Hi, friends, family, loved ones all,

Today was a better day for Lea as regards her blood pressure, heart rate, etc. Even her temperature came down a little from what it was last night. Dialysis was restarted last night, after unsuccessful attempts to get the machine to work on the port in her right groin that had been used previously. Apparently the area of the port collasped, or sselling caused by being bound up tighter, or for some reason unknown, the port would no longer work. The dialysis machine was hooked up to an already installed port on the left aortic artery. This is one of those ports that is so big, I’ve been calling it an Intergalatic Docking Station. It is able to handle large numbers of ports, and can handle large volumes of fluids when IVs are strung trogether through a manifold system. I told the nurse tonight that Lea would be impressed with all the “gizmos” and tubing and connections around her. She is one of those persons who can go into a near panic just looking at the wires hanging off a computer table. She’d be amazed at what she has strapped to her now! 🙂

Her temperature had reached about 102 degrees after the surgery yesterday, which is a benchmark for the Infectious Disease folks. They immediately had blood drawn to create a culture, and the results will be in Saturday afternoon. We hope that it isn’t anything, but are glad they are on top of early indications. Her body remains quite swollen, although much less than after the first surgery. They continue giving her lots of fluids, which causes the swelling, in order to dilute the effect of any systemic infection that may get started. After they are able to let her abdomen start healing, they will be able to draw off the excess fluid, and allow her to return to normal. They keep cautioning me that it will likely be quite a while before we reach that point.

She has pressure cuffs on her shins, ankle to knee, that continuously inflate and deflate to massage her legs, cirulate the blood, and hopefully prevent any blood clots from forming. The technicians did an ultrasound on her legs today, and so far there is no indication of any clot causing activity. I asked about arranging for a massage therapist, but because she has so much fluid in her body, she has tiny blisters all over her skin. Any rubbing, like in a massage, could actually rupture these blisters and open more avenues for infection. So, we’ll stay with the automated cuffs and trust that they will do the job.

Lea has also been receiving replacement blood all along, and as I look at the labels on the blood packages, I notice that they are all marked, “Donated by Volunteer.” If you are a blood donor, let me take a moment to thank you for this outstanding act of kindness. You are truly saving lives when you donate blood, and I hope and pray that you will receive a true blessing at some point that gives you the satisfaction of knowing just what a wonderful thing you have done.

Thank you for your emails and egreetings. I read these to Lea every day, and am printing them out to put in a notebook for her to read when she rejoins us. I would like to share the messages we have received with each of you, because so many are extraordinary, and will working with Lance to get them posted up to the prayer page in the near future. As I mentioned in an earlier note, I just haven’t had the desire to update the prayer page, preferring to spend time at Lea’s bedside. But, we have some wonderful notes from folks, and some delightful insights into what this lovely woman means to those who have the privilege of knowing her. I think you will be pleased to see them. We have notes from some of “our kids” as far away as Iraq and Quatar that will warm your heart. I’ll let you know when we get that site updated.

I knew I married better than she did, but am awed and humbled by your affection for the one I love so deeply. Please keep her in your prayers as we still have many tough days ahead of us.

In deep apreciation,

Larry