God continues to bless!

Dr. Elieson returned today and is very pleased with how well Ron is recovering. He ordered a PT evaluation so Ron was seen this afternoon (with Dr. Ryan Nordell in attendance!). It was very enlightening for Ron to see just how far he has to go. He is extremely weak and has lost alot of muscle strength but they did have him sit up on the edge of the bed and even stand a couple of times (for about 30 seconds). It was an exhausting session but he did not have pain afterwards which is very good. In fact, he has not used his pain meds at all today.

As long as he has another good night, he will be moving to a new room tomorrow. He will move to the Cardiac Step-down Unit (less intensive than the Critical Care Unit; but more supervision than a regular floor). We will still have limited visitation hours but I think one of us will be able to stay the night with him in his room once he's there. Hopefully, it will be quieter than CCU so he'll rest more.

Dr. Elieson has also confirmed that Ron will most likely be in hospital another month or so and then transfer to an acute care/rehabilitation facility for a while.

Some big decisions have been made within our family. After much prayer and confirmation from God, Ryan has decided to move back to Texas. He's been saying he wanted to move back after a couple of years of PT under his belt but this has made him reevaluate his priorities and has come to the conclusion family is most important to him. Please pray for him as he flies back to Florida Thursday to wrap up some paperwork and prepare his belongings to be moved. He will return home Saturday and then go back to Florida the end of Nov to actually move.

Aaron and Kristin have also decided to move back home. They have always said, too, they eventually wanted to end up back here but determined now is the time! Aaron will graduate December 15 and end their lease the end of December. Please pray for Aaron and Kristin as they seek to finish out this semester strong (I know it's very hard on them to be away.)

Praise:

• White cell count down to 28,000!! WOO HOO! Still needs to continue to go down but first time in a very long time that it has been under 30,000.

Prayer requests:

• wound care for those areas that are blisters/sores from tape; these will clear up quickly...against infection
• heart rate, blood pressure, etc. will continue to be stable
• white cell count continue to trend downward
• Ron's "gut" will begin to "wake up". Doc says they are thinking about put some saline in his lower intestine to see if they can get things working
• strength for Ron as they begin to get him up more
• for peace as we adjust to change to new room and staff
• Ryan
• Aaron & Kristin
• Huge step for us today is that we decided we need to sleep at home tonight. Hard to do, but know it's time
• Business issues
  

Thank you for blessing us with your prayer support!
Love, Christie, Ryan, Aaron and Kristin.

"...In all our troubles my joy knows no bounds." 2 Corinthians 7:4b