Sweet Relief

Finally something to be excited about...we haven't had much to 'yahoo' about lately. The x-rays from yesterday came back and dad was able to say goodbye to his neck brace. Eight solid weeks in a neck brace would drive anyone crazy, so we are thankful he's able to get some relief. I've never been so excited to see a neck in my life...but it will take some time to build up those muscles since they've been idle for so long. So big excitement that he can turn his head...even though right now it feels like he's balancing a watermelon on a pencil.

But of course, just when something is removed or reduced... something else is inserted or connected. And so it goes. He is having a procedure tomorrow to have a tube inserted in his neck/chest to allow a more permanent entry for the dialysis. We won't know for awhile how permanent the dialysis will be, it may be for a month, it may be for the rest of his life. Until they figure out what the deal is with his kidneys, we won't know for sure. They've gotten five liters of fluid out of him so far, so that's reduced some of the swelling. I know, pretty gross...but hey, sometimes life is gross...

He was off of the respirator four different times today, three hours each time. Hmmm...this sounds familiar...have we done this before? Ah, yes. Weening. I remember it well...

Thank God for a mostly positive day. It seemed we had set up camp in the valley for so long, it just feels good to start climbing back up again. It feels good to see a little progress. It feels good to see spirits lifted. It feels good to laugh again. But more important than what we feel any given day is the fact that God continues to orchestrate this ordeal with perfect precision. He knows what He's doing...He knows the desires of our hearts...He knows dad right down to the number of hairs in his grey, poofy mustache.

He knows us well. He knows what we can handle. And that is such sweet relief.