Phil Got a Liver

Thank You!!!!

2009-03-02T14:39:00.003-06:00

Wow, we continue to be overwhelmed and blown away by all of you and God's grace. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for our family. We have been very blessed. We have loved and cherish all of the stories you have shared with us about how God touched your life through Phil. We thank God for allowing us to be apart of such a wonderful celebration service yesterday and graveside service today. What a great time it was of praising God's name through word and song. We also thank Him for the gorgeous weather both days and for how He has been using this in all of our lives. This afternoon Vicki, the florist, came over and we reworked some of the flower arrangements and are headed over to the hospital this evening for shift change. We have an arrangement for the day nurses, night nurses, and chaplain's office. They became like family to us. Many of you were able to meet them as well. Right now everyone is zonked and taking naps before we go tonight.

Next Sunday, March 8th, we would love for everyone to come back to the Oak's Baptist Church at 4PM for another time of celebration. The band from yesterday will be leading us in some music and then the rest of the time will be open-mic share time. Be thinking about what God has done or is doing in your life through this right now. Originally, we had wanted to have a big celebration when Phil came home from the hospital to sit around and sing praises to God and tell Phil all that God did in our lives while he was going through all of this. We still want to sit around and praise God and build the body up by sharing with one another how God has used this in our lives. Please be open and honest as God may want to use what you have learned in someone else's life.

Celebration/Share Time

2009-03-01T01:45:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that next Sunday, March 8th, at 4:00PM, we will be gathering together at the Oaks Baptist Church for a time of worship and sharing. It will be a laid back time of worship through song and open mic time. We want for everyone to have an opportunity to share how God is working in your lives through this or what He has been teaching you. Also, we would love for you to share your favorite memories of Phil. Please plan on joining us for this time of praising God for the life of Phil.

All the Details....

2009-02-27T20:37:00.003-06:00

We are truly honored by the letter from the staff on the Oaks Website. Please take time to read it as it truly reveals our hearts in all of this.

http://discovertheoaks.com/wewillmissphil.html

Visitation: Saturday, February 28, 2009, 6-9PM at Jaynes Memorial Chapel in Duncanville. Here is a link to Phil's obituary and the funeral home website.

http://www.jaynesmemorialchapel.com/obituaries.php?PHPSESSID=caa5e9709bfeaf72f99590ee3b19dbaf

Celebration Service: Sunday, March 1, 2009, 3PM at The Oaks Baptist Church, Grand Prairie.
http://discovertheoaks.com/index.html Following the service, we will be staying around to talk with friends and family and enjoy some refreshments together.

Graveside Burial Service: Monday, March 2, 2009, 10AM at Little Bethel Cemetary, Duncanville. All are invited to come, but we understand many have to work.

All are also invited to attend the Oak's worship services Sunday morning. Classic service is at 9AM and Contemporary is 10:45AM.

His Grace is Sufficient

2009-02-27T18:11:00.004-06:00

Hello Everyone. I just wanted to thank everyone again for their continued prayers and support. Thank you for being there for us. Last night could not have gone better- surrounded by our brothers and sisters in Christ. It was such a peaceful time. I have to be honest with everyone, I had alway feared having to watch someone close to me dying, and thought it would be a horrible experience, but last night went very peacefully. All of us knew that Phil was not there, and that he had gone on to be with the Lord. Thank you Phil for taking me through this and teaching me more than I could have every learned in medical school- how to be there for families when they go through this same experience with their loved ones. Now when I have to talk with families about making the decisions we had to make, I can speak from experience and can share with them the hope I have because of Jesus Christ. What an awesome time we had the hours before he passed. Many friends and family gathered and we sung around his bed. The nurses closed our door and we worshipped together. God is really working in the lives of the nurses. I looked out the window while we were singing and Tammy and Kendra were crying. You could tell Dr. Ruiz and Dr. Koje were having a hard time with everything as well. I was able to thank them for all they did, and Dr. Ruiz told us about losing his dad to liver cancer. Then Byron came on for the night shift and he did an amazing job of making Phil look so nice and then called us all back in to see him. Dr. Levy even came by and spoke with us. Justin was able to boldly tell him that we have hope in Christ. As they left for the evening, Kendra and Tammy came out crying and hugged our family bye. Then Robert didn't even know what was happening and he walked over from working in another part of the hospital and came and hugged us. He couldn't understand why all of us were thanking him, because he said they lost. That broke our hearts. Continue to pray for the nurses as we are going to be inviting them to the services and celebration time. I told Bryon that he should come and meet the real Phil Childress. Phil wanted us to donate his organs, but they were unable to use them because of his low oxygen state. However, they approached us about doing an autopsy so that they could learn more about Hepatopulmonary Syndrome. We were honored to and know that Phil would hope they could learn from him. It was so awesome to come out of the room and there were around 50 people waiting there. Thank you for being there.

It was hard coming home. Kristin slept with Beth, and Justin and I stayed at the house too with Grandma. It was crazy how so many memories starting popping up one after another. The temporary, earthly things started popping up. Pray that the eternal will be heavy on our hearts, and the temporary things of this world would not be our focus. We all sleeped so, so. Pray that as memories swarm our minds, we would not be filled with bitterness and anger, but with love, praise, and gratitude to God for allowing us to have the gift and blessing of Phil. Justin is really stuggling with this so please pray that Satan will not rob the joy during this time, but that it would be a time of praise to our Father.

This morning we went to the funeral home. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part was the coffin room. Just as Kristin doesn't like hospitals, I don't like the funeral stuff you have to go through. It seems so weird to place so much emphasis on preserving the flesh, when we know He is really in heaven. We then had to go to the cemetary and pick out plots, and the lady was like a used car salesman. We then went to Kitchen's Deli, a family favorite, and were treated by our friends. This was such a blessing to our family. Phil used to always take Grandma there when she would come to visit. We then went to meet with our friend, Vicki, to talk about the flowers. This was the best meeting all day. This is her gift from God, and we are so excited she is worshiping the Lord as she designs the flowers. She is taking off work on Monday and she is going to rework some of the arrangements and we are going to take flowers to the nurses at the hospital.

We then came home and a few friends came by, and we have started to plan the celebration of Phil's life. Sunday is going to be a great day!

Continue to pray that God would be our stronghold through this time, and that He would be our comfort. Pray especially for Beth- that God would overwhelm her with his presence and comfort during this time. Pray for Justin that God would allow all memories with his dad to stir up affections for the Lord and would not stir up anger and bitterness. Please pray that we would remain in communion with the Lord and sensitive to him speaking to us. Pray for Justin and what God would have for him to share at the celebration. Continue to pray that God's name would be made great through this and that the gospel will go out through this- that people will come to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ through this.

Please continue to pray and journal and ask the Lord what he wants you to learn or teach you through this journey or anything He has done during this time. Please bare your soul and be vulnerable and honest. We would love it if you would email this to phil@discovertheoaks.com
We want to compile a book to share just a glimpse of what God is doing and has done through this.

Phil is Home!

2009-02-26T21:09:00.003-06:00

Psalm 116:15 - "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."

Phil went Home around 8:00pm this evening. He was surrounded by family and many friends in his final moments. God was gracious and took him Home very peacefully.

A Celebration Service is scheduled for Sunday, at 3:00pm at The Oaks Baptist Church in Grand Praire. A graveside service will be held sometime Monday - final arrangements will be posted as soon as they are made. If you would like to give a gift in Phil's memory, you can give in one of the following ways:

-Phil's passion was to do mission work in Kenya. One of his driving forces for receiving a new liver was for his health to be such that it would allow him to travel to Kenya. To give to Buckner Kenya in his memory, please make your check payable to The Oaks Baptist Church and notate Buckner Kenya in the memo line. You can give your check at the church, personally, or mail it to 801 E-I-20, Grand Prairie, TX 75052.

-If you would like to give to the liver fund, please do so as posted in a previous blog. These funds will be used towards any outstanding medical bills, funeral expenses, or flights for family.

-If you would like to give flowers, please contact Special Occasions by Vicki at (972) 296-5587.

Above all, may God's name continue to be made great - continue to seek Him fervently as He continues His work in us. The thing that will honor Phil's memory the most is for all of us to draw closer to God and recognize His work in all of this. We would love to hear from you as to how God is moving and working in you - we ask you to share deep from your heart and to not be afraid to empty yourself before Him and allow Him to stir you deeply. If you are willing to share, please send it in an email to phil@discovertheoaks.com.

In closing, please pray over this verse and remember Phil in a prayer of celebration, as He is now Home with his Heavenly Father and wholly healed.

I Thess 4:13-18- "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words."

Apart from God's intervention, Phil is headed Home...

2009-02-26T14:03:00.004-06:00

There's not much medical news at this point, but we wanted to keep everyone updated and so that you are able to pray specifically. Phil's PA02 has continued to decrease and they are keeping his blood pressure stable with medicine. The doctors have not been encouraging at this point, so we are just waiting.

Justin is driving back from Houston and Kristin is flying in from Nashville. Please pray for safe trips as they head home to see their dad.

Thanks to everyone for your faithfulness in prayers and just seeking God's face - we trust God's sovereignty and am thankful for His peace that passes all understanding in the hearts and minds of those who love Him.

Is 55:8-9 - "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Continue to seek God as you feel led and may His name be glorified in everything.

"You are on our side"

2009-02-26T12:09:00.004-06:00

Kristin, Phil's daughter, just sent me this and I wanted to share with everyone.

As I was thinking and praying this morning, I was listening to this Bethany Dillon song called

"You are On Our Side" Here are the lyrics:

The orphan clings to Your hand
Singing the song of how he was found
The widow rejoices
For her oppressors are silenced now

You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor
You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore
When You could just be silent and leave us here to die
Still, You sent Your Son for us
You are on our side

The runaway falls at Your feet
You are what he has searched for
The rich man is broken
When he stands beneath a sky full of stars

You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor
You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore
When You could just be silent and leave us here to die
Still, You sent Your Son for us
You are on our side

You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor
You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore
When You could just be silent and leave us here to die
Still, You sent Your Son for us
You are on our side
Still, You sent Your Son for us
You are on our side

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alRVFA_IrMA

Last night, God just reminded me how this is all such a supernatural battle. And just now, in thinking how much we have prayed and pleaded with the Lord, I just felt God say, "Kristin, I am fighting for him. I love him so much more than you do. I am fighting for him!"
Just wanted to share that will yall. -Kristin

Psalm 57:1-3 "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge;in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me."

I also wanted to share a comment with everyone from Jana Vick,

We can agree in prayer from Psalm 41:1-3, as we lift up Phil: How blessed is he who considers the helpless;The Lord will deliver him (Phil) in a day of trouble.The Lord will protect him (Phil) and keep him alive.And he (Phil) shall be called blessed upon the earth;The Lord will sustain him (Phil) upon his sickbed;In his (Phil's) illness, You will restore him (Phil) to health.Joining many others in focused prayer for each blood cell in Phil's body to open and receive the gift of LIFE - oxygen.

God's not finished...

2009-02-26T10:11:00.006-06:00

Not much has changed at this point - Phil is hanging in there to progressively getting worse and we are waiting to see if this new medication will kick in and help his lungs work better. However, it must be a God thing. These medications have not been proven to work and when they do work it is after weeks to months, but at this point they are like why not. These doctors want to fix things, but they can't. Only God can turn this situation around if it is His will. His saturation is still in the 60's and his PA02 is at 48 again. The doctors have said there is not much left that they can do - it is now completely in God's hands. They keep saying that he is out of the box. We have been praying for this so here we are. Thank goodness our sovereign God already knows what the plan is and how He is working in this. The nurses and doctors have been amazing - they have been so caring and are doing all that they can. Pray for Byron, his night nurse from last night. Byron was almost crying at the end of Phil's bed this morning and said, "I am so sorry, I don't what else to do." I told him that he can't worry about it. There is nothing he can do, and that all we can do is trust God. He ended up staying an hour past his shift and had such difficulty leaving this morning. He came and hugged Beth and I lost it. Then this nurse Kendra who we have never had but who has been watching what has been going on for the past 2 weeks, came up to me and hugged me and started crying and said that she is praying. Her nurse, Tammy, who is amazing keeps asking us how we are doing and I was able to share with her some, and she said for me to stop or she was going to start crying. All of the doctors don't know what is going on. Everyone is watching and we so desperately want HIS NAME TO BE MADE GREAT whether through life of death. Pray for these medical staff to come to know Jesus through this. Pray that Phil's room and this waiting room would continue to echo HIS WORTH. We don't know what God is up to but trust that He is in control, and pray that He will allow us to accept His perfect plan.

We'll try to keep constant updates as we go through the day. They will check his PA02 again this afternoon. It kind of makes you nervous because his saturation on the monitor is blinking red and is in the 60's, but Dr. Osofu has told us just to disregard this number and wait to see what his blood gas is this afternoon. Please pray that God would decide for them what needs to happen as they are just guessing at this point.

Continue to pray that God's name will be made great through this. Pray for Justin as God has told him to stay in Houston and share with his co-workers through this. He wants to be with his dad, but knows that he needs to remain obedient to God. Pray for his co-workers, that they will come to know Jesus through this. We know that God is faithful and continues to give us His peace as we continue this journey.

Continue to pray for Rhea who had the brain bleed. Her granddaughter, Tonya, said she is less responsive today. Also pray for Randy, whose wife Sharon was in here a week ago and is back again today with liver and kidney failure. He just came up to me and I told him we would pray for him.

A friend reminded me today of the story in Ezekial 37, in which God breathed life into a valley of dry bones - this same mighty God can breathe breath into Phil's lungs

Ezekiel 37
"The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me,"Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD." So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me,"Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.' Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD."

Is 41:10 - "...so do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righeous right hand."

Ps 139:1-17 - "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord, you hem me in - behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, to lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me", even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!"

Praise be to God who holds Phil in His mighty hand and knows what is to come!

Please Pray!!!

2009-02-26T07:55:00.003-06:00

Phil is not good at all. His PaO2 again this AM was 48. They have even been bagging him again and it is not working. The nurses are telling us sorry, they don't know what to do. We are telling them it is OK, all we can do is trust God. We need GOD to INTERVENE in a way that only HE can. Pray that he would do a miracle in Phil right now- that He would touch him. I am about to go back there but wanted to ask for everyone's prayers. Will update as I can.

Another Difficult Night

2009-02-26T02:16:00.002-06:00

As you can tell by my posting at 2AM, it is a rough night. About 9PM Phil's oxygenation started to go down. All afternoon the sensor on his ear was reading 100% which we thought was good until they did a blood gas and his PaO2 was 48 which did not correspond to the ear reading. They thought this couldn't be right so they rechecked a blood gas and did a chest x-ray, and it confirmed that indeed his PaO2 was 48. This is very low and earlier they had told us they don't ever like it to be below 55 because then you may have trouble getting oxygen to your organs (like your brain). They couldn't figure out what was going on. His chest x-ray was clear and looked better than before. At one point his PaO2 dropped down to 40. They had to squeeze this bag to help get his saturations back up. He has been maxed out on the ventilator for several days now so all we could do is pray. Beth and I just stood there and started singing "You are God Alone" and "Bring Restoration" as they bagged him. His saturations came up some. The lung doctor came in and talked to us for a while and said that it would be a rocky night. He seemed to think that he got too much sedation during his trach procedure today that was hanging around in his body. He left and then his saturations continued to drop. Steve, his respiratory therapist, and Byron, his night nurse, worked at changing some more settings on the ventilator, like respiration rate and volume. Then Byron decided to lay him flat and that really seemed to help. They rechecked his PaO2 and it was 52 and then later it was 54. Not great, but better than 40. Will check another blood gas in the AM. His blood pressure also started to drop and they have him back up on one of his medications. His kidneys haven't been making much urine all day either. They are continuing on dialysis. Continue to pray as in the morning they are going to decide about some of these experimental therapies. Honestly, the doctors are so confused and this is what we have prayed for. Pray that God would intervene in a way only He can.

In between some of this, I was able to have a good talk with Byron about my medical knowledge and faith colliding on Saturday night, and how I have to trust that God is greater than all of the medical knowledge I have (or don't have) and have seen in the past. It gets hard though, don't get me wrong. This is something that I struggle with.

Today, God told Beth that He still isn't finished yet, and He told me that things are going to get worse before they get better. We have given him over to the Lord and don't know what He is up to and what this means but whatever it is, He is not done yet.

We thank everyone for continuing to intercede on Phil's behalf and for God's greater purpose in this. As I shared earlier, at times I don't know what to pray or how to pray, but it is comforting to know that the Holy Spirit is groaning with words I can't express. It is also comforting to know that as I am tired, there are fellow saints who are battling in prayer. We love you all. Beth and I are staying in the waiting room tonight and will keep you posted. Continue to pray as in the morning they are going to decide about some of these experimental therapies. Honestly, the doctors are so confused and this is what we have prayed for. Pray that God would intervene in a way only He can.

