave situation.

Pray that the stint works well, and that the 25% function it may provide will be adequate. If it's not, pray they can get him a heart and effectively do a transplant. Pray for continued strength and grace for Andrea, the Stringers, and the Browns. Pray for traveling mercy for everyone. Pray for finances and for their continued financial well being.

Thanks for praying!! (If you wish to *unsubscribe* to the numerous "update on Andrew" emails that I've been liberally generating and forwarding, please reply with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line )

And my apologies to all of you who don't know firsthand how truly goofy I am at 2 am!

Thursday Evening, March 13

They don't want to offer false hope by any means -- Andrew is still very critical. However, he did have a "good" day (by their expectations anyway).

The worst setback today is pneumonia. They talked about waking him, but they're not right now because of the pneumonia. When they do wake him (he's in an induced coma), it won't take long; but they'll have to strap him down and keep it as low stress as possible. They're holding off for now.

His blood oxygen level is good.

The stint is working very well. His heart is working at 25%. It would be *possible* for him to live on the stint alone. It would not be a very active life, but at least he'd be there to see his kids grow up, teach them, etc. They do know of a couple of people living at 30%; and with him being so young, they are considering this a reasonable possibility.

His kidneys seem okay. They might have to do some dialysis when he wakes up, but isn't that normal after someone's been in an induced coma like that (my thought there)?

There is some fever & infection. They've put some kind of squeezer thing in his heart (sorry I can't be more technical!), and they're talking about putting a second one in too. The more blood they get moving, the faster they can get rid of the infection.

Oh, this is good news too: the vent, which was at 90%, is down to 55%. He can come off at 40%.

They did an x-ray of the balloon -- it's fine.

His blood pressure is good and he was able to come off some of the b/p meds.

A bypass still is not a possibility. A transplant -- maybe. It seems like the option they are most considering at this point is just letting him live with the stint.

Hope that's not too jumbled. I just scribbled all over the paper, so the thoughts aren't really in order. We'll let y'all know if we hear anything...

Just keep PRAYING PRAYING PRAYING. He'll definitely not out of the woods, but we could really get into the habit of experiencing all these miracles...

Friday Morning, March 14

The support from friends has been such a blessing to all of us. My sister and I both flew in yesterday and will be here through Monday afternoon. We did receive some encouraging news this morning. His fever broke in the night, so the doctors said this was a good sign.

Please just keep praying, as I know you will.

Through Christ,

Rachael A. Stringer

Sunday Morning, March 16

I guess I will start with the beginning of Saturday:

They had turned his med for the coma induction down, but Andrea didn't know that. They reported that he had done well through the night, but his fever was back due to the pneumonia. She went in yesterday morning and began to talk with him and check him. His headphones were still on; they had the Joint Heirs playing into his ears all night. She noticed that he was drenched in sweat because the fever had broken. She notified the nurse, and they got him changed and towel dried. Then Andrea resumed talking to him and holding his hand. She said that suddenly, he started jerking and moving. He drew his legs up hard and fast and just kept on and on. He got to where he was really fighting, turning his head from side to side, and raising his shoulders off the bed. They had several people talking to him and trying to restrain him, and Andrea finally backed off.

They asked the family members to step out, so they did. During that time Andrea was kind of freaked out. However, her phone rang (she hadn't been answering much, depending on how she felt); and she didn't recognize the number, so she decided to answer. It was Mrs. Molly Gulledge (I love Mrs. Molly)! If you know her, then you know how encouraging and uplifting she can be! Mrs. Molly has been in a coma before, and she assured Andrea that Andrew could hear her because she remembers hearing people when she was out. She told her that Andrew was communicating that he was still there, and he was fighting for his life and has a strong will to pull through this. Mrs. Molly told her to go in there and read Psalm 121 and just constantly say uplifting things to him. The Lord gave Andrea a lot of strength and a positive outlook during that conversation.

After three hours of getting Andrew calmed back down, they let her back in the room. However, she was asked not to speak to him or touch him; so they sat in the room all day just observing and conversing with his caregivers.

