March 14, 2013--nearly two months from "D" day...

John wrote this to our church family...

Dear church family,

Thought you should at least hear from me and get updated on my status.

First of all, I terribly miss being in church and seeing you, and interacting with each one of you.  So thankful I have memories to lean back on.

Second, thank-you for your many cards and prayers. Your prayers for me surely made the difference between life and death.

Speaking of death, and honestly, I don't know why God allowed this hospital infection to take me to death's door, and vastly complicate and prolong my recovery.  All I know how to respond is "yes Lord".  For those of you who are not aware of my 2nd and 3rd surgeries, and "why", here is Becki's take of what happened.

The second surgery was a "wash-out", to look over the area to see if there was any sign of infection internally and to literally wash the area carefully to rid it of any lurking bacteria.  The fear was that the infection in the incision extended internally.  When they saw the area, they were relieved to see no sign of infection and to declare afterward that the incision infection was only skin deep.  But to be sure, they cultured the graft, the chest wall, and surrounding tissues.  After 24 hours, all of these cultures were positive, much to their dismay and surprise, indicating pervasive infection despite there being no visual signs of it the day before.  This second surgery was on Sunday, January 20.

On Monday, John's medical teams decided that besides antibiotics, they would need another defense against the infection.  The "flap" is a standard procedure for infection.  In John's case, the plastic surgeon opened the abdomen (a new incision extending from the chest almost to the groin), removed some of the omentum [layer of tissue in the abdomen to fight infections] and one of his abdominal muscles and wrapped these around the aorta and heart in the chest cavity (also reopened now for the third time).  This flap serves as a barrier to bacteria and helps the chest cavity to fight the infection. 

It was this third and pretty difficult surgery that has made John's recovery so difficult, while perhaps also saving his life.

Back to my thoughts.  Had I not gotten infected, my hospital stay would have been significantly shorter, and I would be making significant progress in recovery. As I have found out, pushing myself, which is relatively easy to do, is greatly hindered by the areas in my abdomen that were tampered with to save my life. 

I am impatient to get back to work.  I love you folks and this district.  Considering all the prayers going up, I do not understand the infection detour.  But I choose to obey "in everything give thanks" as that is what the Word says.

Pray for my appetite and weight gain.  I'm striking out in that area. Several families have brought over dishes of tasty food.  My taste buds are all messed up from drugs and if it doesn't taste good to my taste buds, I just can't eat it.

Yesterday at Barnes, we saw 3 specialists, which included Dr. Maniar, the head of all 6 medical teams who were  involved to save me, and who oversaw the surgeries, the plastic surgeon involved in operation 3, Dr. Kels, and Dr. Vasquez, from the infectious disease dept.  They took me off the IV antibiotics, and took out the pic line.  But I will be on antibiotics by mouth the rest of my life.

Everyone is extremely pleased with my recovery [with the exception of not gaining weight].  Physically, I am walking outside, even going up and down our stairs.  And taking showers, etc.

Please continue to pray for a speedy recovery for me.  I want to pastor, and not be a basket case. Storm heaven's gates and be bold. Demand affirmative action.

Love you all, John