2:26 AM, April 20, 2007

Debbie had a much better day today. They have inserted a tube through her nose and into her stomach that is pumping out excess fluid and air. It has done wonders in relieving her pain. It was encouraging to see her up and alert today after the last several days being so difficult for her. Continue to pray that she will be comfortable physically.

The underlying medical issues remain the same. The infection is still present at this point. They’re trying a battery of antibiotics to get this taken care of. Once this is done they’ll start the new chemo treatments.

One other issue that has come up is that Debbie’s oxygen levels in her blood have been dropping over the past day or so. Her inactivity makes it difficult to keep these levels up. Please pray that they will come back up.

Somebody is staying with Debbie 24/7. Even though the pain has been relieved to a degree with the fluid being pumped out, she is still reliant on pain medication to keep her comfortable. She is needing less, but she has to insert the pain medicine through her IV every 30 minutes to keep comfortable. We’re reminding her to push it herself while she is awake, and when she’s sleeping we press it for her.

Debbie, Jerry and our entire family appreciate everybody’s thoughts and prayers. Any replies I get to these emails I print off and give to Debbie and Jerry. Debbie said today that knowing others know what specific events are taking place and knowing they are praying for those specific events really raises her spirits. I encourage anybody to send a message to Debbie and Jerry to my email address (jandjwells@cox.net), and I’ll be sure they receive it. Dad is not really checking his email right now, so if you want to get them a message, my email is the best way to go. It means a lot to them to hear from all of you.

Continue to pray for God’s will. While our will is a miracle healing, we want God’s will even more. Please pray that we can bring our thoughts and feelings into line with what we know in our hearts as believers in Christ. God’s plan is perfect.

Josh