January 17th, 2026

9:15pm

Ruth’s replacement PICC line install procedure went well last night. The doctor who did it was very skilled and managed to get it into her jugular, even with all her swelling. As we’ve been discovering though, her neck swelling has been putting kinks in the new PICC line, which leads to a very high risk of the backflow blood clotting and clogging it permanently.

We ended up still doing her ventilator test today. She didn’t do great, but she made a passing score—for now. She has another test in 45 minutes, more throughout the night, and a final trial before she is allowed to leave the hospital. Please pray that she is able to keep her blood numbers good enough to make the transfer happen tomorrow morning, as we would like to get this heart surgery done before worse things start happening as a result of the PDA.

Pretty much all the doctors and nurses know at this point that we and many others are praying for Ruth. There have been several times when we’ve been told that there was a good chance she wasn’t going to make it, to which we always replied “Well, we will keep praying.” And God has preserved her life. Now the doctors and nurses are the ones recommending prayer. In this case, we need her blood tests to stay good enough for a transfer. “Keep praying!” was what the doctor told me before I left this evening.

Pray for Ruth! And pray that God will continue to magnify Himself through her life.