From Margaret

Dear friends and family,

Our God is a God of Miracles!

I am writing this from the 4th floor, in the quiet of a regular hospital room, full of the peace of God. After three days, Bob got moved out of ICU Sunday afternoon. He is doing so much better now. We are all amazed at the way he has pulled through, and give all the glory to God continuously.

I have lost track of time with everything that has gone on, and the flurry of activity of nurses, doctors and specialists in and out. So now I need to update all of you wonderful praying friends. Mary, Esther, Ruthie, Elijah and John all returned home yesterday. We are all so grateful that they were able to come and that we had this time together.

The doctor says that Bob's liver, heart, kidneys, and blood count looks good. His blood pressure is up also. Now we can concentrate on his recovery from his 2 major surgeries.

The initial 3 days of recuperation has stretched to a couple weeks, and in a week or so we are expecting to be able to return home to Naknek. We don't want to rush this part, as there only a clinic in Naknek. I am so grateful to the Lord for bringing us through this crisis and giving Bob back to us. The doctor has ordered a month of recuperation at home, and God has already provided Stan & Chris Swan from Oklahoma to fill in for him at KAKN. Thank you so much for all of your prayers!

A verse that the Lord gave me through friends who came to pray with me that first eventful night on Thursday, is, "Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God; believe also in me.". John 14:1. Jesus is my refuge, an ever-present help in trouble, and I praise His holy name.

Margaret

Update

Dear friends and family,

We are so excited to let you know the great news! Bob's recovery has been amazing. 

They gave him a sedation vacation in the morning yesterday to see if he was going to be able to wake up enough to follow directions. He woke up and was able to leave the ventilator and feeding tube alone so they decreased his sedation slowly throughout the day until he was off of it completely. He kept moving his fingers and feet until we finally realized that he was trying to write. After getting him a pen and some paper he started writing notes to us! The nurse said that he had never seen anyone come out of sedation and start writing like that in his 11 years of nursing! 

The first thing he wrote was "I am not sleeping, should I be?" After that he indicated that he was cold and his pain level was high. They gave him some blankets and pain medications and he got all settled. We are continuously amazed at the progress that he has made. Later, in the afternoon they came in and took the breathing tube out. He was able to breathe completely on his own. Once the tube was out he began to talk, a little at a time. By evening the feeding tube came out as well as most of the lines that he had in. He had some water and then got some applesauce.

He is in full form, begging every medical professional that comes in for either biscuits and gravy, pie or pancakes. He is cracking jokes left and right. 

We are so blessed by all of your prayers, messages, and calls. Everyone has been amazed at how much progress he has made. The nurse told us that he is no longer critical, he is stable. He was sitting on the bed and is about to get up for the first time. PRAISE GOD!! He is so good!

Thank you so much, 

Margaret and family

Update on Surgery

Dear dear friends,

Many have already heard, but for those who haven't, I would like to give you an update on Bob. 

Bob was readmitted to the hospital on Tuesday with a planned surgery on Thurs to remove a polyp.  After his first surgery, he was still in a lot of pain. Thurs afternoon surgery went well and the polyp was removed.  Following surgery  he coded.  He stopped breathing.  It was undetermined the reason for that: a pulmonary emboli, or heart attack were question marks as they have been doing further tests. I just spoke to a Dr. and she believes that his heart is OK, and that this was actually a respiratory attack, not a heart attack. He had a CT scan of the head which showed no acute bleed.  He had a chest X-ray which shows fluid in the lungs.  He was taken to ICU and put on a ventilator and is being heavily sedated and monitored closely. 

Sometime in the next 24-48 hours there will be another CT of the head to determine if there was a lack of oxygen during the code.  His vital signs are stable now, but he’s not out of the woods yet.

Esther, Ruthie and Elijah, and John have arrived, and Mary is on her way. 

Thank you for praying, dear friends.  We have confidence that Bob is in God's hands and are trusting His promises.

Margaret

From Bob

Bob here again...this time reporting from across the hall.

A funny thing happened on the way to the airport to catch our plane back to Bristol Bay. We popped in for a quick post-op appointment with my surgeon who called for the golf cart and had me driven to admitting. I had one night of freedom. We had to quickly change our flight, extend our rental car agreement, notify our family and Margaret's principal, all-the-while keeping a pillow firmly pressed against one of the six incisions.

We don't know exactly what happened but it sounded like the wrong area got tattooed during the colonoscopy and the lab said the polyp was not removed so they are going in again with open surgery at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. 

Thank you for your prayers.