What a Weekend!!!

Hi everyone, this is Jen, Jim's daughter-in-law. Clint asked me if I would just give you a quick up date of what has happened since Saturday. I only know basics, so once Clint has rested enough, he'll fill you in on anything I miss.

On Saturday they turned Jim's SICU room into a make shift OR seeing he wasn't stable enough to move. He had a temperature of 104 and they thought that his central lines where the cause of his infection so they were able to successfully move all of the lines to the other side of his body.

Unfortunately this didn't help much and his blood pressure seemed to still struggle. The only thing that seemed to control his blood pressure was to give him more blood. They decided that he was loosing blood somewhere, they just weren't sure where the problem was. They had wanted to do a scan, but seeing he was so unstable they weren't able to move him. The Doctor was very concerned and Jim kept mouthing, "No more medicine!" When he was asked if it was his time to go, he just rolled his eyes and said, "No I have more of a mission."

Patti asked the doctor if it would be a good idea to get the rest of his family up to see him, and he highly recommended it. The doctor wasn't sure if he was going to make it through the night and told us if there was anyone who wanted to see him, they should come now. All of his siblings were able come up to the hospital, except for his sister Mel who is on vacation in the Philippines.

The SICU staff was kind enough to let bigger groups into see Jim, usually they only allow two people in the room at a time. Everyone was able to tell him that they love him and spend a little time with him. The immediate family was able to spend most of the night with him.

Despite Jim's condition Saturday night, I am pleased to tell you that he is still Jim. All night he was still cracking jokes and making funny comments. Even though it's hard at times to read his lips, we definitely know he still has his sense of humor. When Patti came back from the restroom once, he told her to not leave him again and that she should get a cathater put in her so she wouldn't have to leave again.

By 2:00am nothing major had changed, so we tried to get some sleep. All of his children and his spouse stayed the night, along with Melody's son Jordan. We slept (if you call it sleep) in the waiting room, some of us on chairs and other's on the floor. We all wanted to be there in case something happened. Patti stayed by his side all night and when she woke up from a little 30 minute nap, Jim told her not to do that again. He hasn't been able to sleep much since they took him off the sedation meds and he doesn't want to be left alone.

At 5:30 a.m. Jim was stable enough to move to get a CT Scan where they found the source of his bleeding. If I understand right it was in his thoracic cavity. The doctors were afraid to take him into surgery in case he couldn't handle it, but decided that it was better to take the risk then not.

We're so thankful that they did! Dr. Bull cauterized 50 capillaries on his lung which took care of the bleeding. He also took a look at his lungs and is very pleased with how they are healing. He said that usually when people have gone through what Jim has, the lungs are purple and not healthy looking. Jim's were pink and looked very healthy.

As Sunday went on Jim continued to get better and better. His blood pressure is higher than it has been since his last lung surgery, they have turned down the ventilator and he is breathing more on his own, and they have taken him off two of the four heart drugs he has been on (this is very good news because the drugs he has been on are damaging after long time use). By the end of the day they hope that he will be off all four meds.

We are just so happy that this miracle has happened. We know that things still aren't over, but being at the bottom and now working up, is a much needed change. We just hope that he keeps continuing to climb and that we don't see the bottom for a long time.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for everyone who has prayed for Jim and the family. We know that it's because of you that we've all been able to handle this situation. I have to apologize that I'm not as eloquent or as informative a writer as Jim or Clint. Clint spent the night in Jim's room last night so Patti could get some sleep and I offered to give an update so Clint could get some rest. Once he wakes up, and has received more information, I'll have him update you with the latest and correct any of my mistakes.

Thank you again for everything!