Support Casey&Julie Paul's Recovery from burns &house fire

Casey continues to work towards healing. And range of motion. Our visit with his burn team was good this week. And they have said he is a candidate for special laser treatment. the treatments are done with them fully sedated. But as out patient. I have tried to research them. It sounds like a positive treatment, even though there is a great cost, and some downtime between each one. They do them 4/5 weeks apart. And have scheduled the first one for August. He will need to be wearing his compression garments for some time

before the treatments. He continues to have pain daily. And intense itching. But this is signs of healing. They said for the grafts to fully mature is 2 years. He will be able to return to work hopefully in a few months.

There is still no word from insurance on a settlement for us to begin to rebuild. Hoping to hear any day now. Right now, we try and do what we can to just be “normal”. This is a long haul. And all of you who have roads along this journey offering support , phone calls, messages ~ it kept us going. And continues too. It is so good to see kindness in the world still. Thank you for continued prayers for our family through this. The effects have reached deep. His sweet wife is struggling with all the emotions that go with this. This is a greater loss for her than most realize. As she also lost memories of her sweet Justin who passed at 10years old, in the fire. So much sorrow. Blessing to all of you.

Day 42

a week ago Casey needed a walker to walk. Today he can walk unaided. 2 weeks ago it took an hour to get out of bed. Today it takes a couple minutes. We see improvements. We want them faster of course. But healing and growing skin for 3rd degree burns is long hard work. With lots of restrictions.

Casey is home in Barnsville. We had our first appointment with his primary yesterday. What a blessing. God comes through, when you don’t except it. His new primary is a 3rd degree burn victim- 3 years out. What a blessing, to have a doctor who understands where you are. He shared stories and pictures. It felt like such a win! For Casey. We were so happy. Casey continues to want to do things. His doctor was kind but firm. It is just NOT the sun that is a danger. It is the heat. He told him he needs to stay in his camper for 3 months. Everyone who knows Casey, knows …..that will be very hard to do. We will help him do his best. He continues to have pain. Which is expected. Deep,pain he calls it. Each day we feel we are seeing improvement. Except for mobility of arms…no touch down arms here. Still a work in progress. Stella is a great therapist…she shows him, do this! And he does it with her! So cute. She is so happy to have her Popeye home! ❤️ So are we. Everyone’s kindness through this has made this recovery easier. Our bills are finally trickling in. We try not to look at them, and instead consentrate on getting Casey back to Casey. Your generosity has eased this burden. But of course, Casey worries about the future, and the debt. We are just thankful to have him, along with his wife, 2 grandchildren, and his older brother. The rest we will leave to God. And we known it will somehow work out. We are thankful for everyone who has offered to help. Donations in varies ways. Please know we see each of you, and appreciate each of you. We are not out of this catastrophe yet. And will leave this open for a little while longer for anyone who is able or wants to pitch in to make this recovery easier. Much love to all of you we couldn’t do it without this village.

Day 24

we now have grafts on all areas they expect to need them. There is one location the are watching. Hopefully it will heal and not need anymore attention.

this healing thing and growing skin is a slow go. We have still not heard from insurance, to get temporary lodging in place. For when ever we can get out of here. Tried 3 times to call today.

We continue to support him. One of us stays every night with him. We have never left him since we got here, the 22nd of February. We have a VRBO 8 min from hospital for the two resting , while one stays here. We take turns.

dressing changes are horrific. They have not gotten any better. It is a horrible thing to watch, and beyond comprehension of what he is going through.

22 days here at Grady ICU burn unit. This has been the longest darkest road. We are so thankful for all of you that have supported our family. We have had the 4th surgery and have his own skin grafted on all burn areas. We have so much healing to do. They have estimated several more weeks. We continue to stay by his side. Encouragement is all we can give. We can’t ease his pain. His birthday is the 19th. Not the way anyone would want to celebrate. But we celebrate life. And give thanks to god. And also give our humble thanks for every helping hand. No amount is too small. For, as drops in a bucket, it fills to the brim. God bless everyone of you who follow our road to recovery. ❤️‍

March 9th , Julie ( Casey’s wife ) B day is today. We tried to make it as close to what he would do as we could. He ask that we do something for her. I hope we met his ecxpectations.

