December 24, 2020 - Merry Christmas Eve!

It's hard to believe that it is already Christmas Eve. This dreadful year, year 2020, the year of Covid, has flown by at times and moved at a glacial pace at others.

It is hard to believe that Jackie has been in the hospital 9 days. She has been in ICU for 5 of those days. The best news that we can share is that she is stable.

(Note: I have permission from Rick to post. Jackie is a lot more private than her over-sharing sister-in-law (that would be me). I am walking the line. I can't wait to defend my posts when Jackie and I can sit and chat about this. I will continue to post her progress, as many of you have been reaching out. We so appreciate your prayers).

We all thought Jackie was turning the corner on COVID last Saturday AM. The meds they were giving her were helping. Unfortunately, a known complication with COVID is blood clots and strokes. Jackie had a coughing spell Saturday morning that inadvertently put a blood clot on the move. It was a setback, one that caused the doctors to sedate her and put her on a ventilator. Ever since Sunday, she has remained stable, if not slightly improving. In fact, as of yesterday, she is only using 70% of the ventilator. We hope to see that number continue to decrease until they can remove it.

They began giving her nutrition through a feeding tube. She is handling it well. This is good news! Our prayers are being answered. She is gaining strength each day. It may be in small increments, but it is trending in the right direction. They are also lowering the sedation, meaning she responds and opens her big beautiful eyes when she hears voices.

And a small shoutout to Steve Jobs! The ICU nurses are using iPads to allow family members to Facetime with Jackie. It is wonderful that we can see her and speak to her. She may not be able to verbally respond, but we know she hears us. It is such comfort to the family, especially my brother Rick. And, I know it is of great comfort to Jackie to hear her loved ones.

I do believe in Christmas Miracles! I believe in the power of prayer. I have immense gratitude for all of you who have opened your hearts in prayer for sweet Jackie. Christmas Miracles do happen and we are all bearing witness. We are confident that she will pull through this, getting stronger every day.

Much love to all of you, my prayer warriors!