Saturday evening

[Tami Schlabach]

Every time I think we'll have to deal with the stress of waiting, it's turned worse instead. When Mom talked to the nurse today, she still had a positive report on Dad's numbers, with the exception of a slight rise in white blood cells, so they want to check for infection. 

But then the doctor called. They took an x-ray of the chest and Dad has air around his heart, meaning the lung is leaking, which is not good, He asked whether we'd discussed end-of-life issues so Mom read to him from Dad's living will, so if Dad's heart stops, they won't be reviving him. Otherwise, it sounds like they are just continuing to monitor him to see what happens. Mom asked if this is reversible and he hesitated but said yes. 

My friends, the Anums are here tonight. Dienne brought the girls down from Chicago to stay with me this week. With all camps closed, she and her husband are both working and their 11, 13 and 18-year-old are pretty much on their own all summer. The two "littles" are staying here for the week if we continue with Plan A, and her parents will step in as Plan B. I think it helped to have someone here when I got the latest call from Mom, at least, it didn't hit me yet like it did when he went on the vent. I asked how she was and she said she'd had a couple of hours to come to terms with Dad's new condition and she thinks she'll be OK. 

There's still nothing much for our friends and family to do except pray. Personally, I really don't feel like talking about it since there's nothing I can do about it. 

Thanks for all the prayers and kind thoughts and words. --Tami