Game Plan: Stability

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."