Happy Monday

Today the sky is overcast. It's actually a nice day out. It's not as hot as it's been getting although it's a bit humid. Granted not mid-west or east coast humid, but for me humid none the less. After the trauma of the weekend I'd never thought I'd say I'm glad to be at work.

Yesterday on the way to the hospital I called a few prayer warriors to lift up Wendy. This morning Milton shared with me the opposition he was getting in trying to take my call and hear me. He was at a dinner with people from about four different churches. After we spoke he prayed for Wendy. He said when he hung up he thought, "I don't really know these people. The family can just pray in the car on the way home." He realized that this was NOT what God would have him do so he immediately got everyone's attention and asked if there were any prayer warriors in the house. Everyone stood up and gathered around and they had intercession for Wendy, Will and the circumstances surrounding her seizure. The host of the dinner later told him that moment changed the entire mood of the gathering. One moment everyone was in their groups (clicks) and the next they were unified under the Spirit.

Milton shared that one of the things the Lord showed him during this was that if God's favor is on a person there is nothing that can stand in HIS way or HIS plan for that person. Hallelujah!

I also wanted to share with you Sue's email from today:

Dear Ones:

I am weary, so very weary. I look out at the lawn and think I better get out there soon and mow, no not today, maybe tomorrow.

For about 2 weeks I have been having the words of a song playing over and over in my head, the words are. " The Voice of TRUTH tells me a different story, the Voice of TRUTH says, 'do not be afraid'. The Voice of TRUTH says, 'this is for My Glory', I will listen and believe the Voice of TRUTH." I will cling to those words, moment by moment. (My note: This song is by Casting Crowns.)

If God is for us who can be against us.

Last night after the call about Wendy I felt so defeated, so under it. Then those words started again in my head. "The Voice of TRUTH" She gave so much of herself when she was here. Whatever needed to be done, whether she liked it or not she did it with no complaint. Weeding, mowing, weed whacking, driving, getting up very early to drive to the hospital, putting on a smiling face no matter what the circumstance, lifting us up, decorating her Dad's hospital room with Congratulations on his last day of treatment, cleaning, etc. etc. Whatever we needed, she was there. Now, bless her heart, she is the one under attack and we can't even be there for her, but we can pray and I know you will also.

Russ seems fine today & had a good day yesterday. The new antibiotic seems to be working, he is able to take it without having an upset stomach. He still tires very easily, but I see improvement each day. We're still having trouble trying to find things he can eat. I don't know what the problem is: taste or unable to swallow right or what, he can't figure it out either. A neighbor made him some delicious soup but he choked on it last night and up it came. No more of that soup. He will still eat some I made him. I will try a protein shake today.

Loving you all. Russ and Sue

Not so Easy

My easy Sunday was blown away at around 4:00 when I got a call from Will letting me know that Wendy just had a seizure. I headed over to the hospital so he would have some support. She had been watching a movie with the kids when she fell asleep. She had the seizure basically in her sleep. The kids thought she was teasing when Zach finally had the presence of mind to tell Kendall to go get Will.

Wendy was in extreme pain from her left shoulder. It turns out she broke her shoulder bone during the seizure. The CT scan came back showing nothing wrong. It's important to note that she had just come back last week from three weeks with her mom & dad in Minnesota. Her dad is Russ (see Russ Perkins' Update to the right) who we have been praying for during his struggles with cancer. He's had a very rough time of it the last several weeks. Today he just took a turn for the better finally.

Wendy's daughter, CaliLyn, is visiting with her dad in Oregon. She will be back mid-August. Wendy is not going to tell her anything until she gets back. She has a rough enough time being away from home for two months that Wendy didn't want to make the last three weeks any harder.

Please keep Wendy's healing in prayer. The ER doc advised her that she can't drive for six months. The only one who can lift this will be the neurologist. She also needs to see an ortho for her shoulder blade break. The ER doc said they will probably let it heal naturally (w/o surgery), but the ortho will determine that.

Easy Like Sunday

Church was good today! I was very glad to be back in the house of the Lord! I picked up Arby's on the way home 'cause I'm so wiped from going back to the JOB this week. As planned, today was an Easy Like Sunday and Scully has no problem when I tell her we aren't doing anything today.



That doesn't leave much room for me on the couch, but I've been much more comfy in the fetal position since my surgery anyway.

First Day Back

I now remember my surgery all over again! Holy Cow! Sitting up in an office chair all day really is no fun ~ even more than I knew before. ugh! I am wiped out from my first day back. I didn't move around the office a lot as I knew I couldn't, but even just the being upright and scrunching my abdomen all day was tiring. It will build up strength in time, but I'm really looking forward to the weekend!

Saturday my friend and I are planning on going to see the Dark Knight! I love Batman! Beyond that, the rest of the day should be a day of rest. I'm going for "easy like Saturday and Sunday." With Paul & Vickie on vacation I will have to do some watering, but it's not that much. Vickie asked one of our neighbors to help out with the front. Barb had offered so we took her up on it this time.

Not so Easy Like Sunday...

I had planned to go back to my church this Sunday. Right before I got dressed I got a major dizzy spell. It relaxed a bit when I sat down and drank some water. I got up and got dressed. When I walked my stuff out to the car it hit again. I came back in and sat down again and it was appearant to me that driving myself the 15 or so miles to church wasn't happening. It's weird 'cause I haven't had any dizzyness from my surgery. I'm not taking any meds.

