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May 3, 1999
Hello Everyone, A brief update before I get to bed... Leif's condition has not changed very much. Still very serious. The oxygen has been reduced from 100% to 80% and still the saturation in his blood is quite good. I was told that it is actually dangerous for the lungs to have pure oxygen for too long as it can actually "burn" ... In spite of this one seemingly positive detail the doctors are still saying that he is in a most critical situation and anything could happen. Amy and I sit with him and talk to him and watch the ball game with him and he is there all hooked up to the breathing machine and with IVs supporting his life. he is heavily sedated and even paralyzed with a medicine to prevent him from fighting the respirator. we have been told that he may actually be able to hear us but cannot respond. so we share with him and touch his hands and feet (washing our hands afterwards). today Mike (Joe's brother) and Joanne (Roger's wife) came to see Leif as well. the color of his skin is good and when we touch him he is quite warm. yet, he is very very sick. i asked Amy when would a good time for me to see Amanda. tomorrow night she is in a singing performance at her school and so I will attend that and give her some good attention. she has been told that her daddy is quite sick and won't be coming home for a while. it was decided that it would not be good for her to come to the hospital to see her father in the state he is in. she is full of questions (aren't most children! :) and i will leave most of the answering up to her mother. tomorrow i take my father to a doctor's checkup appointment at the same hospital where Leif is in the ICU. I will ask his doctor whether he should go to see Leif. I suspect not... he recently had pneumonia and it would not be a good idea to expose him to the others in the environment there nor vica versa. but I will ask as this is his little boy whom he nurtured into this life. i have put out a plea for prayer and healing to many friends. i called the pastor at my Dad's church and spoke with Rolf tonight.
bedtime for this tired puppy, |