Wrestler Dad

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.