Tuesday, August 19, 2008, Barrow, Alaska, 8:28 a.m.~

Dear Journal~

Mattaq, Sikik's brother, here.  Thought I'd let you know how my sister, who is in the hospital, is faring, since I last wrote a few days ago.

Things are still iffy, uncertain at best.  Doctors don't know when she will die, or how.  Sikik is no better, yet no worse; no news is good news, as they say.  Just spoke with the hospital there, and they said that my sister had an easy, uneventful night.  She's resting comfortably.

Sikik is still in the Intensive Care ward, where she is being treated for failing kidneys and her anemia. They are giving her dialysis and blood transfusions.  I don't know if she is in any pain, but one of my brothers staying there with her says that they have her knocked out, so she doesn't upset any of the monitors or tubes going in and out of her.

I hate this, this waiting, not knowing.  I know we will eventually have to make funeral plans, arrangements for our dying sister, but for now everything is on hold.  I do want her to be around a little while longer, yet I know we can't prevent her death from happening.  That's probably the hardest thing we are facing right now.  We don't want to let go, but we don't want her to suffer any more than she already has.

I plan on writing Louisiana Sandusky a note later on, after I come home from the hospital.  She wrote me a beautiful, most encouraging letter, telling us that her family is praying for a miracle for Sikik.  I will have to thank her for being so thoughtful in our time of need.

Well, I am going to shower, get ready to go to Anchorage.  Somehow, I feel that Sikik needs me to be there; I want to be there, in case she should happen to pass onto the next life.  It will be hard, but I think this is the right thing to do.

I will be writing in a few days, to see if anything changes.  Right now, things look uncertain, and we don't know what's going to happen from one moment to the next.

Just continue to pray for us, pray for our dying sister, pray that something happens to where she will recover from this latest medical crisis.  We would greatly appreciate it!

~Mattaq Eegeesiak. :(