I walked over to Paul & Vickie's to have them pray for me. Paul said he was concerned that I would drive to church like I was. I told him I'd decided not to go, but thought it was important that I have them pray for me before they left for church. Vickie said I should join them at their church. I figured that was a great idea. I'm glad I went. It was a good service. The dizzyness totally left me. I did feel a bit wiped out that day so I came home and took it easy most of the day.

The other thing is I started my cycle again on the 17th. I wasn't due until the 28th. I thought that was weird, but again I'm having no pain so I count the surgery a success. I had my six week doc appointment today. He said my uterus is down to normal size now. That's very exciting! He said just to keep track of my cycles and if they don't normal out or if I have concerns to give him a call. I also had him take a look at the place where the one surface stitch was. It had gotten really read last week and a little pussy. I removed the stitch and it started healing. He said it's normal that it can get irritated, but it looks fine now.

What's not exciting is I have to go back to the job tomorrow. (I could do this not working thing full time!) Vickie doesn't think I'm ready to go back ~ especially after Sunday. I told her I'm just gonna take it slow and see how it goes. I saw Joe when I was at their church and let him know that I stilll couldn't wear jeans or pants. It puts too much pressure and also it irritates the surgery site. So, I'm continuing to live in sports shorts. I have a few pairs of U of A shorts Lesli got me several years ago. One is still new and I can't wear it 'cause the elastic still works, but the other three I just use the draw strings and they stay loose on my abdomen.

Alpaca Is Backa

The people with the alpacas are interested in the house again. Appearantly, they didn't give up on the permit from the city and are now able to have the animals here. They put their house on the market. Although, it didn't sound like they put in an offer again this time. Last time they had said their neighbors were interested in purchasing their home. Also, Christine (the realtor) said their home is an unremarkable tract home and they are listing it high for the area where they are selling. If this works out they want Scully and me to stay.

I'm planning to go out for a bit today. I'm going to go to get gas (this may be a shock since it was still in the 3's when I last purchased it) and then I'll go by Wally World for a few minutes. I'm planning on doing a little bit each day for the next few days since I start back at work on Wednesday. I may also swing by Lowe's to pick up some ant killer. It's better I do those today as Saturday's are mad houses. We'll see. My brief stop at the market Tuesday was more than enough for me.

Sunday my outing will be to church. I like the fact that I can listen live to my service on the internet so I only missed last Sunday when I was in Portland. I could have hunted it down on the radio up there, but I wasn't out of bed yet. I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends there!

To Date

Sorry it's been over a week since my last update. I had a biz conference in Portland. The conference was great, but the pain of sitting all those hours wasn't so great. I'm scheduled to go back to work on the 23rd. I'm not sure I'm ready to go back, but it's time. If I spend much more time off I may never want to go back (as if I really want to go back now).

I drove my car for a while yesterday. The motor was dead so Paul jumped it for me. He told me I needed to drive it around to fully charge the battery. I just took some back roads to avoid traffic. It wasn't very comfy sitting up like that.

I went to the market last night. I was out of bread and milk so I had nothing to make breakfast or sandwiches with yesterday. I put on my jean shorts which proved that I still can't wear jeans or anything like that. I'm existing in sport shorts. I'm going to go to Wally World to pick up some inexpensive undies. I normally wear bikinis, but they hit right on the incision. This is gradually reintroducing me to society.

What a Pain

I've been struggling with ulcer issues for a little over a week. Thursday night culminated into such extreme pain that I was crying hysterically. About 10:15 that night I went to Paul & Vickie's to get help. I was in so much pain that I couldn't think straight. Vickie came out to the living room and placed her hand over mine and spoke with me. Because I was in so much pain and crying I'm not sure everything she asked or said, but it was calming. When I calmed down the pain had subsided. She asked if it would help if I slept in one of their recliners. I didn't know if it would help, but I did know that it was a smart idea if the pain started up again. I didn't sleep great that night, but the pain hasn't come back at all since then.

God is our healer. I believe He sometimes uses others to facilitate that. In this circumstance I think He either healed me for my obedience to get help (I'm not very good at asking for help from people when I need it ~ that's a learned behavior I'm not going into here). Or He used Vickie's touch to bring healing. Either way, I know He healed me. God is good!

The Ultimate Gift

Okay, if you've never seen this movie it's a must see. I'm not gonna tell you about it here because you can go to imdb and watch a trailer if you want to know more about it. Vickie just loaned it to me this morning. Normally I read during the day and just turn on videos while I'm eating and at night. I turned this on during breakfast and couldn't turn it off. I just finished watching it. I'm gonna log onto one of my partner stores now and order it ~ it's that good!

As for an update: I am three days into my cycle and having no additional pain! WOO HOO! I can't tell you how happy this makes me considering how unbearable the pain had become. I'm so glad to see the results of the surgery so quickly! Now I just need to finish healing from the surgery and I'll be restored to health. God is good and His timing is perfect.

Tonight

I spent quite a bit of time upright today. With going back to work impending for Monday I thought that I needed to start spending more time sitting. Tonight I'm not feeling so great. So much so that I actually took a pain pill. I haven't taken anything since the week after I got out of the hospital. I feel good now, but that's because of the drugs. I'm gonna head to bed and pray for a good nights sleep (which I'm still not having). I spoke with the doctors' office and they are not releasing me back to work until the 23rd now. I have my appointment on the 22nd in the afternoon. He will examine my uteris and schedule an ultrasound. I'm actually glad for the longer time off since I'm still moving really slowly and not able to sit up for long periods of time.