Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Personal Prayer Request

Many of you know about my father-in-law's health condition and for the rest this is an update.

Mike's dad needs a heart transplant and right now is pretty high on the priority list. His heart is very weak and won't pump hard enough on its own to keep him alive, so currently he is on a 24/7 IV pump that goes straight to his heart to keep it pumping.

We've known this since March of this year but he's had a heck of a time dealing with an east coast hospital so earlier this month transferred his care to the Salt Lake City VA hospital. We thought he would be released to come to our house for Thanksgiving but he was in such bad condition that they wouldn't discharge him. So while Mike was home we went to visit him over the weekend and brought him Thanksgiving dinner and pie :).

Today he was supposed to be discharged and was hoping to drive down and stay here for a week until all the paperwork was approved through D.C. to be put on the official waiting list. Once again there were additional complications and his release has been postponed for at least several more days.

He was so incredibly upset and it just broke my heart hearing the disappointment and sadness in his voice. I cleared things at work and am taking tomorrow off to go spend the day with him and just baked another pie to take to him.

I'm asking for prayer for a couple of things. He is in such low spirits having been stuck in a new, unfamiliar hospital over the holidays and nowhere near family. He has to be at least a tad bit scared and nervous on top of being lonely and depressed. Without a stream of visitors to cheer him up, he's had nothing but time on his hands to contemplate every worst case scenario. If you would please pray that his spirits are lifted as we all know this also affects his physical health.

Secondly, it is so hard to pray for a heart to come quickly because we know what that entails and realize the sacrifice another family will experience in order to make our lives better. But...please pray that he will receive a match soon because time is working against us. It would be such a huge blessing to his sons to be able to spend a few more years with their father. Selfishly, I'd like for him to be around to meet our future children so that they will get to know their grandpa.

I appreciate all of your prayers in advance. Thank you.

5 comments:

Liz said...

of course we will. if you want to tell, what his first name?

Sylvia - Mommy said...

Thank you. His name is Bob.

Anonymous said...

Praying for him, you and Mike!!

fOx bLoG said...

Big hugs and prayers for your family.

Erin said...

You are all in my thoughts and prayers. I am so glad that you were able to be with Mike over Thanksgiving. I hope you're doing okay. Any chance you're going to be in Lawton over the holidays? Take care!