Kimmi's Last Week

These are the E-mails we sent out the week Kimmi died. I'm keeping them here so I don't lose them.

From 3-3-09

RIEDEL – Kimberly Michelle, age 27 of Papillion, passed peacefully from her home into the arms of Jesus on March 3, 2009 surrounded by family and close friends. She was born June 1, 1981. Preceded in death by grandparents Art and Thelma Riedel, Irby Fisher and Albina Birney and aunt Linda Howard. Left to honor her memory are parents, Robert and Evelyn Riedel of the home, brother Robert Riedel Jr. and wife Jennifer of Durham, England, brother Craig Riedel and wife Melissa of Davenport, Iowa with niece Madison Emmerich, many special friends, including Paul Velasquez and Shawna Spracklin, uncles, aunts, cousins, and her treasured puppy Millie. Kim fought a lifelong courageous battle against the genetic disorder Cystinosis, accepting her disease with maturity way beyond her years. She impacted many lives with her gentle spirit and compassion for all people. She will be greatly missed and recently quoted “Love is not a matter of counting the years, but making the years count.” Her story is shared on http://www.cystinosisfoundation.org/ under “People and Pictures.” Kim was an advocate of organ and tissue donation.
FUNERAL SERVICE Glad Tidings Church Friday at 10:30. VISITATION Thursday, Open from 3-8 with family from 6-8 pm at Westlawn Hillcrest 5701 Center St 556-2500. Memorials to National Cystinosis Foundation or Mid-America Boston Terrier Rescue.


Dear Loved Ones,

I am sorry for the cutting things so close for travelers, but Friday is the only day available this week, and Monday was just too long to wait.

Kim's funeral is tentatively scheduled for Friday at 10:30, but will definitely be Friday morning between 10 and 11. Visitation will be Thursday evening at 7 or 8, don't know yet. Dinner will follow the funeral.

Memorials to The National Cystinosis Foundation or the Boston Terrier Rescue Network, one of Kim's favorite projects, will be appreciated.

For travelers, our children will be setting up a local hotel, and will let you know ASAP.

God Bless

Bob


Dear Loved Ones,

Our little Baby Girl went home to Jesus today at 4:45. We brought her home to be in her own home, in her own bed with her pillow, her blanket, and her baby Millie, and with all of her family. She blessed us every day, even in the way she left us for her trip home to be with her first love.

Kimmy passed away very peacefully, and she looks so beautiful and precious laying in her bed. She looks so comfortable, and even has a faint smile.

We will let you know funeral arrangements sometime tomorrow. Please pray for us, especially her mother Evelyn; that we will have peace in this time of sorrow and great joy that she is sitting in the lap of Jesus right now and learning all the fantastic wonders in heaven.

IN HIS NAME

Bob


From 3-1-2009

Sadly, this was the day we feared. They did an MRI on Kim's head. The news was all bad. Just about her entire brain sustained damage the day of the surgery; both sides, front and back, inner and outer. Don't really know why she is still living. But the doctor said she doesn't feel pain and does not suffer. THANK GOD!

We didn't talk to the neurosurgeon today, but the Intensive Care Surgeon. Tomorrow, the neurosurgeon will sit down with us and explain our options. We were also told that Kim had a very old brain. In that, I mean that a woman her age would have a soft, pliable brain. But Kim's brain was dried up, showing areas of prolonged wear. This was not from the brain injury, but from many years of wear. That is probably why she would get so tired from doing the most minor of things.

We will not allow her body to suffer anymore, so will allow her to go home with Jesus, where she belongs anyway.

We will still pray for a miracle tonight, Jesus is still in the miracle business, but will prepare for the day we always feared.

ALL WEEK LONG I'VE BEEN PRAYING FOR HEALING, BUT ALSO FOR PEACE OF MIND AND COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE THAT MY BABY GIRL WOULD REST IN JESUS' ARMS. I READ SCRIPTURE AFTER SCRIPTURE, AND PRAYED OVER AND OVER FOR KNOWLEDGE THAT SHE WOULD BE WITH JESUS IN HEAVEN.

I got my confirmation from Kim's friend today. Another friend of hers passed away 2 weeks ago. Kim and Shauna were talking about it when Kim said that she didn't understand it, but she felt a complete peace with her own life. Asked to explain, Kim said that she was going to heaven, and that she would talk to Jesus about saving a place for Shauna. Kim must have known deep inside that this was about to happen. That is all I needed to know to make my heart dance with joy. My baby girl had peace with death for her body, and knew that she would be alive in her spirit. If I have to lose my baby, I have complete peace of mind and spirit knowing this little bundle of love is resting in Jesus' lap. Oh, thank God!!!!

