It’s 7:44pm and I have to be brief. I write this for your information and for prayer.

Over the last couple of day’s the crackle in Annie’s breathing has increased severely. It’s so awful today that one can’t help but cough on Annie’s behalf because the tickling rasp is so enduring and irritating; every inhalation and exhalation she takes and makes I can feel the deep wheezy clicking in the base of my own throat forcing me to cough vicariously.

The hospice doctors spent a good half an hour assessing Annie and contrary to our personal preference, the best care they can offer at this point is to refer Annie to the hospital so that she can have the IV antibiotic meds as part of the continuous palliative care package that the hospice desires to provide. Before the second doctor’s assessment we steeped the snap decision we would need to make in prayer. While our personal preference is to avoid the hospital, our prayerful response is to accept the Lord’s loving will and follow Him there. The hospice has assured us that Annie is still ‘their’ patient and they have kept Annie’s room at the hospice for her. The hope is that after a few days back at the Acute Medical Unit – where there is access to antibiotic IV meds and a larger range of breathing apparatus – once Annie’s breathing stabilises she’ll be able to get back to her room at the hospice.

We are praying that the same Lord who cut a path through the mighty Red Sea, might carve a path of peace through the often chaotic, humid and noisy Acute Medical Unit. Annie’s greatest concern is that she’ll be in for a few days of sleepless, noisy nights. But we have given this over to the Lord and now ask and trust Him for grace and faith for the next hour by hour.

The ambulance has just picked Annie up while I drop Milo off (the hospital is far less hospitable towards animals in the ward than the hospice!) and then after I post this I’ll be back to Annie’s new hospital bedside.

I did just this minute receive a call to tell me that AMU is full at the moment and Annie is now waiting in the Accident and Emergency ward until a bed becomes available.

Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” – Luke 9:58

Happy to be where He sees fit,

R&A