Baby blues are looking good!

Good morning from historic Boston,

Lady makes remarkable recovery!

Nan Mustard greeted the world this morning with her beautiful blue eyes open wide (at least for short periods). She is mostly awake now and responding pretty well to persons in the room, tracks them with her eyes sometimes, looks up at the clock but says she can't tell the time yet at least that is what I got from her blinking eyes. I know that a couple blinks in a row mean she understands what was just spoken. She hates it when they have to suction her mouth out, makes faces and sometimes bites the tool. She moved her feet some this morning but mostly I have just been holding her hand trying to keep it warm.

Officially she had a quiet night. She received a unit of blood during the night to top off her numbers a bit and has good blood pressure this morning, good pulse of about 110 which is the best yet, was 145 for awhile. Her creatins continue to be a problem with numbers reaching 3.8 or 3.9. Please pray that God will touch her kidneys and liver so they will function better. They have never quit working but are not up to par at this point. Her kidney output is much better and is up from around 30 to as high as 100 per hour but still the creatins are hanging way too high. Renal experts have decided to let things ride a bit more before going back to dialysis again but it is always an option. Her white count is slightly lower and they are removing all anti biotics so good bugs will have a chance to thrive. Her platlettes are up to about 90 and rising which they consider to be a good thing. She is much less swollen around her face but her skin has a yellow tinge due to the liver issues.

There is hope that if her awareness keeps getting better they will be able to remove the respirator in the next couple days. They consider that a huge step forward and having a respirator in too long can cause its own set of problems per the nurse.

Jason, our son, left on Jet Blue yesterday afternoon at 4:40 and Nikki with Keanna left at 8:10 this morning so she is still in the air as I write. Her flight was to be 6 hours and 25 minutes. Both of these children of ours have touched us tremendously by the generosity in giving of their time to be here, by their solid conviction that Mom will get better and by their moral support for their old dad and loving attentive support to their mom. Seeing them in action with mom was about more than one could take, they were totally great, talking to her, holding her hand, reminding her of Hawaii, of Christmas, of things to do in the future, of their love for her. They were just great and the little star, Keanna was nothing short of spectacular with her little songs which she created on the spot about Grammie and Pappa, about Keanna and Grammie, about snow white and Grammie, the nurses would slow up just to watch her do her loving thing. Grammie did her part too opening her eyes and making facial expressions of love.

God has granted Nan and me wonderful children with hearts that are as big as the world. They care and they know how to care effectively. This week they put their love into action and dumped everything else and came to their mom's side. Amazing, precious, unforgettable.

I also want to thank each of you for your many expressions of kindness, ballons in Nan's room, emailed mesages, prayers by the thousands. We have been lifted up by the prayers of GISTers, family, friends, Jason's friends, Nikki's friends and co workers, Discovery Appraisal Service workers, truely we have not felt like we were facing this challenging recovery alone.

Well I am going to sign off now and try to make this work in the ICU room where I can be with Nan and check emails at the same time. I have their permission so we will see if it works or not.

We send our love, our gratitude, and our continued request that you pray for Nan waking up more, her kidneys to work better, her liver to work better and to hold away infection. Thank you so much.

with love

Tim