Tough Week

This past week has been one of many prayers. I'd like to share some of them with you. I hope those involved don't mind my sharing in hopes of even more prayers going up. **************************************************************** Gary Anthony's foster dad, Gary, had a stroke on his right side. These folks are like grandparents to Anthony and we give them full credit for Anthony's awesome care until he got to us. Please keep Gary and his wife Betty in your prayers. The following is her email: Hi, It is Sunday night and I am ready for bed. It has a tough last four days. Gary is in the Sanford Hospital because Wednesday night he had a stroke on his right side. 31 years ago it was on his left side. Thursday he didn't look good at all but today he is so much better. He has some feeling on his right side and can move some. His speech is getting better and he is in physical therapy a couple times a day and soon will be moving out of the stroke unit up to the fourth floor where physical therapy is done for 3 hours a day. The doctors have a lot of hope that he will come out of this pretty well. It will take six to 12 months but he is willing to try anything. Please keep him in your prayers. More later. Betty ******************************************************* Eloise Eloise is the youngest child of my cousin Megan and her husband Bill. Please lift their family up in your prayers. The following is Megan's note: Monday, September 21st, Eloise went in for a routine one month checkup. Her pediatrician, Dr. Maxwell, heard something he did not like while listening to her heart and told us we were to go to Childrens Mercy Cardiology for further evaluation. His nurse immediately called CM to set up an appointment, and was told the soonest they could get her in was Tuesday, September 29th. Dr. Maxwell's office did not want her to wait that long, and reassured us that she would be seen within the week. We were to go home and they would call us when the appointment was set up. We later got the call that September 29th at 10:15am was indeed the soonest she could be seen. After waiting 8 days, her appointment finally arrived. Mom came into town to watch the two older kids for us, and for that I am so very thankful. At 9:00 this morning, we called Dad and put him on speaker phone while he prayed for Eloise, her parents, and her doctors. At the appointment, they checked her vitals and gave her a vanilla flavored binky to keep her calm. She then was taken to have an EKG run. She had to lay still for 10 second intervals in order to get a reading. This was accomplished by giving her a vanilla flavored binky dipped in sugar water, or what I affectionately refer to as "The Magic Binky."Once the EKG was accomplished, we went in for an echocardiogram. Eloise was very good for this. The technician put the wires on her, then swaddled her up...just the way Eloise likes it. With lullaby's playing in the background, we made it through *most* of the echo without fuss.With speed I have never before seen in a doctor, we had our verdict. Eloise has been diagnosed with an Atrial Septal Defect, or hole in her heart which is 8mm in diameter. The doctor said, that while this hole was larger than most, it was not necessarily cause for concern at this point. She will be monitored, and if the hole begins to shrink or go away on it's own, then the situation has resolved itself and we're done. If the hole remains the same, or gets larger, then we are looking at heart surgery to correct it. ************************************************************* Esther Early Sunday morning a very dear lady passed away. She was a wonderful woman who always seemed to have a smile on her face. She'll be missed by lots of us, but especially her husband and family. Please remember her family in your prayers. The following is part of her obituary: Esther Kruse, 55, went home to be with Jesus on Sunday, September 27, 2009, at Brookview Manor in Brookings after battling brain cancer for 11 months. She accepted the Lord as her personal savior as a child. On August 18, 1973, Esther was united in marriage with Ronald Kruse. They were faithfully married for 36 years. Esther was a member of Brookings Wesleyan Church since 1991, and enjoyed attending and hosting Bible studies with her husband. She also enjoyed her family and friends. Her grandchildren were her pride and joy. She enthusiastically loved them by visiting them, taking pictures of them, and cuddling them. Esther also was a wonderful cook and specialized in lattice topped cherry pies with homemade crusts. Even to the end, she enjoyed Camaro rides with Ron. *************************************************** Dawn Dawn has been one of my dear friends since we were little. We went to school together, ran Chinese firedrills together (Dawn, if you're reading this, don't worry, I won't tell THE story), went to church together, graduated together and attended SDSU. Her on a full ride scholarship and me on my good looks :) . Dawn's dad passed away after a battle with colon cancer in 1999 at the age of 56. Dawn's only brother, Deron, has lived many years with cystic fibrosis and in July underwent a double lung transplant due to failing health. Dawn's mom, Sharon, was diagnosed with a very agressive and unusual nasal cancer in November of 2008 and has been doing everything medically and prayerfully to battle it. I ask not only for prayer for Deron and his family (he has a wife and twin 3 year old boys) and for Sharon, but also for Dawn as she is shouldering so much right now. The following are excerpts from Deron's blog: Saturday, September 26, 2009 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,"therefore I will hope in Him." The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. Lamentations 3:21-25 . Deron finished the continous dialysis yesterday afternoon. They took off about 20 lbs of fluid total over the 3 days. His skin looks much better because the fluid is gone, but he still has many skin sores (and sore areas) that need to heal.Deron was very restless today. He seemed as though he could not get comfortable. He wanted me to help him "get out of this place." I mentioned before that he has not really sat up in a chair or at the edge of the bed for about 2 weeks. They have been working on him tolerating sitting upright in bed. When he does sit up straighter in bed, I can see all his postural muscles working (quivering and shaking) to hold himself up even when he has his back resting against the bed. The muscles that we usually take for granted to hold us up have become extremely weak again.They also found out that Deron has an infection in his bloodstream (or sepsis) caused by a different bacteria that he hasn't had during this hospitalization. They did find that this bacteria is sensitive to an antibiotic that he hasn't been on for a while, which is good because many of his bacteria are multi-drug resistant. So that brings the total number of antibiotics that he is on to seven (7). . The doctor had planned to move Deron this afternooon to the "intermediate care unit" or the step-down unit where he was last week, but when he started to have some confusion, they decided to keep him in the ICU at least overnight. . So where is our hope? Our hope is in the LORD. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you. Psalm 33:18-22 (ESV)Thanks to the Arnold Prayer Team for continuing intercede to God for us. Posted by Jan Arnold Monday, September 21, 2009 Today was another busy day for Deron. He had dialysis, a bronchoscopy, a CT scan, and an ultrasound of his arms (to assess the blood clots). He also got 2 units of blood because his hemoglobin had dropped to 7.2He still has a lot going on with all of his organ systems, and he still is in a very serious condition. The bronchoscopy shows that the lung connections remain relatively unchanged. The right lung connection looks okay, but there is still black (dying) tissue over the left lung connection. The doctors feel that one of the reasons that he is having difficulty healing is that he didn't really have much nutrition this past week. They have started the tube feedings again, and he is tolerating that okay, but he still hasn't wanted to eat anything.He continues to be very sleepy possibly due to some of the pain meds. But also, the doctors just informed me today that his white blood cells are 800 (extremely low) and that he is in metabolic acidosis (a very serious condition). I know the doctors are doing everything they can to help Deron heal. He just has a lot going on in every organ system, and everything is so inter-related. . We know that God is in ultimate control of Deron's healing and recovery, and it will happen according to God's plan and in His timing.Psalm 31:15a "My times are in Your hands."Jeremiah 17: 12-14 "But we worship at your throne — eternal, high, and glorious! O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who turn away from you will be disgraced. They will be buried in the dust of the earth, for they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living water. O Lord, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone!" Posted by Jan Arnold . Thursday, September 24, 2009 Mom's results show she has a tumor growing in the back of her head. It is fast growing. They can't do anything about it. Posted by Dawn Mason