Waiting Room Update

2009-02-25T16:53:00.002-06:00

We are having turnover of the waiting room families so I thought I would give everyone an update of who you have been praying for.

We saw Ruth today, and her sister is upstairs on the transplant floor. Ruth is hoping to go home this weekend. Her sister may be getting a pacemaker on Friday at 10AM if she doesn't have an infection. Her sister's husband may be coming. We noticed that every morning Ruth would come down here to get a 2 cokes out of the coke machine. She said they only had RC upstairs. One day someone brought us a 12 pack of coke so Justin took them to Ruth. She appreciated them so much. What ya'll do for us is providing for others too.

Irma whose husband James has throat cancer, and we sat with her during his surgery came down yesterday to tell us they were being discharged to a rehab hospital. She came to tell us bye.

Brad came to tell us bye today too. His dad is doing better and they moved him to a regular room.

It is sad about Demetra's family. We saw her mom leaving and so we told her congratulations because we thought they were moving to a regular room. She said that her son-in-law told her that he didn't want her up here anymore. She has been up here forever day and night. We hurt for her.

Joe Michael, the 19 year old whose trachea closed on him, went home today. Praise God for this!!!

Some new families to pray for...

Judy is here with her mother, Rhea, pronounced Ray. Rhea is 88 and was on coumadin, a blood thinner, and has had a headache for a few days. The doctors just thought it was a virus, but when it progressed they brought her to the ER and the CT scan showed that she had a bleed in her head. They also have family troubles too. Her brother has not spoken to her mom in 8 months so that has been hard for her. Beth and I had a great conversation with her. We praise God for this opportunity. Continue to pray for her brother and her relationship. Also pray for Judy as she doesn't want to put her mom in a nursing home.

Another man is here with his 2 week old baby. His wife became short of breath last night and he brought her here at 4AM and she went into shock. They found that she has pneumonia. Please pray for her and that God would heal her infection.

Phil has remained stable this afternoon. His feeding tube came out of place so they may have to take him to interventional radiology in the morning to put it back in place. He is almost off of his blood pressure medication. His saturations on the monitor have been 100% this afternoon. This is good because they were at 93% this morning. These numbers they have found do not correspond very well to the actual blood gas numbers which have been low (in the 60's). They only check his blood gas in the morning. Please pray for his lungs to be healed. It is not good for his lungs to be on 100% oxygen. Pray that his blood can take up the oxygen. Please pray for us as tomorrow the doctors are going to be talking about experimental treatments for this lung shunting. I have reveived some input from a doctor at my medical school. Please pray for wisdom/discernment/patience for the doctors as they try to decide what and if to try any medical therapy. The drugs they are talking about using have not been proven to be effective, but they don't know what else to do. When I say experimental medications, I don't mean new drugs. These drugs are approved by the FDA but not necessarily for this purpose. We really need God to touch Phil's lungs tonight in a way only He can. Please pray for God to intervene in a mighty way.

We praise Him that He continues to sustain us and that his grace is sufficient for each day. We are thankful that we have HOPE because of him. We can't imagine what it would be like if we didn't have hope because of Jesus. We continue to praise him for the larger work He is doing and for allowing us to see glimpses of it.

We love everyone and thank you again for all you are doing for us, most importantly your prayers. At one time today, I was in Phil's room and didn't even know what to pray for, but God told me to just be still and know that He is God. I was also reminded of Romans 8:26-28,

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Tracheotomy Complete

2009-02-25T10:22:00.004-06:00

Good Morning. You can thank Justin for changing the layout of the blog. He is in Houston, and when I got on this morning I was wondering who changed the blog, it was him. I must admit, it makes it easier to read.

I was just about to tell everyone that they were in the middle of placing the trach, but the ENT just came out and all went well with the trach. They ended up doing it at the bedside because it would take an army to wheel all of his accessories to the OR. The ENT said he is breathing as well or better than before the procedure. We don't know when they are going to start making changes to his ventilator settings. They are going to start weaning off of his sedation a little. Please pray that he will not be agitated and that God would give him His peace that passes all understanding- that he would not be fearful or afraid, but would breath comfortably.

He had a slight rough night. They didn't call us, but his blood pressure became low again, and they had to restart him on the blood pressure medicine- only 1 drug this time. They have been able to wean it a little this morning. Also, his saturations were lower last night. His paO2 that had risen to 77 yesterday went back to 66 this morning. Dr. Ruiz thinks it is the antirejection medicine they are giving him because this is what happened Saturday night on top of the infection. The past 2 nights have been relatively good nights, and then they gave the medicine again yesterday afternoon. They don't really have any other options with the antirejection medicine because the other one they would use is harsh on the kidneys. They will continue this one every third day. After 3-4 doses, the side effects are supposed to lessen.

His liver enzymes went up a little bit, but they think it is also the medication. His INR is still at 1.3 so his liver continues to hang in there. They are drawing some blood to send for fungal cultures today, just to make sure there isn't any fungus lurking around. These can take a week before they grow.

Please continue to pray that God would touch Phil's body today in a way that only He can. God doesn't need doctors, nurses, medications, machines- He only needs to think it to heal Phil.

Evening Report

2009-02-24T18:21:00.002-06:00

We just went in to see Phil before closing time. He is doing well. They have given him about 2 hours worth of his antirejection medication. So far, so good. No severe side effects thus far. Pray that this continues as he has 4 more hours to go. His blood pressure is still doing good without medication. They woke him up this afternoon but only for a little bit because he was kind of agitated today with the ventilator and started breathing too hard. Please pray that he would rest well tonight and that God would continue to heal his lungs in a way that only He can. Beth and I are going to the motor home now to try and get some sleep because we have to be at the hospital a little early in the morning. This is the first night we aren't coming back at 9PM, but we both are exhausted and need rest. We have the nurse's number and will be calling to check on him before we go to bed. We will be meeting with the trach surgeon in the morning at 8:30AM. The procedure is scheduled for 10AM. They are flipping back and forth as to whether it will be in his room or in the OR. Please pray for the procedure and that it would be beneficial to Phil's body and cause less anxiety when he awakens. They would like to decrease his sedation once he has a trach, but will only be able to keep him like this if he is not agitated and breathes normally. Pray that when he awakens with a trach, he would not be anxious, but would feel God holding him in His Hands. Will post again in the morning.

Grandma Vera is doing well!

2009-02-24T12:20:00.002-06:00

Grandma just wanted me to let everyone in South Carolina know that she is doing well. She appreciates all of your prayers and says to continue praying. Yesterday it was such a happy, rejoicing time for her to see Phil open his eyes and squeeze her hand. He has done this 2 days in a row now for 15 minutes. Grandma is enjoying singing and praying over him. She changed her flight and is planning on returning Thursday, so don't worry when she is not home today. She is having a great time and the people at Phil's church have been so great to let her stay with them and bring her back and forth to the hospital. She also went to Phil's church on Sunday, and they loved on her and prayed for her. Thank you for caring for her!!

Don't hold your breath

2009-02-24T11:21:00.002-06:00

I am posting 2 times before lunch today. Beth and I just spoke with the liver surgeons and kidney doctor. His liver is still hanging in there...it is about the same. His INR today is 1.3 and bilirubin is 3.9. They said the slight increase in bilirubin is probably because of the blood they gave him yesterday. Praise God today for his liver. Thank him for this!!! I am still overwhelmed at how God has turned this liver around. His platelets are 90,000 which is the highest they have been in 2 years. Today he will be receiving the antirejection drip that can have some crazy side effects, low blood pressure and increased heart rate. Please pray that his body would not react to this medicine. Dr. Ruiz said that they will probably do another liver biopsy in a week. Beth and I just laughed at how they were like, oh yea, in a week we'll do that.

Dr. Ruiz and Dr. Koje will be rotating back to Baylor Dallas on Sunday, March 1st. They will be handing him off to the surgeons coming on from Baylor Dallas. We asked if potentially they could transfer Phil to Baylor Dallas because Justin and I live next door and Beth could live with us, and the pulmonologists there have more experience with Hepatopulmonary Syndrome just because they have more patient volume. They said that he is too unstable to transport to Dallas right now, but potentially in the future. The liver surgeons also mentioned those experimental medications after the trach, but all of the doctors are like maybe the trach will help and we won't have to go there. Pray that God would reverse this shunt in a miraculous way, and he wouldn't need any of these drugs. He is completely off of all blood pressure medications now. Praise God for this!! Praise God for the increase in the pressure of oxygen in his blood today!!! Like I said earlier, it was 77 today, up from 62. This is the highest it has been in over a week. I just wanted to thank God for this again!!! He is answering our prayers!!

His kidneys are doing better. They are having mechanical issues with his dialysis machines. They are now on the third one today. His poor nurse, Tammy, has had her hands full with these machines today. His is continuing to have good urine output. Thank God for this!!

Will keep you posted if anything changes today. We can't thank you enough for your continued prayers, and all that everyone is doing for us- wow! what a blessing. We are so grateful to God for being so faithful and giving us grace for each day, and sustaining us moment by moment.

Stable/Slight Improvement Overnight

2009-02-24T09:36:00.003-06:00

Good Morning. I made a promise to myself to post by 10AM even if I didn't have any news. So here it is.

Phil did well overnight. They were able to get his one blood pressure medication down to essentially nothing. Also, his PaO2 which was 62 yesterday, was 77 today. Praise God!! This is improved and in the right direction. They are leaving him where he is at today on his ventilator settings until after his tracheotomy placement tomorrow. They decided they are going to do that at the bedside at 10AM tomorrow morning. Dr. Osafu, lung doctor, said he wasn't going to make any changes or add new treatments until after the trach. He is looking at 2 experimental drugs and one therapy that they use in the neonatal intensive care unit in newborns. I am in the process of talking with a couple of other people trying to get their opinion. Praise God for how he is healing Phil's lungs. Continue praying that God would touch his lungs today. We thank him so much for the improvement since yestserday. Pray also for guidance/wisdom/discernment for the doctors as to if we should try these experimental medications/treatments.

Tammy shaved him this morning. He is clean shaven now!! She said it will be better for the trach. I will post more about the liver and such after we talk with the transplant surgeons. They usually round about 10:30ish.

Doctors Report- Sorry So Late!!!

2009-02-23T11:41:00.007-06:00

Sorry this has taken me so long. I know I let everyone down :) I literally started at like 11AM this morning, and stuff has come up off and on throughout the day. Phil was stable last night. I was in his room all morning talking with various doctors. Here is the scoop for today. Sorry it has taken me a little while (OK long while) to get around to posting.

Acutely, he is doing better. They are pretty sure he had an infection over the weekend, and that is what made him septic (bacteria in blood that makes your blood pressure drop and cause other issues). They still have not localized the infection. So far, the cultures are negative, but sometimes it can take a few days for bacteria to grow. They are continuing the antibiotic they started yesterday. His white blood cell count went down which indicates the infection is improving. They think the bump in his liver tests yesterday was because of the infection. They changed out all of his lines yesterday, and think they may have been the source of infection. He is now off of one blood pressure medication, and remains on one blood pressure medication. We would like for him to be off of this medication and be able to keep his blood pressure stable on his own. Pray that his body would be able to maintain his blood pressure on its own.

Long term, we still have issues with his lungs. I spoke extensively with Dr. Osafu, lung doctor, this morning. They have pretty much ruled out all other causes of what is going on with his lungs, and are confident that his lungs issues are all caused by the shunting in his lungs from the liver disease that he had prior to his transplant. This is known as Hepatopulmonary Syndrome. It occurs in 10-30% of patients with cirrhosis, and the only cure usually is liver transplant, and it is variable how long after a transplant it takes for the shunting to reverse, one month to several months. We weren't even aware that Phil had officially been diagnosed with this because they just started working him up for it in January.

Bare with me as I try to explain Hepatopulmonary Syndrome again. Some people with cirrhosis develop this syndrome and it is still not known fully by medical experts what causes it, but this is the proposed theory. In your lungs, you have these air sacks called alveoli. When you take a breath, this is where the oxygen goes to. Around the alveloli, you have fingers around them which are little blood vessels. Blood usually passes by the alveoli, and oxygen diffuses across the wall of the alveoli into the blood stream. From here, the blood carries oxygen to the rest of your body (other organs, etc). In cirrhosis, it is proposed that in some people a substance is produced in excess that causes the blood vessels around the alveoli to dilate (get bigger). When this happens blood passes by the alveoli without picking up oxygen. The reason they know this is happening to Phil is because of his blood gas that they measure 1-2 times a day. Usually when there is not shunting and you give someone 100% oxygen, their paO2 is 300. When there is shunting like there is in Phil, even with the most oxygen, his paO2 is only 62 today. They will not go down on his amount of oxygen until his paO2 starts to improve. We are supposed to see an ENT doctor (Ear, Nose, and Throat) this afternoon because they want to put a trach in Phil probably on Wednesday. They will decide if they will take him to the OR for this or if they will do it at the bedside. There are no medications proven to help reverse the shunting. There have been several studies done on rats and people prior to transplantation, and the doctors are studying these to see if they want to try any of these medicines on Phil. I will also be talking to some physicians at Baylor Dallas and at my medical school to see if they have any additional input. No one really knows what to do or how long it could take to reverse. Once again, as we have prayed Phil is outside of their medical box, and they do not know what to do. They aren't convinced that even a new liver would help him as the one he has now is functioning pretty well. Also, they can't take him to surgery anyways because of his lungs. Please pray that God would reverse the shunt in his lungs. We need desperately for God to touch his lungs so that they can properly carry the oxygen to the rest of his body while breathing room air. Pray that the blood vessels in his lungs would shrink back to normal size. Pray for wisdom/discernment/direction for the doctors as to if they should give him some of these experimental medications.

His liver is still doing well. Praise God for continuing to heal his liver. His INR is back down to 1.3 today and his bilirubin is back down to 3.6. This is very encouraging. They think the increase in his liver tests over the weekend was due to the infection. This is a miracle in itself that his liver is functioning like it is. Praise God for answering our prayers. Continue to pray for the clotting function of the liver to normalize. Normal INR is 1.0 or less and normal bilirubin is 1.9 or less. We must not overlook what God has done with this liver. It was on its way to being completely dead, and God intervened and is healing it.

His kidneys are still hanging in there and making some urine. They are going to keep him on the dialysis so that his body can focus all of its energy on the lungs. Pray for continued healing of his kidneys and that they can filter the blood.

They have started something new today which is exciting. They are going to be waking him up every afternoon for 15 minutes or so (then back to sleep). One challenge is to not stimulate him too much. Today was so great. He responded to Beth, Grandma, and Justin. I was gone. He was nodding his head, opening his eyes wide, laughing (yes that is right, he was laughing at Justin), and squeezing their hands. It was so awesome for them to see. Justin shared with his dad all the great things God is doing in peoples' lives through this journey, and Phil opened his eyes wide and nodded yes. You could see the excitement in him. Justin talked about their matching beards and showed Phil the picture of the kids with the robot crate that was dedicated to him. His eyes got real big. We thank God for this ray of sunshine again today.

We just heard from the nurse that he will be having his trach surgery Wednesday morning at 10:00AM. Tammy will be back again tomorrow. She is awesome. She asked us to go and get Phil an electric razor because she wants to shave him before his surgery. She said hair gets in the way of the trach. She said really she is just OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder).

Tomorrow they wil be giving him another round of the antirejection drip. Pray that he won't have a reaction to it. It can cause low blood pressure as well as flu-like symptoms. Pray that the medication will do its job without causing side effects.

Please pray for Jesse who had part of his leg amputated today. Beth and Grandma spoke to his family.

Demetra, the 37 year old with a stroke, is responding better and they hope to take her off the ventilator by Wednesday. She still can't speak and has residual paralysis. Continue to pray for her continued recovery.

We continue to thank you for your continued prayers, support, and encouragement. As we all know there is something greater going on through this, pray for the greater purpose in all of this and what God wants to show you individually. Let's really press into God and ask Him if there is anything He want to show us or break us of. Spend some time writing down what God is teaching you or has shown you through this and eventually we would like to share it with Phil- maybe compile a book of letters from people or have a big celebration time where people share. Will be better tomorrow about my posting!!!

