April 28, 2000

Dear Family,

Our praise and gratitude to God continues today. Skylar had a good night and 
continues to do well breathing without the aid of the ventilator. I spoke with 
Skylar's mom this morning and she tells us that they are looking forward to 
moving out of the Pediatric ICU this afternoon or tomorrow morning! :)

I don't remember whether or not I mentioned this before; of five children who 
had a bone marrow transplant at about the same time, three of them (including 
Skylar) wound up in the Pediatric ICU. Of those three, one has died; one is believed 
to have irreversible brain damage; and Skylar was nearly given up for dead on more 
than one occasion. Without further commentary at this time, I will leave to you to 
consider the "value" of a BMT. I will also again call you to rejoice with me over 
the Lord's mercy to Skylar!

When I spoke with Suzanne, Skylar was sitting up in the "cardiac chair" (kind of a 
recliner), still receiving oxygen through a "nasal cannula" and saturating at 97% 
which is quite good. She said that when they helped Skylar sit up they were surprised 
that he pretty much was able to support himself in a sitting position on the edge of 
the bed!

Skylar's I/V morphine drip has now been entirely discontinued. While we were still 
there with him, we had observed what were probably some withdrawal symptoms; 
perspiration on the bridge of his nose, some agitation and jumpiness. They had also 
been administering methadone to help with the withdrawal. Because he was "held under" 
for so long, all of these things were quite necessary, and so I am thankful that he 
is now done with those medications.

While in the chair, Skylar played ball with the physical therapist. His throat is 
still sore and he has not vocalized any more than an occasional "ow"; it will be a 
few days before he'll be talking much. He has also had some difficulty with nausea 
when they have tried to discontinue suctioning his stomach acid.

Please pray that Skylar makes a good transition to eating by mouth; there is a lot 
of his "digestive equipment" that has been unused for quite some time and needs to 
be exercised again. Pray also for a good appetite and for good guidance from Suzanne 
so that Skye will eat a good variety of food in order to receive the nutrition that 
is so vital to his recovery.

My Psalm for today is 126; "When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, 
We were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue 
with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, 'The LORD has done great 
things for them.' The LORD has done great things for us; We are glad."

Thank you for praying for Skylar; God has indeed done great things for us!

In awe of the Lord's mercy,

-Dann (for Pam as well)