Dear Family & Friends

This blog has been set up to keep everyone updated, rather than trying to manage emails and texts. We also liked the ability to have people be able to share comments that everyone in the family could read and be encouraged.

Dad was admitted to Sunnybrook hospital on Wednesday morning because he was struggling to breathe. They assessed him, put him on oxygen and began to treat him for some kind of lung issue. Their best guess was pneumonia. Dad was transferred to ICU and was placed in isolation in case he had a viral infection and to protect him as well. During this time, dad was still struggling to keep his oxygen levels up and was getting more and more tired from not being able to sleep.

On Thursday evening he was transferred to Critical Care where he was able to get a bit of sleep, but once again struggled to keep his oxygen levels up. By this time, the medical staff was quite sure this was some kind of pneumonia. What complicates the matter is that the cancer treatments he has been going through have knocked out his immune system. So, his body is struggling to fight this, even with the help of a broad spectrum of antibiotics.

Thursday evening, the medical team decided to put dad on a ventilator to help him get his oxygen levels up and to give his body rest. The sedation and breathing tube have helped his levels increase and for his body to rest. However, he is now not able to speak and is very groggy from the medication.

The next couple days will be very critical. The hope is that with the rest and help with from the ventilator, dad's body will be able to fight off the pneumonia, his lungs would clear and he could breathe on his own again.

Visitors are very limited in this unit and only family is allowed to visit at this time.

Please pray for dad. Pray for healing physically, but also for the Spirit of God to make the love of God so real to him that he would have a peace that is beyond our human understanding. Over the past few days, I have been able to share scripture with dad and pray with him. He has said to me and everyone else that he knows that if his time here is almost done, he knows where he is going and he is ok with that. We all find comfort in that fact.

I would ask that you would also pray for our family; my brothers and sisters and extended family would appreciate prayer for comfort, strength, patience, wisdom and love that we might find healing in the midst of this time.