Update #9 on Peter

Big news today so I'll get right to it.

Peter will move out of ICU in the morning. We don't know what time. His condition has improved to the point where he needs out of the ICU in order to recover. The ICU is 24 hours a day of bright lights and activity. This is a great place to be when you are sedated and your life depends on the observations of nurses moving throughout the room. But when you are awake and alert and trying to regain your normal life, you need sunlight and daytime and nighttime.

We praise God that he has willed that Peter make rapid progress up to this point! Can I get an "Amen"?

This morning when Claudia and Rick visited Peter, they came out very discouraged because Peter was sedated and there was no opportunity to see any progress from yesterday. At lunchtime, the person now known as the "American Angel" showed up and took Peter's parents to lunch at Subway. The "American Angel " is named Alicia and she doesn't know Peter, but heard of his situation and is in Taipei so came by to lighten the load. After lunch, Peter's friend Roming took Peter's parents to Peter's apartment in Banqiao which was a tough thing for them to experience. Roming was hoping to take them out to see a little bit of the city to take their minds off of heavier things, but I never heard if this happened or where they went. They arrived back at the hospital this evening with discouraged spirits...

Those spirits would soon change!

At 7PM they went in to see Peter. Jen-Jen accompanied them as a translator. When 15 minutes passed, we all suspected something good was happening in there. Shortly Jen-Jen came out with eyes, face, and body *full* of JOY!

• Peter's eyes were open.
• Peter was looking around.
• Peter was moving (and also controlling) his arms and legs.
• Peter was trying to speak, but had a tube in his throat so there were no intelligible words.
• Peter was blinking.
• Peter's eyes were moving together and seemed to focus on and track faces.
• Peter was responding to requests to cough.
• Peter was annoyed by the tubes and seemed glad when we tried to explain what they were for.

During the visiting time, Peter had a tube in his throat. The tube somehow helps rid phlegm from Peter's airways. Before Claudia left his side, the nurses removed this tube. By this time, Peter was very tired and his throat was probably very sore from the tube so he didn't speak. We think he will tomorrow.

I previously mentioned that the nurses would give him liquids today. I saw this while I visited Peter's bedside tonight. They gave him milk in a syringe through a tube in his nose.

Peter's score on the coma scale is now 14. Remember that this scale is for people who have experienced head trauma. A perfect score is 15, but that doesn't mean that Peter is fully recovered... it just means that his trauma has been managed to a point where we can begin to learn the degree and extent of brain damage. Obviously, we hope and pray there is zero.

We will know more in the coming hours and days.

With Peter's improvement and moving to a regular room, I've been asked to share the following about visitation:

• Please do - come to the hospital to gather with friends and family, show your support, share information, sign the guiestbook, and more.
  
• Please do not - go directly to Peter's room. It is important that the number of visitors to Peter's bedside remain low for the time being. It is possible you might get to see Peter, but you should visit with the understanding that seeing him is unlikely at best. We must do what is best for Peter.
  
• With Peter in the ICU, the gathering point has been an area to the left when you get off the elevator on the 8th floor. At least for Saturday, this will remain the gathering point. If you visit. Go to the 8th floor gathering point.

We are planning a praise and prayer time for friends in the Taipei area on Sunday from 2PM - 5PM. Although at the time of this posting, we don't really know what we mean by this! I'll give more details tomorrow when we know more. Keep the time in mind, though, if you are in the area.

There is a picture that Peter's mom wants me to share here on the blog. She posted it to her Facebook profile so it is possible that some of you have already seen it. It is a picture of Peter from the day she arrived. It is of Peter in his bed and you can clearly see the various tubes he is hooked up to. Personally, I support her decision to share the picture. I think it can help people process and understand. However, it occurred to me that some readers may not wish to see Peter like this. So I decided to post the picture at another website and link to it. You make the call. If you want to see it, click the link below. If you don't want to see it, you don't have to. The photo is not graphic in any way. It is sad to see Peter like this, but remember that he is *much* better tonight and most of the tubes you see are either already removed or will be removed in the morning.

click here to view the picture in a new window


Peter has been helping me coach soccer to kids 4 to 12 years old on Saturday mornings. We will all miss him tomorrow, kids included. Perhaps he'll be back on the pitch sooner, rather than later.

Your prayers are powerful and effective. The family thanks you.