Game Plan: Stability

2009-02-22T23:37:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the late night post. I was able to catch up on some much needed rest this afternoon and evening. It was awesome! Praise God for a great day today. He provided a ray of sunshine today. This afteroon they were changing Phil's central line and arterial line so that they may send the tips of these lines to the lab for culture. Well in order to do this, they had to decide which medicines were really important for Phil to have because they only had one line left while they were changing them out. They decided they had to keep his blood pressure medication on, and they stopped his sedation, pain medication, and paralyzing medication not knowing how he would do. In the past when they would do this, he would awake agitated and breathing really fast, but this time he awoke more than he ever has and he remained calm!!! He opened his eyes and was nodding his head and squeezing hands. Beth and Grandma were in there and he responded to both of them. Beth called Kristin on the phone, and she talked to Phil over the phone. He responded to what she said over the phone. It was funny. Kristin was at this coffee shop in Nashville, and it was pretty noisy. She said she had to talk loud, and people started staring at her because she was like, "Hi Dad, It's Kristin, can you blink your eyes for me?" Grandma called Phil's sister, Phyllis, in South Carolina, and he responded to her too.

Justin and I were asleep in the motor home, and his nurse, Tammy, told Beth that we needed to see Phil like this so she called us. We went over to the hospital and saw him right before the sedation started to kick in again. It was so great. He responded to Justin by opening his eyes and nodding his head. We thank God for allowing up this opportunity today. It was such a fun blessing. Justin couldn't go to sleep again because he was so excited. Praise God for this!!!

Since Phil was being still and not breathing too fast, they decided to try leaving him off of the pain medication and paralyzing medication. Pray that he will continue to remain calm, and breath comfortably.

We spoke to the kidney doctor today. She definitely gets the award for best bedside manners. Maybe it was because she was female :) or the news she told us. She had encouraging words to say. She said that they were going to keep his dialysis the same. She also said that he had a good chance of recovering his kidney function as he continued to make urine while being on blood vessel constrictors. They are going to keep him on dialysis as to not rock the boat. Pray that God would continue to heal his kidneys- that they would be able to filter his blood.

We didn't speak to Dr. Ruiz today, but Dr. Koje, the Transplant fellow, said that his blood cultures did start to grow something, but they have to wait a little longer in order to completely identify the bug. He said they are covering for it with the new antibiotic. Continue to pray for the infection to be gone, and that Phil's body will fight the infection, but won't attack is liver. We didn't talk much about the liver today. Continue to pray that God would continue to heal this liver for His glory, and that it would blow the doctors and nurses out of the water. From a recovery side of things, it would be great for Phil because he has slept through 2 weeks of incision pain and had Fentanyl to help.

They haven't made any changes to the ventilator. He is still maxed out at 100%, but he was stable on it today. Please pray that his paO2 (pressure of oxygen in blood) would increase. Pray that God would continue to heal his lungs and allow him to breathe on his own. Pray that the shunting would reverse. We are getting to the point this week of maybe having to place a trach in him because they don't like to leave the tube in his throat longer than 2-3 weeksish. Pray that his blood would pick up the oxygen and take it to the rest of his body.

Beth asked Tammy, the nurse, what the plan was for the night, and she said stability. They weren't making any changes. They just want for him to stay stable. Thank you God for allowing us to make it through another weekend. Tonight we have Mike again who is great, and Tammy will be back tomorrow. Please continue to pray for them as they are exhausted.

I am trying to get Beth to sleep late tomorrow, and I will be there at 9AM. I will post as soon as I see him and let you know how the night went. We are praying for no events!!

As I type all of these specific things to pray for, I am reminded that all Jesus has to do is touch him to heal him. He knows exactly what is needed- all He has to do is touch Him to heal him. Pray that God would touch Phil today. I have overwhelmed to be apart of all that God is doing through this right now. Let us continue to thank God for allowing each one of us to take part in all He is doing-something so much greater , and ask Him what He is wanting to teach us or break us of during this time.

Mark 5:25-29
"And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I will be made well." And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease."

Worth it All

2009-02-22T10:14:00.005-06:00

Good Morning. "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24. What a beautiful day God has made today. We praise God this morning that Phil is still stable. They have been able to decrease his blood pressure medication a little. He felt a little cooler this morning, and his heart was not having as many funky beats. The Infectious Disease doctor came by and added another antibiotic this morning. They haven't identified the source of the infection yet. They are also going to change all of his lines today- his arterial line and his central line. His oxygen is still maxed out and he is still in the 60's on his oxygen pressure which is stable but would be better if it was higher. His nurse is Tammy today. Please pray for her. She said his INR was 1.7 today which is up from 1.3 yesterday. Continue to pray for this liver. We haven't seen any doctors yet this morning. Beth and I had a good time in the waiting room singing "You are God Alone" that I posted earlier this morning and talked more about how God is the same in the good times and bad, our wedding and now this. He is always on his throne.

Please pray for a man we met this morning, Phil, and his wife Alma. She has had 16 surgeries in 2 years for cancer. They keep taking bone from her arms and legs and putting it in her jaw, but her skin is so skin it tears.

God continues to speak to me through song. One of my friends reminded me last night of the following song, and I wanted to share it with everyone.

Worth It All by Rita Springer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQVmR0jV52A

I don't understand Your ways
Oh but I will give You my song
Give You all of my praise
You hold on to all my pain
With it You are pulling me closer
And pulling me into Your ways

Now around every corner
And up every mountain
I'm not looking for crowns
Or the water from fountains
I'm desperate in seeking, frantic believing
That the sight of Your face
Is all that I need
I will say to You

It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it all
I believe this
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it all
I believe this

You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it all
I believe this
You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it all
I believe this

The sight of His face is all that we need and will be worth it all.

Another song this morning that came to mind.

Overwhelm Me by Michael Bleecker
http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/resource_files/audio/20070102AB01M_MichaelBleecker_OverwhelmMe.mp3
Take not Thy presence from me for I desire to know You more
For you are worthy of all, You’re worthy of all I am and more

I need to set my mind on things above,
In the heavens and in my heart
Who created a mountain
And Who set a spark that grew into a flame that burns deeply for You

Overwhelm me Take me from this place and
put me in the place where You are
Overwhelm me Shake the ground I stand on
I want to be dependant on You…on only You.

I stand before You King, filthy, unworthy
You still wash me clean, and say to me, "My child you're worthy"

Psalm 51:10-12 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit
within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit
from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.

Mark 7:37 - People were overwhelmed with amazement, “He has done everything
well…He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Psalm 62:7-8 - My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock,
my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God
is our refuge.

Mighty to Save by Hillsong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR8rlTIU8_Y

Everyone needs compassion,
Love that's never failing;
Let mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness,
The kindness of a Saviour;
The Hope of nations.

Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures,
Fill my life again.

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

My Saviour, you can move the mountains,
You are mighty to save,
You are mighty to save.

Forever, Author of Salvation,
You rose and conquered the grave,
Yes you conquered the grave

Jesus is mighty to save- no matter where we are at or the situation. Our prayer is that those around us would see that we are singing for the glory of the king- Jesus.

God just keeps telling us that He is not finished yet and that He is working in greater ways. May He restore to all of us the JOY of our salvation.

Rough Night- Please Pray

2009-02-22T05:00:00.007-06:00

Be prepared. This is a novel. God told me to put a lot of things on here this morning.

Phil is very sick. Around 11PM last night, Phil's blood pressure dropped significantly to where they had to start two blood pressure medications in order to raise it and keep it up. Also, his heart was beating very fast and doing these funky premature beats. He had a temperature of 99.7, and his urine output decreased to almost nothing. This is considered a fever in a transplant patient on antirejection medications. The funny thing was that the oxygenation of his lungs was stable and in the 90's. The doctors couldn't figure out what was going on- they tried to give him some albumin to pull some fluid into his blood vessels, and then they gave him a small amount of fluids. This didn't work. His white blood cell count increased significantly. All of this points to an infection, and Phil is what they call septic. This means that the infection most likely has spread to his blood. They repeated blood cultures to see if anything grows. Right now they are treating him for all of the organisms they already know about. They haven't added any new antibiotics. They are waiting to identify the source of infection. Mike, his nurse, said it was good that he is on dialysis because it filters out some of the toxins from the bacteria as well. In this moment, we stopped and prayed and God told us that we were to call people and join together in prayer. Several people came to the hospital and many prayed at home once again praising God for who He is and thanking him for all He is doing that is much greater than we can see, also pleading on behalf of Phil. I wanted to share with you some songs that God has laid on me and we sang last night.

You Are God Alone (Not a god)by Billy Foote
http://www.myspace.com/billyfooteband- click on Featured playlist and then scroll down to artist mix and select You Are God Alone

You are not a god created by human hands.
You are not a god dependent on any mortal man.
You are not a god in need of anything we can give.
By Your plan, that’s just the way it is.

You are God alone, from before time began,
You are on Your throne, You are God alone.

And right now, in the good times and bad,
You are on Your throne, You are God alone.

Unshakeable, unchangeable, unstoppable,That’s what You are.
Unshakeable, unchangeable, unstoppable,That’s what You are.

You’re the only God whose power none can contend.
You’re the only God whose name and praise will never end.
You’re the only God who’s worthy of everything we can give.
You are God, that’s just the way it is.
This song has always meant so much to me. It was sung at our wedding, and it became real to me that God was on His throne at our wedding and is on the throne now through all of this. He does not change. I also love the part that God is not dependent on any mortal man- nurses or doctors. He doesn't need any of us. None can contend with his power.

Hallelujah God is Here by Michael Bleecker
http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/resource_files/audio/200811231700HWC01AWABA_MichaelBleecker_HallelujahGodIsHere.mp3

He has shown His mercy
Pouring out His fury
Laid on Christ our victory Lord God Almighty
He has shown His grace to me
Dying on that wretched tree,
Bore for me my penalty
You get the glory, We sing

Hallelujah, God is here! Hallelujah, God is here!
Open up your eyes and see the splendor of His majesty
Open up your eyes and see the beauty of The Mighty King

Covered in Your blood , we sing
All for You, our God and King
Humbled at Your feet we sing….we sing

Hallelujah, God is here! Hallelujah, God is here!
Open up your eyes and see the splendor of His majesty
Open up your eyes and see the beauty of The Mighty King

Let this place, echo Your worth
Let this place, echo Your worth

Isaiah 53:8-10- He was oppressed, and He was afflicted…like a lamb that is led to the
slaughter…By oppression and judgment He was taken away…stricken for the transgression of
my people. It was the will of the Lord to crush Him; He has put Him to grief.

2 Cor. 5:21- For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might
become the righteousness of God.

Galatians 3:13- Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…

1 Peter 2:24- He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and
live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.

Romans 5:9- …we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by
him from the wrath of God.

The last part of this song was our prayer tonight- that this hospital would echo His worth. We also praise Him that He is here! We prayed that the halls, rooms, and waiting rooms of the ICU would echo His worth.

Here I Am by Michael Bleecker
http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/resource_files/audio/20051112AB01M_MichaelBleecker_HereIAm.mp3
Take me far away from here
Save me from this world of fear
Break me from the things I hold so near
they’re so far from You

Reveal to me what You want me to do
Place me where Your will draws me to
Lord be pleased with the worship I bring to You
I sing to You, I shout to You!

Here I am, send me out let me shine for Your glory
I will read, I’ll live out and proclaim Your Word
Take me now show me how I need to live not for me
But for You and Your glory.

Isaiah 6:8- I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will
go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Philippians 2:14-16- Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you
may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and
depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold
out the word of life.

God has reminded Justin of this song lately. Last night, we prayed and asked God about what He is wanting to show us during this time. We encourage everyone to ask God what He wants to show each of you through this, as He has told us multiple times that He is up to something much greater than just healing Phil's liver.

Some scripture a friend shared with us. Zecahriah 13:6-9 "And one will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will say, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.' "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My associate," Declares the LORD of hosts "Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; And I will turn My hand against the little ones. "It will come about in all the land," Declares the LORD, "That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it. "And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' And they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"

Our prayer is to be the third part of the tribe.

Another scripture that came to mind last night as we prayed and sang was Acts 16:25-34 when Paul and Silas were in prison

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!" The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family."

This is our prayer that whatever chains bind Phil's body or us or anyone reading this would be loosened and that people will come to know Jesus and be saved through this.

I have some new families to ask you to pray for:

Last night as we were in the room with Phil, a man named Jim, died. Please pray for God to draw this family near to him during this time. They had to code him in front of his family.

Yesterday afternoon we met Tony. His wife is Marilyn and she has had a rough life. She has lower bowel cancer and developed blood clots. Then while on the blood thinners developed a bleed. Most recently she has liver failure secondary to tylenol form her cancer pain. It is so sad as they have 8 kids. Some of the kids were up here yesterday afternoon. They all just moved here from out of state for better health care. The kids had to leave their friends. Please pray for God to comfort these children and her husband. Pray that God would continue to provide opportunities for us to love on them.

If you are still reading, congrats. When we went in and saw Phil when we left at 4:30AM he was still hanging in there with his blood pressure supported by medications currently. His respirations and oxygen is stable. His heart was having less funky beats. We came to the motorhome to catch a couple hours of sleep before we head back at 9AM. I wanted to update everyone so you can know how to be praying. Pray that God's name, first and foremost, would be made great through this. Please pray that God would touch Phil and heal him. Pray that he would heal this infection and sustain Phil's body as he endures it. Pray that the doctors can localize where the infection is and can treat it. Pray that his blood pressure would increase and he wouldn't have to be on medication. Ask and pray what God wants to show you during this time.

The liver is being healed!!! Mike tonight said that his liver was 25-40% dead where we originally only thought 15%, but that it was incredible how it is doing and regenerating. God intervened and answered our prayers and is healing Phil's liver. Please continue to pray against rejection and for the remainder of the liver function to be restored. Pray for the kidneys as well as I don't even know what to think of them right now. He is still on dialysis. Praise God for shocking the doctors and answering our prayers about this liver.

Update from the docs

2009-02-21T13:59:00.003-06:00

I just spoke with Dr. Ruiz and Dr. Koje and wanted to give everyone an update. God continues to heal Phil and we are so grateful!! Baby steps, but we are thankful. They reviewed the liver biopsy and it showed that regeneration is taking place. It did show some rejection, but they expected this to some degree since he has been off of the medications. Also, his INR was 1.3 today!!! This is the lowest it has been since his transplant. This indicates that some of the clotting function of the liver that we have been praying for is starting to work better. His bilirubin was down to 3.6 today from 4.4 yesterday which also indicates that the liver is doing better. They have inactivated him on the transplant list right now due to his lung function, but they can always reactivate him. Keep praying that he won't need another transplant, and God would continue to bring new life and regeneration to his liver and that his body won't reject it. They are going to start him on a new antirejection medication. This one can cause flu-like symptoms and after several doses you can get an allergic reaction to it. The have pretreated him with benadryl and tylenol and have medications to treat the side effects. They had to stop one of the other antirejection medicines because it can hurt the kidneys more. The steroids he is on for his lungs also helps with rejection of the liver as well. In all, he is on three antirejection medications.

His kidneys are back to the point of making urine but are still not filtering correctly. They are keeping his dialysis the same. They are no longer removing fluid but just filtering his blood. Contiune to pray for the kidneys to be able to filter the blood properly.

His lungs continue to hang in there. He is still at 100% FiO2 which is the most you can be on. In theory, his paO2 (pressure of oxygen in his blood) should be like 300, but his is only 65. They measure this when they do a blood gas. Ideally, they would like it in the 80-100 range. This morning it was 75, but this afternoon it went down to 65. They were going to turn down his oxygen to 90%, but when his paO2 came back at 65, they decided to keep him at 100% overnight. They will check his blood gas again in the morning. The oxygen saturation they measure on your finger is only an indirect measurement- his is still at 99-100% which is much better than yesterday, but they base everything on the blood gas. His chest x-ray still looks good and it is so confusing to the doctors and nurses as to what is going on. They keep saying, "This doesn't make sense." This is what we have prayed for. Dr. Ruiz told me that they don't really understand what is going on but there are several possibilites and they are covering for all of them. They are giving him the right antibiotics for infection. He also said it could have been bad "humors" that could have come from the dying parts of the liver that upset his lungs. I think he meant as parts of the liver were dying, toxins were released that aggravated things. Justin laughed when I told him this and said we should bring out some snake oil to go with this.
Continue to pray that God would breathe oxygen into Phil's body, and that He would heal his lungs. Specifically pray that his paO2 (pressure of oxygen in his blood) would increase while the FiO2 (percent of oxygen they give him) can decrease. Pray that God would touch Phil's lungs in a way that only He can.

Another encouraging thing is that his platelets were at 88,000. They haven't been this high in several years.

I met Robin, a security guard, in the waiting room. Pray for more opportunities to talk with her.

Phil's mom, Grandma, and I sang several songs over Phil. We sang "Blessed Assurance,"
"Amazing Grace," "Victory in Jesus," and "Because He Lives." It was a sweet time.

