Urgent Prayer Request

Ladies,

Vicki and I are overwhelmed. When I opened the envelope and saw your generosity, I phoned Vicki immediately and told her the good news! We both broke down in tears. God has used you ladies to make a big difference in life of the Boileau family. I am not just referring to the financial gift. I truly do believe that your prayers, along with many other prayer warriors, are the reason we still have a son today.

Besides the medical bills that are starting to come in, we are being pressed financially by the legal system. We have applied for permanent guardianship. (We are not doing this for our good, but for his.) This guardianship is being contested by Jonathan without him really knowing what he is doing. When guardianship is applied for, the court appoints a lawyer to represent Jonathan's "best interests". When his lawyer met with him, Jonathan stated to him that he would like to go home. Because of this statement, the guardianship is being contested. We would like him to come home as well or into some sort of assisted living situation, but he is not ready for either. As I said, Jonathan doesn't even know he is contesting the guardianship, but that is the legal system.

Right now Jonathan is at the nursing home section at the Brown County Mental Health Facility in Green Bay. The staff seem to sincerely care about him and it seems to be the best place for him, for now, but the majority of the people in the nursing home are elderly and he doesn't really have anyone to interact with there. There is also not much for him to do. He is presently being tested and hopefully these tests will result in grants that will help him move on from the nursing home to a more appropriate setting.

Since the beginning of February, Vicki and I have visited him almost every day, although it's getting more difficult to do so because of our busy schedule. He has one on one supervision, and they are just now trying to step up his medication for his illness. They are still concern about him and want to monitor him very carefully

Jonathan can carry on a conversation but does get confused at times. Every weekend we take him out and bring him home for a while. His stay also includes a trip to church. He doesn't always understand everything that is going on at church, but I likes the music and he loves His Lord.

Again, we can't thank you enough. Your support will never be forgotten. It's amazing how God takes care of the needs of His people.

In His Arms,
Phil and Vicki Boileau

PS I pray that God blessed you, once again, with a spiritually enriching retreat.

In a phone conversation with Phil, he mentioned that while Jonathan's condition is not as critical at this point (he has been moved to a mental health facility), he is still being observed for possible convulsions. The family still asks for your prayers during this very difficult time. Jonathan does recognize his family and has expressed his desire to be with the Lord. While his body is undergoing trauma, his soul is certainly being preserved. We ask that the Lord would continue to keep Jonathan as the apple of his eye.

Vicki, Jeremy, and I just got back from the hospital after having a family meeting with the doctors and visiting Jonathan. The meeting went well with the doctors. (We have a better understanding of what happened.)

The good news came in our visit with Jon this morning. For the first time we saw some light in a circumstance that has been pretty dark. Jonathan began communicating with us. He was able to talk. When the doctor asked who was the president, Jon responded, “George Bush”. He did tell the doctor that Bush wasn’t his favorite president. He still likes Abraham Lincoln the best. This is a major breakthrough. He still hasn’t been able to open his eyes, but he is showing progress. Even though he couldn’t see the nurse, he told her she was pretty. I think the nurses would like Jon to stick around a little longer. They enjoy his compliments. At times he becomes a bit delusional with what he says, but right now we are just thankful that he can say anything.

I truly do believe that the drastic changes for the better in such a short time is a result of all the prayers that are being lifted up to our great God. I can’t thank all of you enough. He is not out of the woods, but things do look so much better. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

In God’s Arms Forever,
Phil Boileau

As I begin this letter, Vicki and I are preparing to go to the hospital to visit Jonathan. (Friday is my day off, and out of care and concern, our church and school have given Vicki the day off.) We plan on staying most of the day at the hospital. It is Jonathan’s birthday. He turns 28 today.

First we’d like to thank so many we know and so many we don’t know for being prayer warriors for Jonathan. Our request for prayers for our son has spread wide and far. Many have e-mailed us with comforting and encouraging words. Your prayers are appreciated and we pray they will continue.

Jonathan is presently in intensive care. Yesterday he had the ventilator removed. He is breathing on his own. They kept him in a paralyzed state for quite a while because they were concerned with another spike in his temperature. They also did not want him to suffer any more convulsions (which they feared would start again when they tried to bring him out). Each day they have tried to bring him back by taking away the sedative medicine. Yesterday he was able to respond to Vicki and my voice by turning his head toward us. We weren’t sure if he was actually understanding us or just responding to the sound. His eyes would not open, but there was some body movement. He has also developed blood clots in his arms.

We just received a call from the doctor and he told us that Jonathan seems to be responding to some of his commands. His eyes still haven’t opened fully, but I think he is trying. It is so hard to tell. We have been told that there might be some brain damage. We do not know to what extent. We also don’t know the effect his condition had on his muscles. They did not know, if he did recover, if he would be able to walk or function in a normal way. There is no certainty that Jonathan will live through this ordeal. As I said there are still so many questions and very few answers because of this rare condition.

