March 21, 2000

Dear Family,

It is Tuesday afternoon here at the children's hospital at Stanford.
We are thanking and praising God today for some additional incremental
improvements in Skylar's condition.

Skylar's oxygen level on the ventilator has been reduced to 35% and his
PEEP (a pressure setting) has been reduced another notch to 11.  Shortly
after I arrived at his room and saw these settings, the results of his
blood-gas test (on a blood sample taken after the setting reduction) came
back and were still very good.  Thank God!

I spent some time singing to Skylar and also read him Psalm 116.  He seems
much calmer today, less elevation of heart-rate and lower blood pressure.
I was thankful for that because yesterday I could hardly sing or talk to
him at all because when I tried, his pressure and heart-rate would go up
quite high.

Skylar's bilirubin level today is also a bit better, down to 2.9 (where
a normal range would be .6 to 1.4).  Thank the Lord with me for this
indication of ongoing improvement of Skylar's liver!

The hematology and oncology doctors came through on rounds and asked if I
had any questions - I was unprepared, but later in the hallway I saw a couple
of them and stopped them to ask about his heart.  They told me that they are
not worried about his heart at this time, that it is working well and that
they are encouraged that his kidney is still functioning well.  The lungs
are the major concern, followed by Skylar's liver.  His brain function is
somewhat unknown at this point, although there is no indication causing any
concern at this time.

Pam has agreed to come home with Chris and I for a few days to get caught up
on matters at home as much as we can in a brief time.  I know it will be very
hard for us when it comes right down to leaving Skylar right now... but we
hope to return sometime this weekend to take up vigil again.  Please pray
for a safe trip for us, we will be driving late into the night.  I plan to
drive as far as possible and then turn the driving over to Chris so that I
can get some sleep and be able to go to work in the morning.

Thanks for your daily care and concern for us and your many expressions of
love.  We love you all and are much comforted.

Love from us,

-Dann (for all of us)