Continue to pray for God's name to be made great in this and for the greater work He is accomplishing during this time.

Praise God for a good night!!!

2009-02-21T09:25:00.002-06:00

Wow- we had a good night!!! Praise God!! This is the first night all week where there weren't issues overnight. This verse came to mind this morning.

"Remember my affliction and my wanderings,the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind,and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,“therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:19-24

I am so grateful that we have hope because of Jesus, that He has made a way for each of us. I can't imagine going through all of this without the hope we have in Christ.

This morning Phil continues to saturate at 100% while being on 100% oxygen (FiO2 of 100%). This is improved from yesterday morning when he was at 100% oxygen and saturating only in the 70-80% range. They still aren't turning down the FiO2 because his blood gas still shows an oxygen pressure of 70's. You would expect this to be 300 or so on this much oxygen. His is much improved from yesterday when he had oxygen pressures in the 50's.

Praise God also for his blood pressure. He is now OFF all blood pressure medications and is maintaining his pressures in normal range. He is making better urine output now. They are no longer removing fluid with the dialysis, but are only filtering his blood.

His nurse today is Stephanie. She is very nice. She told me that she had never taken care of Phil but she knows about him.

I came over this morning to check on Phil and told Justin and Beth to stay in bed. I called them and gave them the good report and they are still resting for which I am glad for.

Keep praying for Bryan, the 30 year old man whose kidney transplant failed. They went back to surgery yesterday to remove his kidney. While they were in surgery, he vomited and it went into his lungs which can possible cause pneumonia. They have left him on the ventilator.

We met a new man, Brad, whose father had a piece of bone from his scapula (shoulder blade) taken and put into his jaw. His dad must lay flat on his back and not move. Please pray for God's peace and comfort as his father is agitated and struggling to lay flat on his back.

Pray for Sandra and her husband Mearl. He had a liver transplant in December 2007 and it did well but he has dealt with one thing after another. He fell in the fall and broke his hip and had a hip replacement. He finished rehab and then developed MRSA infection in his hip and they removed it. They have been here all but 9 days this year.

I haven't spoken with the doctors yet today- they come in later on Saturday. Can you blame them? They work all the time. I will post more once I talk with them.

God is answering your prayers!!!

2009-02-20T22:40:00.003-06:00

We came back at 9PM and Phil was saturating at 100%! We have never seen him at 100% this whole time in the hospital. He is still maxed out on the ventilator (at 100% FiO2) but we will take it- at least he is not at 70%. His nurse from last night, Mike, is back again tonight. We really like him. We told him many people were praying for him tonight, and he said, "Thanks, I will take whatever I can get." All of the nurses are scared to have Phil at night because his saturations go down for no apparent reason, and the day nurses keep asking the night nurses what they do to him. His blood pressure is also higher, and they have been able to decrease some of the blood pressure medicine.

Wow, what a day it has been. We are emotionally exhausted. We thank God for how He continues to work- many opportunities we have had today to talk and pray with people. Please continue to pray for Phil- that God would touch Him and heal his body. I have received many emails and texts of how God is working all around. The doctors are honestly stumped- this is outside of their medical box- which is what many have prayed for. Pray that God would break the hardest of hearts through this. Pray that God would continue to work in the doctors' lives. Pray for us that we would not be discouraged as the doctors can just tell us facts from the "Evidence" and from textbooks but they leave out the hope we have in Christ.

Justin is staying overnight in the waiting room tonight. Thanks again everyone for how you have joined with us in prayer today. It is so comforting to know that when we are at the end of ourselves and no longer know how to pray or what to pray for that people are praying and interceeding.

Phil Stable Now

2009-02-20T15:05:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to give everyone an update. It has been another crazy day here, but God is so faithful and is continuing to work in the midst of it all. Phil is still on the maximun amount of oxygen and the ventilator is maxed out, but now he is saturating at 97-98% which is a huge praise. He was maxed out earlier and saturating in the 70-80% range. They have now restarted his dialysis. They put his dialysis catheter in his neck. His blood pressure is staying up but he is requiring medications to keep it up. They just took blood to send off for culture to check and see if he has an infection in his blood. Dr. Levy came by and said the only thing he had to add to the current work up was to do a liver biopsy. He said he doesn't think he is having rejection, but they want to rule out everything because sometimes it can look like this picture. They did the liver biopsy at his bedside. They used ultrasound to localize the liver and did the biopsy. We won't have the results until maybe tomorrow. They talked with the cardiologist and his heart looks good. They don't think it is a blood clot in his lungs.

The lung doctor, Dr. Osafu, told us that Phil is the sickest person in this hospital and Dr. Ruiz said there are eyes watching Phil like a hawk. This is not necessarily the label we were going for. It seems like everyone knows about Phil. Our prayer in this is that God's name would continue to be made great through this- that God would continue to draw people to himself. As everyone is watching- may they see Christ and a miracle happen before their eyes. They keep trying to explain everything but they can't. Please pray for people to come to know Jesus through this.

Phil's mom, Vera, arrived today from South Carolina. Justin returned from Houston today.

We love everyone and continue to thank you for your prayers, support, food, text messages, emails, visits. Please keep praying and pleading for God to heal Phil's body and for His name to be made great through this-whatever that looks like. Pray for his lungs to heal and for oxygen to get into his blood. Pray for this liver to be healed if this is God's will. If not, pray for God's perfect timing in providing another liver and for Phil's body to be stable enough to endure surgery. Pray against infection. Pray for God to heal Phil's kidneys and that they can get rid of the acid in his blood and other chemicals they need to filter.

We are leaning on God's grace which continues to sustain us through this. 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness."

Will post more updates as they come.

Please Pray- Phil Unstable

2009-02-20T09:54:00.002-06:00

Please pray right now. Beth and I got a call this morning at 8:15ish from Phil's nurse, Tammy, telling us that he is unstable- his blood pressure was low and they have him on the most oxygen possible and his saturations were in the high 70-low 80 percent. We came up to the hospital. He was not coding or anything they just wanted to let us know that he wasn't doing well.

They have him on medications to keep his blood pressure up. He is maxed out on what they can do on the ventilator and he still isn't saturating well- only in the 80 percent range- and he is breathing very hard. They are trying to figure out what is going on. There are a couple possibilities: infection, blood clot that went to his lungs (pulmonary embolus), volume depletion, acid build-up from his kidneys. So now they are doing a lot of tests to try and figure out what is going on.

Infection: He ran a low grade fever overnight. They removed the catheter in his groin yesterday that they do dialysis through because it may be the source of the infection. They sent it to the lab so they can culture the tip.

Pulmonary Embolism: When they did an ultrasound to look for blood clots, they found a small one in his groin where the dialysis catheter had been. This is so unusual because Phil's blood is so thin already. This potentially could have broke off a piece and went to his lungs. They started him on Heparin injections for this. They can't do the studies you usually do to look for this because they can't take him down to radiology. They did a sonogram of his heart to look for major strain on it which the pulmonay embolus would do, and the sonogram looked good. So this is low on the list.

Volume Depletion: This could explain the low blood pressure and high heart rate but could not explain the poor oxygenation. They don't think he has too much fluid on his lungs anymore because his chest x-ray looks good, so they are going to give him a 500 mL fluid bolus.

Acid Build Up: His kidneys aren't working well and aren't able to get rid of the acid in his body. His potassium was also elevated which indicated this so they decided to restart him on dialysis. They are putting the new catheter in his neck to do dialysis through. They are putting that in now so they can start dialysis.

Beth just spoke with Dr. Ruiz and he said that they really don't think this in caused by infection or a blood clot but his underlyding lung shunting problems from the liver disease. Dr. Ruiz said they really want to give him a new liver that works well to help reverse this problem, but they need a window where he is stable in order to take him to the operating room. His liver continues to be stable today, no better, no worse. His INR was 1.5 and his bilirubin was 4.4.

In the midst of all of this, Beth felt the Lord telling her to go and talk with this lady, Mary, who was crying in the ICU waiting room. Her son, Brian, who is 30 had a kidney transplant 2 days ago and it is not working and they are starting him back on dialysis. Beth was able to pray with her. Pray for them during this time.

Last night when Beth and I were sitting in the waiting room, we met Cindy, whose husband got a liver transplant last night. They are from Austin and have been in the hospital 9 times in the past 4 months. He has been in the ICU at Baylor Dallas for 3 weeks and they have been living at the twiced bless house in dallas. They got a call for a liver in Ft. Worth and came over here. She is still staying in Dallas. Pray for continued opportunities to share with her.

Night Report

2009-02-19T22:34:00.003-06:00

Thought I would give you an update before we head off to bed. Phil is resting well and his FiO2 is now down to 70%. His nurse tonight is Mike. He is very nice. They are very short staffed and the nurses are working a lot. Our nurse tonight said he usually works 3 shifts but ended up working 7 days in a row. Pray for all of them as they are so tired. They gave Phil something to paralyze him so he can rest his lungs. It is working. Please pray tonight that Phil will rest well and that God will heal his lungs and that he will be able to get oxygen in his blood. Will update in the morning after 9AM when we see him and speak with doctor. Pray for his kidneys as they may have to put him back on dialysis.

Stable

2009-02-19T16:30:00.005-06:00

Phil is still stable. They now have him on the lowest dose of the parylitic medicine and he is now calm and resting well. His saturations have increased to 100% with an FiO2 of 90%. We are going to go to my grandma's house from 6-9PM to eat her good roast. She lives 15 minutes away. We will be back to see Phil at 9PM and I will post an update then.

Wow, what a morning!

2009-02-19T10:33:00.003-06:00

Phil is stable now, but its been a long morning. Early this morning he started coughing and his saturations went down. They had to increase his FiO2 to 90% again. They got a call for a liver, but due to his lungs they turned it down. We totally believe this was a God thing because he was doing well and then started coughing and his saturations went down. God didn't want him to get this liver. Earlier in the week we prayed that the surgeons wouldn't make the decisions, but that God would make the decision for them.

Beth and I were in the room and he started grimacing and his saturations went down into the 70's. They increased his FiO2 to 100% which is the most you can have and he was still desaturating to the 70's. Alarms were going off and not being dealt with, which was really frustrating. His nurse is the charge nurse today and they have a shortage of nurses so she is running around into other rooms and not able to pay as much attention to Phil. I had to go and tell them that he was desaturating and to give him more pain meds. The nurse just decided to increase his propofol(sedation which causes low blood pressure) from 40 to 200 (he has never been over 50) and she didn't see his blood pressure starting to drop. As soon as I told her, she turned it back to 40. Please pray for her, Lindy, as you can tell she is overwhelmed and stressed. God sent Dr. Koje by and he saw what was going on and he is now in the room with Phil. They paged the lung doctor again. Dr. Koje just said he happened to walk by. We know that is not the case. They have now called in another nurse to stay with Phil 1 on 1 today. Her name is Tammy.

Please pray for Phil's lungs. We had an extensive talk with the lung doctor today and they feel that all of this is due to his lung shunting from the liver disease (hepatopulmonary syndrome). This is where the blood vessels around the air sacks (alveoli) are expanded and blood passes by but cannot pick up the oxygen. They do not understand how this happens but they think there is something the liver makes or clears and the lack of it or excess of it causes the blood vessels in the lungs to dilate like this. The only thing that fixes it is a new liver and even with a good liver it takes time to reverse the shunting. They said his chest x-ray looks good today so they don't think pneumonia is the cause of all of this or fluid on his lungs. They are going to give him a higher dose of steroids to help his lungs which will also help with rejection of the liver. Pray against infection because steroids increase the risk of infection. They are also going to do a sonogram of his legs to check for blood clots they could have gone to his lungs. They just want to rule out all causes of what could be making his lungs have trouble. They don't think this is what happened because his blood is already so thin. They want to do a CT scan of his abdomen just to check and make sure no other infection is going on, but with his lungs like they are, they don't want to take him down stairs to radiology. They are going to do a sonogram instead which they can do in the room. The surgeons have now decided to paralyze Phil today so that he can't move in hopes of allowing his lungs to heal and recover. They will also be giving him sedation and pain medication. Please pray for God to heal Phil's lungs- that He would reverse this shunt and allow his blood to pick up the oxygen that it needs to.

Praise God that the liver function is improving. His INR is down to 1.5 on its own (with no added plasma) and his billirubin actually dropped to 4.4. Dr. Ruiz actually stated that can't tell the future but that this liver is kind of functioning and that "maybe he will actually walk out of here with this liver" - this is the first time he has admitted that this liver might work out. It gave us a chance to remind him that we have been asking God to heal this liver. Pray that God will use this to show Dr. Ruiz that He is real. We also praise God because maybe He is using these lung issues to keep the surgeons from taking Phil back to the operating room for a new liver when maybe God wants to heal this one.

They decided to take him off of dialysis today and they are going to remove the catheter they use to do the dialysis because it can cause infection. Continue to pray that God would heal his kidneys and that they would be able to clean the toxins out of his blood.

We had a neat moment with Phil. While they were waiting on the paralyzing medication to come from Pharmacy, they decreased his sedation. He was the most awake we had ever seen. He was blinking his eyes and he looked at Beth with open eyes for a prolonged time. We were able to tell him to relax and explained some of the tubes to him.

We are so thankful for all of your prayers. Please continue to pray for Phil. We praise God for how he continues to work out His purposes in all of this.

How you can help...

2009-02-18T19:46:00.002-06:00

Several people have been telling us that they would like to make a monetary contribution for Phil and the needs of the family. We don't currently know all of the needs, but people have already asked to help fly Kristin back and forth from Nashville as needed as well as help pay for Phil's antirejection medications. Today a special account was set up for this purpose, Liver Fund Account for Phil Childress. Mr. Ken Byrd will be managing the account. In order to make a contribution, make checks payable to:

Melanie Ann Childress

Memo Section: Liver Fund Acct for Phil Childress

You may drop your check off at the Oaks Baptist Church or mail it to:

Mr. Ken Byrd
914 Kings Court
Duncanville, TX 75137

Once again we can't thank everyone enough for your overwhelming prayers, love, support, encouragement, visits, emails, calls, etc. Thank you for being the body to us during this time. Thank you for showing us the love of Christ.

First time home in 10 days

2009-02-18T19:42:00.002-06:00

Beth and I ventured out today....it was the first time Beth left in 10 days. We went home to Duncanville and gathered and paid some bills. We feel better that we got some stuff taken care of. Tonight as people gather at the Oaks to pray, our home group is coming to the hospital to pray. We will see Phil at 9PM and I will post if anything has changed.

The scoop for the day....

2009-02-18T13:06:00.004-06:00

We spoke with Dr. Ruiz and our goals for today are to keep decreasing the FiO2. He is now down to 55%. No other changes really. The cultures still aren't back yet which is a good thing. They are keeping him sedated as they continue to try to wean him off the ventilator. They are continuing the chest physical therapy. The machine looks like a car waxer. They put it on the front of his chest 4 times a day.

They are considering stopping dialysis today in order to see what his kidneys do on their own.

His liver coagulation improved today. His INR is 1.6 and this is without the plasma. Normal is less than 1.0. Praise God that his liver is still hanging in there. His bilirubin increased today to 5.2. Robert said this may be the liver starting to work a little and that usually the bilirubin is the last to go down. The surgeons are still waiting for the perfect liver, but please continue to pray for God to heal this one if it is His will.

We just want everyone to know that Beth and I are going to make a quick trip to the house today so that we can get and pay some bills. I just wanted to let everyone know in case anyone was planning on coming. We will be back probably by 7ish.

I know that some people are not able to view comments and I wanted to share this comment from our pastor with you.

"Everyone reading this please stop and say a prayer for Phil today. It seems to me that Phil's improvements have always come during times that God's people are praying for him. As a church body let's surround Phil and his entire family with prayer throughout the entire day. I also encourage you to write out your prayers, post them here, or send them to the family. PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!" In His Name, Leighton Flowers"

The lungs.....

2009-02-18T09:37:00.002-06:00

The lungs continue to be an issue this morning. Overnight, they increased his FiO2 back to 70% but Robert has him back down to 60% already and he is tolerating it well. We want it down to 35%. They have kept him sedated and he is breathing more comfortably. Praise God that we are a little better this morning than we started off the day yesterday. Please continue to pray for God to heal Phil's lungs and that he would breath oxygen into him. They would really like for him to be off of the ventilator. In theory, he could be awake and off the ventilator and up on the transplant floor waiting for another liver. Continue to pray for God to heal this infection in his lungs and that it would not spread to the rest of his body.

They have continued him on dialysis today and his creatinine has come down to 2.6.

