Heart thread - 07/24/2010

Amid the many challenges Margaret has been facing, now this:

UPDATE: Joel is in respitory ICU. Nearly lost him overnight.... he is in stable but guarded condition.

I am okay.... numb --which I consider a mercy. Doing what comes next. I am grateful for your prayers.
--m

___________________

Joel is in the hospital. He had an acute onset of his myasthenia gravis... he couldn't breathe, swallow--kept choking.

Please keep him in your prayers.

Margaret posted an update:

Thank you all so very much for you prayers. Joel continues in stable but guarded condition in the ICU. They've brought out the big guns on the MG stuff. He is speaking--which is good. They are doing a scan of his chest later this evening. I'm okay --tired but unanxious... really. All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

For Joel, Margaret, Juan Manuel, and all the burdens Margaret carries on her heart.

Ongoing prayers for Kirstin and her entire support team. (You can follow her posts here.)

The nurse came in, started my IV, and we got talking. We probably talked for twenty minutes. She is an oncology nurse (not all of them on my floor are), has been for seven years. She’s young, and startlingly competent. Right now, she’s looking up my paper chart and printing information about the neuropathy drug they’re discharging me with. (I have the beginnings of peripheral neuropathy, in both hands and feet. It’s scaring hell out of me.)

We talked about my care team here, in Sac, in Oakland. We talked about my support system. I told her some of the things I wrestle with—see how healthy I am, how can I be sick? She told me she thought I’d do well.

I asked her why. She said, “Because you’re so positive. When the mind gives up, the body follows.” I didn’t tell her how much I hate this.

For Jonathan and Jim and David. For Mark and Sandra and Bruce and Doris.

For my sister Shirley.
Shirley will be going in for a angioplasty in a month. Too many ahead of her.

For KJ's father and for David's friend Rosemary.

Prayers for Rosemary too please- she is really having a difficult time, and i`d ask prayers for her husband Dave, their two sons and my sister Jenny, that if this is Rosemary`s time they will all have the grace, love and strength they need.

My coworker Shae says "Thank you" to all who prayed for her; her knee is doing much better.

For Patricia's mother Evelyn Rose.

For Fran who is home and gaining strength and health (but could not join her friends for the Paris trip that had to start without her). She said today was her best day yet but we're not stopping the prayers.

For children everywhere and those who worry about them. For those facing deadlines. For those caught up in anxiety of any sort.

Padre Mickey tells us:

The Lovely Mona is down with sumkinna nasty thang wut makes her sleepy alla time. I hope the sleeping makes her feel better.

For those endangered by the failure of a dam in Iowa.

For the two US service members missing in Afghanistan since yesterday.

For those killed in a stampede in Germany.

For all the burdens carried by any who read this post. Please add your own requests in the comments.

--the BB