Dears Friends,

Today has been an exhausting day; however, when I left the hospital at 7:00 pm tonight I felt such peace! I learned how to be a good advocate of health care for Jerry today and am actually feeling quite proud of myself right now (although I did have a lot of help from my brother Tracy who is in the medical field, so Tracy you get some credit too!) It was decided that Jerry needed an arterial line inserted today that will allow for a more constant and more accurate reading of his blood pressure, and it can be used to draw blood for "blood gases" that are taken quite frequently to check the level of oxygen in his blood. Actually it can be used for all lab and blood draws that are needed and he won't have to be poked with needles anymore. It is very tricky to do and I've heard can be quite painful. After more than an hour of two young resident doctors trying to get this line inserted I was beside myself. I had to sign a form for this procedure to be done and I was beginning to question whether or not I had made the right decision, and I felt like I was putting Jerry through agony? So, I called Tracy and asked what my "plan of action" should be. He knew exactly what to tell me, what to ask for, and most importantly how to go about asking. I immediately called the CCU charge nurse (the one from Heber Springs, AR) and within 15 minutes I had an anesthesiologist in full scrubs beside Jerry's bed and he had the arterial line finished in 10 minutes! Jerry, I'm learning how to fight the best fight for you. Hang in there, I'm just a little slow at this process...so sorry.

He had his second day of chemo and seems to be tolerating it well. The Pulmonologist said there is some fluid in one of his lungs, that is presumed to be pneumonia. I'll let you know the results of his lab work when I find out. Pray that his body will be strong against infections. Now that he is having chemo his white blood cell count will drop again in a few days and he'll be susceptible to infections easily again.

It's 10:15 pm now and I just spoke with his night nurse and he is resting very well and comfortably and all vital signs were stable. She told me she anticipated him having a good night. Good news!

"For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone" (Psalm 91:11-12)

(Now for some funnies! The weather has been awesome in Santa Barbara the last several days. It got up in the high 80's today/low 90's and was hot! For those of you unaware of our California weather, it cools down in the evenings and the nights are quite cool. Although we do have an air conditioner, we never use it - we sleep with windows open which is quite nice. Lots of homes in Santa Barbara do not have air conditioning at all. Jerry is a strict stickler about not using the air (OK Dinah, Tamey & Ashley - stop laughing). Natalie begs all the time to turn the air on and Jerry won't budge. Well, it was 83 degrees upstairs at bedtime and both of my kids came downstairs and got ice packs for their foreheads so they could go to sleep! I made my biggest executive decision ever tonight. We're sleeping with the air on Jerry!)

Praying boldly,

Candy