Friends and Family-
Great news! Today was a HUGE milestone. Richard was taken off the respirator at around 11:15 this morning. His vitals were great and he was awake enough to have removed. All he could do was give me hand gestures indicating that he wanted to take it out the tube, which was another great sign of his alertness.
The day itself was no cake walk. He struggled with the pain of his soar throat, coupled with the fact that he has to continually cough up flem in order to clear his lungs. The pressure from the coughing had him wincing in pain all day long. Fortunately, he was gaining in strength and agility little by little the whole day through. He could talk, but he voice was so hoarse (from removing the tube) that it was just above a raspy whisper.
The majority of the day was a struggle for pain relief. Pain from his thoat, incisions, IVs, lower back and catheter. He has yet to find a position that gives him comfort for more than 6-7 minutes.
Your prayers are powerful and we’re living the evidence of that!! Richard is tying to get some sleep, but has yet to rest more than 15-20 minutes without having to cough up flem and suction it out (the suction is like the one you use at the dentist office, which allows him to remove the flem from his mouth).
In spite of the struggles, we KNOW that today was miraculous. I’m so thankful to be able to talk w/ Richard and to have him communicate. He did get off a good handful of jokes, in spite of having to catch his breath just to say them…. that’s Richard!
OK, I apologize if any of this e-mail reads oddly. It’s way past my bedtime and my eyes are heavy. ….just wanted to make sure you had the update before Sunday morning church so that you could add Richard to your praise report lists!!
Thanks again to everyone! I pray that you are richly blessed from above for the selfless prayers, help & support that you’ve given to us!! Keep ’em a comin’!
All our love & gratitude!
Maria
310-254-8578 cell