Bob


From 2-26-2009

All,

This has been the absolutely worst 3 days of my life, but also the best 3 days of my life. I give everything to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He has blessed us so much these past 27 years with Kim, and He continues to bless us every moment of every day. His loving mercy in a time of crisis, his gentleness whether we are in pain or even downright mad at Him for something we don't understand and His wonderful patience while we may not always be trusting in Him fully keeps me in complete awe at all times.

Yesterday was much harder than Tuesday. Kim made it through the night, but we don't know how. We were hoping for her future , but considering her funeral. Nothing the doctors told us gave us any hope. She coded (heart failure) for over 15 minutes, and they had no idea if she got any oxygen to her brain during that time. All we could do is wait.

Wednesday afternoon, Tim (our nurse) got concerned about her left leg. It was swelling and blood streaks were forming. They did an ultrasound and found a major blood clot. The vascular surgeon came up and told me that they needed to do a very serious and dangerous surgery to relieve the pressure on her leg and eliminate the clot. He also told me that there was a very good possibility that she would have to have her leg amputated above the knee. No time to consider.

What made this worse is her previous 3 surgeries having problems, with her coding the last two. Would she even make it to surgery or would she code right away like the last two? All we could do was pray and call family and friends to pray. We had no choice but to put our precious baby into the hands of her surgeons and of God (God would guide the hands of her surgeons).

Her surgery was supposed to take 2 hours. It took 7! Her doctor had worked since 5 a.m., and was just starting with her at 5 p.m. What they needed to do was cut her leg muscles (possibly all the way from top to bottom) to relieve the pressure on her artery. They also needed to get the clot out and, hopefully find the cause of the clot. After 2 hours, we learned that they got her arterial catheter done; hadn't even started on surgery. Then another 2 hours, she was still doing fine. Her blood pressure was good, and doctors working hard. Then another 2 hours later they expected it to take 2 more.

Finally her surgeon came out. Good news and bad news. They found, and repaired the source of the clot (in putting in her arterial in her vein Tuesday, they accidentally also poked it through her artery causing blood blockage and the clot. Then they started to cut her muscles to relieve the pressure on her artery. They kept her open looking for any other problems, and sewed her up.

When the doctor came out, he was completely exhausted (19 hours of surgery with a huge mess the last 7). ALL HE COULD DO WAS THANK US. YES, THANK US FOR ALL OUR PRAYERS. HE SPECIFICALLY SAID THAT HE FELT GOD DIRECTING HIS HANDS AND SHOWING HIM EVERYTHING HE NEEDED TO DO. HE KNEW THAT IT WAS PRAYER THAT HELPED HIM SUCCEED. THIS WAS DEFINITELY A MAN OF GOD TRUSTING GOD TO GUIDE HIM! WITHOUT THAT, HE SAID HE COULDN'T HAVE DONE THIS ONE!

Kim is back in her room, but still in extremely serious condition. How would she do through the night? And we still didn't know about brain injury. They were to do a CAT Scan of her lungs and head overnight.

The next morning (today) Kim looked 100% better. She was cleaned up, bandages were clean, and they got this awful thing out of her mouth (forcing it open for ventilator line). But, we still needed to wait for results of her CAT Scan. If bad, they'd have to disconnect her, if good, we'd wait to see if she'd wakes up.

They found bleeding between her skull and brain, but not sure how much. After several hours they determined that the bleeding was very minimal, but still a concern.

WE LEARNED LATER THAT 3 LADIES FROM OUR CHURCH WOKE UP AT 3 A.M. WITH AN INTENSE DESIRE TO PRAY FOR KIM. THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHY, BUT PRAYED (KIM'S CAT SCAN WAS AT 3 A.M.).

When I left at 5 today, Kim was STIRRING! SHE WAS BREATHING ON HER OWN! SHE WAS LOOKING MUCH BETTER, ESPECIALLY WITH THE SWELLING OF HER HEAD ALMOST ALL THE WAY DOWN. They had to strap her down so she wouldn't try to pull out her ventilator line. Now, we just need her to wake up, so we can see how she is doing!

ISN'T GOD WONDERFUL? HE GIVES US HIS MERCY, PATIENCE, AND LOVE. HE GUIDES THE DOCTOR'S HANDS. HE MAKES THE CAT SCAN TURN OUT GOOD. AND, HE GIVES US CONSTANT HOPE, EVEN WHEN WE ARE ABOUT TO GIVE UP!

Well, we still need her to wake up, then we need to get her home. Her little puppy has been crying, yes crying tears for her mommy. When we walk in, she is jumping for joy, but then she immediately goes back to the door to find her mommy. So precious!

Please keep praying that she wakes up and improves tremendously and quickly. She still needs to do the fistula surgery if all goes well and she wakes up, but that will be in a while I suspect. Doctors still need to know why she coded the last 2 times.

Thank you all for your prayers and concerns. Just think, to have thousands of people all over the country praying for our little girl. No wonder she got better!

Bob