Update: 7:45 pm

{Note: My dad wrote this on Sunday, the 11th, as an email for our church which he sent, but only now have I been able to post it.}

Dear Friends,

There is no way we can adequately express our gratefulness
to all of you for your love, concern, and prayer to God on
behalf of my mother, Virginia Hastings, over the past 15
days.

At present she is still in the CCU (Coronary Care Unit, or
what is typically known at most hospitals as the Intensive
Care Unit) at the Heart Hospital of Austin. This week her
vital signs have been much more stable than last week,
particularly in comparison to the three days at the
beginning of last week when she was hovering on a thin
line between life and death.

Things are still quite serious as efforts to get her off
the respirator have not been successful so far. As best I
can tell, it appears that the doctors themselves may not
be entirely clear on what they think all of her underlying
health issues are, particularly with the heart and lungs,
though they are excellent physicians and have been trying
hard. The nursing care has been outstanding.

Mom does appear to be making gradual progress toward
getting off the respirator, but it has been a difficult
process. Because she had been on the breathing tube for 10
days, this morning (Friday) she underwent a brief
tracheostomy operation to switch to breathing through an
opening in the lower neck, which under the circumstances
is preferable to the breathing tube for several reasons.

We continue to seek your prayers, particularly for
improvement in her breathing ability. While quite weak,
when awake she is very alert to people and things going on
around her. Having been told of the outpouring of
expressions of concern and prayer for her has in itself
been a very encouraging thing to her. Obviously it has
been for the rest of our family as well.

We thank God for her improvement and we continue to trust
in Him for the outworking of whatever is His will in Mom's
life. And we thank God for all of you who have been such a
blessing as you have continued to uphold us in prayer.

"When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid."
--Psalm 56:3-4 ESV

Pat, for the Hastings family