Merry Christmas

Welcome everyone. We appreciate all your thoughts, prayers, love and support. I hope this blog will help keep everyone updated a little easier. We will make sure to pass on to Dad any messages you post.

Yesterday was a challenging day, but a very good one. Dad's pneumonia was getting the better of him and he was having a very difficult time breathing. They transferred him to an ICU ward in his current hospital (Utah Valley Specialty Hospital) so that they could give him more oxygen and keep a closer eye on him.

It is critical that he beats this pneumonia. Right now his body is using all its energy to fight that and the longer he has to do that, the farther away any further healing will be. Please pray for God's healing touch on his lungs.

The difficult part of the day came when the doctors informed us that because of Dad's condition the family needed to make an official decision about whether a) we would want him to be put on the ventilator again and b) if his heart failed we would want them to resuscitate him. Tough decisions because, well, who wants to make those decisions, and also because his body has already been through so much and going back on the ventilator, let alone putting his body through CPR again, would border on the torturous. The good thing was that within about an hour of being in the ICU and on oxygen, I could see the difference. He went from really struggling just to breathe and unable to open his eyes for more than a few seconds to the animated, aware Dad we've seen.

Because Dad was much more alert by this time, we were able to communicate with him so we could ask him about his wishes (instead of deciding on our own). To me it's miraculous that even in his state we have "him." Even more miraculous is that in spite of all he's been through and all he's struggling with, Dad was very emphatic that he is ready to fight. When we asked he told us that he is willing to go back on the ventilator or any other necessary measures in order to enable him in his fight.

Knowing Dad is working so hard and loving us still is the best Christmas gift we could possibly have. We pray that all those we love have a warm, wonderful holiday.

Merry Christmas!