Dad's fever hovered between 102.4 and102.7 throughout the day. The doctors also confirmed that he does have pneumonia. These are obvious setbacks for him, but again they tell us this is to be expected with his injury. But it is becoming more and more vital that he have his second spinal surgery because without it he can't start rehab. The more his body lays in the same position the worse off it is for his recovery. They really need to get him moving which will be helping his whole body get better, including lungs. His oxygen is still not great, so we really need to keep praying for the fever to go down and that the pneumonia does not worsen. There is a doctor (we can't remember his name) but he is the head honcho there and seems to be known as "the brilliant one". We call him the "super smart doctor guy". He will be assessing dad tomorrow morning at 6:30am, and will be making the call as to whether or not he will be in surgery at 7:45am. Again, time is vital so our huge prayer is that his fever goes down tonight. We talked with the surgeons this afternoon (they are awesome) and they said they are really not worried about the actual procedure, they are worried about the anesthesia and if his body is healthy enough to take it. Although it will be risky and incredibly scary, he has to have it as soon as possible. We pray it happens tomorrow. He was again very heavily sedated all day, very peaceful. It has become mom's routine to sing to him every once and awhile, and the song is always "I Love You Lord". She said tonight that it's a win-win situation because it either soothes the heck out of him or it will annoy him so much that he'll soon jump right out of bed and start walking. I'll take either option.

There have been some sweet moments over that past few days and I want to include them because if I don't I'm afraid they'll be forgotten. And I want dad to be able to read this someday. If you know dad, you know that two of his very favorite things are his two grandkids, Cole and Paige. They are four and two, and they love Bapa like crazy. The other night as we watched the news footage of dad being airlifted to the hospital, Cole sat up stunned and said "Wait. Bapa got to ride in a helicopter....and he did NOT take me or Paige?" The nerve!

Another sweet moment came the other night as I typed the first post. Cole ran in and jumped on my lap. He asked what I was doing and I told him I was writing a letter to all the people that love Bapa. I asked him what I should write and he said, "Tell them that Bapa is sooooooo nice, but he is soooooo sick and he is sleepin' in the hospital." I asked if there was anything else and he said, "Tell them to pray for Bapa." Enough said.

Paige mostly just says, "Bapa's got owies." Mike and Becky did say that the night dad had his heart failure, Paige was up in the middle of the night upset. Not unusual for Paige, but they said for the first time ever she was calling for Bapa, not mom or dad. Even though she is somewhat oblivious, she knows her Bapa is not well. We agreed it's theraputic to be around the grandkids since they remind us of what a great Bapa he really is.

Let it be another quiet night. Pray he is healthy tomorrow morning. Pray for strength for mom. We have unquestionable peace that God is in control. This trauma will be used to His glory. No doubt in our minds.