Menengitis!

When I last wrote, I was hoping to go to bed, sleep away the pain and awaken feeling better the next morning. That didn't happen. After only an hour or so, I woke Richard up and had him take me to the ER. I was in so much pain I could not hold still. I must have looked awful because I was taken to a room immediately and placed in isolation.

The spinal tap confirmed I had menengitis, but in addition to the expected head, neck and back pain, my legs were in agony. Not crampy, but as if the muscles were literally being torn apart. Mercifully, they put me under, just below the conscious level. I was in and out of it until Monday when I began to feel dramatically better. Folks were obviously praying!

I was then moved out of ICU into an isolation room on a medical floor. By then I only needed traditional pain managemet meds and by Tuesday afternoon, I was off drugs altogether except for the massive doses of IV antibiotics flowing into my one good vein.

That vein was a specific answer to prayer. I have awful veins, so I had prayed on the way to the hospital, "Lord, please let me have one good vein..." And it was a fantastic vein that held up to a large bore canula. Never before had that vein behaved thus. My arms are covered with bruises where the nurses had tried to tap my pitiful venous system for blood samples to test. But the "one good vein" held strong throughout my hospital stay, and the nurse and I rejoiced and enthusiastically praised the Lord as she removed the canula when I prepared to depart for home.

I met several great believers in the hospital and was able to pray and praise God with them. There was no Bible in my quaranteened quarters, so one aide went on a Bible quest returning with a brand new Gideon King James Version Bible, bright red and positively beautiful. I was having some trouble seing so Richard read to me. I love his voice and it's even better filled with the Word.

So, I am home and full of joy. God has brought healing and now I just need to regain my strength. To protect me from picking up any bugs in my weakened condition, I am supposed to "be a hermit" for the next two weeks, so will miss church this week and next... but when I do go, it will be in our new church building. I can't wait... but I will.

Richard knows me so well and realizing I feel really cooped up, invited me to go for a drive. We never left the car, but drove along back roads until neither of us knew where we were or had been. It was a great diversion. The air was fresh and clear with just a slight breeze. The car seemed to float along the byways we found and we just enjoyed chatting and being alive together. A great day!

Social Whirl

One of the things my therapists worked with me on in California was reestablishing and active social life. Before my last accident, I was busy and involved and led a very interactive life as well as worked 60+ hours a week. I loved it.

Nothing turns one off to social interaction like not knowing what's going on. Short term memory problems and my hearing impairment combine to derail my interpersonal trains. early on. Something like that is embarrassing not only for me but for people around me who cannot underatand that I can be brilliant one minute and not know where I live the next.

God has responded to my prayers and willingness to step out in faith. I was at a meeting last night, a Red hats pool party today and a Bible Study tonight. I was too disinhibited at the meeting (not uncommon with brain injured folks) and spoke too loudly and too often yet never really got said what I wanted to get across... but there will be other chances... or there won't. God is at the helm and will tend to the outcome. My job is to trust Him amd place myself completerly in His hands. How freeing that is!

Feeling more connected with our new church family is also a big thing. I love the children of God, but I need to make a affot to go to functions where I don't know others and often must attent alone due to Richard's work. Before my brain injury that was never a problem. I assimilated quickly and loved every minute of it.

Yhen there is teh problem of fatigue. I usually cannot got yo more than onne public function in a dahy. Today, I did three! I made it through all without "flooding," getting lost in a conversation, or having to leave to take a nap. I feel pretty accom,plished about all that and will push the envelope harder. God is indeed GOOD!

Good Grill

My Father's Day gift to Richard was a grilling cookbook and a grill cleaning tool. Since we don't have a grill, he got the hint that he would pick out one which would complete the gift package. After a tour of Sam's Club and Wal-Mart, we found one that was on sale (but still sort of pricey) and now it sits in the pickup bed awaiting assembly.

Richard does not cook. He uses the George Foreman grill granddaughter Daisy gave us one year to grill frozen "Bubba" hamburger patties, but that's about the extent of his culinary activity... except at the grill. He likes to grill.

