Oct 17 Update

Good morning:

Thank you for checking in on our beloved Dennis.

As soon as I walked in to the room I could see the ‘bladder irrigation’ had been discontinued and there was no blood in his urine. That is another one of the prayers answered, thank you .

Dennis did not wake too much yesterday while I was with him. That is in part because when he does wake, he becomes agitated and his blood pressure rises. The new protocol is to add pain medication to his list of meds and drop back on the sedation. He did move more again yesterday and when the respirologist came in to test his lungs and make him cough, he did. He was obviously uncomfortable but this too is a good sign.

This process of waking him might take another day or two. He is climbing to the surface and will make his way to full consciousness soon. He will remain in the Intensive Care Unit, for just that reason. He will for a time need the intensive care. The goal once he is awake, is to keep the tubes and move him around. Get him into different positions and allow for him to adjust. That will help with the water retention.

The good news is his lungs remain in better shape and the respirator is now at 35%! Gosh, but that is great news.

Once I get caught up with his team, I start in on our chat. I tell him where he is and what day it is and how long he has been there. All the things you say to a loved one at the beginning of a visit when they might wonder, ‘what in the world is this?’ I give him the messages from our children. Talk about them for a while. I next remind him of your prayer. While reminding him of the prayers for him and I thank him for fighting and hanging in with us. Then I quiet myself and ask ‘what might he need to hear today’?

I could see him way back in the day, in the ‘Band’. Not that I knew him then but the stories were legendary. Many of the songs he loved in those days were the Gaither choruses and songs of Andrea Crouch. And so, I started in. I stood at his head and reminded him of how he would play and the girls would sing about the power of His blood. I said, “remember the sound of their voices singing… ‘the blood, that gives me strength from day to day, will never lose it’s power!’. ”

I reminded him that he sang about the power of the blood, that he taught about it. I reminded him of the Gaither songs, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ….there is something about that name”. I reminded him of how his fingers would fly over the keyboard in declaration of the goodness of God while singing out the Andrea Crouch songs.

And how, over these last many years he has taught about the power of the blood in regards to prayer and intercession.

We know who Dennis is and we know who HE is. Thank you for standing with all the promises of our great Jehovah. I bless you all this Sunday and every day.

All love

Katie and family.