It's Friday, again!

Good afternoon from sunny South Georgia,

Yes, you read that right. I am at the James family farm in south Georgia for some much needed rest. More about me later. I know you are anxious for an update on daddy.

Well.....the trach came out last Thursday with no problems and daddy removed the feeding tube all by himself in the wee early hours of Friday morning. Yes, I was there but it was one of the few times I slept. And he woke me when he was done. The rectal tube and catheter were removed a few days later. He and I had good nights and some really not good nights. One early morning at 4:30am he kept calling out and when I would answer he was already back to sleep. This went on for a short while. I finally went over to him and he was drenched in sweat and very disoriented. His blood sugar was 24. He was given sugar water and it went back to normal. The hallucinations have come and gone and come again. Monday it was decided that I should not stay at night with him anymore, that he was capable of doing a few things for himself and didn't need us there at night. So after 24 hours of being there I went home, crawled in bed at 5pm and slept until the next morning.

We were also told on Monday that by the end of the week he would be ready to go to short term rehab, they had done their job. We thought Specialty Hospital would do all his rehab but they were only there for getting him off the trach. Barbara and I toured one short term rehab facility Monday and Cindy joined us Tuesday to look at 2 others. We decided the best fit for daddy is LifeCare Center.

That brings us to Tuesday night / Wednesday morning.....Somewhere around 3am his blood sugar went low and his heart rate went high. Sugar water brought the blood sugar back to normal. Not sure what they did for the heart rate. Again at 6am the heart rate went up. While the supervisor was tending to that they told him of the happenings just 3 hours earlier. They checked his blood sugar and again it was low. After more sugar water and calls to his doctors, he was sent to the ER. Cindy and I got the call about 8am and joined the family by 9. Long story short, he needed to be admitted for observation. He was transferred back to St Lukes and sent directly to ICU. We were so very glad to have him back in familiar, trusted surroundings. Since then they have regulated his blood sugar, fed him very well, transferred him to a regular room, given him a shower, added meds for elevated heart rate, and transferred him to the cardiac monitoring floor. He is doing MUCH better. No more hallucinations! He is also in much better spirits but is still not sleeping. Oh, almost forgot, he does have some pneumonia again, this time in the right lung. Ugh!

Cindy, Barbara and Julie have taken over staying nights with him and I left town yesterday and came to the farm. Reports from St Lukes are that he is having a great day, eating alot, and getting restless. A rep from LifeCare came to see him today and they have a bed for him in short term rehab. We are just waiting now for the docs to give the OK.

Wayne is already on his way to join me here at the farm as I type this. We have not seen each other in almost a month. Looking forward to our time together very much. I'm not sure if I will head back to Jacksonville Sunday or Monday. I would like to be here for my nephew Seth's piano recital Sunday night. Will just have to see how things are going with daddy.

Please pray for:

- Daddy's mind to remain clear

- the pneumonia to respond to the antibiotics and not get any worse

- his appetite to continue to increase

- for the nurses, techs and docs caring for him

- strength for Barbara, Cindy and Julie as they care for him in my absence

- the time Wayne and I will have together

- a bed at LifeCare to still be available when he is ready to leave

I am very tired and drained from the last 3 weeks of rehab. I am trusting God for whatever happens next and counting it all as joy. Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers. Again, I miss you all, very much!

Well, the clouds are darkening and the wind is picking up. Time for me to go stretch out and let the storm rock me to sleep.

Resting in my Father's arms.