Leap Year Day Report

Dear friends,

Some good news — Dan can now lift his arms off the bed and move them around, and there is tiny movement in his fingers. I know he’ll be very happy to be able to press a call button and change a television channel. Those days, God willing, are coming soon! He is also off the respirator and they are going to cap the trach and let him breathe through a nasal canula to test if he’s able to sustain that. His lungs are “clear as crystal” and he has a big cough, a medium swallow, and sometimes an itty-bitty voice through the Passy-Muir voice valve. He’s drinking thickened liquids. This last week was the first time he was able to sustain enough attention span to watch television or carry on conversations more than a few minutes. He is sitting up in a special chair and likes that until the pain sets in.

The downside is the pain that is coming with the return of functions.

And, at last report Dan still has CDiff. Some people are going to see him and wearing the gowns and gloves. I know he wants some brief visits, but I don’t want anyone with children at home, elderly at home, are elderly themselves, or immune compromised in any way to go see him. I myself change clothes at my back door and don’t wear clothes or shoes that have been in the hospital, into the house.

Maybe put it this way: Sign up for brief visits (or writing time) through Leslie Anyanonu, our guardian angel of scheduling, if you’re willing to wear a gown and gloves, and are not immune compromised and don’t live with children, the elderly, or other people at risk. Healthy people who wear gowns and gloves and thoroughly wash their hands with soap and water (not hand sanitizer–it does not affect CDiff) are usually not at risk. I myself change clothes at my back door and don’t wear clothes or shoes that have been in the hospital, into the house. I also keep in mind that if I (or anyone else who visits any hospital, because this is becoming nearly an epidemic) comes down with diarrhea, i will call the doctor and under NO circumstances take Immodium, Pepto Bismol or any other medicine to stop or slow it down unless the doctor specifically says to do so.

I hate to scare people off but I couldn’t live with myself if anyone became ill because I did not tell them the risks. On the other hand, I have stayed healthy (with only two days of not feeling well, but not actually having an illness) for these three months, and am grateful to God for preserving my health so that I can minister to Dan.

I leave you with this devotional thought from Given O. Blakely, which greatly encouraged me today:

A COVERT

“And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” (Isa 32:2)

In a promise of spiritual safety, God spoke through Isaiah of a coming “Man” that would provide refuge from the storms of this life. Isaiah prophesied, “And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for A COVERT from storm and from rain” (Isa. 4:6). Again, he declared, “And a Man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and A COVERT from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (Isa. 32:2). The first prophecy declares that a COVERT will be provided for safety. The second affirms that the covert will be a “MAN” – as compared to something constructed by the “man” who is being assaulted. The dangers from which protection is realized are spiritual forces that will unsettle and dislodge the individual without proper protection. They are adversities with which the individual cannot successfully content of himself.

As used in these Scriptures, a “covert” is “a covering, shelter, hiding place, secret place” (STRONG’S). Several ideas are wrapped up in this definition. First, the covert itself is a secret place, known only to those to whom it has been revealed. Second, the word itself implies a kind of hiding that hides the identity of the person, so that the enemy stalks past the targeted individual.

The “MAN,” of reference – who will be a covert – is “the Man, Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5). Those who are united to Him by faith cannot be spiritually harmed by any of the above dangers – storm, rain, and tempest. In Him they are “not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation” (I Thess. 5:9).