In Need of Your Prayers

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

I can't help but be anxious at the moment, and I fear my prayers alone will not be enough.  I am asking for your prayers as well.  My aunt who has been in the hospital for weeks with ARDS has been having improvements and setbacks.  Her health has been a bit of a roller coaster, and I'm not sure how things are going to end up.  My mother and the rest of my aunt's immediate family are being called in this afternoon at 2:30 to speak with the doctor.  We do not know if this is good news, bad news, or no news at all.  All we can do is pray and hope that my aunt will either respond to the treatments better or they have a better treatment to offer.  I just don't know, so I need your prayers.

HRH also desperately needs your prayers.  I just returned from another vet visit.  She has not been able to urinate at all, so I called the vet last night and he said to bring her in first thing this morning.  Because she is female it is unlikely that she has blockage which could be fatal (that mostly occurs with males).  They were able to get some urine (and sorry if this is TMI), and found no red blood cells, though way too many white blood cells.  The infection has not responded to the treatments or antibiotics she has received.  Therefore, he feels he needs to be more aggressive and run more tests.  The two good things are that there is no visible tumor in the bladder or red blood cells in the urine, which most likely rules out cancer (though not completely because a tumor might be flat and surrounding the bladder).  He will give her IV fluids to help flush out her bladder and inject her with antibiotics.  Once they can fill the bladder, they will draw urine directly from the bladder to get an us contaminated sample to send off (hopefully to Auburn University, one of the nation's best veterinarian schools) to be further tested.  The vet's office will be keeping her for these more aggressive treatments probably until Friday.

If I weren't leaving on my cruise this weekend, I might could rest a little easier, but I hate to be gone a week while my aunt's condition is still so uncertain and while HRH is so sick.  I'm desperately praying for improvements from both so I won't worry so much when I am gone.  I am a worrier, and I can't help but be anxious.  It is taken everything in me not to burst into tears.  I nearly did so in front of the vet today (though I did when I got back in my car), and then again when I talked to my mother about my aunt.  Therefore, I am praying, and I ask that you pray with me.

In the early 20th century, Florence Nightingale, a pioneer of modern nursing, was a believer in the effects of prayer. She wrote, "Often when people seem unconscious, a word of prayer reaches them."  Though studies have often been inconclusive about the power of prayer (really it's according to the source that is consulted), I have faith in God at he will guide us through difficult times.