They said that what had happened was, since his meds were turned down, he could feel pain & discomfort. This was coming from his kidneys. He was having almost no output at all, and what little drops there were were just nasty dark reddish brown. The machines were showing that everything was fine, and they couldn't find anything on the x-rays (or ultrasound or whatever tests they did). They decided to change the catheter and do a flush. When they did, they found a clog in the tube from dead cells that had sloughed off. However, even with the new catheter in place, there was no output. They tried again -- nothing. They were going to give him a third chance and then resign to the fact that dialysis would be necessary (even though they really hoped to avoid that).

Well, the third try worked! Praise the Lord! It finally broke through, and a bunch of nasty gunk came forth. The output was one liter of urine! All in all throughout the afternoon -- five liters! He's now going consistently, and that's a HUGE blessing.

Okay, now I need to back up a bit in my notes. I'm trying to keep this as coherent as possible.

When he did all the fighting & struggling as a result of the discomfort from the bladder & kidneys, that caused him to have a bit of a setback. On the one hand, a little activity would have been good for him -- he just went too extreme. Exerting all the energy was hard on his heart, his pulse increased like crazy, and his O2 level went back down. They had to up the vent back to 100%, even though he was down to 55%. He did do some breathing on his own during that episode, so that's great. His balloon started to lose its rhythm a bit, but everything was started to even back out by the time she left last night.

Also, as a good note, they were able to decrease one blood pressure med quite a bit; and they hope to decrease another today.

Andrew was just SO swollen and bloated yesterday morning due to the fluid retention. Andrea had never seen him so big. But it's a lot better now that his output has regulated. It's also helping the fluid that was backed up into his lungs to go down, so that's awesome. He's on two strong antibiotics, and he is responding well to the pneumonia antibiotic. Also, when she left last night, his temp was 98.6.

All in all, he has improved over the past 2-3 days in spite of Saturday's setback.

She has 3 specific prayer requests for everyone (she said PLEASE don't let up on the prayer!):

1. For his kidneys -- no permanent damage, that dialysis won't be necessary

2. Quick recovery from the pneumonia

3. His sisters have to leave Monday (tomorrow), and they're praying that he would be able to see him and talk to him first (awake).

Andrea is trying to scribble down notes from each day as a keepsake and to help her remember the events. She told me to keep my notes, too; so I told her no worry about that -- they're posted for the world to read! (Don't worry, Andrea; I won't give all the details about you wearing the same clothes for days on end and having to use Andrew's clean underwear!! :) )

I'm bad! Well, I didn't give ALL the details now, did I?!?!?

Anyway, I fixed her up a care package yesterday. I didn't get everything into it that I wanted; but hopefully it will be an encouragement.

If you want to send her a goody box, I'll get her cousin's address posted this afternoon. I think it would be nice if someone would send a journal for her to write it, some nutritious snacks, and maybe some educational DVD's for her kids since they're getting behind in their homeschooling.

If you want to send money, Andrew's dad is handling all their finances (which is a huge burden off Andrea). His address is 1508 Red Oak Lane, Pine Bluff, AR 71603. You can put her name on it.

Oh, I forgot to mention -- Andrew's on liquid food now, so that's good. He needs the nutrients. They have a feeding tube in him.

Um, that's all I can think of for now. Andrea was very upbeat (or maybe both of us are just too goofy at 2 a.m.!). She gave the Lord much glory for everything. She said that God knew this would happen and He put them in the right place at the right time. The hospital is excellent, and she has utterly loved every one of his caregivers. She said that they have not had a bad nurse or doctor yet (and hopefully won't).

She's going to have to go to her house this week (3 hours away) to gather some things and locate all the financial info for her FIL. She hates to get away for that long, but I think they're going to try to leave early a.m. so that it's before visiting hours partially anyway.

Keep in mind that Andrea is 6 months pregnant, so I nagged her a bit about taking care of herself and that baby. She said that she's been doing better the past couple of days. She likes the cafeteria food, and she's been trying to eat well and drink a lot of water. She has some swelling on her ankles and, of course, a bit of a sleep deficiency! Continue to pray for her, and drop her an encouraging note or surprise. I'm sure she'd appreciate it.