He looked at the really cheap ones, but I thought we should go with stainless steel and one with a burner and thermometer, etc. I want to encourage his forays into the manly art of grilling, plus I can see that this grill will keep the kitchen cooler and cleaner.

Oh, you're thinking the grill was as much a gift for me as it was for him? You'd be right! It's something we'll both enjoy a lot and I didn't want to make the same mistake we made last time. We bought a cheap grill and it was rusty and bent in no time. You couldn't "roast" in it because it wouldn't hold any heat.

Actually, I like cooking with wood or charcoal better than propane, but we both hate the added work and mess, so we are happy with what we bought... It was marked down a full one hundred dollars, so we got a very nice deal on a very good grill. Richard is off work tomorrow, so we'll assemble our new toy and try it out then. I have steaks and roasting ears waiting in the frig.

How very blessed we are. On the way to buy the grill we saw some people walking in the rain carrying Wal-Mart bags. It was a little over a mile from the store and they were soaked. I said a prayer for them and a praise to God for our vehicles. I pray the Lord will constantly remind me of His many blessings and that I may never place the temporal ones above the spiritual. I deserve neither... it is all pure grace! Thank you, Jesus!!

Choices, Good and Not So Good

I woke up late and almost didn't make it to church. I missed the 10 o'clock study but made it to the 11 o'clock service. Yeah, I slept really late! Why? Because I was up nearly all night sorting through the 15,000+ pictures on my hard drive. Poor choice. The project needs doing, yes, but it will take many days and I should have gone to bed early enough to give my rested, full attention to the Lord this morning.

The worship service was wonderful, and I thoroughly enjoyed and was inspired by the sermon... but I was tired and could not focus as well as I should. Because of that, I missed out on the better blessing I'd have received had I been fully there. On the other hand, I made a good choice to get up even though I was very groggy, and rush to get ready for church. I'm glad I went.

One of my granddaughters made a poor choice. She tried to climb from her second story balcony up onto the roof (don't ask why, I have no clue) and she fell. That is a LONG drop and she could have easily been killed or paralyzed. She is in the hospital with broken bones and we are not yet sure if there is a brain injury or any other bad consequence. We are praying she will have no permanent residual problems, and we are praising God she is alive and not a quadraplegic.

This same young lady has also made many good choices. She is a college student and has a bright future to look forward to. We love her and are so proud of her, but not really thrilled about this latest activity! Please keep Rio in your prayers for a speedy recovery and a lesson well learned.

Lost & Found

We had a lovely Easter. Because Richard had to go to work early in the afternoon, we went to a new church with a different meeting time. The music was wonderful, the sermon right on and the people friendly... but most important of all the Spirit of God was in that place.

What a blessing to celebrate the Lord's resurrection with others of like mind and heart. It is so good to be part of the family of God!

As we were getting ready to leave for church, I remembered something I forgot to bring (I don't now recall what) so put my Bible on the roof of the car and ran back into the house. When we got to church I realized the Bible was not with me. After we got home, Richard left for work and I drove back to the church searching for my Bible all along the way. Nothing.

I will miss that Bible. I've written notes in it for several years now and I refer to them often. Also, it had large enough print to read with ease and enough margin space for me to write lots of notes. It was just full of great illustrations and charts, too. Finding another one like it will not be easy since I don't remember it's title or publisher. All I know is that is was NIV.

I am praying for the return of my Bible OR that it be found by someone who will read it and perhaps gain some insight from my notes which the Lord inspired. I know God will put a good outcome to the loss of my Bible.

On the other hand, my Mac is now healthy again. I finally had to erase the hard drive and was able to use my backup to restore everything just fine, not one piece of data lost (that I know of, anyway). Praise God! He is so absolutely cool!

AND I found my long lost feather duster! How about that?! I can't explain this, but it was in the filing cabinet, of all places. I'm truly glad to have it back because Wal-Mart didn't have any like it. This is one of those big brown ones with long, luxuriant feathers... Looks good enough to wear, ha ha. But I am so pleased to have it back and happy the mystery is solved.

Well, I'd better get some sleep. Tomorrow, I need to be well rested as I try to do the taxes. At least, thanks to answered prayer, I won't need to take the Mac to be repaired.