We are on day 6 of being inpatient at MD Anderson. There is a lot to update. Wednesday and Thursday were extremely hard. On Wednesday, they did a scope and what they said would be a 10-minute procedure turned into an hour and a half. His bile ducts were extremely constricted and blocked, so they added in another stent (this one plastic) in his bile duct to help with the drainage. The surgeon said it was quite challenging, and after multiple attempts to dilate the duct, they thought they had finally achieved the result they envisioned.

Thursday night was a night of extreme pain. He has always had a very high pain tolerance, but that night his pain was unbearable (on a 1-10 scale, he was at a 9). We weren’t sure if the procedure stirred things up or if it was just part of the process. Thankfully, they have gotten his pain down to a 5 with oral, as well as IV, pain medication. Yesterday afternoon they decided to remove the last stent. They felt it was doing more harm than good, and his bilirubin numbers were still not coming down (which was the main objective).

Over the last month or so, he has been dealing with extreme bloating in his abdomen, which has also caused a lot of discomfort. On Thursday, they removed 3.6 liters of fluid, which has definitely brought him some relief. They are testing the fluid for any signs of infection, but he is on preventive antibiotics just in case.

Rex's weight has plummeted down to 147lbs. He hasn't been able to eat solid foods since Thanksgiving. He is hungry, but the digestive pain is too much to handle. When he does eat, it is broth, jello, or popsicles (all sugar-free). We are going to try solid foods little by little and pray that he can tolerate them again. We know it is vital for him to keep his weight up. He still has signs of internal bleeding, and because of that, they have stopped the blood thinner, and he is at high risk for clots/strokes. Please pray that he does well and doesn't suffer any more strokes. His speech has returned around 90% from the last strokes he had. His peripheral vision has not returned since the first one.

Dr. Wolff came in late Thursday morning and had a tough conversation with us. Things will more than likely not get better. Especially where the pain is concerned. If they can’t manage it with oral medicine, they will have to administer it through an IV. That means either inpatient palliative care at MDA or hospice care at our apartment here in Houston. Our number one goal is to make sure he is comfortable, and we will do whatever is necessary to make sure that happens. Even if things turn and we have to go the hospice route, only God knows how long that will go. It could be days, weeks, or months. We just don't know. But we do know that we have today! He is alert and smiling, as always. His spirits are good, and we are thankful that his pain is manageable right now!

But there is another "God Story" here. As we were discussing what to share in this post, he asked me what picture I was going to use. I asked him which one he would like for me to use. He said he didn't know, but he wished he had one of us being hugged by Christ. The tears instantly welled up in my eyes. I had just received the file from an artist of a painting I had asked her to do for me a week or so ago. It was a picture of Rex hugging Christ! I was going to save it to have a print made for him for Christmas, but I knew at that moment... Christ wanted him to have it now. So here it is, attached to this post. I hope you all love it as much as we do.

It’s been a rough week. Lots of praying and lots of tears, but we will never give up on a miracle. We know there will definitely be healing! Whether it's here or with Jesus, but healing will happen!

We love you all!

God is good!