We have had some horrible painful days. Always thinking it CANT get worse, then it does. I haven’t updated because I didn’t know what to say. Casey got an infection that is being treated. And it is responding to antibiotics, we are thankful. They want the infection cleared. Well—it has to be cleared before any more surgery or grafts. Because it will kill the grafts. And they need to save the ones he has. So far it’s responding well and white blood count steady coming down. This is just so unimaginable.

We realize now, the 30 days, is most likely ICU days. Then unsure of how many days we will be in step down. We are not there yet. One day at a time.

Today has been a better day overall. No real changes. Healing from a burn is slow and painful. And no shortcuts or rushing can speed it up. Casey continues to ask about work, friends, neighbors and we pass on all messages. And we tell him not to worry. They he has a village surrounding him and his family. We are thankful for each of them.

Keep the prayers coming, this is the longest, slowest speed limit EVER. and the road is not well marked. Detours at last minute -sometimes we are just traveling completely blind.

. ** UPDATE**

Casey has emergency surgery Sunday to release pressure from burns. He has burns on 33% of body. Most all are 3rd degree from neck to waist, all the way around , arms & hands. His face and head are 2nd degree. His scheduled surgery Monday was a huge success. They were able to do a lot more than expected. So the surgery was very long. Over 6 hours. They took his skin from both thighs -rather large area. One leg it was the side, the other the back of the thighs area, to use as grafts. They were able to graft his whole back, arms and hands. They still have his chest , and shoulders to go. His face and head will thankfully not require grafts. He was on a vent over night. But was able to get it out Tuesday morning.

For us, watching the dressing changes is so very hard. It just takes you to your knees. To see and watch the pain on his face. It takes around 3 hours to unwrap and rewrap bandages. We have been learning a lot about burns. Information we never knew we would have to learn. Casey is a strong stubborn young man. We are thankful for his resilience. But this is enough to test the strongest man. No change in the length of time here. We have been here 1 week today. And they still say a month. We were able to get a VRBO less than 2 miles from the hospital. It is adequate for our needs, and comfortable. (but—we have

Protection) in the evenings this part of Atlanta is a little scary at night.

We are in for a long haul. We keep reassuring Casey to not worry about anything. To just heal. We appreciate every single prayer. Every thought and donation to help them. We will climb this mountain with them, right by their side. We are so looking forward to the beautiful view from the top! We know our God is good. They will all rise like a Phoenix from the ashes.

They are not ones to ever receive, they are always the helpers. It is hard for them to find themselves in this position. Gratitude and much love to all ~

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Our son, Casey Paul and his wife, Julie, woke up to everyone’s worst nightmare in the early morning hours today. Their home was engulfed in flames. Our oldest son was spending the weekend with his brother. As well as their two grand children. We are beyond thankful, that Casey was able to get everyone out of the house safely. We know, God is good. And protected them, when they didn’t even know they were in danger. Sadly they did loose their two dogs. And their sweet bottle babies, a lamb and a goat. Their home is a complete total loss. Casey received burns in the process of trying to get everyone out -and trying to go back to get animals. He was airlifted to Grady hospital in Atlanta. He has burns on 33 % of his body. He is in ICU. He will require multiple surgeries. The first surgery will be on Monday. They expect him to be hospitalized a minimum of 30 days. They need everyone’s prayers. Prayers for comfort and strength. Prayers of healing. Physical and mentally. Prayers Casey will not encounter extra hardships healing. There will be many obstacles while Casey heals. They need their friends, family and community to pull together to ease this burden. Any little bit helps. And a multitude of prayers. Casey is a hard worker, loving larger than life kind of man. His family, grand-babies and farm animals are his life. Please surround him and his wife with your love , support and prayers. As they navigate this next month.