Today John had a doctor’s appointment at Duke. He has a scheduled appointment to see the doctor once a month, so this was his scheduled appointment.
As I mentioned earlier, John did not have a good night last night and hasn’t been feeling well. When his doctor saw John, he was very concerned. For the first time he looked perplexed. I prayed before our appointment that God would give his doctor wisdom in treating John, and I prayed the same prayer as we sat in his office.
He asked John if he felt like he was sick enough to go into the hospital – into the ICU. If this happened, John would have a leg pump that would act as a heart pump for the lower part of his body. This would elevate his status on the transplant list to the highest status and naturally his wait time would be less. John would most likely stay in the hospital until a heart became available. However, even with a shorter wait time, this could still be a few months.
John has been in the ICU before, and he says it is no fun. Of course that makes sense, but he tells me that it is much more restrictive than a regular hospital room. I call John my “enigma” because he is so, so sick, but he doesn’t look like it(except that he’s skinny), and a lot of the time he doesn’t act like it. I mean he has trouble breathing and he can’t do much, but he isn’t bed-bound. Today his doctor said that if I could see what he looks on the inside I would see how sick he truly is though.
So the last thing John wants to do is go into the hospital and wait. Instead, his doctor increased his IV medication to help stabilize him a little bit. We are going to see how this works for a few weeks.
We are staying faithful that God knows what is best for John and how this needs to play out for him. It is a hard waiting game that requires a lot of patience. We are just praying that in the meantime John is comfortable, peaceful, restful, and that he is stable. Our eyes are fixed on Him to provide.
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