Update on Grace, Sunday, Aug 8

Good Sabbath to all. Latest update 10:15 PM.

8:58 AM - Just a quick note before Jan and I head off to church. I'll post more here later after we go visit Grace.

Jan just called the ICU and they said she rested well last night and they will take the breathing tube out in about an hour, which would be around 10AM this morning. She's not awake yet.

We will go see her after church, about noon.

More later. Stay tuned.

1:45 PM - We did go visit Grace after church. HER BREATHING TUBE IS OUT! Thank You, Lord, and thank you, hospital professionals!

She is still VERY groggy, as in 85% to totally asleep all the time, but she is starting to come out of the sedation.

While we were there, the physical therapist came in, a very nice man who is deaf, but fully functional (he has three sons, the oldest of whom just turned 13). He did very mild exercises with Grace's arms, 10 arm lifts with each arm, making fists, etc.

Wonderfully determined Grace, even as mostly-asleep as she still was, still was a trooper with the exercises, actually doing them on her own, and keeping on doing them after the required number. The therapist was very pleased and surprised that she was helping.

After the therapist left, Jan and I talked with (to) her a little bit, and she was able to smile through her grogginess, so she was definitely aware we were there, although she might not remember it later.

The exercises were enough for her, and soon after that, she fell back asleep.

Then a nurse came in and told us that Dr. Cruz, the admitting doctor, would be in later that day to see her, but there was no estimate as to when he'd arrive. The nurse also indicated (somewhat vaguely) that Grace would be in the ICU another day or two.

After a bit more time to be sure Grace was sleeping soundly, we left.

CONTACTING GRACE - Many of you have indicated that you'd like to call or talk to Grace, or send her a card or other well-wishes, and I understand this. Please sit tight for another day or two. If you'd like to write Grace an email, please send it to me at dpm39560@gmail.com and I'll print it out and take it to her and read it to her. But she probably won't be awake enough to hear it at least until tomorrow (Monday) some time. So no real rush on the email.

Oh, if you DO send her an email, please if you can write it in a larger font, maybe 16 points, because after I read it to her, I will leave the printout with her, and with a larger font, she'll be able to re-read it without having to fumble for her glasses.

Once they move her into a regular (non-ICU) room, I'll post another update here with Grace's mailing address at the hospital and the phone number in her room, so you'll know how to get in touch with her directly. As I'm sure you understand, that's not possible while she's still in the ICU.

I'll post another update to this entry just below here today, after our next visit. You should be able to tell if there's an update by looking at the time in the first line of this posting. If there is, you should be able to find the new entry easily by scanning down and looking for the matching time in BOLD PRINT.

We plan to go back for the 4PM visiting hours; so I'll probably post an update after that.

Thank you all for your continuing prayers.

10:02 PM - We visited Grace at 4PM, and she was totally asleep. While we were there, the nurse came in and aspirated saliva from the back of her throat with a suction tube, and Grace didn't stir a muscle. Not even a gag reflex.

We came back at 8PM, and she was still sleeping. However, this time, she was stirring some. The nurse came in and called her name loudly, and Grace opened her eyes, kinda. When the nurse asked her if she wanted anything, she didn't answer. Because she has been so restless, they had loose restraints on her wrists again, to keep her from pulling the tubes loose. We stayed a while, sang a couple of hymns, prayed with her, then left.

We're hoping she'll be more awake and alert tomorrow.