His INR today is 1.6 and that is without plasma so that is good. His bilirubin increased to 5.2. Unless God chooses to heal this liver, they still are waiting on a new liver.

I will post more of what the goals are for today once we speak with the surgeons.

Praise God for some more baby steps!!

2009-02-17T19:10:00.003-06:00

We saw Phil at 6PM. Praise God for answered prayers today!!! His FiO2 is now down to 55% and his saturations were around 95-96%. Like I said earlier, they switched him to this new fancy ventilator. I found out the purpose of it. It is able to give percussions as it gives him respirations. They aren't using this feature yet, but Robert just got it in case the lung doctor wants to use it. They also started what they call CPT- chest physical therapy. They percuss and vibrate his chest in hopes of breaking up the mucous. Robert said it is like taking a back massager and rubbing it up and down your back. Then they put a suction down the tube in his throat to get the stuff out. They are doing this 4 times a day. They are going to keep Phil sedated again tonight to try to get his FiO2 down some more. That is the big goal for the rest of the night. Then maybe tomorrow if he can get down to 35%, they will try again to switch him just to the pressure support and see how he does- another breathing trial.

Robert said it is a good sign that his cultures didn't come back today because if something grew this fast, it indicates a very strong infection.

Please continue to pray for Phil's lungs and that God would breathe oxygen into his blood.

I won't lock the keys and computer in the motorhome in the morning so I will do a post probably around 10 or so after we see the doctors. If anything changes when we go back in at 9PM tonight I will let you know. Beth, Justin, and I plan to sleep in the motorhome tonight. Thank you God for some improvement today.

Prayer at the Oaks- Wednesday Night

2009-02-17T16:35:00.002-06:00

I have been asked to help spread the word that people are gathering together to pray and seek God's face for more of Him and for His name to be made great through this.

Who: Anyone is welcome to come
When: Tomorrow night, Wednesday, February 18th, at 6:30PM
Where: The Oaks Baptist Church, 801 East Interstate 20, Grand Prairie, TX 75052. Link for directions http://discovertheoaks.com/location.html

2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Please pray for these families

2009-02-17T14:08:00.004-06:00

We continue to meet new people in the waiting room and God is providing opportunities for us to speak with them, love on them, and pray with them.

Last night, Justin met a man and his wife who is 37 had a stroke. She can't speak and can't move the right side of her body. Her name is Demetrius Harris. Her mother's name is Carolyn. They have a very large family with many little babies and kids that are up here. Pray for their family and for Demetrius to regain function of her body and speech.

Pray for Etta. She is a lady who had back surgery several weeks ago and then had a heart attack and then something else happened that they can't figure out and she is in ICU. She had two good days and today is a rough day for them. One of her sons name is Charlie. Pray for this family that God would draw them to himself. I was excited today because we were able to talk with them. They have been pretty quiet and to themselves.

Today we saw a lady we met last week. Her name is Erma Allen. She has been here over a month with her husband, James Allen. James has throat cancer. He is the man I told you about earlier who they were able to put a muscle in his eye and he can see. They have been in and out of ICU for his cancer. They just took James back to surgery because he has an infection in his head and they are going to try to get some more of the cancer that has spread to the base of his skull and in his ear canal. She is waiting for him to be done with the surgery and be back in ICU. It has been so neat because her husband was so worried about her because she doesn't have any money for food. She told him not to worry that God would provide for her. Also, in the past she has had to wait out her husband's surgery by herself. She has been so thankful to God that she has had someone to sit with. She is now part of our family. We shared lunch with her and just rearranged the furniture so that we could all sit together. Beth just gave her some crossword puzzle books because she is so anxious and wanted something to do. We were able to spend time praying with her.

There is another man Randy, his wife is Sharon. She had a liver transplant in 1995 and now needs another liver. She has been on the list but now her kidneys are failing and they put her on dialysis. They took her off and are hoping her kidneys can hold their own. She is on hold right now for the liver.

There is a 19 year old, Joe Michael, who had viral meningitis and a seizure, in December. At that time he had a tracheotomy placed. They eventually were discharged home and he quit breathing suddenly. They brought him back and his trachea closed on him. They did surgery on him. They took the ventilator out and now he is on a face mask. They are going to go back to look at his trachea and make sure everything looks good.

Some more verses sent by a friend that I wanted to share.

Please pray this verse over us.

Ephesians 6:19-20 "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."

Romans 8:35,37 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Nothing can separate us from Christ's love.

Psalm 40:1-3 "I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD." Our prayer is that God would lift Phil out of this pit and put a song of praise to God in his mouth and that many will see and put their trust in the Lord.

I also wanted to share these pictures with you. As I mentioned before, Justin has been working with the students at Cornerstone Crossroads Academy in Dallas building a robot for their upcoming national robot competition. Today is the big day where they have to put the robot in a crate and FedEx comes and picks it up. The kids were able to decorate the crate and they decided to dedicate it to Phil hence the "4 Phil" on the crate. The day before his transplant, Phil went and worked with the kids on the robot. Ron Harris, a member of The Oaks, has also helped the kids build the robot and helped build the crate last Saturday.

From Left to Right, Fermon, Marcel, Zack, Quinton, Francisco, Sha.

Sorry for the late post!

2009-02-17T13:44:00.002-06:00

So sorry it has taken me so long to post today. I ended up getting locked out of the motor home this morning and the computer was in there. I had on my Pajamas and Justin's flip-flops because I was just driving Justin up to where his car was. I left the key in the motor home because I was coming back home. Then I came back and the door wouldn't open. No one can figure out how it locked itself because it is a dead bolt. So my grandpa came out and we called a lock smith and he got it open in no time. I am in the wrong business. I locked my keys in my jeep last week too so don't let me leave anywhere without my keys.

Phil is still having issues with his lungs. They had to increase his FiO2 to 80 percent and he is still not oxygenating that well. They really believe it is because of the pneumonia and his underlying lung shunting prior to his surgery. They have increased one of his antibiotics. We will have the results of the lung fluid cultures in a day or so to see if there is something else they need to cover with antibiotics. His lungs continue to be the big issue. They just switched him to this fancy digital ventilator. The nurse wasn't in the room when I went back so I don't know what advantage this was has besides just looking fancy. Please, please pray for God to heal Phil's lungs and that he can get off of the ventilator. They are going to continue to keep him sedated so that he is breathing more slowly. Today he is breathing at 18-20 times a minute. Pray that this infection doesn't spread anywhere else.

The liver is continuing to hang in there which is a huge praise because Phil's lung situation would not be good for surgery. His INR actually went down a little today to 1.9. Pray that God would heal this liver if that is his will. They said they are still waiting for the perfect liver and even if they did they would have to really think hard about taking Phil to surgery with his lungs how they are right now. They said that are 60-not/40-for taking Phil how he is right now to surgery. Continue to pray for God's perfect timing in everything and for the donor and their family. Pray for the surgeons for discernment/wisdom and that God would make the decision for them.

His kidneys are continuing to struggle. His BUN (an indicator of kidney function) went up again today and they need to clear it out of his blood. They started him back on dialysis today and are going to try it for 24 hours. Right now Phil's kidneys are not able to appropriately decide what to keep and what to get rid of. They are just urinating out everything. At least, they are producing something. Pray for God to heal his kidneys and to work outside of Robert's (nurse) little box. Robert tends to be pessimistic about Phil's kidneys but Dr. Levy is hopeful about them.

So today we continue to persevere with the Lord's strength. I will post some more updates in a minute regarding people to pray for in the waiting room.

Evening Report

2009-02-16T20:04:00.003-06:00

They did the bronchoscopy without any complications. They sent some fluid for culture and will know something in a few days. They are currently treating the pneumonia that he has. We were told that having this localized infection doesn't keep him from being able to have a surgery. However, if the infection spread into his blood, they would have to wait until the infection cleared before he could go to surgery. Pray that God would kill the infection. Robert told us that our night nurse is good. Her name is Abby. We haven't met her yet. The current plan as of 6PM was to keep Phil sedated overnight and continue to let his lungs recover and oxygenate better.
The liver is not what is keeping Phil in the ICU and on the ventilator. It is his lungs. If he was able to oxygenate better, they would take the tube out and he could be awake and up on the transplant floor waiting on this second liver. Please continue to pray that God would heal Phil's lungs and strengthen them tonight and that the oxygen will dissolve in his blood. Beth, Justin, and I are sleeping in the motor home tonight since they are letting Phil sleep tonight too. Will update if anything changes when we go in at 9PM.

Lung Doctor

2009-02-16T16:11:00.002-06:00

We just spoke with the lung doctor and they are currently doing the bronchoscopy. They know now that he has a pneumonia that they are treating, but they want to make sure he doesn't have any other sort of infection going on in his lungs. They will take some brush samples of fluid and culture it to see if anything grows.

Also, they think a lot of the difficulty with his lungs is coming from the underlying lung problems from his liver that he had before surgery. He said even with the perfect liver, these can take a while to reverse.

They changed their mind about waking him up and have decided to keep him sedated today and try to improve his oxygenation. We are so happy that Robert, his nurse, is back today. Will keep you posted as to any new news. Please keep praying for his lungs and against infection.

Praise God for answering the cries of His people!!

2009-02-16T11:51:00.004-06:00

Beth and I just went back and saw Phil and his FiO2 is now down to 40!!!! He continues to breath 16-20 breaths/minute and looks comfortable. He rested last night.

The transplant team was rounding and we spoke with them. They were very encouraged at how his lungs were doing today. They said that there was signs that he may have an underlying pneumonia on his chest x-ray and his blood cultures grew a little bacteria (Klebsiella) and yeast. However, they had already changed his medications a couple days ago and said that he is not showing any signs of infection clinically- no fever or elevated white blood cell count. Praise God for turning around this situation with his lungs. They are consulting an Infectious Disease doctor just to be on board and make sure they aren't missing anything else. Their goal is once again to try to get him off of the ventilator. They want to try and wake him up again this afternoon. Continue to pray for Phil during this time as they are going to wake up him and he is going to have to deal with having to go back again for surgery. Continue to pray against infection. The nurse just came out and said that the lung doctor wants to do a bronchoscopy which is a fancy word for putting a camera down the trachea and taking a look at the lungs. We are waiting because we have to see the doctor and sign the consent.

As far as the liver goes, it is functioning about the same. His bilirubin is the same today at 4.6. His INR went down a little to 2.0. They said that we are now waiting on the perfect liver. Thankfully, his liver is not acutely going bad so we are able to wait several days maybe even a week. Continue to pray that God would heal this liver if it is His will or that he would provide the perfect liver in His perfect timing. Continue to pray for discernment and wisdom for Dr. Levy. Pray that God would decide for him. God is definitely answering your prayers about Dr. Levy. He was actually able to look at the good things today. Beth and I looked at each other and did a double take when he was talking because he is usually so pessimistic. God's timing has been so perfect this far and we continue for his timing in all of this. Continue to pray for the donor and their family during this time- for their salvation and God's peace that passes all understanding.

His kidneys are still just hanging. His Creatinine actually bumped to 3.9 this morning only up from 3.8. Dr. Levy said he likes that Phil is urinating a lot. This is the first function of the kidneys to return after they are damaged. His BUN is elevated at 110 today which is another marker of the kidneys. They are going to talk with the kidney doctors about whether or not to do some dialysis to get that down. Sometimes elevated BUN can make you a little groggy when you wake up.

Dr. Levy is also encouraged by Phil's blood pressure and that he is not requiring any medication to keep it where it is. Dr. Levy said that surgeons are simple and they like to look at the number of machines in a room to tell them how things are going. He is encouraged that the number in Phil's room are decreasing.

We praise God for some more baby steps back in the right direction. Pray that God's name would continue to be made great through this.

Some of you have asked how we ended up at Baylor in Ft. Worth so I thought I would explain. All of Phil's liver transplant work-up was done by Dr. Davis, his hepatologist (liver doctor), at Baylor Dallas. One of the benefits of going to Baylor is that you are able to be listed on both the Baylor Ft. Worth list and Baylor Dallas list. Fort Worth and Houston are part of the same organ bank and Dallas and Amarillo/West Texas are in their own network. Since this liver was from Houston, Phil had to come to Ft. Worth. The transplant surgeons are the same at both hospitals. They rotate at both of them. We asked if Phil could be put back on both lists so that potentially they could transfer him to Dallas. They said that with his lungs right now, they don't want to transfer him. Now he is only on the Ft. Worth/Houston list. We asked why they couldn't just bring an organ over here from Dallas and Dr. Levy said he would be put in transplant jail if he did that.

One of our friends sent us this and I wanted to share it with everyone, it made us smile.
2 Samuel 22:2, David sings- "The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer," so just remember- you can't spell Deliverer without 'liver'!

Lungs Improving

2009-02-16T09:34:00.002-06:00

Good Morning Everyone. Justin, Beth, and I all decided to sleep in the motor home last night because they sedated Phil more so he could rest. We have noticed that even when we are just standing there he gets a little worked up with his breathing so we decided it would best for us to not be in there. We also thought we may need the sleep. It was good rest for which we are thankful.

We walked in this morning and Phil's FiO2 was down to 50!!! Yes 50. Praise God!!! He was 90 when we left last night at 10PM. We praise God for this improvement. His respirations have decreased to 16-20 respirations a minute which is answered prayer. He was breathing 40 times a minute when we left. They would like to keep his FiO2 at 50 all day before he goes to surgery. He looked so much more comfortable this morning.

We still haven't talked with the surgeons today so all that we know thus far is by observation and through the nurses. We are happy Robert, nurse, is back today. I don't know the exact numbers, but the liver is not doint well. They received 1 offer that we know of last night and turned it down. They are trying to discern when is the best time to take him to the operating room.

His kidneys still aren't working right. His creatinine is 3.8 again today which is super high. He is still making good urine. Usually you give fluids to people for this but they want to keep him super dry to keep the fluid off of his lungs. Please pray that God would heal his kidneys so that he wouldn't need a kidney as well.

This is the latest and I will post after we speak with the doctors. Praise God again for the improvement in his lungs this morning.

On the list for real

2009-02-15T18:45:00.002-06:00

This afternoon has been a difficult one but was helped by so many friends and family surrounding us with prayer. Dad is having problems breathing. He continues to breath 30-40 times a minute. He is also requiring 90% FiO2 which is very high. They decided to try to increase his sedation in hopes that by helping him relax he will oxygenate his lungs better.
They can't figure out what is going on with his lungs. Apparently, they saw something on his chest x-ray that was concerning for pneumonia so they gave him some more high power antibiotics. Please continue to pray against infection as this would keep him from going to surgery. Also, pray for his lungs. It is risky to go to surgery with his lungs where they are at- they don't have much wiggle room.

He is officially back on the list for a new liver. He is not on the status one list because he didn't meet the criteria anymore which we are glad for. He is back on the regular list that he was on before which is based on his MELD (Model for End Stage Liver Disease) score which is comprised of several blood tests. His current score is 34 so he is on the top. His score before last Sunday when they called him was 21. So overnight they will be entertaining offers. Each time they get an offer they will call his nurse to see how his oxygenation is and weigh the risks and benefits of surgery. Pray for his body to be strengthened prior to this surgery. This will be another stressor to his body. The surgeons keep telling us that it is not the technical aspect of the surgery that is difficult but the stress to his body. He will have to receive a lot more fluid and blood products as well as a lot of sedation. They will probably start him on dialysis again during the surgery to keep the fluid off. Pray for the surgeons for discernment/wisdom/knowledge as to which liver to accept and when to proceed with surgery. They have the liberty to pick and choose if they want to accept a liver or wait for the next offer. Continue to pray for God's name to be made great through this. He is moving in ways greater than we can see at this point. He keeps telling us that He isn't finished yet. Pray for the donor and their family during this time. Pray for the donor's salvation and that God would sustain Phil as long as needed for this to take place.

They also took Phil off of his anti-rejection medication as they are trying to prevent infection. This could be interesting with the existing liver. So many things have to work all together at the right time- please pray for God's perfect timing. He has worked everything perfect this far.

Today we were visited by many friends and family. It was a true blessing. Thank you for being the body to us during this time. We can't thank ya'll enough for all everyone has done and continues to do. One man from our church prayed with another family in the waiting room.

Justin just finished talking with a lady, Debra, whose, sister, Candice is in surgery. Candice is 27 and came to the ER with low blood pressure and she was vomiting blood. She was found to have an infection in her knee joint. They took her to the OR and cleaned it out. She is in the ICU room next to Phil. Please pray for Candice and that we would have continued opportunities to talk with them.

Kristin flew home to Nashville tonight. We will just evaluate it one day at a time when she flies back.