Again, our family is so thankful for the caring Christian community that is lifting our concerns and worries to our Lord in prayer. We are thankful to our God who knows what is best for Jonathan and will make this crisis turn into a blessing. Right now we need to trust our God more than ever. May God give us His patience and strength. May we cling to the promise He made in Isaiah 41:13 – “I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear; I will help you.’” We have not given up, even though we have had moments of discouragement and many tears have been shed. We know that with God all things are possible.

I wanted to give a different gift to Jonathan for his birthday. It’s a gift that has actually helped me. I know he loves Christian music so I expressed myself to him through song. The song is called “I Will Be Near”. The song pretty much sums up how I feel right now.

I Will Be Near by Phil Boileau February 7, 2008 – Dedicated to Jonathan

Chorus:
Jon, can you hear me? Jon, can you see?
I will keep loving until you are free
Of all the worry – Of all the fear
No matter what happens, I will be near

Through all the heartache – through all the pain
There’s a voice calling, “I know your name
I know your laughter. I know that cry
That comes from your spirit and reaches on high”

Chorus

Do not be troubled by what lies ahead
Your future is safe by the blood that was shed
You have the peace that knows no end
In Jesus your Savior – He’s your best friend

Bridge
Cling to the old rugged cross where His love will never be lost
For if He could speak today these are the words He’d say

Chorus

No Matter what happens, I will be near
Keep praying and feel free to share this with others so they can pray too.

In His Arms,
Phil Boileau

Everyone,

I'm going to sum this up as quickly as I can. Please bear with me. Hopefully this will make sense. (I'm pretty tired as I type.)We need your prayers. Jonathan had been diagnosed with schizophrenia for about a year now. There are times in which he believes he has no control over his actions and words. He talks to himself a lot. Lately things have gotten worse. He started swearing and hitting himself. One moment he would be acting erratically and the next he would be calm. Last Sunday he had a bad episode. He was yelling, kicked in some cabinets, etc. We had to bring him to the crisis center. He had another episode there and they determined that it would be in his best interest to have him stay at Bellin Psychiatric (involuntary entrance). He had to be cuffed by police and brought to the clinic.

While he was at the clinic, they tried to help him with medications, etc. He stayed at the clinic from Sunday to this past Friday. They thought he was good enough to be released. They gave me a prescription that they said would help him. I brought him home and he slept pretty much for 20 hours straight. Vicki gave him his medication, then he went back to bed.

In the evening, he was acting bizarre. He was not responsive to us and we knew something was seriously wrong. We called 911. When they tried to take him, he fought them. They had three people trying to hold him down. He fought them the whole way. They gave him a sedative that they said would put him down in 5 minutes. It didn't. They had to strap him down to the gurney and take him to emergency. When he arrive at emergency, they tied him down to the bed but he kept fighting it. They gave him sedatives 3 more times and that still didn't slow. He was getting worse. His heartbeat went up to 214 times a minute and his temperature rose to 107. The doctors told us he might not make it. Vicki, Jeremy, and myself read Scripture and prayed.

The doctors knew that if they didn't get his temperature down quickly, he would be gone. They did all kinds of things (ice blanket, etc.) while the doctors tried to figure out what the problem was. The doctors finally thought they figured it out - neuroleptic malignant syndrome. This is a rare reaction to the medication he was receiving. None of the doctors had ever seen this before. It's something you would see on the TV show "House". In other words, the medicine we thought was helping him was actually killing him.

The only way they could hold him still was to put him in a paralyzed state and use a ventilator. With antibiotics, etc. they were able get the temperature down. They brought him to intensive care. The doctors told us there was nothing else we could do and encouraged us to go home. We finally got home and back to bed by 5 AM. We went back to the hospital at 11 AM this morning. He still is on the ventilator and is out of it in the intensive care. His temperature was down but just before we left the hospital, his temperature went back up to 102. We will know more tomorrow. If things get better, they hope to take out the ventilator and see if they can get a response from him.

This has been hard on our family, yet I know that he is in God's hands. When I visited him just before he was going to be released from Bellin, I asked him if he wanted me to read some Scripture to him. He said sure and wanted me to read Psalm 4. He remembered the Psalm from a song that Lynette wrote that he listens to. It was an awesome psalm for his situation. I had trouble holding back the tears as I read it. He also told me the only times he felt at peace was when he listened to Christian music and read Scripture.

Please keep him in your prayers. I believe in the power of prayer - that's why I'm sharing this with you. I'll try to keep you posted. Thanks for being such good friends.

In His Arm,

Phil Boileau