Saturday

It has been another roller coaster day. Things started looking pretty bad shortly after midnight. I called Ilene up to the hospital as we had some very difficult decisions to make. I explained it to a friend as having to decide between getting hit by a car or a truck.

Here is the factual information (our friend Kristi prefers the the nonfactual - which will come)
Josh has an infection in his urinary system, and infection in his blood and pneumonia (fluid on the lungs). He also has a damaged heart from the chemotherapy which is now under pressure both from the infections and the fluids in his lungs and those building up around his heart.

They are treating him aggressively to help him breath better and take the pressure off of his heart. He was laboring to breath which was causing low blood pressure so the gave him blood pressure medication to support that. When the could not get him breathing to improve he agreed to be put on a respirator. In order to better monitor his blood pressure they put in an arterial line and a central line. The central line also allows them to give him additional medications without stopping other fluids like blood and antibiotics.

The ventilator has allowed him to get some much  needed sleep. They have him sedated so that he won't get anxious from the respirator.

They have had to keep a close watch on his blood pressure as it drops off whenever changes are made. At this point he seems to be stable though still not out of the woods. He started to run a fever again this afternoon so they are looking to see what that is about.

The best thing for him now is rest. We continue to pray that his lungs will clear up and his heart will stay strong. Some good news is that his blood counts are starting to come back on their own (although slowly) which is a ray of hope for us.

Keep us in your prayers. Ilene, Sarah and I are tired form lack of sleep and the emotional roller coaster. We have been blessed and encouraged by many friends who had stopped by to visit and carry the load with us. We are blessed.

A group of men and women from our church came this morning and prayed for Josh. We claimed Gods promises and Josh knows that he is in Gods hands. The most important promise that we claim is from Psalm 139

 ¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
      Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
   Every moment was laid out
      before a single day had passed.

You see, no one can cheat Josh out of a single day of his life. He will live a full life, because every single day of his life was laid out, planned for even before he was born.

Most of all, we have seen God grabbing a hold of many of your hearts. As you have walked this journey with us, you have been changed. Josh has made such an enormous impact on all of us. Our perspective on life has changed. The is a world full of people that God loves and wants to be in a relationship with, and Josh has taught us that we can share His love even when things aren't perfect.

Keep praying.