Wednesday

Dad was in surgery for about an hour this afternoon to have the dialysis cathader inserted into his jugular. In my opinion, anything that involves the word 'jugular' seems major, but it was actually a pretty minor surgery. So he had his first dialysis with the new cathader and everything went smoothly. At this point, they will be doing dialysis about every other day indefinitely until his kidneys show an improvement in function. We are praying that his kidneys would eventually be healed so he would not have to go through dialysis the rest of his life. We'll see what God has in mind...

They haven't been able to sit him up in his wheelchair for about five days due to his dialysis drama so hopefully tomorrow he'll get up for a bit. It is vital that his body be in a sitting position daily so that his lungs continue to heal. The longer he lays in bed, the more likely it is that he'll get pneumonia again, so the goal tomorrow is to get him in the chair. It's a much more complicated process than you would expect...involving nurses and slings and hoists. But getting in the chair means getting the lungs stronger which means getting off the respirator which means getting back to the spinal cord unit. Not to mention eating, drinking, and talking! Right now we just gotta get out of that ICU.

I was blessed to be able to hang out with him alone as he was waiting to be transported to surgery. He was actually able to whisper audibly due to some random air pockets so we had an actual conversation... no mouthing required. I loved it...just talking about life, just being a daughter and a dad, talking like we would before his accident. Well, except for some talk of jugulars, dialysis cathedars, and renal failure...same old, same old. It was sweet and an hour with my Pops that I won't soon forget.

A verse that dad said he has been clinging to is Romans 8:28. "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

In all things God is working for the good, dad's accident included. Amazing how many things there are to be thankful for. Relationships being deepened, perspectives being changed, faith being refined. Praise God for how He's changing all of us.