May 21, 2005 – "MAKING PROGRESS & A REALITY CHECK"

This was a great week - I saw continual progress as God continues to heal my breathing.  My oxygen saturation level continues to hold at a good zone without the use of oxygen, which is such a relief. I have not been "released" to go without oxygen at night until there is an oxygen titration study done to make sure my night time breathing does not go below the needed saturation level. However, I am very encouraged to be able to go without oxygen. I even tried pushing the envelope a little, by exercising without oxygen, keeping a close eye on my saturation level, which means my pace has been rather slow, but I am making progress.

REALITY CHECK

On Monday, my friend, Bruce Penn came over for dinner. While Jan was preparing the meal, I asked Bruce to join me for my first walk without oxygen. I knew if I had a problem Bruce could help me, so we set off, keeping tabs on the oxygen saturation level. Along the way, I decided to see if I could run, so I picked out a place where there was a about ten feet of a shadow on the road. I took about two steps and began to stumble. REALITY CHECK! My leg muscles have diminished so much, I have very little strength. I think I scared Bruce, but I couldn’t help but laugh. In fact, "REALITY CHECK" has been the theme of the week. Several times, I have had to realize I am still very weak and have a long way to go in recovery.

GOOD NEWS

I had a great report from Dr. Feibelman, who took time to show me on the CT Scan that things are looking much better, compared to my last one in Denver. There’s still concern about the lingering pseudomonous bacteria, but for now they are calling off the IV antibiotics to give my body a chance to recover and fight the infection. We’ll be keeping a check on things and keeping my PICC line in my arm for several months because of the possibility to go back to the IV antibiotics. Other than dealing with the pain in my side and abdomen from the insertion of the second chest tube, we are making great progress, for which we thank the Lord.

Psalm 65:5 (New Living Translation) You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our savior. You are the hope of everyone on earth, even those who sail on distant seas.

Even though I had a couple of "reality checks" through the week that caused me to slow down and get real about this recovery, God has blessed me to have some wonderful times including: