Wow! Can we feel the power of your prayer at work out here! Lea continues to struggle every day, but making little baby steps of progress steadily. She suddenly opened her eyes today while I was brushing her hair, and nearly made me jump out of my skin! She didn’t see anything, since she can’t focus with all the sedatives she is being given, but it was nice to see her pretty blue eyes again, if only for a moment.

The severe swelling of the soft tissue on the inside of the eyelids has receded now, so that her eyes are pretty normal, except for the bloodshot areas around the pupils. The nurses were able to take another 2 pounds of liquid off her body today, helping reduce the swelling somewhat. If Lea is able to tolerate the surgeries, and nothing goes very wrong, she should be rid of a lot of the extra weight added by the fluids in a couple of weeks.

With the reduction of fluids in the tissues of her hands, arms and legs, the tiny blisters are largely receding away, too. Lea’s nurse today, Sue, said that it would now be okay for me to put lotion on her, and she showed me how to exercise Lea’s arms and legs, so her joints don’t atrophy. Lea still resists being moved at all, because she knows that movement can hurt her. I just gently persist, and calm her so I can help her stay agile.

She is being weaned back off support provided by the ventilator, to help her lungs take over more of the work. She was initially being supported at a level of 22, is now down to 8, and the target is 5. When we reach that level she can be safely given the tracheotomy and will be able to breathe on her own, presuming the fluid level is also down sufficiently.

She still has fairly swollen feet and legs, but they don’t get much movement at all, so she is still receiving support by way of a massaging motion produced by air operated cuffs placed on her shins. They work a lot like pinching a straw and running your fingers to the top to force the liquid out. The cuffs help circulate the blood, avoiding pooling, which could cause blood clots. I will now begin exercising her legs to help her out.

She is scheduled for surgery again tomorrow, Wednesday, early afternoon. Hopefully it will go as uneventfully as the last one. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she were able to heal ahead of schedule!? We have prayed for a miraculous recovery, and I believe we are seeing it happen. Praise God! I hardly dare bursting out with the joy I feel, because I know that we can see downturns at any time, just as we did with our friend Joe.

Which brings me to the reason for the “wow” at the beginning of this note. Your prayers for Joe have worked wonders! The bleeding in his abdomen has disappeared! The surgery (scope) into the bladder to find a cause for bleeding there turned up nothing but dried blood! In fact, after I sent out that prayer request, he made a 180 degree turn, and went from critical to stable! He has now been stable for two days, and donated funds have been received to transport him to Indianapolis by air ambulance later this week!

We are very happy for Joe and his family, because they will now be able to put him into St. Vincent’s Hospital in Indianapolis, which is rated the #1 cardiac hospital in the country. The hospital is not far from home and family, so he will be getting a lot of support from loved ones once he gets settled in. The transfer will take about five hours, with the flight being approximately three hours, and a complete medical team will be on board looking after him the entire time.

Thank you, again, from both families, for your continued prayers on our behalf. Lea is healing well, Joe is healing well, and Pat and I are doing okay, too. I completed my stress test last Friday with no complications. Dr. Horowitz okayed me for cardiac rehabilitation, and now some of the nurses and other staff members are working to get me access to the employee exercise gym so I don’t have to pay out of pocket rehabilitation fees. Everyone here has really gone out of their way to help out, and I am very appreciative.

My sincere regards for each of you and the power you possess when you selflessly ask God to help someone else!Humbly yours,

Larry