Update #12 on Peter

The praise and prayer time was great. There were about 50 people in and out between 2PM and 5PM with probably about 30 people present in the small Catholic chapel on the 12th floor where we took communion together and sang some impromptu songs in English and in Chinese. There were prayers of thanksgiving for the healing Peter has already experienced and prayers of petition for continued healing. People prayed for the driver of the car (Mr. Lin), for Dr. Zeng, for Peter’s nurses, for other patients in the ICU, for far away family and friends, and for Peter’s mom and dad. This was a special time for calling attention to the things God has already allowed us to see him do and a plea for strength and courage to walk in faith when and if he chooses not to reveal his ways or his reasons.

Some people at the prayer time took photos. If you send those to me, I can put some of them up here on the blog.

We are all riding the roller coaster now. You know Peter was to move out of ICU on Saturday but because of the small bleeding discovered that morning, he remained in ICU. We were told he would be in the ICU 1 or 2 more days. Later, Peter eased our disappointment about the bleeding by giving more signs of recovery. At the close of the prayer time today, we heard that Peter would move out of ICU on Monday morning. A couple hours later, we found out that Peter has a low grade fever indicating an infection of some kind. This may or may not affect him moving out of ICU. We don’t know any more about the infection at this time.

The infection could be from many things. Some are remedied more easily than others. We do know for sure that Peter still has abundant phlegm in his airways and needs to get that out. He is coughing a lot but probably needs to cough more. Have you ever had a headache and then coughed? You hated it, right? Imagine Peter’s headache and realize that he is coughing regularly and is being asked to cough more frequently. To aid the breakup of this phlegm, Peter is being turned side to side every hour and undergoing percussion on his back either from the nurses or a machine. Percussion involves repeatedly striking the back with a cupped hand in order to break up phlegm. Percussion is often used for this purpose (most parents probably have done it with sick kids) so it isn’t related to Peter’s injury, just the effects of being stationary and the tubes in his throat.

As a result of the infection, Peter is only allowed minimal visitors. His parents are able to visit almost anytime, but no other visitors are allowed except on rare occasions and only by doctor or nurses orders. Peter has to beat this infection.

Peter’s mom and dad are thankful for the love expressed by all of Peter’s friends (and friends of friends) around the world. Please remember to pray for Claudia and Rick because they are dealing with a wide range of emotions and experiences. They are holding up well, but Dr. Peter did take time to remind them that they are not as helpful to Peter if they are too tired or become sick. Once again… Dr. Peter comes through with perfect advice, right?

Bless you all!