Resources, Recording, & Pastor Josh (Update 21 March)
Here are some resources: • Worship for this Sunday is up on the website. Go to https://www.saintlukes-cs.org. Click on "About Us"; "Sermons" and pick the first one. Thanks to all who participated. • If anyone would like to talk (phone or video) to someone during this time of uncertainty, please feel free to contact any of the following:
James Clapper
Pastor John Bauer
Pastor Dave Baese
Deaconess Kathy Berrill
(For contact information, please email familymin@saintlukes-cs.org) • If anyone needs someone to run errands, go to the store, etc. we have a couple of people who volunteered. Please call Deaconess Kathy to make arrangements. • And finally - please continue to keep Pastor Josh, our Children's Center and all in our congregation in your prayers.
Pastor Josh Update
1. I did make improvements at the end of this week both in terms of my wounds and also in terms of my therapy. None of this would have happened, however, if early Thursday morning around 2:00 a.m. the doctors did not discover that there was one thing they were missing in my diagnosis. Though my blood work showed that I had a sufficient amount of blood in my system after my Tuesday surgery, clearly my body felt as though I needed more. I had a blood transfusion that early morning and things really began to turn around.
2. After the transfusion my therapy began to finally work. I have been able to move my arm much more. I have finally been able to walk. I have also been able to get up and get out of bed by myself ( with supervision) and I have much more energy. Thanks be to God for all these things.
3. Friday we got the word that because of the pandemic I was no longer allowed any visitors as the hospital is quarantined. So Karen is at home with the kids.
4. As of this morning after seeing the doctor I can report that my wounds all look good. However, I am still running a fever at night with a little bit of an elevated white blood cell count. And I am still draining some puss out of the wounds. What this means, we are not sure. It could mean that there is a small pocket of infection left. It could mean that this is manageable outside of the hospital. We will evaluate everything again in the morning.
5. My best hope is that I can leave on Sunday or Monday. But even if I cannot, I know that your thoughts and prayers are with me. You cannot believe how much I have felt God's presence through your petitions. Please continue to pray that if I have a small infection pocket left that is destroyed. Please pray that I continue to increase my mobility with my arm. And please pray that I continue to be able to manage the physical pain of this ordeal.
In Christ
PJ