Just keep praying, Everyone, and thanks so much!!!!!!!!!

Sunday Evening, March 16

Tomorrow is a very, very important day; and they really covet your prayers. Andrea is very anxious and nervous and needs prayer as well.

Andrew did really well today. He had a minor setback; they had to change his sheets, which resulted in the vent having to go back up to 60% from 45%. However, now it's at 50% and will hopefully be coming out tomorrow. They can remove it at 40% and just give him an O2 mask.

The big thing tomorrow is that they are going to try to remove the balloon. Right now it's at 1:2. In other words, the balloon is inflating and deflating with every other heartbeat.

Tomorrow they plan to change the balloon to 1:4. If he does well at 1:4 for one hour, they are going to turn his Heparin (blood thinner) off so that when they pull the balloon, he'll clot. He must be off the Heparin for 6 hours before they remove it.

Please pray that everything works out great and they are able to reach their goals for tomorrow. The day shift nurses will come on at 7:00 a.m. If all goes well, the next step is to reduce Andrew's coma state.

Monday, March 17 -- noonish

They put an arterial line into the main vein in Andrew's wrist so that they can get a constant blood pressure reading.

Andrea is excited and nervous and begs everyone to keep in touch with Heaven today on their behalf. The entire family really wishes to express their sincere appreciate to everyone for praying and giving so graciously. Keep praying!

Monday Afternoon, March 17

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!! (yes, I'm shouting!)

The first three minutes were the most critical, and he did fine. They also just removed the sheath from his groin -- that's the huge IV that was going straight into the major artery.

They're going to leave him alone for the rest of the day to rest and recover. Pray that he stays stable through the day and night. They still have several hurdles to cross, but by the Lord's grace it's happening!

Tomorrow's Goals:

1. To remove the heart cath ("swan)

2. To take him off the ventilator (he's now at 45%)

Thanks for praying! Here's Andrea's cousin's address (where she's staying) if you want to send a letter or care package:

Andrea Stringer

c/o Kristie Rose

107 Tintern Court

Charlottesville, VA 22901

Tuesday Early Afternoon, March 18

We're glad that Andrew still has some spunk about him (!), but let's pray that he backs off and agrees to wake up nice and calmly! They have his wrists tied to the bed, and he's uncomfortable from the tubes down his throat and everything.

We still have a way to go, so here are our main requests for now:

1. That Andrew will calm down while they're waking him and he can come out of the coma successfully without any relapse

2. That his fever will go away

Thanks again for praying. Keep it up!

Wednesday Afternoon, March 19 -- Email from Rachael Stringer

Thanks for your email. Andrew is not doing so well today. He started running a fever yesterday, and last night they discovered that he has sepsis (which, as I understand it, is essentially blood poisoning). They are unsure of the exact source of the infection, but they changed the central port in his chest late last night as that was the most likely source. He has been running a fairly high fever all day (as high as 104 degrees), so they have been trying to get that under control. The sepsis causes him to retain a great deal of fluid, including in his lungs. There was some talk about putting a tube in his lungs to drain the fluid, but I never did hear for sure if that happened. Basically, they are just watching and waiting him right now.

Thanks for your continued concern and prayers.

~Rachael

Thursday Afternoon, March 20

They've ruled out sepsis, which is really good. They are still waiting on some cultures. They removed the "swan" and sent a piece off for a culture. They're hoping that's the source of the infection (rather than the lungs) because they already have treatment underway and because that would be easier to treat.

He's on three really strong antibiotics that should basically be able to lick any type of infection he might have. He did have an allergic reaction to one, so they're getting that changed. They did an ultrasound on the lungs, and there's not enough fluid there to drain; so that's good. The kidneys seem to be okay -- yesterday his output wasn't so great, but it's much better today. He still has a fever, though it isn't as high as yesterday. It has been coming down slowly on its own without Tylenol, so that's good because his body is trying to fight the infection.

