WARNING - the pictures below are a bit shocking and gruesome.

It seems that everyday has brought a new challenge in this journey to find answers to my 
bronchiectasis problems. With each passing day, I seem to find myself in new close to death 
experiences and with those, closer experiences to God as another notch is reached on the 
humility scale. Lying in bed in Intensive Care is a very humiliating experience as almost 
every inch of your body is exposed and every bit of strength is zapped, and every weakness 
is open for all to see.

Of course, the truth of the matter is we are all as "naked" before God as our greatest 
strength is weakness, yet there is somehow the reality of being totally exposed and totally 
dependent upon others for everything in life that makes one know a new level of humility 
that can only be experienced via experience in ICU.

Hebrews 4:13 (NLT) Nothing in all creation can hide from him. Everything is naked and 
exposed before his eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done.

Bob and Jan on Friday, 4/8

On Tuesday, April 5 I was transported from National Jewish Medical Center to University 
Hospital, where Dr. Mitchell and his team were going to do the open lung biopsy surgery, 
a.k.a. "VATS." The surgery went along as expected and three biopsies of my right lung were 
collected. Because the lung had to be deflated in the process there was a drainage tube placed 
in my chest and attached to a pump to equalize the pressure while the lung was healing and 
inflating. All was going as expected until the tube was removed from my chest prematurely. 
What happened next brought me very close to death and was the reason for the emails and 
phone calls on Wednesday evening requesting prayer.

After the chest tube was taken from my side, I kept feeling what I thought was a muscle 
spasm under my right shoulder blade. Little did I realize what I was feeling was the deflating 
of my lung as air was escaping from my lung up through my body. I did notice my voice 
suddenly sounded as if I had inhaled helium. I also began to swell everywhere, especially 
around my neck which began to choke off my windpipe. Needless to say, I began to panic 
because I did no know what was going on, just that my eyes, ears, and throat were swelling 
out of control. Thankfully, Dr. Fessler and Dr. Linderman were immediately by my side as 
Michael, my ICU nurse tried to keep me calm. A call for a surgeon was made as Dr. Linderman 
prepped me for the reinsertion process. We waited for what seemed like an eternity as my 
throat was being closed off as each second ticked away. They tried to get me to lie down for 
the insertion process but my throat was so close to being closed off I could only sit and lean 
forward to find any relief. Finally, Dr. Derek Linderman had me ready to go and he pushed 
the chest tube in as I leaned against Michael, the ICU nurse. Everyone knew we were 
successful as the chest tube grabbed the air escaping from my lung making a big "thump."

Bob, Jan and Dr. Derek Linderman

The good news was my deflated lung now stopped from further dumping of air into my body. 
The bad news was the fact that I now had air going through my body from air that had been 
lost, which was causing my body to swell five times the normal size.

I was still not out of the woods because my neck was swollen around my airway and I was 
continuing to strain to find relief. The doctors began to sedate me, give me pain medication, 
as I went from taking the first stages of being released after surgery falling under the 
"critical condition" status in a matter of moments. I remained in that condition for all day on 
Thursday and only on Friday did I find relief enough to sit up in a chair with my eyes still 
swollen beyond recognition along with my entire body.

As I write this update, I am still making progress but still have a long way to go, waiting for 
the swelling to subside throughout my body.

Top - Bob with Michael on Wednesday prior to the lung collapsing.

Bottom - Bob on Friday 2 days after it happened.

I am thankful to God for seeing me through this "near death" experience and am most 
thankful to Dr. Derek Linderman for stepping up and saving my life. It’s been amazing the 
way the entire ICU staff has gone out of their way to do whatever has been necessary to get 
me back on my feet.

Lisa K flew here from Orlando to give us support. This was taken on 
4/10 - note how this compares to the one above taken on Friday 4/8, which 
was an improvement over Wednesday, 4/6.

I am also thankful to God for the help of Dave and Peggy Hall who have worked with Jan in 
updating the website during my time of being out of commission. I am also thankful to the 
many of you who were praying during this mishap.

Jan and I have realized how close we were to losing me to death. We may have thought 
about it before but this time we walked in the valley of the shadow of death. But as David 
found – God, the great shepherd is there too.

Psalm 23:4 (NLT) Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, 
for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

"APRIL SNOW IN DENVER" pictures shot from my ICU room as the snow began 
today ... 12" so far.

Bob and Nurse Debra Tuesday following the Lung Biopsy Surgery

(I don’t know how God intends to use this experience in ministry, I do know He has given me 
special "personal insight" and experience for the series on Psalm 23 that I plan to preach upon 
my return to Winter Park Church.)