Oct 13 Update

I went in to Dennis yesterday. It was a relief to see him in person. To kiss him and to hold his hands and talk in his ear.

As I said earlier in my note, they were not able wake him yet as he has been sedated for some time.

The respiratory nurse was in while I was there. She says his lungs are clear! That is amazing, I think given what they were on Friday. That is an answer to prayer to be sure.

The machine is at 45% now, down from the weekend and I stood beside him and watched his chest rise and fall he is not even close to having laboured breathing. It seems very peaceful. His room seems peaceful.

Dennis was very swollen however. His whole body especially his extremities. It is the result of the kidney injury, it can not work as well just now. They are working on getting that down. Pressure stockings will go on this afternoon. They have a plan to get the fluids moving out. Partly it is that upon arrival in such critical condition, they flood the body with all sorts of fluids. They can’t move out through his urine just now, so the fluid pools in the tissues of his body and the extremities show it most.

The Creatinine levels were very high late day Monday. (Creatinine levels are the measure of how the kidney’s manage toxins). They have come down from Monday night but remain quite high. That is part of what they will work on.

The other issue is that there was a small bleed somewhere. Not a brain bleed but somewhere intestinally. The Internist looked at him and they ordered a scope. To that end, they will not try to wake him. They will keep him at the sedation level he is at now, until the test can be done.

This is a concern of course. The doctor says he is still moving in the right direction, given how unwell he is and while it needs to be addressed, he remains stable.

The GI team came in later yesterday, did a scope, found the bleed and clamped it off. That bleeding has now stopped. His hemoglobin was still good yesterday as they resolved it very quickly.

As I stood beside him, I reminded him of how much he is loved. That countless folk are praying I asked for angels to help the team find the bleed and of course I prayed the life of Christ into him as we all have been doing.

I thanked the angels in the room and thanked everyone who is his caregiver. As I was pondering the goodness of our Lord during the night, I can not help but be humbled by the care we have received by Alberta Health Services. As I sat in his room and saw all the folk moving about the ICU, the amount of machinery, the large amounts of wires and tubes going in to Dennis to sustain life and bring healing, it rather takes my breath away. To have this level of care is staggering to me and to experience the kindness of the staff makes me very emotional.

Abigail is turning the corner. She needs to gain back some of the weight she lost but the coughing has diminished and she has no remaining symptoms. It was life to see her as well.

I want to thank you for the way the specific prayer has turned things around. That his lungs are now clear is to me a miracle. If the focus could be on his kidneys recovering from the ‘injury’ and that there be no more bleeding that would mean a lot to us.

They will now continue to try to wake him. I will be going in daily to sit with him and pray and call him to wakefulness.

With love and gratitude.