UPDATE

Some of you know me and my family and know all about my uncle Jeff and all the health problems he's been having lately. While some of you may just happen upon this little blog by accident. So on the chance that those of you who may fall into that category are praying people I'll give you a little back history. Plus, this little blog here is a great form of therapy. And it's free....F-R-E-E!! :) I rarely call Jeff "uncle" Jeff he's only 6 years older than me (he's 33) so he's more like a brother than an uncle. Sometime in February he began to feel "bad". He never had any energy had a persistent cough and just felt plain yucky. This went on for some time since he didn't have any insurance after losing his job in December. Around the end of April he began coughing up blood which prompted him to go to the E.R. where he was then admitted to the hospital and put in quarantine. At first they believed he had tuberculosis. This was later ruled out by blood work but they still didn't know what it was so he was kept in quarantine for a few weeks. Long story short(er) we eventually found out he had an infection that attacked his heart valve which in turn caused fluid to build up in his lungs among other things. It was decided that he needed to have said valve replaced but before this could be done the infection had to be treated. Antibiotics were started to treat the infection which caused other problems like not being able to hold food down etc. On top of dealing with all this my grandmother (Jeff's mom) was also basically going into liver failure after starting chemo to fight her 3rd bout with cancer. Around June 11th she was moved to a Hospice hospital. My mother and her brothers and sisters took turns being with her (someone was always with her) and visiting Jeff. Fast forward 4 days later to June 15th. My cell phone rings while I'm at work. It's my little sister telling me that Jeff has coded. They manage to get him stabilized and moved to ICU. I struggle with being 500 miles away while all of this is going on. My cousin Ian's wedding is planned for June 27th and I already have vacation time planned and scheduled to head home on the 25th. June 23rd my aunt Louise holds the phone up to my grandmothers ear. I tell her that I love her and that I will see her soon. Wednesday, June 24th, my grandmother went to be with Jesus. The woman I respected and loved most in the world is gone. I struggle with her absence daily but the Lords mercies are new every morning. As a family we rallied together and depended on each other for strength and did exactly as she would have wanted us to do and celebrated life, love and the marriage of my cousin Ian. She was there with us in spirit and despite our grief (as us Cajuns say) "we passed a good time". :) On Monday, June 29th we laid the beautiful Ada Jean to rest next to our "pop". She had an all pink funeral in honor of her brave fight with cancer. And our dear family friend Jude played a cajun waltz on the accordion for her to dance to heaven to. Later family and friends gathered together at my uncle Darren's house to eat and fellowship and remember. Around 10 pm we receive a phone call from the hospital telling us that Jeff has to have emergency surgery to put a stint in his leg. His heart is weak and therefore not able to pump enough blood to his legs so if they didn't do the surgery he could lose his leg. We okay the surgery of course and some of us race up to the hospital. They do the surgery and have positive results fairly quickly. The surgery to replace the valve in his heart is scheduled for the next day. It's weird but i hardly remember that day. I think i was emotionally drained by that point and my mind kind of shut itself off or something. I can vaguely remember getting updates of things like they were having trouble getting his heart to start beating on its own again and not being able to get him off the vent. He made it through and immediately after the surgery he looked better. He didn't have that look of being on deaths door anymore his color was better and we as a family took a collective sigh of relief. Fast forward to today. Jeff had been out of the hospital for four days. This was his second time to be discharged the first time he was out for 3 days and was put back in because he couldn't keep any food down. Last night my aunt Patty went to wake him up to eat some supper. He told her he wasn't feeling to good and wasn't hungry but that he wanted some juice. When he went to grab the glass from her she noticed his hand was shaking so she decided to take his blood sugar. It was 42. She made him drink some more juice and fed him some pudding and checked it again fifteen minutes later. It had went up to like 49. Normal for most of us is between 80 and 110. The ambulance came and picked him up and by the time he reached the hospital it was 22. He was admitted back into ICU. He then stopped breathing on his own and had to be put back on a vent. The doctors told us his lungs were "wet" which is why he was having a hard time breathing. He is basically suffering from congestive heart failure i guess. So, that's where we stand at this point. So like I said at the beginning of this post if you pray and would like to send up some prayers in bold faith asking for healing it would be much appreciated. Pray for his doctors and nurses. Pray for his two precious girls who miss him and can't wait for their daddy to be able to come home. Thanks!!

p.s. Wow, this is long!! If you read all of that you are AWESOME!!