our God is a God who saves

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves." Psalm 68:19-20

First, the good news. The bleeding at the catheter site has slowed down a great deal! Previously, his bandage would have to be switched every few hours; today, he's had the same bandage since late last night and it hasn't been replaced to this point. It's still clean, too, minus a few areas on the side. So that's really cool!

The bad news is that the doctors have discovered an infection. Dr. Barton believes that there is an infection inside the blood clot, which will be hard to fix. We've started him on antibiotics, and I know that if it's God's will, the infection won't even have time to take root. Also, Jack's blood pressure is still in a state of fluctuation. He's on quite a bit of epinephrine to maintain that pressure, and even with it, it's still not really where we would like it. And thirdly, Jack is showing signs of liver failure. Because he has a form of kidney failure, the blood is backing up into his body, and the doctor says that can cause liver failure, which you can see in his clotting abilities. Granted, his leg is starting to do better than it had been, and that's a good sign, but please pray against it!

The bottom line is that Jack is in a very precarious state. Angi and I still believe 100% that God can save this baby, and that He alone can make Jack whole, praise God. But we also do not want to move the hand of God if He has already decided what Jack's outcome is to be. We love our baby so very much, and want to bring him home, but if God's will is to bring him to His Home, then no amount of fluid or pressure medicine is going to make him better. To that end, we have asked the doctors to implement a DNR, which means Do Not Resuscitate. There are a lot of different forms of this, and the one that we chose means that we do not support any escalation of medication to that which he already given. Our prayer is that Jack will get better on what he has now, and we will progressively wean him off the different medications. I can't tell you how hard it was to make this decision, and we ask that you continue in prayer that we made the right one, and that if God would have us move differently, that he would impress it upon us.

If you could keep praying, we would greatly appreciate it. Right now, Jack has been in a state of semi-consciousness for a bit, and we're afraid that the blood pressure could affect his other organs, including his brain. Please pray against that! We know that God is bigger than any clot and any damage that said clot could bring, but through prayer and petition we know that God can fix it before it happens. Again, please pray that there would be no liver damage, and furthermore that his other organs would be protected. Also pray that the infection would not take root and that there would be no complications from it. Pray that the antibiotics would wipe it out. And pray for us, as well. Pray that we would be able to discern God's will in this difficult time, and that we would be able to have comfort through the Holy Spirit, knowing that either way, God's will is done, and that we can praise Him one way or the other. Pray for Gaige, that he would not blame God for anything that should happen to his baby brother, and that he also would be comforted. And on a tangent, Angi's dad, Mack, is having a back surgery on Friday. Pray that it would go well and that he would, according to scripture, Do not be afraid, just have faith (John 5:36).

God bless all of you for your continued faithfulness to us in prayer. I pray that He would bless you beyond measure.

"Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. So I say with confidence, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid." -Hebrews 13:5 (Thank you, Will and Weston!)

Tony and Angi