Dennis Update

I wanted to let everyone know what transpired this week-end and today. Dennis’ pain in his operated leg increased significantly over the week-end. The strong pain meds he is on were not giving him the pain relief he needed. I called the dr. this morning. His dr. was out of town so we had to see someone else. He thinks that Dennis has a hematoma around the knee. He is suppose to rest his leg. He now has it in an immobilizer to ease the pain as well as continuing with pain meds. He will see his surgeon on Wed. Pray that his leg will start feeling better again. Pray that I will have the strength I need to take care of him.

Christmas Eve

Christmas this year was different. It was the first year without my dad. That was tough enough but there were some other circumstances that made it difficult. Dennis had knee replacement surgery on Dec. 19. He came home on Dec. 22. Because of this surgery and the way he was feeling we could not go to my sister's where the rest of the family was gathering. My son, Mark, had some sort of health crises when he was at work on Wed. (Dec 24). He fell to the ground shaking and had a terrible headache. A customer called 911 and they took him by ambulance to the hospital. I knew I couldn't get there because I couldn't leave Dennis. I was ok with that because my friend Dannie went to the hospital. When they thought Mark might be bleeding out in the brain, I knew I had to be there. I called my dear friends, Herb and Kathy, they drove to our house. Herb stayed with Dennis and Kathy took me to the hospital. It was snowing and sleeting at times. The roads were horrible but our friends were there when we needed help. I am so glad that they were able to minister to us that way. Isn't God good. I got to the hospital and waited with Mark for the results of the CT scan of his brain. He was not bleeding like they thought. Thank you, Jesus. They then wanted to do a spinal tap to make sure it wasn't meningitis. I could not be in the room when they did that. It was a tough think to do and they had some difficulty. That test was also clear so they figure it was a migraine. He has a following visit on Jan 6. with a neurologist. He has no insurance so I don't know how much this is going to cost him. God will provide.

When we knew we couldn't get to Grand Rapids for family Christmas, we talked to my sister and she postponed it until Jan. 10. My brother and his wife will be visiting so that is a perfect time to have a family Christmas. I can hardly wait to play our family Christmas game. That is another story that will have to wait for another time. Joy, Jeff, and the girls came down from Walled Lake on Christmas day. We had a good day visiting, playing and eating together. I even fixed one of Dennis' favorite meals in hopes of cheering him up a bit. There is always some depression after surgery. We played with the WII and had a lot of fun.

In Honor

In Memory

I have not written in a while. There were a horrific accident on the Wed. before Thanksgiving (Nov 26, 2008). I got a call in the morning from my mother which was unusual because my folks didn't call much. She told me dad had been in a terrible accident and it didn't look good. He was plowing his driveway from the snow that fell the night before. He was on is John Deere 1954 Model 40 tractor. He liked to push snow around but that morning it was not a good outcome. A woman came over the crest of a small hill in front of Dad's house. She must have been going too fast because she could not stop on the slippery road. She hit the tractor hard enough that it broke in two. This was not a small lawn tractor it was a regular farm tractor. Dad hit the pavement. 911 responded and he was so severely injured that they put him on a medflight to Grand Rapids. He never regained conscience He passed away at 6:35 pm. We were with him when they pronounced him dead. He is now singing with the angels. We know he was a child of God. He had put his faith in Christ many years earlier. My dad and mom would have celebrated 62 years of marriage on that Friday. These past few weeks have been the hardest of my life. My entire family is having a hard time with this and the holidays are upon us. We did sigh with relief when we found out that Mom is going to live with my brother. She cannot live alone any longer. Dad was her caregiving. A big job is ahead of us in cleaning out the house and selling things. It will also be a difficult job. There are 5 of us kids. I pray that we can work together to get it all done without fighting.