Tim Karcher’s Wife: ‘Today we can start moving forward again’

ABC's Martha Raddatz with an update on the condition of Lieutenant Colonel Tim Karcher: This update comes from LTC Tim Karcher’s wife Alesia this morning at 4:48 am. Tim had a difficult night, but I just spoke to Alesia and she said the doctors say he is improving a bit, although he is still intubated. Alesia is now putting updates for family, friends and supporters on caringbridge.org.  Go to the website and type in Timkarcher (one word) and you can see Alesia’s journal updates, and leave your responses.   From Alesia Karcher July 10, 2009 4:48 am I was actually updating our journal last night when I received a call from his floor nurse to come back.  Tim was in respiratory distress.  Yesterday had been okay but not as good as the prior days.  He received 2 more units of blood yesterday.  His breathing had become more labored and his abdomen a little more distended as the day progressed.  He had started to use O2 by late afternoon and had not had that for the past couple days.  Tim's RN monitored the situation closely and called in the MD.  I did leave the hospital, not feeling altogether comfortable.  Tim still likes me to go back to the Mologne House by dark.  I know, we've been married a long time, but he still likes knowing I'm somewhere safe at the end of the day.  Once the protector, always the protector.  Tim has been intubated and moved back into the ICU.  MD is currently working on the fluid in his lungs and treating for a possible blood clot in the lung.  They will do a scan this am but have to coordinate with dialysis as his kidneys are not working well enough to excrete the dye.  Oh, so many things to balance.  They are also treating him with a course of antibiotics for poss sepsis.  Rest assured, prior to being intubated, Tim was aware and calm.  He states he is just riding along with God's plan for his life.  Now that we've had a small step back, today we can start moving forward again.