Dear Friends and Family,

First.....Thank you for your prayers! It has been a tremendous battle this past week, and there is still plenty of unknown in front of us, but God is sustaining our family. Many of you have touched our hearts in such a deep way...going through this with us. Every face that walked through those hospital doors was a great comfort to me. The hugs and smiles fed and nourished my heart and that of my family.

I'm going to try and give you some nitty gritty details.

Praise #1 The CT of Mike's head showed everything was normal. (I know some of you are waiting for me to make a joke here, but I'll be respectful of Mike today. :)

Praise #2 The ultrasound of Mike's liver, to check the portal vein was unobstructed and normal.

Praise #3 The right lung didn't need to be drained because when the ultrasound of the liver was done, radiology noticed only 1 centimeter of fluid there, in contrast to the liter found in the left yesterday. So Dr. Sneed made the decision Mike didn't need to go through that painful procedure for only 1 centimeter.

Praise #4 Two SERIOUS infections were discovered in the drainage of the right side of Mike's liver. One was Klebsiella Pneumoniae, the other Enterococcus. This later germ can be very resistant to antibiotics. It is necessary that Mike receive the antibiotics for these germs intravenously. It is possible these two organisms may have brought on the Ascites (excess fluid build up in abdomen and lower extremities.) Dr. Sneed has thought about draining the excess fluid Mike has developed all over, but there may be a chance it would immediately return. So, we're going to trust God, He'll remove it. Mike is very uncomfortable with this excess fluid. His clothes do not fit him and it's painful.

Praise #5 The Hepatic Encephalopathy Mike developed over the past 6 days, may be improving slowly. Mike will appear very lucid most times during the day, but will become confused and extremely sleepy the next moment. The ammonia level in his blood was 74 on Sunday when he was admitted to St. Mary's. Normal is 30. Yesterday it was down to 14. PTL!!! This ammonia level travels quickly to the brain and causes confusion and sleepiness.

Mike also has hallucinations from time to time...which was upsetting to the family. Mike tries to pretend these moments are only him playing around and teasing, but it's important for you to know he's not putting on a show...every time. He just hates for friends and family to worry about him, and lightens things up when he snaps out of these moments. The Hepatic Encephalopathy may have developed with the oral chemo Mike had been taking that blistered his skin on the outside of his hands, arms and feet. We just can't say for sure. We're hoping we caught it soon enough as to not have cause permanent mental damage.

Mike will be in the hospital through the beginning of next week and maybe beyond. We know of no further testing to be done. It is just going to take him time to recover. He would enjoy company if you have the time to drop by. I'll warn you.....since this has happened, when he's coherent....he's VERY-VERY Chatty!!! :) He may block the door if you try and escape!

Thank you so much for your love, prayers, and concern. Please continue to lift us as we try to adapt to these new challenges. Evidently, somewhere along the way, we signed up for an Extreme, Christian, Endurance, Course! ;) We're scraping our knees quite a bit falling down, but our eyes are on our Master in front of us, leading the way.