Not Just Yet

Eric had a very peaceful, restful night. We had hoped he might be strong enough to come off the ventilator today, but he's not quite there yet. Dr. Thompson is as anxious for Eric to come off the vent as we and Eric are. But he's not quite strong enough . . . not yet. And we need to work on decreasing the doseage and frequency of the sedation, morphine and ativan. Over the past two weeks, out of necessity and through no fault of his own, my son, who in 5th grade won the DARE program essay contest and swore he'd never abuse drugs, has become quite dependent on these medications. He no sooner wakes up from a drug-induced nap and he's asking for more meds. But we're cutting back. We have to. He needs to be awake to gain strength. And he needs to get off these meds. Consequently, Eric is very uncomfortable and agitated, restless. So we ask for your prayers for continued strength and mental fortitude, a supernatural sustaining.