My sweet husband went to be with the Lord on Sunday, May 22nd. Though my heart is broken, he is once again whole and restored, and without pain.  For that, I can rejoice and be thankful.

Doing a quick post from my phone, which I don’t find to be the most user friendly way of posting, so please overlook lack of proper writing. I am sitting at Greg’s bedside. He had gotten moved down the hall to a step down from the LTACH ICU wing he started on, and things were moving along. He even got his trach out. He still wasn’t doing well with therapy. He continues to complain of lower back pain. But, he was starting to feed himself some and was putting on his glasses to see better. All little things, but pretty big to us considering where he was a month ago.

Wednesday, we got a call we weren’t expecting. He suddenly went into respiratory distress, and since the trach was gone, he had to be sedated and intubated again, to go back on vent. That was in the morning. About 6:10 that same evening, things got worse, he could not clear airway, and actually coded. The response team was on it quickly tho, because a respiratory therapist actually was checking on him about the time it was getting serious. He was down less than two minutes when they got his heart beating again. The cause was two large mucous plugs blocking his airway, that he had been unable to clear on his own. If they had not intubated him again that morning, it is likely they would not have been able to get them suctioned out in time to save him, or save him without major damage due to lack of oxygen. Scans and bronchoscopy have been done and the pulmonologist is happy with results and doesn’t think he will have to put trach back in. Today, they are in the process of weaning him off vent and sedation, and hoping to extubate tomorrow.

The very best news from the last two days is that his kidney function has improved so much that the nephrologist thinks he will not need dialysis anymore! That is a huge blessing. A big Praise God for answered prayer.

I have people tell me that they don’t know how I have been so strong in this. The strength is not my own. I am clinging to and standing on the promises of God for dear life. In our weakness, He is strong. That doesn’t mean I understand why all this has happened, I just have to trust that God is big enough, and faithful enough to get me through. And, in my darkest moments, he has yet to let me down.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5.

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will act. Psalm 37:5.

I know updates here have been seriously lacking, and I’m sure some of you are wondering what in the world has been happening. Well, quite a lot. Greg is now awake and alert. Yay! However, there are some memory issues that we hope will clear up in time.  For instance, he thinks he was in a wreck, and that is why he is in the hospital. There seems to be a little disconnection from reality. It’s hard to explain, but he isn’t asking things like when will he get out, what is next, etc., or how things are at home, or his shop, and that is not like him, at all. He does know all of us, and knows he loves us. He answers questions appropriately.  His white blood count went all the way down into the 16,000’s, and we were elated, but as of yesterday…back up to 36,400. New cultures were done and the yeast infection is showing up in his urine again. So, now he is back on antifungals meds, and they also put him on an antibiotic called cubicin. I really worry about what this will do to his kidneys. They were just starting to show some real improvement in the labs ran on them, and the nephrologist is very encouraged about possible/probable return of function with them.  I have been praying so hard for those kidneys to come back. This up and down, good news/bad news routine is really tough emotionally. Now, that he is awake, it is even harder to have this four hour separation. I want to be there encouraging him and supporting him, every day. But, in the midst of all of this, my already short-handed department at work is going to be even more short, as my assistant director is retiring this month. I can do a lot of my own work from Lubbock…but, until I can get another officer in place, I will have to be physically present in the office to cover the criminal caseload she has been carrying, etc.  So, an already challenging situation just became a bit more challenging, but, this too shall pass. I might just have to pray even harder some days. 🙂  At least I have been blessed to have been able to be there as much as I have. I work for two very family oriented and understanding district judges, and they have been so supportive. I am so appreciative to have that.  I am anxiously waiting for that day when we just get on that good roll forward and stay on it.  Please pray for his kidneys to not take a big setback with the return of antifungals and antibiotics, and for the eradication of these infections, once and for all! There is also a lower back pain issue that caused some interference with his physical therapy this week. An MRI was ordered, and hopefully we will have the full report from that tomorrow.  He needs to be able to work hard to get stronger, and get up out of that bed, so we can get him home! I think if he were “thinking normally”, like his real self,  he would push through the pain more, to try to reach that goal. That’s another area where there seems to be a bit of a disconnect, for lack of a better word.  I think this post is a little disconnected and rambling, as well…so I will just finish it off with please keep praying for us! And thank you for doing so!