The day after ~

So it has almost been 24 hours since the surgery was completed, but Mark seems to be doing great! He's had some fever today and of course some pain, nausea seems to keep hanging around and he's having a hard time keeping anything other than water down. He did stand for a while today, sat up in a chair for over an hour and walked to the doorway and back to bed.

He is IV free except for getting an antibiotic by IV ever few hours. He is still on the oxygen through the nose and receives a breathing treatment every 4 hours around the clock He also uses a breathing tool 10 times an hour to exercise those lungs. His left lung is having some difficulty inflating completely, but we are working to get it to the level it needs to be. The chest tube should come out mid day tomorrow. I peeked at his incisions and they look great too...he said, "don't show them to me yet" :)

Along with the nausea, he hasn't had much of an appetite. His stomach is being a little slow in "waking up" and he is also having just a little difficulty getting his kidneys going again....all things that happen often, after this type of surgery. Help us pray that everything begins to function the way God designed it to.

A few other ways that you can pray for us....

Pray that discouragement doesn't set in for Mark!

Pray that he will have strength and determination to do his exercises & activities.

Pray that his body will heal quickly.

Pray for rest for him and for me too please.

If you know us very well, you know that we love company...we have people over for dinner or to spend a few days with us all the time, and truly love it!!

At this point in Mark's recovery, visits more than 15 minutes are difficult because of his discomfort and all of the things he has to do to recover fully from the surgery. Even extended visits from our family can be difficult and cause some stress for him at this point. I know many things will be changing daily and sometimes even hourly, so we just ask that you check with us before you make the trip up here. Please know that even your 10-15 minute visit means so much to us and encourages us in so many ways. It reminds us that we aren't going through this difficult time alone and we are so thankful for that!

I am praying for the people reading this blog....although I know there are many and I don't really know who logs in and reads each one, I pray that God will multiply the blessing your prayers have been to us and encourage you that He is always in control even in completely unexpected situations like ours!