I wanted to share with you a song that someone sent me.
Mighty of the Power of the Cross by Chris Tomlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkO-D0fatRQ

What can take a dying man and raise him up to life again?
What can heal a wounded soul?
What can make us white as snow?
What can fill the emptiness?
What can mend our brokenness?
Brokenness

Mighty, awesome, wonderful Is the holy cross
Where the Lamb laid down His life
To lift us from the fall
Mighty is the power of the cross

What restores our faith in God?
What reveals the Father's love?
What can lead the wayward home?
What can melt a heart of stone?
What can free the guilty ones?
What can save and overcome?
Overcome

It's still a miracle to me
It's still a mystery
It's still a miracle to me
The power of God
For those who believe

Back on the list

2009-02-15T10:17:00.002-06:00

Good Morning. It was a rough night last night. At midnight, they decided to take Phil off of sedation, but keep him where he was at on the ventilator. He woke up a little more than we have seen him thus far. He responded to our voices and opened his eyes half way. I saw him start to move his eyes laterally which is the first time this happened. He squeezed my hand when I asked him to. He would come out of it off and on. God answered our prayers by relieving his leg cramps. They gave his some potassium as well. So at least last night he wasn't kicking around as much. Everytime they reposition him, he slides back down. He started breathing really fast about 40 breaths per minuite and his oxygen saturation started to go down. His blood pressure started to go up. They did a blood gas and his oxygen saturation was down into the 50's which is low. They put him back on sedation and have had to increase the percent oxygen they are giving him back to 90 because he is not oxygenating his blood well. Please pray for his lungs to strengthen and that he would be able to get the proper oxygen in his blood.

So, the liver is not doing so hot. This morning his bilirubin went up to 4.6. It had been trending down over the past few days from 3.7 to 3.5 to 3.1 yesterday. Also, his clotting function is headed in the wrong direction. His INR today is 2.2 up from 1.8. So, they are relisting him for a new liver. He may be listed on one of two lists. They are trying to figure out how long he can be on the status one list. If he can't be on that one, they will put him on the regular list but his score will be high enough to where he would be at the top of the list. Please pray for this current liver, that God would heal it is His will. If He wants him to receive another liver, please pray for God's perfect timing and for the perfect liver. Pray that God would sustain Phil until the proper time. Pray that He would prepare his body to endure another surgery.

Praise God that he doesn't have any infections. This is huge right now. Continue to pray against infection as this would keep him from going back to surgery.

His kidneys continue to hold today. His creatinine is stable at 3.8 today. He continues to have good urine output so this is a huge blessing. No dialysis yet today so this is good. Pray that they would continue to heal.

Pray for us as we are kind of beat. As Phil has been waking up it has been physically challenging as we massage his legs to help the cramps and constantly talk to him as he is waking up. They told us they don't want him to wake up enough to where he knows what is going on but they do want to keep him active.

The doctors will be back this afternoon with more information. Will post when we know. Please keep praying. It is comforting to know that when I am so exhausted and don't know how to pray that there are fellow saints praying.

Wrestler Dad

2009-02-14T13:01:00.003-06:00

Kristin, Mom, and Melanie vs. Dad. He won. Ha.

This is Kristin posting today. As they have weaned Dad off of the sedation and the ventilator, he definitely starting to show signs off a restless man. Moving his legs quite a bit and responding to our voices. He also tried opening his eyes several times when we asked him to. Mel, Mom and I got to work to try to keep him calm and relaxed. We got permission to play music in his room, so Pandora saved the day! We played him his smooth jazz, Kenny G radio to try to relax him. We also massaged his legs some, as we suspect his legs are cramping up from being in the bed so long. Dad was able to maintain his own for 3 hours without sedation and the full support of the ventilator.

Now, they have decided to let him rest and put him back on the ventilator and sedation. The three hours was the first trial run to see how long he could go without support. The will let him rest some and hopefully do another trial run. They also decided to put him back on the ventilator because his blood gases came back lower than normal.

Today, we still needs lots of prayer.

Continue to pray for the liver. The liver needs to start clotting. Pray for the INR to go down. The ultrasound showed some blood flow today, but they would like to a CT scan with IV contrast to better see how the liver is doing. However, due to kidney function, we are holding off on this test until tomorrow. Whether or not to reactive him on the status one list is still being decided by the doctors.

Pray for Dad as he is starting to become more aware of his condition. Pray for the pain to go away as he is experiencing some leg cramps and pain from the surgery. When we were with him this morning, he grimaced his face several times. Pray for him physically, emotionally, and spiritually as we begins to "wake up" and become more aware of what is going on with him. In summary, pray for peace and for the pain to ease away.

Pray for mom as this is hard to watch Dad go through this. God has been so faithful to sustain us so far. Pray for more of His love and grace. Pray that His presence would be thick in Dad's room as we are with him.

Today, lots of people are celebrating love. Remember, more than anything, how much the Father loves us!

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

1 John 3:1

These are lyrics from a song called "How He Loves Us"

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

Talked to Dr. Ruiz

2009-02-14T09:56:00.002-06:00

Phil continues to be very restless. Poor thing, he can't get comfortable. The bed is not long enough and he is on the air matress. They turned off all sedation now and are hoping for him to start following commands. At this point, he follows commands off and on, but he does calm down with our voices. They are given him morphine and lortab for his pain. Dr. Ruiz says that his INR went up to 2.0 today which tells us that the clotting function is still not working. They are going to do the ultrasound this morning because he wants to see if those dead areas have spread. If they have, he will consider reactivating him on the status one list. Please keep praying for this liver and for the doctors for discernment on what to do. Dr. Ruiz wants to see how his mental status is today. He said it may take a while for him to wake up because he has been on sedation for so long. He wants to try and get him off the ventilator today, but they are hesitant if he is not following commands. He is still doing well on the ventilator though.

The kidney doctor came by and said we will hold off on dialysis for the rest of the day and see how his kidneys do today. Pray that they continue to produce urine.

Praise God for no infection at this time. Dr. Ruiz was very happy about this especially if he does have to go back to surgery. He said 2 days ago his white blood cell count was elevated indicating a possible infection, but it has gone down. They hammered him with antibiotics.

We have yet to see the lung doctor today and I will update you when we see him. I will also update once they do the liver sonogram.

Pray that Phil will feel God holding him and will be comforted and able to rest and be at ease. I am going to try and take my laptop in and play some praise music for him. Another family did that for their family. I think that will help calm him.

Update more as I know it!

Overnight

2009-02-14T07:09:00.003-06:00

Good Morning Everyone. I stayed with Phil last night so I am up bright and early so I thought I would give you an update so you can know how to be praying today.

He is still continuing to wake up. They increased his sedation again last night in hopes that he would rest and we could start again this morning with weaning him off the ventilator. Around 5AM they decided to essentially get him off all sedation and just treat his pain and see how he does. He continues to move around a lot in bed. He looks pretty uncomfortable as far as tossing and turning and trying to get in the right position. I really think he hates this air bed. It is slick and he is so tall and keeps sliding down. His nurse was so gentle and sweet and kept repositioning him and giving him pain medication. Off and on he follows commands. One time last night I asked him to squeeze his right hand and he did and he continues to attempt opening his eyes. I feel like I am waiting for a kid to walk. I get so excited when he follows commands.

They were able to go down to an FiO2 of 40% on the ventilator and he was only receiving 4 respirations a minute from the ventilator. His blood gas this morning showed a decrease in the amount of dissolved oxygen, back down in the 60's, but when they called Dr. Ruiz he just wanted to keep up what we were doing for now. Please pray that Phil's body would dissolve oxygen into his blood and that his lungs would be strong and could breathe on their own and he would be able to get off and stay off the ventilator today. Continue to pray against infection. They have him on many antibiotics, antifungals, and antiviral medications.

As you know, they took him off dialysis last night. He continued to make urine on his own, but his creatinine (marker of kidney function) increased this morning to 3.2, up from 2.8. At this point, Dr. Ruiz just wanted to watch it and see how he does and doesn't want to restart dialysis. Continue to pray that God would heal his kidneys.

Another praise is that he is now being fed and he is able to tolerate his goal nutrition rate of feeding that the dietician set for him.

So of course, we all want to know about the liver function. Speaking with the nurse, I know that she said when she called Dr. Ruiz after the morning blood work he was happy about some tests but I don't know which ones. She did say his bilirubin went down from 3.1 to 3.0, slight decrease, but we will take it. His albumin is increasing which is good (the liver produces this). His INR though was at 2.0 this morning which is slightly increasing so they are going to give him some more plasma (clotting factors). They are going to do an ultrasound with doppler this morning on his liver to access the blood flow. Continue to pray for healing for this current liver especially the clotting function.

I have been very burdened to pray for Phil as he is waking up today. I can imagine how scary it would be to awake with a tube in your throat and machines all around you and to find our your liver is teetering. Please pray that God would give him His peace and strength and would calm all of his fears. Pray for the strength of his soul to be increased.

Psalm 138:2-3, "I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased."

Psalm 139:13-16, "For you formed my inner parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."

There is a new family in the waiting room who has a loved one that was up on the regular floor and then crashed last night and is now in ICU. They are very distraught. I have been able to talk a little with them. Please pray that God would provide opportunities for conversation with them. Ruth's sister, for those of you who met her, is now up on a regular floor. We are happy for her and know which room she went to.

I want to share with ya'll one more thing. When Phil was in Baylor Hospital in Dallas earlier in January, I was sitting with him one morning for breakfast. On his tray, there was a card from the chaplain's office with a prayer and scripture. It meant so much to us that morning and we had a great time of prayer. We even threw away the card accidentally and one of Phil's chaplain friends, Becca, was able to get us a knew one. When I ran by the house the other night I saw it and brought it up here. It says...

Psalm 118:24 "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Prayer: God of all faithfulness, break the shackles of my past and dispel any dread of the future; then I will be empowered to live well this day. Amen.

We loved the part about dispeling dread about the future and this is my continued pray for Phil that he would not dread the future or be anxious. Also, that he would be empowerd to live well each day- to focus on today and not worry about tomorrow.

I will go in again at 9AM. Beth and Kristin are still resting which I am so happy about. Dr. Ruiz said he would be by between 10 and 1 today. Justin just left to go and work on the robot. It has to be shipped off by Tuesday.

I will update when we find out more info.

Dialysis Off!!

2009-02-13T22:46:00.002-06:00

Kristin and I just went back to see Dad and there was this dialysis machine in the hall. We looked at each other and did a double take and were like, "Is that a dialysis machine in the hall?" Then we were like, "Is that room #9?" Low and behold it was. They just took dad off dialysis. We are going to watch his blood pressure and make sure now that it doesn't go too high. They are going to recheck his labs at 2AM to see how his kidneys are doing and see if they can keep the dialysis off. Yea!!

His nurse is so funny and sweet. She just turned the TV on. We turned it to Jay Leno so he at least had something to listen to.

Please, please keep praying. We are not out of the woods with this current liver. It is still teetering and could go in either direction. Please pray for it to kick in and start working. It is still the clotting function that isn't working.

They are still planning to try and take him off the ventilator tomorrow.

Please pray for Phil as he wakes up that God would surround him with His perfect peace and that he would not be anxious or afraid. Please pray against bitterness or anger or fear.

2 Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of power, of love, and a sound mind."

Isaiah 26:3-4,"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock."

Starting to wake up!!!

2009-02-13T18:32:00.003-06:00

Yes. That is right. Dad is starting to wake up now. They are slowly decreasing his sedation. He is moving around and lifting his arms and legs. He responds to voice and when asked to open his eyes, he raises his eyebrows. They are now trying to wean him off of the ventilator. He was getting 10 respirations a minute from the machine and then they decreased it to 8 and now 6. His FiO2 is still at 45% and he continues to tolerate it well. Continue to pray that his lungs would be strong and pray against infection. As they wean him off and if he tolerates it OK, they will take the tube out of his throat.

Yea!! He has now been off all of his blood pressure medicines since noon and he is maintaining his blood pressure on his own.

It is a balancing act with his kidneys. They are trying not to dry Dad out now. They have slowed the rate of the dialysis. His creatinine is 2.8 which is high. Normal is less than 1.2. It is going down slowly each day though.

Regarding his liver, his INR is still at 1.8. They are going to hold off on giving him plasma to see what it does on its own. Continue to pray that this clotting part of the liver would kick in.

His platelets are low today at 19,000 so they gave him a transfusion. They said the dialysis machine chews up your platelets.

Dr. Levy said our two big goals are to get off the ventilator and dialysis. They have decided to keep Dad on hold on the status one list for now. Yea!!! He can stay on this list for one week and then if they need to they can put him back on the regular list but his score would be high enough he could get one fast. Dr. Levy is still so skeptical but Dr. Ruiz at least acknowledges the improvement. He said his liver could keep getting better or if it keeps teetering we can put him back on the regular list again. Dr. Ruiz is so great to talk with because he is not so negative. Dr. Levy is so interesting because he just keeps staring at Beth wanting some big reaction out of her and we are just like OK we are fine with everything and we will continue to take one day at a time.

I just want to stop and praise God for all He has done this week. It is hard to believe it has been 5 days already. God is indeed healing Dad's liver!! Dr. Ruiz mentioned today that the status one list is for people who have acute liver failure and imminent death. That is where we were on Tuesday but Praise God. Look what He has done. He turned things around!!! He has heard the cries of His people all over the world to heal Dad's liver and He is doing that. People gathered all over Tuesday night and Wednesday night and continue to do so and He is healing the liver that was failing. That is why he is on hold on the list right now.

Praise God for His sovereignty of allowing these surgeons to leave a sponge in Dad, something they never do. This was in God's plan because this allowed the surgeons to see first hand that part of the liver was dying. It also allowed them the opportunity to put Dad on the status-one list because you are required to do so 24 hours after surgery which he qualified for since he had the second surgery.

We can't thank everyone enough for the continued prayers, support, and encouragement from all over. It means so much to our family and we thank you for loving on us during this time.

More Lung Info

2009-02-13T14:21:00.002-06:00

Beth was in the room when the lung doctor came in. They just don't get too excited about anything, but we are so excited about every little step in the right direction. His FiO2 is now down to 45%. Yes, that is right!! We must continue to pray for this to go down. Once it is down to around 35%, the lung doctor said we have to do a breathing trial to see if Phil can breathe on his own without the ventilator. They said this is the next big step to see if he can breathe on his own. Pray that his lungs will be strengthened so that he can take his own breaths.

I just wanted to share with everyone an email and verse that someone sent me before we found out that his liver was starting to improve yesterday afternoon. It was very encouraging.

"Matthew 9:29 - "According to your faith will it be done to you;" - this was in the story of blind men who kept following & asking for their sight to be restored - they were persistant and this was Christ's response. It just made me think of our prayers that God would restore the liver that is already inside of Phil -that if it be His will, He would bring life to that liver... :) "

The Family

2009-02-13T13:01:00.007-06:00

Some people have asked to see pictures of the family so they can know who we are. So here you have it.

This is a picture of the whole fam. From left to right, Kristin (Phil's daughter), Melanie (Justin's wife), Justin (Phil's son), Phil (the movie star), Beth (wife).

The Kids, and a little bit about us.

Justin is Phil's oldest child. He is 26 and has been married to Melanie for 3 1/2 years and they have a fish named Mel. Justin works for Alpheus Communications where he manages data centers. They live in downtown Dallas. Melanie is in her fourth year of medical school at UT Southwestern. She will start her residency in Internal Medicine in July. They enjoy spending time with their home group and working with the kids at Cornerstone Crossroads Academy. Justin is helping the kids build a robot for an upcoming national robotics competition.

Kristin is Phil's daughter. She is 21 and lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is a Junior at Belmont University. She is majoring in Sociology and has a passion for working with different cultures in the US and abroad. Kristin is currently has an internship with Barefoot Republic (google it). She enjoys living life along side her church family and coaching soccer for a city league in Nashville.

Phil and Beth have been married for 29 years and live in Duncanville, Texas. Phil is on staff at The Oaks Baptist Church. Beth is a special education teacher at Duncanville High School. They are passionate about missions and their family. The day before his transplant, Phil was helping Justin build the robot with the kids at Crossroads.

We had to throw this one in here because we like to have fun together!!

Lungs continue to heal!!

2009-02-13T12:20:00.002-06:00

God continues to heal Dad's lungs. This morning he is down to 55% on his FiO2. This is so great. They are giving him some breathing treatments with medicine to dilate his lungs. His new bed is so neat. It it a big air bed that rotates him on his side. It changes him to the other side every 10 minutes. This helps to get the fluid off of his lungs. They continue to lighten the sedation. I spoke with him and he raised an eyebrow. It was exciting. We have not spoke with a doctor yet today as to what the plan for the day is. His blood pressure continues to improve as well. They are now down to 20 on his only blood pressure medicine which is awesome and they continue to decrease it.

