Thank You

This is a note from Brian's mother, Kathy. She (and our whole family) are so grateful to you all for your love and support. The last portion is what she said about him at the funeral :).

To my dear friends and family,

This has been a very difficult time for our family but I want you to know that we have felt the Lord's love as you have shared anecdotes and feelings about our sweet son, Brian. We have truly been comforted by your thoughts and prayers. We know we will see him again and that he has gone on to a new adventure where he will continue to serve the Lord. Thank you so much for your concern and love.

I would like to leave these thoughts about Brian with you...

He disliked corn, being caught cheating at cards, losing, getting up early, getting his hair messed up, cleaning up after himself, fighting and contention, and being alone.
He liked oatmeal raisin cookies, pumpkin pie, eating out, clothes, cologne, video games, girls, movies, working out, rock climbing, anything Spanish, and the color purple.
He loved getting his back scratched, people, the gospel, his family, temple work, studying the scriptures, sharing the gospel, and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Here are some things I constantly heard from him:
1. No worries.
2. It's all good, mom.
3. I love you.

Brian touched the lives of everyone he met. He loved everyone and they loved him right back. He always had a positive attitude and was friendly to everyone. He has a strong testimony of our Savior and the atonement. He loved being a member of the church and was enthusiastic about teaching others about it.
My sweet son Brian...My arms ache to give you a hug and I want so badly to whisper in your ear that I love you. I am so proud of how you lived your life. I know the Lord could have preformed a miracle and saved you but I believe you chose to move on to serve our Heavenly Father elsewhere. There will always be a hole in our family where you should be, but I know we will see you again and then I will finally be able to give you that hug and whisper I love you. I love you. I love you.

Mom

Last Update

It was discovered today that there was no blood flow to Brian's brain and he is brain dead. He will be able to help people one last time by donating some of his organs.

Thank you all for your support and love. We ask at this time that people don't come up to the hospital so the family can have a little space. 

We love Brian and will miss him tremendously but take some comfort in knowing that we will see him again. Think of the missionary work in the spirit realm and how happy he'll be to spread his love of the gospel.

Thank you and love to all.

Update #8

Brian's night did not go well. He is having a test at one that will probably deliver bad news. Pray for the Kelley family. No visitors or questions at all today please. I will update around two.

Update #7

This morning Brian's chest x-ray looks great, the fluid has remained gone. The lines that were sutured into his are were removed and they are going to monitor his blood pressure with a cuff. They want to encourage Brian to wake up so they are lowering his sedation, he hasn't had morphine since yesterday and is doing fine without it. They are also switching the setting on the ventilator so he can mostly breathe on his own.

As far as his brain goes, today and tomorrow are critical. His swelling hasn't changed and he is running a slight temperature. They would like to see the swelling go down. In the next two days Brian will either start to improve or he will start getting worse. Please pray for Brian's brain swelling to go down and for him to wake up. He is moving a little bit - which is a good sign - but they would like to see more movement since he is no longer under sedation.

Brian needs all the prayers he can get in the next 48 hours.

Keep it coming!

Hey everyone, I have an update on Brian coming in a few hours, sorry today is a little bit of a crazy travel day. Expect it around 3:00 pm!

In the mean time, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the messages and support you are leaving Brian on here and on his Facebook wall. This is going to be so incredibly important to him when he wakes up. This will all be a shock and a lot to deal with - knowing he has so many people behind him will mean the world. This blog gets an average of 1,000 view in 8 hours - that is INCREDIBLE!

Again, thank you so much.

Update #6

Brian is mostly the same as yesterday.

Sometime this morning, the Doc confirmed that his off hematocrit level is due to blood in the lower chest. They said they would need to insert drainage tubes on each side of his chest to remove it. That would have been done done during his back surgery - if that surgery can happen in the next 48 hours. Right now, he isn't stable enough for the surgery. BUT miracle after miracle is happening with this kid and now the fluid is completely gone - no tubes necessary!!!! Hooray. The Doc said Brian's body is doing a good job flushing the excess fluid out.

He was much more restful last night because the Doc raised his sedation level. The doctors and nurses are urging us (his fam) to sleep at our houses. They say we need to be the strongest for him when he wakes up. And they are right...this is probably why they don't have beds in the waiting room.

Here are some fun pictures of Brian! We sure love this crazy boy.

It was chilly at Susan's wedding so we all just cuddled up!

The Kelley Fam

He REALLY wanted to be a bridesmaid...Although he is standing in front of Susan so maybe he wanted to be the one to marry Joe? (Just kidding :)

Update #5

These are all of Brian's meds. Pretty crazy!

Brian's hematocrit level in his blood is still very low, yesterday it increased a little from the initial drop but it needs to increase more. The doctor thinks there is blood in the lower chest cavity and in the spinal area that is causing his low levels. Later, they are going to do a CT scan to confirm if that is the case.

Surgery on his back will be postponed until Monday or later. 

Brain Pressure is still not stable, he had a pretty rough night again last night. He was posturing a lot, using not just his arms but shoulders as well. The doctor says this is good because it indicates the brain is beginning to wake up. The doctor pinched Brian pretty hard on his upper arms to get a reaction and Brian curled up his right arm which is outstanding! His left arm is still just posturing. Brian is going to have real sore muscles when he wakes up! 

Side note: I expounded on the story behind the picture in the post I put up last night. Read it for a laugh :), It is in the same post.