Evening Requests (P.S. 15 Minutes Later)

Just spoke with MA again and she has two concerns and prayer requests.

First, TJ says that he can't take being intubated much longer, so he/we again ask for prayer that he is successfully extubated today. For better or for worse my mom has noticed that the Thai medical staff are more "stingy" with pain meds than the U.S. tends to be.

Again, imagine having a garden hose going down your airway for a week. Every time you move you feel a gag reflex starting to kick in and have to hold it back as best you can. And it is constantly up against your throat.

While this is MA's analogy I've seen what it looks like and have no doubt this is accurate. It was obvious that TJ was having trouble taking it a year ago when he was so far out of it it took over a week for him to completely recover from his coma. It really is bad.

Second, the hospital staffing appears to be under some duress. We don't know why, MA is just noticing that for the first time the attentiveness to TJ is dropping, dropping to an uncomfortable point (if not life-threatening etc., less than we would expect in the U.S.). So you can pray that whatever is causing this (perhaps something as simple as the hospital gaining more patients than they expected in a 24 hour period) that this is resolved.

And, honestly, the staffing thing applies to everyone in the hospital. If TJ (in serious, if not critical condition) does not have adequate nursing staffing, then it is a good bet that very few -- if anybody -- else in the hospital does.

Again, thank you all for your prayers! We are seeing God listen to them in a more tangible way than the vast majority of people do in a lifetime. Please, keep it up!

P.S. To clarify a previous post, it is not clear whether TJ has MRSA or not. This is another major area of concern; we need an answer to prayer as to finding out what the underlying infection is. A sky-high WBC of 28k means there was a bacterial infection (viruses won't shoot up the WBC). And we need to know what it was/is.

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Renewed Request

TJ again is personally asking for prayer that he is extubated today. Being extuated, he wrote down, "is challenge." Which is quite the understatement.

Specific Prayer Request from TJ

It is Thursday evening Bangkok time. It has been a very decent day. TJ was up in a chair for a total of 5 hours. They have started to wean off the vent- PEEP 14 and O2 at 40%. The Infectious Disease specialist stopped by and said that he does not think we are dealing with MRSA since nothing has shown up on cultures. I could not really get an answer on what he thinks caused all this, but he said that they will discontinue one antibiotic but keep the ones that were used last year going.

Tonight I was having some trouble communicating with the nurse about his blood sugars- they have been running higher than we would like, but she was not really understanding what I was trying to say so TJ and I said not to do anything and asked to talk with the endocrinologist tomorrow. What we do NOT want to happen is that she over compensates and he goes too low overnight. Please pray that communication does not become a problem with this issue.

TJ's specific request is that he can be extubated tomorrow. Suctioning is really an ordeal- his whole body is wracked with coughing when they put the suction catheter down. It also is very uncomfortable to have the tube in at all. It is tied on with twill tape, rather than a more stable adhesive pad that is used in the states so the tube gets pulled and wiggled with every move.

TJ also wanted me to thank all of you for your persistent prayer and support. Amen to that!

Chip had some stomach issues today-seems to be better now. At the conference TJ and Chip were at last week there were several viral things going around. A family from a country north of here has a baby hospitalized in the room right above us and their 3 year old is sick, too. They are exhausted and if everyone is better will be flying "home" at midnight tomorrow so please keep them before the throne as well.

Sodexo runs the food service at Bethel University and the nutrition department and cafeteria here. I told Chip I will never accuse him of exaggerating about the food choices and tastes again. There is an Au Bon Pain and a Smoothie Bar for back up. What it lacks in taste is made up for by the sweet lady who dishes up the food.

I started a list today of all the ways God has shown His faithfulness and goodness in this situation. It is difficult to be so far away from home while TJ is so ill, and some times the communication can be frustrating-especially for those of us with "time zone challenge." (TJ says he does not get jet lag- he is just time zone challenged). It is amazing to see all the ways God works even in tough situations. GIGATT!

Mary Ann