SHE’S IN THERE!! Praise God, Lea is beginning to rise to the surface! She opened her eyes several times today, mouthed silent words, even turned her eyes to the side when requested, and smiled when Link mentioned her granddaughters’ names! That spirit I love so much is still in that body fighting to heal and return to us!

I can’t tell you how relieved I am to see the interactions we get, although they are very short, one or two minutes, maximum, and then she drops off to sleep again. And, they don’t happen often, yet, as they take a lot of energy, and she is very weak. But, oh, the glory when she wakes up! We are so excited! The nurses are so delighted; they are coming by her room to see if she is awake, when they have time.

She had a very strong day today. She was able to breathe all day long with only assistance from the ventilator, rather than the ventilator taking the lead. She is getting stronger, taking bigger breaths, which allows her to take fewer breaths per minute and still get the oxygen she needs. Glory to God! I have been so amazed to observe her battle. She is so strong!

Her blood pressure still varies from time to time, but a lot of that is because of all the things going on in her body right now. She’s taken off about 15 pounds of water in the last three days. She is off the diuretic and eliminating the fluid herself at a good pace right now. She has eliminated so much fluid that she is being given a little potassium to offset what she has eliminated.

So, it’s all about balances now. How much of this, how much of that. Those limits will be continually probed until she is able to come off all her meds, and all her support, until she returns to normal. It will take a while, but it looks like we may be headed in the right direction.

She goes to the operating room tomorrow morning at 11:30 EDT for what could be her final surgery. If things look okay tomorrow when she goes to the OR the surgeons could close up her wound, and pending any setbacks from infection, she could be done with surgery. Other options could be that they will decide she isn’t ready to close up entirely, they may just rinse her out real well, and wait until more healing has taken place.

As for me, I’m praying for miraculous healing. I’m ready for her to be safely closed up. I just have a feeling that it would be a major turning point in her recovery. We again thank you for your notes of encouragement and love, and will join you in prayer tomorrow as she enters the operating room. The surgery is expected to take four hours or so.

Thank you, again, for your continued support and love. I hope your holiday was as cheerful as ours.

Larry