Its been a good sunday!

Dear Friends,
Its about 6:40 here in Nans room at the Brigham and Womans Luxury Suites. This has been a good day for the first lady of recovery. Amy has been kind enough to help Nan sit up in the chair three times today, each time Nan took several steps to and from the chair, helped by moving her legs over the edge of the bed and held her head up high while in the chair. Her improvement in sitting up today compared with the prior two days is nothing short of remarkable. She is making faces, smiles, uses her eyes and even speaks words using her soft voice. Her skin tone is excellent and she looks great with her newly washed hair and beautiful face. She keeps trying to con one of us into letting her have hot water or hot tea but until she passes the test of swallowing she cannot have any water, ice chips or tea. The reason, something could get into her lungs causing pnemonia. She has used every trick in the book to try to get her way and is not very happy when she does get her tea or hot water. For example, I was praising her for her hard work and strong will. She had me leave down and whispered, if I am doing so great then give me hot water. So Amy relented a bit, poured a cup of hot water and using a green sponge on a stick gave Nan a taste. Yet even with that she coughs so she may not be ready yet for swallowing. Her throat was so damaged by the 15 days of respirator and suction tubes that it may take a few more days to heal up.

Nan did new things today, she read all the cards that have been mailed, read some emails, read a little of the newspaper and watched some TV shows. In between she has slept, talked on the phone and interacted with Amy and me.

I am so proud of her for her accomplishments, her courage, her sense of humor, her willingness to work hard and her demands that we get ready to fly home!! This is no usual lady if there is any such thing. She is a fighter and has extremely strong will power. She expresses great kindness to me and has urged me to sit on the bed, she thought there was enough room in the bed for me!!

Hanging over this happiness and progress is the threat of the bleeding from her GI tract. Amy has charted the colostomy output today and has determined that the amount is less yet the bleeding issue remains a huge concern of everyone involved with Nan's case. We solicite your prayers seeking God's intervention in her behalf. God has stopped her bleeding on the night of the original surgery as people prayed and we desperately need Him to do it again. If it sounds like I am a broken record it is because this is the most important issue she faces at this time.

I have learned that a recovery from a difficult surgery is not linear. It moves in fits and starts, one day is amazingly good and the next is disappointing and depressing. Some medical issues will take a very long time to solve while others will be finished by the time we leave the hospital. We remain firmly convinced that we are where God wants us to be, that this surgery is no accident, that we are in the hands of the worlds best GIST experts both at Dana Farber and here at Brigham and Womens, that our surgeon has hands blessed by God and that the nursing care in this ICU is the best short of heaven.

We both long for the day we can come home and be with our family, go eat with Nikki and Steve, have Keanna over for sleepovers, go visit the cool weather surrounding Jason and Jo by the ocean. We long to board the plane, however we have many bridges to cross still and a recovery process to complete. Your support with prayers and donations is making this whole process possible and winable. We will never forget what you have done to help us through this impossible situation.

love from the east coast

tim and nan

ps please ask God to heal the bleeding!