Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Surgery

We are praising the Lord for his goodness and watch care over Tom. He went through the surgery well. He had some bleeding in the chest that caused concerns and they gave him platelets to help the clotting process. He was in CVICU on Tuesday and part of Wednesday. He then was moved to CICU. (The V for vascular and the latter for Cardiac Care.)

He had some unusual pain late Tuesday (aside from the normal post surgery pain, which in itself is horrific for some). They called the surgeon back to the hospital and ordered some tests to check the chest area for any blood build up or other abnormalities. Everything was fine and they ordered some stronger meds. Late yesterday evening they discovered a "pericardia rub", which is an inflammation of the lining around the heart. They told us that should clear up in a couple of days. He walked a little late evening yesterday and is making good progress.

I thank each of you that has prayed, posted and asked others to pray. It is so comforting!

Hope to talk to you again is a few days.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Back from Vacation

Hello to everyone out in blogland! I missed being able to keep up with all the news out there and interacting with all of you.
We had a wonderful trip to MI and CA visiting family and attending my nephew's wedding.
Our daughter and family have settled in a lovely city of CA and have a few core families to help them with their church planting. They rent a church bldg. on Sundays and Wednesday night. They have much work ahead of them and are happy being in the Lord's will.

We arrived home in the early hours of Wed. and hubby went back to work and the routine began again. I had unpacking, laundry to do, plus a huge stack of mail to go through. The next day I did some outside work on the lawn and weeding the flower beds. Hubby and I retired around 11:00 that night and little did we know that our world was about to change.

He woke me around 1:00 and was in obvious pain and distress. I called the EMS and he was taken to the hospital. A heart cath. was done and the news, frankly blew us away. He had 5 major arteries blocked. All above 90 %. One at 100% that they declare as dead. He did not suffer a heart attack though.
Now we are talking about a man who's heart rate is that of a runner, blood pressure is great, has kept his weight near perfect, and all the testing that they did came back negative. He has taken nutrition for 30 years, to boot and his cholesterol is fine. This is a man who just walked around Disney Land and a neighboring park for 14 hours.

They could not put a stent in any of the arteries and surgery is his only option. They say this can be largely to do with genetics. It does run in his family.

We know our God is sovereign and makes no mistakes and as he faces open heart surgery tomorrow (Tues. 21st) we would appreciate your prayers on his behalf.

I'm not sure when I will post again but I will try to inform you of his progress some time by week's end.

Thanks for your prayers.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

From Dollywood to Hollywood

I'm off again! We have a stop in MI for a family wedding and a rendezvous with CeeKay from Thinkin' of Home & Mimi from Mimi's Garden and then off to CA. We will see our daughter and family that are church planting . They have been there a couple of months now.

Our son-in-law (the pastor) said the door hangers should be ready and we can help canvass the area with info on the church. Exciting times for them.

We can't wait to see them and visit the area. We should be able to go to the ocean, Disney Land, mountains and a few other areas while we are there.

The draw back is lots of miles to travel and lots of switching planes.

Till we meet again in a couple of weeks, take care.
' HAPPY FALL TO YOU'

From one pumpkin to another!!!


A woman was asked by a coworker, 'What is it like to be a Christian?' The coworker replied, 'It is like being a pumpkin.' God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.' This was passed on to me by another pumpkin. Now it's your turn to pass it to other pumpkins. I liked this enough to send it to all the pumpkins in my patch. __________________________________________________