The next step is to get him off the vent. They were hoping to wake him first; but after several attempts, they've decided to reverse their plans. He goes into respiratory distress and has anxiety attacks when they back off the sedation meds. Hopefully he'll do better without the vent going down his throat. He is breathing over it some, so that's good. Andrea said if they can wean him off of it by the time she gets back to the hospital, she'll be shouting hallelujah!

Andrea is moving to a hotel tomorrow because she doesn't want to impose on her cousin. We talked about finding her some housing near the hospital, and I'll be looking into that. She might just have to go ahead and move. My husband is willing to go and help with that, and I'm sure others would be as well. Pray that we find something suitable and affordable.

Thanks again for praying! Here's a review of today's specific requests:

1. That they can identify and lick the infection

2. That he can come off the vent soon (and then wake up successfully)

3. That the pneumonia would clear up and his lungs would be fine

4. That his kidneys will be okay and not need dialysis

5. For Andrea's lodging and financial needs

Friday Afternoon, March 21

Friday Midnight, March 21

"Pray hard please! He's going down. God's intervention is much needed!"

Saturday Morning, March 22

The problem last night was that his lungs were "weeping" (leaking), and there's not much they can do about that. (If anyone knows much about this type of condition, please let me know. )

She's still really hoping for a miraculous healing from the Lord!

Saturday Night, March 22

Today was a much better day, and he's been very stable. This was the first day that his blood pressure has leveled out and stayed well pretty much all day. They were even able to take him off of one of the B/P meds.

They began a 3rd sedation med last night because they want to remove one of the two original ones. They feel that his body is becoming resistant to it, and that's why he is stirring and fighting so much. This 3rd med has a relaxer in it that hopefully will eliminate his anxiety attacks.

The main reason that Andrea was so upset yesterday and sent out the urgent prayer alerts is that she witnessed Andrew going into a major coughing fit which caused him to practically suffocate. He was fighting so badly that he wasn't allowing the vent to do its job. He was trying to catch his breath on his own, and she said that he was dark purple (almost black) and struggling something fierce. She finally couldn't take it anymore and had to leave the room. It took about 2 hours for him to calm back down. They actually had to put him on a paralytic medication because it was so bad.

His vent is at 40% (praise the Lord!), but they are leaving it alone until Monday. They are then going to do a tracheotomy and put the vent through that. If he does well with the trach, then they can gradually begin to wake him up.

They can not remove the vent before he wakes up. However, he has been on it so long that they are worried about infection issues, irritation to his tissues, etc. That's why they are going with the trach. They assured Andrea that a tracheotomy is a common procedure and that it will not cause any permanent damage to his voice or anything. As with anything, there are possible risks; so be in prayer that they don't puncture anything, have excessive bleeding, etc.

I posted this morning about the "weeping" lungs. That is a condition called ARDS -- Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome. It is not treatable, and Andrew will just have to live with it. It shouldn't be so severe as to hinder his life a great deal, but it could cause some shortness of breath and such.

Andrea's outlook is much better tonight. She will be going to church tomorrow and is hoping that his condition will be much improved when she sees him again. She is really hoping for God to keep heaping His blessings and miracles upon their lives and for her to get to talk to her hubby face to face again soon!

We cannot even begin to express our gratitude to everyone for praying! We are truly seeing God's hand at work, and we'd all like for Andrew to be made whole again. Continue to pray! I will, as always, post updates just as soon as I hear something!

Sunday, March 23

Andrea's folks took the girls to stay with some friends today. She's hanging onto Ethan until Thursday, and her parents will drop him off on their way back home. Pray for everyone's travels and for continued strength for Andrea as she will be alone later this week.

Don't forget to pray for the trach procedure tomorrow!

Updates on Andrew -- page 2

Updates on Andrew -- page 3

Updates on Andrew -- page 4

Updated Giving Information

Church Planting America

PO Box 37887

Jacksonville, FL 32236

Please don't forget to include the Stringers name in the memo line.

You may also continue to give online with a credit or debit card by using the following button:

You can send letters or care packages to...

Andrew & Andrea Stringer

3478 Old Augusta Rd.

Dearing, GA 30808

Thanks again for all your help!

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