Friday, August 14 8:30 a.m.

Marie is in the ICU at Memorial Hermann Hospital NE. She has multiple blood clots in both legs. Her blood pressure has stayed borderline low since yesterday. She is also having kidney failure, and they suspect the kidney infection is still occurring.

Her pulminologist spoke with me this morning and said they are doing quite a few tests to see if any clots have gone to her lungs (which might explain the low blood pressure) and are trying to get her kidneys functioning better. She is on a Heparin (blood thinner) drip, three IV antibiotics, and a ton of fluids. Her legs are very swollen. But the echocardiogram showed that nothing's gotten into her heart, and her heart is doing well considering all that's happening.

Yesterday was an amazing day -- Keegan is my hero -- as I was trying to get home from a conference in Atlanta, he rode with her in the ambulance and stayed with her all day until I arrived that night (storms in Houston kept us grounded in Atlanta, so the extra money I spent getting an earlier flight resulted in getting home exactly a half hour earlier than I would have. Oh, well). Marie was the most amazing, though -- and everyone needs to know. Keegan told me later that as she was in incredible pain (worse than the stones, she said), she kept yelling out all her blessings, shouting to God all that she was grateful for.

We believe in prayer. We believe in hope. We ask you to think about Marie and our family -- and all the surrounding struggles we've been facing lately -- with confidence, as we are. Not a blind confidence -- things are very worrisome right now. But with a confidence that nothing is permanent, everything can change in an instant, and Marie and her family are dearly loved by their creator.

Thanks so much.
Tom