We need to continue to pray for the clotting function of his liver to kick in. His INR is 1.8 again today but they are having to give him clotting factors in order to keep it at this level. Normal is less than 1.0, but the doctors said they would be happy if it was 1.5 and stayed there without having to give him clotting factors. His Bilirubin is also the same today at 3.5. We need to pray that this will come down as well.

Kidneys continue to function well. According to the kidney doctor, he has lost 10 pounds of fluid, and has about 10 more pounds to lose. It is funny how the different doctors measure in different ways. Some focus on liters and some on pounds. They are backing off a little on his dialysis because they want to get him off the blood pressure medicine and his lungs are improving. They are still taking off about 150 ml/hour.

Some of you have met Ruth, a lady who is here for her sister in the ICU. She has been here for 7 days. This lady has slept in the chair for the past week. Last night she put the cushions of the chairs on the floor and made herself a bed. It was the first time she stretched out in a week. There is not a way to turn out the lights in the waiting room so Justin has been taking the light bulb out of the ceiling so that it doesn't shine in her face. This morning Ruth told Beth that she slept like she was at the Hilton last night because she knew there was a man here watching over her. Justin has stayed in the waiting room the past 2 nights. It was funny. Yesterday morning, Justin forgot to put the light back in the ceiling and when Beth showed up the maintenance guy was replacing the light bulb. Now Justin puts the light bulb back before the morning.

Will update once the doctor comes by.

God continues to heal!!

2009-02-12T22:59:00.002-06:00

So we went back in at 9PM and his FiO2 is down to 65%. Praise God!! His lungs are continuing to get better. He ended up having a new nurse, Sharon, tonight. She is so great. At first we were sad we didn't have Byron but she is so nice. She is trying to get Dad down to 50% by morning and even potentially wake him up and extubate (take the ventilator off) him tomorrow. She said he looks very good to her. They are rechecking his liver function tests tonight.

Isaiah 14:24
"The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, "Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned, it will stand."

Isaiah 14:27
"For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?"

Isaiah 46:9-10
"Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.'"

Phil's mom, Vera, was able to talk to Phil- I put the cell phone up to his hear for her to talk to him. She prayed for him and sang to him.

On the right, we put a link so that you can sign up to be an organ donor. Dad always told us how he wanted to host a day for people to sign up to be organ donors so we thought we would just put a link on the blog.

Please pray specifically that God would heal the clotting function of his liver. We need his INR to decrease.

We have been truly overwhelmed today by God's love and healing. We praise Him for a great day of progress. I am going to bed now with Beth and Kristin. Justin will be taking the night shift again tonight. I will update in the morning. Will try to not sleep too late!

Transplant on Hold

2009-02-12T18:39:00.002-06:00

Dr. Levy just came by. He is so funny. I think we make him uncomfortable. He is always so skeptical. Even when I bring up the little progress we are making he just acts awkward. He is so nice to us though. He told us that they are putting Phil on hold right now. He is still on the status one list but on hold. Therefore, they will not be receiving any offers tonight. Dr. Levy said he just would have a difficult time justifying retransplanting Phil with where he is at right now, even if he got an 18 year old football player's liver. He said that with the continued progress over the past 36 hours, we should sit on it tonight and see how he continues to do. Praise God that He is indeed healing Phil's current liver. Please beg and plead that He will continue to do so for His glory. The doctors originally called Phil's case primary non-function which happens only 1-2 % of the time but are now confused to why it is functioning (maybe God???). They continue to call it that so he can be on the list but he said it would be better to call his case primary very,very poor function.

Praises for today-
Phil's liver is continuing to improve
He is down to 70 percent oxygen
His color is better
His ammonia level is decreasing
Kidneys doing well and dialysis taking off fluid
Byron our night nurse will be working tonight even though he didn't have to
No infection
He got his new bed to help rotate him to get the fluid off his lungs
He is only on one blood pressure medicine and they are still able to decrease it
God is moving in crazy awesome ways and is answering the crys of his people all over the world
We got rest-good rest (and showers too!!)
God's peace

Afternoon Update

2009-02-12T14:57:00.006-06:00

Praise the Lord for much needed rest. I slept last night for almost eleven hours. Sorry for the delay in posting. I just went in to see Phil and while I was in there Dr. Ruiz came by and I was able to talk with him. So this is where we are at right now. I will break it down by organ.

LIVER: As they tell us that his current liver is slightly improving, my question was what about this liver is concerning to them and makes them want to pursue another one. They said that his liver enzymes are trending down, but that the two markers of acutely how the liver is doing are what is concerning. These are his bilirubin and INR. Both of them are not increasing so that is good but we need the liver to kick in and for these to start coming down. The liver makes clotting factors that help the blood clot and the INR measures how well the liver is clotting. We want this number to be below 1. His has been around 1.8 but this is with the clotting factors they are giving him. If they weren't giving him the clotting factors, it would go higher. His bilirubin is 3.1 today. It was 3.5 yesterday so we are headed in the right direction. If it starts to climb this tells them that the liver is becoming hard and not able to move the bilirubin.

My other questions was is the 15 percent of the liver that was dying an issue if the remaining 85 percent is able to function? He said no. It will just shrivel up and die. We figure that 85 percent of a huge liver is good.

He also told me that another good sign about his current liver is that he is requiring a little bit of insulin to lower his blood sugar which is a little high. The liver stores sugar and if it is not working you will have low blood sugar. Another good thing is his ammonia is coming down.

I asked him how long we can stay where we are at on the status one liver list. He said around a week. He said they go through times where they get 5 liver offer a day and then weeks when they get none. He said right now has been a slow time for livers. They have received 2 out of state offers that they weren't happy with. He said that they would have to receive the "perfect" liver and even if they did receive it, he would meet with Dr. Levy and they would call a couple of their colleagues to discuss whether it is worth going back to surgery. He said going back to surgery is risky not due to the technical aspects of the surgery, but because of the stress to Phil's body. He said they could probably have another liver in him in 2-3 hours, but that they would have to give him a lot of fluid and blood products again and more sedation. His lungs issues also aren't ideal for another surgery either.

He said another indicator of how this liver is doing would be to access his mental status. When they get his percent oxygen down to less than 50 percent, he said he would like to ease off of the sedation to wake him up and see how his mental status is. I asked if they wake people up even with a tube in their throat. He says obviously it is a little uncomfortable to their throat but that they do it all the time. This kind of excited us and we would like that Kristin would be able to see this before she goes back to Nashville on Sunday night.

We feel that we need to pray for his current liver to continue to be healed. It is kind of just teetering deciding which way it wants to go. Pray that the 85 percent of what is left will be restored and start to function. Pray that it would produce the clotting factors it needs to make, clear the bilirubin, and store sugar like it needs to. Pray that Phil doesn't need another liver. Pray for discernment for the surgeons and wisdom as to what needs to be done. Beth told Dr. Levy that we were praying for their wisdom and discernment and he kind of gave her a blank stare. Continue to pray that we can continue to minister to them. We praise God for answering our prayers of healing for this liver. It is improving slightly and the doctors continue to look puzzled. This is God at work!!

KIDNEYS: Praise God for healing his kidneys. Before they had even started the dialysis he started making urine. His urine output continues to be great and we are so thankful for that. Yesterday Justin was in there and Dr. Ruiz said it was amazing what was happening with his kidneys. Yea!!! Phil is going to laugh that we were all monitoring his urine output :) They are continuing the dialysis not because of his kidneys but in order to get all of the fluid off of him. There is now a total of 7 Liters off of him. His face is better and less puffy. They are now pulling off 4oo ml an hour. We still have about 16 Liters of fluid to go. They are getting him a special bed today that will change positions to help get the fluid off. It never came yesterday.

LUNGS: This is the big issue right now. He is not oxygenating well meaning that as he is receiving a lot of oxygen it is not getting in his blood. They feel that this is due to all of the extra fluid so that is why they are getting it off as fast as possible. They consulted a lung doctor and they are switching him to a different breathing machine that can more fine tune things. Bare with me here but I am going to try and explain something. There is something called FiO2 which stands for fraction of inspired oxygen is a gas mixture. The FiO2 of normal air is 21%. Phil was at 100% this morning which is the most you can give. The usually don't like to give above 50%. As I was originally starting to write this he was at 90% and they didn't think they were going to be able to go down anymore anytime soon. While Chris Jones, Cody Schwartz, and me were in there they were able to go down to 70 %. That is definitely from God!!!! The doctors are so confused right now and don't know what to think. We had a great time praying with Phil and talking to him. His color continues to improve. Will give you more as we get it.

Baby steps of progress

2009-02-12T10:44:00.003-06:00

Hi to all! This is Beth-with my first attempt to create a blog. God has been so gracious and has done, is doing and will continue to do so many wonderful and unbelievable things. He is at work. All of Phil's vitals and numbers continue stable and slowly going in the right direction. This morning he looks much pinker than before and looks good. His nurses don't seem to understand but we all know this is God at work. He has gotten rid of 4 liters of fluid from the dialysis and the wonderful workings of his kidneys. He needs to get rid many more liters. He is now on 90% oxygen and they want to continue lowering that. They have called in a lung doctor to consult. This is the concern now. They had another offer of a liver last night but it was a bad liver according to the doctor. Please pray specifically for Phil's lungs, that they can lower the amount of oxygen being given and the pressure they are putting into his lungs. for the removal of the fluid and for the doctors as they need discernment about keeping this liver or transplanting a new one. We trust God that for a healthy liver. Please pray for Phil's mom and sister as they wait in South Carolina. Thank you for your continued support. Please pray for Justin, Melanie and Kristin as they are sharing so much of themselves! Melanie is sleeping. She is the one that keeps the blog going with the medical stuff. Pray that Justin can sleep today. He took the night shift and is still up. Please pray for William. He had surgery last night for cancer of the ear. Pray for his wife that broke her knee cap a couple of days ago and can not get it fixed now because of her husband's surgery. We continue to meet so many people in need. Pray that we will be sensitive to their needs and that we can be used in their lives.

Prayer meeting tonight

2009-02-11T17:00:00.002-06:00

Just wanted everyone to know that tonight people are gathering at the Oaks Baptist Church to pray at 6:30PM. All are welcome to come.

We just talked with Dr. Ruiz. He is please with how well Phil's kidneys are doing. Phil's oxygenation of his lungs is improving- now at 95%. His liver is continuing to function but it seems from talking with him that are still leaning towards another transplant. Please pray if this is His will that the perfect liver would become available in His timing. They never know how many offers they will get in a day. Today they have received none. Some days they will have 8, so days none. So please pray if this is God's will that the perfect liver would become available. We love all of you and can't thank you enough for all of your prayers, visits, and calls. It means so much to us. Phil has also been moving a lot and we think he can hear us. Kristin arrived and he really started moving a lot when she was in there. It is exciting to see. They aren't waking him up but he is becoming more active which they say is a good sign. Will keep you posted.

The lungs...

2009-02-11T11:44:00.003-06:00

We went and saw Dad and talked with his nurse, Robert. He is still looking good and pinker. He continues to have good urine output and they are decreasing his blood pressure meds. The current issue continues to now be his lungs. Because of all the fluid on his body, it is in his lungs as well. This is keeping him from getting the oxygen into his blood to take it to the rest of his body. They are now giving him 100% oxygen. Usually your blood saturation would then be 100% but currently Phil's is at 90ish percent. He is kind of headed in the direction of what they call ARDS , Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. He hasn't fully developed it yet so they are treating him to keep it from getting to that point. The usual treatment is removing all of the fluid and giving steroids. Because of his liver, they can't give him steroids so they are now working on getting all of the fluid off of him which will improve his lung oxygenation. To do this, they are increasing his dialysis to remove 300 ml/hour. Eventually they may increase it to 5oo ml/hr. It has been at 120 ml/hr. That means they will be getting about 1 Liter off every three hours so 8 Liters in one day. They are also ordering Phil a special bed that will change his position often which will help mobilize some of the fluid off of him better. No more word from the doctors yet. We continue to be encouraged.

The latest...

2009-02-11T08:24:00.005-06:00

Just as I was about to post that we hadn't heard anything yet, Dr. Levy, the head transplant surgeon came and talked with us. He told us that Phil is doing well. He said that we haven't stepped back and we have accomplished some baby steps, but we aren't around the corner yet. Beth and I praise God for baby steps. So Phil's liver enzymes continue to improve. His clotting is improving as well. This tells them that this liver is functioning at some capacity, but the big question is how long will it function for. Would it fail in a couple of months and they would have to retransplant at that time? He told us that his current liver is from someone in their 50's so that potentially it could last. The surgeon said that they continue to have to way the risks and benefits of Phil's current status and the risk/benefit of going back for another surgery right now. Maybe they will be able to wait for some of the fluid to come off before going back to surgery or maybe he won't need surgery at all. He said they received an offer last night around midnight and he wasn't pleased with it to say the least. He said no one should receive it. He said that they would continue to way offers throughout the day and would be in communication with us throughout the day.

A new issue that we need to be praying for is Phil's lungs. Due to the large amount of fluid in his body, his lungs are not receiving oxygen as well as they should. They are using large amounts of oxygen. This is all due to the large volume of fluid. They are going to talk with the kidney doctors to see about removing more fluid through dialysis. Pray that his lungs will use the oxygen well and that they can decrease his oxygen requirements. Continue to pray against infection.

Praise God- His current liver is doing better and God is healing it. Continue to pray that He would heal this current liver if this is His will or that he would provide one in His perfect timing. Pray for discernment for the doctors regarding if they should proceed with a new liver and if so, when is the best time. His blood pressure continues to improve and he is requiring less and less blood pressure medication. He also continues to improve his urine output which indicates his kidneys continue to improve. He lost 2 Liters yesterday. His color also looks better- a little more pink. We also praise God that we have the same nurse, Robert, again today and Byron will be back again tonight.

We are excited Kristin, Phil's daughter, is flying in from Nashville, TN, today at noon. Pray for her safe travel.

Thank you again for blessing us with your prayers, visits, calls, text messages, etc.

Will keep you posted!

Night Shift Update

2009-02-11T02:34:00.002-06:00

So I have been staying and checking on Phil during the night shift. I just went and saw him and he is doing really well. I had a good conversation with his nurse, Byron, who is awesome. His urine output has improved significantly. His heart rate is lower which is good. His blood pressure continues to improve and they are decreasing the blood pressure medications. Byron is going to try and have him off one of the blood pressure medications by morning so all that will be left is the Vasopressin- only one blood pressure medication. Yea!! He is on a very small dose of it too. Byron said his liver enzymes are actually coming down and his clotting is improving. This is good news because his body is recovering some and will be better for another surgery. Please pray against infection as that is what can start to affect people when they have the many tubes, wires, and catheters in them. Pray that his body will fight off the bad bugs but not reject his liver. I told Phil what was going on and about our time tonight praying. I also prayed and sang the Restoration song over him.

Story from the Waiting Room

2009-02-11T01:15:00.002-06:00

Praise God I just had an awesome opportunity to talk with Johnny Jr., and Johnny Sr.. Their mom, Janie, is in need of a liver and her kidneys are currently failing. They are from a town near Amarillo and have already been here a month. They moved her to ICU today and say she may need a new kidney as well. I was able to pray with them for her and told her that we would be praying for them. They also were witness to all of the people that came this evening and that opened a door for me to share with them a little. Please pray for continued opportunities to speak and share the gospel with them.

Songs we sang tonight

2009-02-10T23:31:00.003-06:00

Some people asked about the songs we sang tonight. I have listed them below.

