Friends and Family, 

   most of you have already heard that Paul has been in the hospital since December 20th. he has had some major setbacks from a procedure he had done a little over a month ago. While Paul, Ginger and Helena were visiting family and friends in Oklahoma, He had to be rushed to the hospital for blood clots. All of the updates I have attached down below. We all know how expensive medical bills add up, as well as Paul not being able to work, along with being displaced in another state. I wanted to give family and friends an opportunity to be a blessing to the Cookson family financially. If you know Paul and Ginger at all, you know that they would give you the shirt off their back and if you know Paul Cookson at all, you know he will be the first one to cheer you on, to reach out in anyway he can to help no matter how small or large the need may be. We love you Paul and Ginger!!! ❤️🙏
 

Daily updates on Paul
12.20.23
Hi everyone. This is ginger. I wanted to let you know that Paul has a few blood clots that made their way to his heart and lungs and is literally fighting for his life right now. This all started yesterday morning at 9:00 am. He coded 4 times yesterday between 10:00 and 1:00. Things have improved some in the last 12 hours, but the clots are still there. They can only do so much for him in the condition he’s in and because he had major surgery a month ago. We are in the cardiac ICU at the same hospital on the same floor 2 rooms down from where my mother was 7 months ago. Talk about bizarre!!  Please be praying for Paul and I, and for the doctors and nurses to make the right decisions at such a critical time.  Thank you 🙏

12.21.23
Thank you all for your prayers!! 
Update from today. 
The blood clots in Paul’s lungs have dissipated (awesome!), but there is still a clot in his heart and one in his leg. They are going to leave them and hope that the blood thinner will break them up eventually. Paul isn’t strong enough right now for them to use suction to get them out. 
They are starting to wean him off the 4 blood pressure medicines he is on so there will be less damage to his liver and kidneys. He had a procedure today to put in an ECMO to help his right ventricle rest and hopefully eventually shrink back down to normal size. It’s enlarged because of how hard it was pumping blood due to the clots. The procedure went well (praise God!) AND he still has a long way to go. He will be sedated as long as he is hooked up to this machine. They’re thinking maybe a week?  Not sure what happens after that. Continued prayers would be amazing. We appreciate you all so much!

12.22.23
Paul has had a good day today!  He has exceeded the doctors’ expectations, which is so like him because he likes to win 😉
They’re successfully weaning him off his blood pressure meds, which is amazing, and the clot in his heart is gone!
He is on paralytic medication and is sedated so he will stay still.  This will help him heal and it will keep everything in place. Now it’s just waiting, healing and watching him closely. He has at least two nurses with him most of the time, so he is being well taken care of. The nurses and doctors have been fabulous!  We so appreciate all your prayers and support.

12.23.23
I’m happy to report Paul’s had another good day today!
They lowered his blood pressure meds again and they took him off the dialysis machine 🥳
Now they just watch to make sure the kidneys are functioning fully. 
He had lots of fluid in his left lung, but they were able to remove it this morning.  They’ve also taken him off the paralytic medicine this evening, but he is still heavily sedated. Doctors are very pleased with his progress.
The prayers are working and we can feel all the love pouring in from everyone, even from afar, so thank you so much!!

12.24.23
Paul is continuing to astound his doctors at how well he’s doing. He’s totally off one of the blood pressure meds and still being weaned off the other three. They think they’ll be taking him off the ECMO machine Tuesday, so once that’s gone he’ll be way less sedated and we’ll be able to see how he’s doing neurologically; if he’ll respond in various ways. 
His liver function numbers are continuing to go back towards normal, and they’re still watching his kidney function. There are still lots of balancing acts going on between what needs to happen and what they can give him (and not throw something else off), but his surgeon is the mastermind and is constantly assessing and tweaking. He has been truly amazing!  
Happy Christmas Eve to everyone 🎄

12.25.23
Today things are going well but they are a little concerned because he hasn't woken up at all yet. As of about an hour ago they took him off all sedation medication in hopes that he will start waking up. I think it's because he's sensitive to medication that makes him sleepy, and he's had A LOT of that, so it's probably going to take him longer to come around. 
Tomorrow's going to be a big day. They're going to do an echocardiogram to check the size of the right side of his heart, and they also want to do some testing of brain function before they do much else.
If both things look good then they'll remove the ECMO machine. 
Making great progress and still a long way to go. We appreciate the thoughts and prayers so much!!
Thank you all!

12.26.23
Paul had a great night again last night. They were able to take him off all blood pressure meds! 🥳
He has fluid in and around both lungs so they are going to put a drain in for one and possibly both. The echocardiogram showed that his heart was looking good, so he will probably come off the ECMO machine later today/tonight. 
He has shown some signs of life (wiggling his toes, moving his hands a little, one cough last night) so that is enough for the surgeon to know he’s still with us 🥳. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

12.27.23
He's waking up more today, which is good.  They had to put him back on dialysis last night because he’s peeing well but his numbers on his kidneys are getting a little worse. They put drains in both sides of his chest yesterday to drain fluid and blood from around his lungs. 
They’re concerned about the amount of blood that was there. They had to give him 4 units of blood last night and two more this morning. They just drained his lungs today and got all the mucus and fluid out. After a second chest X-ray it doesn’t look much different than before they drained his lungs, so they are going to operate at noon today to figure out where the blood loss is coming from and to clear the area by his left lung out. He’s been moving around more this morning. Mostly because he’s uncomfortable, but now he's sedated again. Probably a good thing. 
Please pray for wisdom for the surgeon in the decisions he’ll have to make during surgery, and for strength for Paul. Thank you all 🙏