The past couple of days have been very difficult.  My heart breaks for how sick Josh has been.  He has been spiking fevers and that’s with Tylenol almost around the clock (every four hours!)  With his fevers, come chills and discomfort.  Josh tells me the Lord is teaching him perseverance through this trial and that’s so encouraging for me to hear; yet, it still hurts to watch him go through the pain.  They have had him on a general spectrum on antibiotics for the past four days. The antibiotics do not seem to have improved the infection.  Although they don’t know the details at this point, they have identified his infection as a bacterial infection inside the right side of his throat.  They did a CT scan of his throat today and saw not much of a change–it didn’t get better or worst.  Josh says he feels about the same, only slightly worst.  He seems more congested and having a difficult time breathing.  The next thing they are planning if his infection continues not to improve is to do what they call a “straight forward” surgery to not only attempt to drain out some of the fluid in there; but also to take a sample and try to identify the type of infection to better target it with specific antibiotics.

They moved him upstairs a level up to the BMT unit where he had his transplant so the team can keep a better eye on him.  The funny thing is they even moved him into the same room he had with the beautiful view of Portland by the sky tram.  God shows his goodness to us in many ways like this; nonetheless, the raw truth is that humanly it still can be a challenge to find joy and peace in time of trouble.  However, we have experienced a kind of peace above understanding through the Holy Spirit who lives in us, because of the amazing work of salvation through Jesus in our lives.  We are ever thankful for Christ taking our place on the cross that we may not be punished for our sins, but freely have eternal life.  Please pray for this peace and joy to fill our souls and even overflow to others.  In the morning Josh’s medical team will see how he’s doing and decide weather or not they will do the surgery tomorrow.  He got some sleep last night and we hope he gets good sleep again tonight.  Your prayers for tomorrow are much appreciated!!

At the home front, Katelynn has done an amazing job with the boys and has kept very busy!! I have been gone a lot more… I try to be there at the hospital when the doctors come and discuss updates and treatments options.  This morning at ten they asked Josh to stop drinking or eating because he may end up having surgery.  It was not until four in the evening when they informed us that he wouldn’t be having surgery today.  We understand things take longer at hospitals, but its especially hard for Nathan to understand why mom needs to be gone practically all day.  We are thankful Nathan does really well with Katelynn–he LOVES her! He just naturally misses me.  It was also nice to have our friends from San Diego come into town to visit.  They took Noah out for half the day again. Thank you Miho, Kelly, Doug and Linda! We even had a meal delivered to our house this evening!  Thank you Stephanie! We praise God for his many blessings and provisions through his body, the church! Please continue to keep the boys and Katelynn in your prayers too!