Restoration by David Brymer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LcyQOLVS_U
You bring restoration
You bring restoration
You bring restoration
to my soul

You've taken my pain
called me by a new name
You've taken my shame
and in it's place, You give me joy

You take mourning and turn it into dancing
You take weeping and turn it into laughing
You take mourning and turn it into dancing
You take my sadness and turn it into joy

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You make all things new, all things new

Shine Your Light on Us by Robbie Seay Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jib8_vjLvmY
Oh, my God
Shine Your light on us
That we might live

I've been holding on
I've been holding on
All that is inside me
Screams to come back home

If you feel lost
If you feel lost
Sing along
If you feel tired
If you feel tired
Sing along

If you feel lost and tired
This is your song

I've been broken down
I've been broken down
I ain't giving up
Love will come back around

Shine Your light
Shine it down
Let Your rescue come for us, we long to love

And if you feel lost, sing along
And if you feel tired, sing along

I Have to Believe by Rita Springer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j3ewATuVX0

I have to believe, he sees my darkness
I have to believe, he knows my pain
I have to lift up, my hands to Worship
Worship his name

I have to declare, that he is my refuge
I have to deny, that i am alone
I have to lift up, my eyes to the mountains, thats where my help, it comes from

oh yeahhh

He said that he's forever faithful
He said that he's forever true
He said that he can move mountains
If he can move mountains
He can move my mountain, he can move your mountain too

I have to stand tall, when he wind blows me over
I have to stand strong, when i'm weak and afraid
I have to grab hold, a hold of the garments, the garments of praise

oh i know

He said that he's forever faithful (oh i know it)
He said that he's forever true
He said that he can move mountains
If he can move mountains
He can move my mountain, he can move your mountain too

I have to sing praise, when the hour is midnight
He unlocks these chains, that bind up my soul
my sin and my shame he has forgiven, and made me whole

oh yeahhhh

He said that he's forever faithful H
He said that he's forever true
He said that he can move mountains
If he can move mountains
He can move my mountain, he can move your mountain too

i have to believe

He's got everything under control
I have to believe
mmmm yeah
Lord I believe, help my unbelief
I have to believe in you
I have to believe

How Great is our God by Chris Tomlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxPG_mRHDs
How Great Is Our God
The splendor of the King
Clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice,
All the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in light
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at his voice, trembles at his voice

How great is our God
Sing with me
How great is our God
And all will see
How great, how great
Is our God

Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the End, Beginning and the End
The Godhead, Three in One
Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb
Lion and the Lamb

Name above all names
Worthy of our praise
My heart will sing how great
Is our God

You can download some of them from our church website. Here is the link
http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/music/weekend

2 Cool Stories

2009-02-10T23:22:00.002-06:00

So Beth and Justin were in the room with Phil after they had been told he needed a new liver. He is still on the ventilator and supposedly unaware what is going on around him. They were telling him about what is going on and reassuring him. They were praying and quoting scriptures over him. They had been crying and looked up and saw a tear at the outside corner of his eye and it looked like he was trying to open his eye. This could have been his eye watering, but who knows, it was pretty cool and amazing. Please pray that if he can hear, he hears the Lord whispering to Him that He has him in his hands.

Another story. We were in the waiting room and another lady heard us praying about faith the size of a mustard seed. She came up to us and said that she knows God heals. Her husband was told he would be blind in his left eye and they were doing a surgery to just allow his eye to move. They took a chest muscle and put it in his eye and he miraculously can see when the doctors said he wouldn't be able to. She said how can you tell me God doesn't heal people.

Good News already!!

2009-02-10T23:01:00.002-06:00

So as soon as we left the chapel, we received good news. Phil is doing well. His kidneys are functioning better. He is requiring less and less blood pressure medications. His liver enzymes are coming down. Due to the condition of the liver, they would rather transplant him again now than wait down the road. We found out that they have already had one offer but it was the wrong blood type. They are continuing the search and hope to have one within the next 36 hours. This is not because Phil has to have one within the next 36 hours but because one will probably be available in the timeline. His night nurse, Byron, is very please with Phil's current status regarding his blood pressure and urine output. This is very encouraging that he is becoming a better surgical candidate when the time comes. As our family joke goes, he is being "optimized"!! We are very grateful to have some people from the Oak's staying with us tonight. Justin went to get some rest. (If you haven't figured out by now, he is not writing the blog- his wife is) Please be praying specifically for the following:

-That this liver in his body would be healed
-That Phil's blood pressure would continue to improve and that he would NOT require any medications
-That his kidneys would continue to improve in function
-That the extra fluid on his body would continue to removed (He has thirty extra pounds of fluid on him) He is now on dialysis and plan is to continue this for 3-5 days in order to proceed slowly enough to where his pressures do not drop.
-That his liver enzymes will continue to decline
-That his current liver will continue to improve in its function and will sustain him until a new liver is available
-Pray for both sets of donor families. This is now 2 families that are grieving currently. Pray for their salvation and peace from God during this time.
-Pray for the surgeons, Dr. Levy, Dr. Ruiz, Dr. K, Dr. Houston for rest and restoration. Pray that they would come to know God's saving grace through this. Pray that their medical minds would be overwhelmed and that God would defy their medical books- that the only way they can explain what happened to Phil is by God. Pray for their wisdom and discernment in selecting the perfect liver.
-Pray for the weather to be good for the jet to fly in
-Pray for Kristin as she flys in tomorrow at noon
-Pray for our strenth, Beth, Justin, Kristin, and me. He has been so faithful to sustain us and I had a great deep nap this afteroon. Pray that we may rest well when we do rest.
-Pray for Phil's mom and sister, Very and Phyllis, in South Carolina as they endure this from afar

The Saints at War

2009-02-10T22:38:00.002-06:00

We called and friends and families came together tonight in 2 locations (and many at home) to intercede and persevere in prayer. Some of us met in the chapel at the hospital and a group met at the Oaks Baptist Church in Grand Prairie. It was awesome. Here is what we prayed for and ask that you continue to join us in prayer for.
-That first and foremost, through all of this, Christ's name would be made great and that He would be glorifed
-Praise God for all of the details that He has worked to bring us to where we are at
-Praise God that Phil is currently stable
-Phil's healing and restoration
-His surgeons, Dr. Levy, Dr. Ruiz, Dr. Koji, Dr. Houston and all medical staff for their salvation and wisdom/discernment, rest, energy, endurance
-Fellow people we have met in the ICU waiting room, Ruth, Judy- her sister, that we may be Christ to them and love on them
-Judy, another lady on the transplant list who is currently here for complications
-a teenage boy who is in ICU
-donor's families (now this is 2) who are grieving, for their peace and salavation
-weather would be optimal for jet to fly
It was a true blessing to be surrounding by the body of Christ and to join together in interceding on behalf of our brother, Phil. We have a true peace that God is working in many ways through this. We continue to pray that the gospel would be proclaimed. We thank all of you for being here for us and surrounding us during this time and praying for us wherever you are.

Status One

2009-02-10T22:19:00.002-06:00

So at 4:30PM this afternoon the liver surgeons told us that Phil's liver continue to do worse as evidenced by his increasing liver enzymes. So at that time they made the decision to relist him on the transplant list for another liver. He would be status one which means the emergency list. They look all over the entire US and Puerto Rico and are now they are able to be selective in the choosing process. Example, if an eight year old liver came available in New York, he wouldn't necessarily have to take it due to Phil's stable status. A private jet (Baylor's leer jet) will be sent to pick up his new liver. If it is closer, then his actual surgeons will go and harvest the organ themselves and personally bring the liver back. Phil would be already on the operating table ready to accept the liver when it arrives.

Please pray for this liver to work

2009-02-10T12:13:00.002-06:00

The surgeons just came out and had some good and concerning news- they got the sponge out first, there was no bleeding, and they were able to decrease the amount of blood pressure medicines. He made a little more urine but they are about to start dialysis as he has about 25 pounds of fluid on him extra right now.

The concerning part was that the left lateral lobe of his new liver looked dusky (i.e. looked like it could be dying) so they reopened one of the arteries to look for a clot but didn't find one so they put the artery back together. His portal vein flow has decreased a little too.

SO.....this afternoon they will check his liver enzymes and if they are going down, that will be answered prayer. If they go up, they will relist him for a new liver this afternoon. They will list him as Status 1 which means they will be looking for livers all over the US. They are going to continue to keep him under and on the ventilator.

Please, please pray for this liver to wake up and start working. Please pray for Phil to be surrounded by God's peace and if he is able to hear anytime that He would hear God whispering to Him that He is in God's hands.

We are still in the 2nd floor ICU and are in the waiting room for now as we wait for Phil to come back. We trust that God is Sovereign and does not change.

The next 24 hours.....

2009-02-10T09:54:00.002-06:00

We talked with the transplant surgeon and he said the next 24 hours are very important. This morning Dad's liver enzymes were very high which can be typical the first 24 hours after surgery. Therefore, Dad's should peak this morning hopefully and start going downward. They will recheck them this afternoon and we pray that they are going down. If they continue to be high, they start to worry about what they call primary non-function which is where the new liver is not functioning. This could potentially mean another transplant would be necessary. We will start to see this afternoon with the blood work.

Please pray that Dad's body would accept his liver and it would "waken" up. Pray that it would start to make clotting factors and all that it needs to make.

The nurse just came and told us they started the surgery. Will let you know the results.

Back to the OR today

2009-02-10T07:15:00.002-06:00

Hi Everyone. Sorry it has taken us so long to post. It ended up being a very long afternoon and night. While we are in the ICU we are unable to use the computer or cell phones so sorry if communication has been sparse. Phil is currently stable but he is still a very sick man. His surgery ended up taking 12 hours and during the surgery he was put on a lot of medications to maintain his blood pressure. They are still having to use medications to keep his blood pressure up. Last night they were able to take him off one of the medications that clamps down on your kidneys and intestines but they had to start 2 new ones. They think the reason his blood pressure is so low is because he was out for so long during the surgery and the anesthesia can cause this. Please pray that his body would be able to maintain a normal blood pressure WITHOUT medications. These medications cause other vessels to clamp that we don't want to.

Also, his urine output has decreased since the surgery to a point where they are going to start dialysis today. They also believe that his kidneys are just in shock from the very long surgery. They are usually the first organ the body shuts down to conserve blood. They have tried various methods but so far nothing is working. He has an extra 15 liters of fluid on him right now because he is not getting rid of it. He is kind of puffy. So today they are going to start him on dialysis. They hope that in 2-3 days his kidneys should "wake-up" from the surgery and will return to normal. Please pray that his kidneys would start to work and make urine again.

Please pray for his new liver. Right now Phil is having some issues with not clotting. They are watching some blood tests that were elevated but are starting to slightly go in the right direction so this is a good thing. They say sometimes it takes minutes to days to weeks for a new liver to start working. They are calling it shock liver because it's "ischemic" time was 12 hours. This is time from which it was harvested to the time it was hooked up again in Phil. Usually the upper limit of normal is 9 hours. They hope this will also resolve in the next few days. Pray that his body would accept this liver as his own and would not reject it.

Phil is also currently still on the ventilator. He has been ever since his surgery. They teased us because they were in the process of waking him up which almost did and then decided to put him back out so that he wouldn't have extra stress on his body. Please pray against any sort of infection as he now is on immune suppresant drugs.

We weren't aware, but our nurse, John, last night who was awesome told Melanie that what is happening to Phil currently is not abnormal to him. He said about 30% of liver transplants need dialysis and about 30% need to be on a ventilator for longer.

We just found out that they are taking Phil back to the OR at 8:30AM to remove the infamous sponge that they left and to check out things and make sure they look OK. They are also going to place a device so that they can start dialysis today.

At this time, he will be in the ICU for at least a few more days. We are permitted in all day except from 6-9am and 6-9pm. It is located on the second floor of the A Building.

Melanie's grandparents brought their motorhome and parked it in the parking lot of the hospital. The police were so accomodating and helped cone off a spot. It has been great. We have a place to shower and snooze. We also have a refrigerator. It is such a big blessing. We are trying to take turns sleeping.

Honestly, we are all really exhausted and emotionally drained. Thank you for your continued prayers, support, and encouragement. Will keep you posted.

We saw Dad....

2009-02-09T14:54:00.002-06:00

He ended up being in surgery until 11AM and the surgeons looked beat. We got to see him at around 12:30PM. It was interesting at first because in the past people are yellow after surgery from the iodine but dad was blue like a smurf. This is what they use now to wash you before surgery.

Things are relatively good- Dad is the ICU and has an amazing nurse who used to be a liver transplant coordinator. The nurse also is a medic in the army. So it turns out they left a sponge inside of Dad and he is going to have to go back to the OR tomorrow. The nurse says this is so rare as they count the sponges 3 times at least. They can see the sponge on the x-ray. They are waiting for Dad to stabilize more before taking him back and reopening him to get out the sponge. They have decided to keep Dad knocked out on the ventilator until after the second surgery which will hopefully be tomorrow. They also have him on some medication to keep his blood pressure up as he lost a lot of blood and the sedation medication both lower his blood pressure. Pray that his blood pressure will increase and they can take him off the blood pressure medication.

Right now they are watching dad's blood counts closely to make sure he is not bleeding. They say 30 percent of the time they have to take people back to the OR due to bleeding. Right now his counts are stable and they haven't given him any more blood. Please pray that his blood clots where it needs to and doesn't clot where it doesn't need to.

Please pray that his body continues to accept this new liver. The next 6 hours they are watching things very closely. Pray that his kidneys continue to function to get the fluid off of his body. Pray against infection as he is now on drugs that suppress his immune system.

At this point dad will be in the ICU until they get this sponge out of him. We continue to praise God for the opportunities we are having to talk with nurse Robert and the liver fellow who just moved here from Japan. God is continuing to sustain us and give us His peace that passes all understanding. We love you and will post more when we know it. It is tricky now because we can't use computers or cell phones in ICU. We get to be with him all day except for 6-9AM and 6-9PM.

Not to ICU yet...

2009-02-09T10:50:00.003-06:00

Beth just talked with the nurses and they have received his paperwork in ICU but not him yet. We are supposed to call back at around 11:30am and may get to see him them. We are just trying to catch some sleep and are eager to see him!!

Praise God!! The surgery is almost over!!

2009-02-09T09:52:00.000-06:00

Praise God!! Dr. Ruiz came in at 9AM and said that everything went well. The other doctors are still in the OR sewing him up and should be done at 9:30AM. They will then transfer him to the ICU and we should get to see him at 10:30AM. We are so thankful to God for how unbelievably smooth this has gone, every step of it. We still feel like we are living in a dream- it is so surreal!!! Please continue to pray that Phil's body will accept the liver as his own and will not reject the new one. Pray specifically for good blood flow to the liver. Please continue to pray for our friend Judy. We continue to have more conversations with her as she is awaiting a liver. If all continues to go well, he will be in the ICU for 24 hours and then back to the transplant unit. Thank you again for your continued prayers!! Praise God!!

Still doing well

2009-02-09T08:11:00.000-06:00

It's 8AM- eight hours into surgery and Phil is still doing well. They said that all is going well and they are tying up loose ends. It is just a long surgery. It may still be a couple of hours they said but could be sooner.

"Hooking things up"

2009-02-09T06:01:00.000-06:00

Things are still going well. The nurse just called to tell us that they are still "installing" the new liver. She said it would still be a couple of hours. They still have to connect the bile duct. We are doing well- trying to sleep but too excited. We will post more as it comes!!

The old one's out!!

2009-02-09T02:56:00.000-06:00

We just got a call from the operating room at 3AM, and they just finished taking out Phil's old liver. He is stable and they are about to put in the new one.

The Big Day!!

2009-02-09T00:59:00.001-06:00

Wow!! What a day it has been. Phil and Beth went to church this morning as usual and were at home this afternoon watching TV when the phone rang. They received a call from the transplant coordinator at Baylor All-Saints Hospital in Fort Worth saying they had a liver for Phil. Justin and Melanie were in the middle of the Pink Panther 2 when Beth called. They left the movies and we all headed for the hospital. We checked in at the Emergency Room and they were expecting Phil. We then went to the transplant floor where they checked him in. They could not tell which of us was the patient because Phil looked so good. They were running around getting him ready because this was a STAT surgery because the liver was already on its way from Houston. When it arrived they did a biopsy of it and it looked great. We were surrounded by many friends and family who all gathered around Phil and prayed for him. We all sang "Amazing Grace" together. It was a very special time and we are all have such a peace that is only from God. This is truly amazing. Most people undergo many "false runs" to the hospital before they actually match, and many people are very sick before they get a liver. We feel very blessed and are amazed at God's perfect timing in this. We didn't even know he was back on the list. Every little detail has been perfect. Phil's sodium level was at 128 which is the lowest it can be for you to get a transplant. It was just where it needed to be and we thank God for this!!

Phil was taken to the operating room at 10:15 PM and then we got a call at midnight that they had just started the operation. If all goes well, the surgery could last as few as 5 hours but could take as long as 12 hours. He will then be in the ICU for 24 hours-ish. If all continues to go well, he will be back on the transplant floor, 8th floor of the A building, for 7-10 days.

Pray that God's name would be made great through this and that the gospel would go out through this. Please be praying for the donor's family during this time as they have lost their loved one. All we know is that the liver came from Houston. They are unable to tell us any other information. Please be praying for the transplant surgeon, Dr. Ruiz, and all of the other medical staff that we come into contact with that they would see Christ's love though us. Pray for Phil's body- for strength and that his body would accept the new liver and would not reject it. Please pray for Judy, a lady we met on the floor, who is also awaiting a liver.

Thank you for all of your prayers, support, and encouragement. We will be posting updates to the blog as we receive them
.