“Larry, LOL (Laugh Out Loud). I know how proud she will be that you have told the whole world that she had a bowel movement. I am so-o-o-o-o glad she doesn’t know yet!!!! No matter when it is, I can just hear her laugh!!!!”

The above is from one of my sisters. See how I get into trouble? I didn’t say ANYTHING about Lea having a bowel movement! I already know she wouldn’t think that was an appropriate thing to discuss in an update, so I’m not even going there!

I found out today, however, that when a person is being fed nutrition through a tube directly into her small intestine, the intention is for the milk-shake consistency nutrition to be absorbed into her body . . . not moved through the bowel in huge quantities. In the cases where that happens, the staff would probably switch the patient back over to a diet of half nutrition fed through the tube, and the other half fed as a liquid through an IV drip via a new port installed near the left wrist.

Oh, guess what? Lea had a new IV port installed near her left wrist today. In fact, all her IV ports have been replaced with fresh units over the past couple of days, just as a precaution against infection. Her lungs are continuing to produce only small quantities of thick fluid, and she seems to be able to tolerate the every-other-dressing-changes better, reacting with shorter term temperature spikes. She is still at 40% oxygen level and 10 peeps, and 15 breaths per minute..

She was allowed to rest today, in between the dressing change and all the IV line changes, but didn’t have to work on the ventilator reduction, which seems to tire her out very quickly. I have been massaging her legs for her . . . she still has those inflatable leggings on her calves that give her a constant massage, in an effort to avert blood clots . . and the leggings leave deep indentations on her legs. So, every once in a while, we take those off, and I put lotion on her, and massage away those marks.

She continues to drain off excess liquid from her body. Her face is once again taking on those characteristically attractive features that make her such a natural beauty. I redid her French nails for her today, and brushed out her hair and put it up on top of her head with one of those springy clamps girls use. We then “watched” a home movie of a family event a few years ago. I didn’t get much reaction from her today, and she wouldn’t open her eyes for me, but she had been pretty heavily sedated because of the dressing change in her abdominal wound, but she seemed to rest better during the movie.

I also noticed that her pulse rate lowered several points, and her blood pressure dropped slightly, as I read her email, eGreetings and greeting cards to her. I is really very comforting to know that she is recognizing names of those who mean so much to her as I read them. And, I’ve been delighted to see that she is being touched when I read those from someone we don’t yet know, who say they are writing because some person who knows us had sent them the updates on Lea, and that they want Lea to know that they are praying for her.

I’ve been toying with an idea for a little project to do for her. I’d like to put together some kind of a map that would show all the places folks are reading her updates and praying for her. I know many of the locations, but I’m certain I don’t have any idea of many, since the updates are forwarded on to many more than I have on the distribution list. Would you mind taking a moment to drop me an email with your location on it? All I need is city and state/province, etc. Send it to larry.vaughn@gmail.com, and I’ll start putting together an Excel sheet or something.

By the way, some of the girls wanted to see a photo of the braid I did in Lea’s hair, so I am sending it along. Don’t laugh. I think it’s pretty good for a first try, although it might be more properly called a “desperation braid.” Excuse us a moment boys . . . this is a girl , er, nurse thing. J

Thank you, again, for your continuing prayers. Lea is still in critical condition, and we hope to be able to continue sending good news of her recovery in the weeks ahead. But, we must realize that recovery is going to still take a while, and it may be months before we know just how fully she will recover. We pray for miraculous healing, of course, and thank you for your love and support.

Warmest regards,

Larry