Last night, Mom and Dad and I headed into Vancouver to see Chris.  We showed up right around 7pm, and met Nina and her parents and her friend, Jackie on their way out.  It was almost time for shift change (7:30pm – 8:30pm) and we called in to see if we could possibly see Chris before they actually started the change.

We did get in for a few minutes, and Chris was resting peacefully, and not seeming to be conscious of us or anything.  We talked a little bit with the day nurse before he went off shift, and he again mentioned that there could be up days and down days, and it seemed like today had been a bit of a “down” day.

Nina had mentioned when we met her (them) in the hall way that Chris had seemed to be in quite a bit of pain earlier, and Marja mentioned that she had told Chris that she would make him some of her pineapple chicken, and he made a funny little smirk which would seem to indicate that he was interacting with them, and liking that idea.

We finally got kicked out ’cause it was shift change and we met up with Aunty Sherry and went for a quick coffee down to the Starbucks.  We hung around there until 8pm when they closed.  WHO EVER HEARD OF A STARBUCKS CLOSING AT 8PM, and in Vancouver…….and on Broadway…….and on a Saturday night………..right close to the hospital……..so bizarre!

We walked back to the hospital, and had to wait around for 15 to 20 minutes to get in to see Chris.  Again, he was just resting and made no indications that  he was aware of us.  Eyes closed, sleeping.  It’s strange to see how much weight he’s lost.  It’s noticeable now.  Not that he looks bad…..he looks amazing compared to two and a half weeks ago, but you can see it a bit in his face, and across his torso.  They are feeding him protein shakes directly into his stomach through a tube down his throat, and he seems to be tolerating them pretty well.  They’ve said that even though he is not doing a lot of physical movement, that he is just burning a bazillion calories a day just on healing.  The body is amazing the way that God has created it to work to heal.

He started to surface while I was there.  I could see his eyes moving back and forth and he started to open them just a tiny bit.  He would shrug his eyebrows, and move his tongue and jaw a bit.  Dad came back in then, and it seemed like Chris startled.  Not ’cause Dad came in, but he just startled awake.  His heart rate went up, and he started moving his right arm around, and making faces like he was in pain.  His temperature has been up, and he was quite hot, and was sweating quite a bit.

We called the nurse, and she came in and explained to us that he is no longer on continuous IV medicine.  They are wanting to see how long he can go in between doses, and as he gets better, the time in between doses should increase.  It is still injecting into an IV line and so he gets relief pretty quickly once he starts to give indications that he is in pain, but they are trying to figure out where he is, and wanting to see him getting better sooner.

This is both sad and happy news.  Sad to think that he might be in pain, but happy to know that they are working towards him getting better.

It’s so amazing every time I hear that they are doing something with the thoughts or plans of him getting better and moving forward.  Not that I haven’t expected that (we have a BIG GOD), but I just still get a thrill every time I hear them indicating forward progress. 

The fever would/could be an indicator of infection, and they were mostly likely going to take him into the OR today to clean out his arm again, and they have been giving him antibiotics to combat infection.

Please keep praying against infection, and for complete healing in his and Nina’s bodies.

My parents were supposed to be headed in to see Chris again today, and as soon as I hear another update, I’ll be sure to post it.

Thanks again for all your prayers.  We cannot fully explain how much we appreciate them and all your support.  Words just don’t seem adequate enough to fully express the gratefulness in our hearts.  So We just leave it with  a…….

Thank you so much!