My niece is a wonderful woman. She lives in Florida with her husband and children, and her best friend from high school is her brother-in-law. My niece has stared down a lot of demons in her life, but lately they have come thick and fast. In the past two weeks she lost a childhood friend to a staph infection (age 28 – gone just days after diagnosis) and her best friend has recently acquired a new set of lungs. What does this have to do with facebook? She has kept us all up to date on her B-I-L’s progress via her status updates. I just want to capture some before they get away. Don’t let anyone tell you that facebook is frivolous.
These are the words of my niece, MLRS, and I will ask for her permission before I print her name.
Feb 4 – 7:35 AM S- is hanging in there with God’s help and all your prayers. He is still very critical and still under heavy sedation. Thank you for all the support & prayers.
Feb 5 – 6:08 PM Today has been good S- has stayed stable, with being sedated and the ventilator doing his breathing he is resting. Thank you so much for your prayers.
Feb 6 -7:30 PM S- is staying strong and stable. Please just keep praying for the healing of those who need it. Love you all. Thanks.
Feb 7 10:04 AM S- may have a Donor we will know late tonight to early morning if it’s a go. Please Keep praying.
3:21 PM We got a time frame of when we will know if surgery is a go. It will be between 8 and 9 this evening. Everything is going well. Thank you so much
6:21 PM Just got word that we won’t know if Surgery is a go until around midnight. Nothings wrong with S- he’s doing very well holding on. Thank you so much.
8:02 PM They just took S- down to pre-op and we should know very soon if it’s a all go for the new transplant.
10:01 PM We should know in about 15 mins if it’s a go. I heard the organs are about to land and the doctors have to look at them, and clear them for an all go. Will be posting in a few. Thank you so much for your prayers and support.
10:22 PM Lungs have arrived and doctors are looking at them only a few more minutes before we know if they approve.
10:40 PM They’re taking forever to let us know so hopefully any minute now, I don’t remember it being this long 4 years ago when he had his first transplant
10:49 PM It’s a Go The lungs are being put in:-).
10:57 PM We will know more in 8 to 9 hours. keep praying please.
11:48 PM S-‘s New Lungs are in and he is doing well, they have to suture him up and take him to recovery.
Feb 8 5:58 AM S- is doing really good, it’s minute by minute but he is taking to the new lungs well. They won’t wake him for another 2 days. Thank you for all your prayers.
6:08 PM S- is doing great, just got a update. All his vitals seem to be right where they should be. He is still in critical stage but seems to be recovering nicely.
Feb 9 6:02 AM S- is amazing even the doctors with how good he is, he did great through the night and we are planning on a great day with him. Thanks for the prayers.
Feb 10 – 11:56 AM S- is striving on, taking to his new lungs great. They just put the feeding tube in his stomach, Still have sedated but he’s doing well. Thank you to everyone.
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The power of the crowd. None of us could be there with her, but we were all there, linked by this crazy piece of software.
Photo by flickr member Nöe
UPDATE Feb 16: First I have to say Thank You to everyone for all the prayers and support that have been going around for our family, God heard all the prayers and we are so happy that he answered them. Today was a huge day for us S- is completely awake and with the Morphine being so low, he has come so aware of what is going on to him and what has happened to him. He sat in a chair for the first time yesterday, he is still on the ventilator at night and during the day they take the ventilator off and put a pass through valve in his trach and that allows him to talk and breath on his own, they also have a oxygen trach collar over the trach to just give him some oxygen because he was so weak before transplant and because he was put to sleep and on the ventilator prior to transplant he lost alot of strength so this just allows him time to heal and for his new lungs to strengthen more. He has told me to tell everyone Thank you. He is still in ICU and hopefully he wont be in here for much longer. —
Living on the Lip of Insanity 
The power of Facebook once again is demonstrated. It was just a year ago, that Facebook was the ONLY way that kids at NIU could communicate after the shooting of the students on Feb 14th. Cell phone towers were swamped and no phone calls were able to get in or out for nearly a day.
It was Facebook that allowed kids to get the word out to each other they were safe. It was Facebook that allowed kids to beg someone near a phone to call their parents and bring parents the measure of relief that knowing their child was safe brought. It was Facebook that helped the kids account for each other and figure out who was hurt or worse. It was Facebook that made it possible to send and receive love and support from people that they knew and even those they didn’t really know.
In the marketing industry, we call it “social media” or “social networking.” Don’t tell the individuals who use it that is only “social.”
@Liz –
I had forgotten the powerful role that Facebook played during the NIU shootings last year. Both in the perturbative analysis that identified those unaccounted for to the huge outreach and worldwide circle of sympathy and support that Facebook allowed.
I have been amazed at the power of the storytelling in these status updates. I hope that Sis doesn’t mind that I posted them. I didn’t want them to evaporate. Love to you all.
I am sure she wouldn’t mind. They tell a tale. Within the lines of the status, you can feel the tension, the fear, the pain, the worry, the joy and the relief. Sissy is the empath of that family. Dorothy and Chuck both don’t/ didn’t understand the gravity, but Sis did.
Regarding Facebook, I am also sure she, much like the entire generation she is part of, does not realize how incredibly adaptable and resourceful she / they have become at using technology. They don’t let the definition of the what it is and how to use it, hold them back from embracing, bending, shaping, and using it to meet their needs at any given moment in time.
I guess that is what makes it so amazing, Liz. The users make facebook the thing that they need. The limits are never reached because they are always changing. I see from her recent posts that S- is improving with her there. Some things facebook just can not replace, I guess.
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