Grandma's surgery.

I just wanted to let you know that Grandma's surgery seems to have been successful. I don't really know any details yet. Thanks again for praying ladies! And I'm off to finish my Christmas shopping! I started last night and took a fair chunk out of it! Have a great Friday!!

Please pray for Grandma.

Randal's mom is going in for a major surgery tomorrow(Dec 20th). Please pray that the Lord will have those dr.s hands in His while they are doing the surgery. We don't know the time yet.
Thanks so much!

Here's Grandma.

Christmas -scroll for pictures

Okay...I'll start off on a light note. I think we caught the culprit in the kitchen. I came out to the kitchen yesterday morning and found a mouse in the mousetrap in front of the dishwasher....the bad part---it was alive and caught by the back foot in the trap! I went in and woke up Randal to get rid of the dead mouse for me. {I just realized after 2 days that I typed "DEAD" mouse..it wasn't dead, it was alive...that's why I was getting him to come get rid of it!!!} He used gloves so it couldn't reach around and bite him. Janelle heard me wake up Randal and came out to see the critter. She trailed Randal into the washroom, as he carried the mouse to the toilet....hmmm not a good thing...she cried loudly as the silly mouse swam round and round and round......oh dear....she cried for quite some time. We sat on the couch for quite awhile as I explained the downside of having mice in the house....I think it eventually sunk in when I told her that a boy died in our town from having a mouse in his room that carried the Hantavirus. So I'm hoping that this was the ONLY mouse. It was not the kind of mouse that carries that virus, thank the Lord for that!
Onto other news not so light. My mother in law has been back in the hospital for the last week. As you may have read previously, she had surgery about a month ago to clean out blood clots in her legs. She has now had 16 surgeries on her legs for this reason! The dr decided to do some tests to see why the legs keep clotting up. He's decided that the legs are in bad enough shape that they need to be amputated, but she doesn't want to do this so he's come up with a couple of options for more artery bypasses. She has alot of artificial arteries in her lower abdomen/legs. He's decided to go with the less risky of the two options, which is grafting into the main artery that goes down the arm. Then he'll run a line down her right side under the skin, to her bypass in the lower abdomen. The objective is to increase blood pressure to her legs so that the clots will hopefully stop happening. I guess part of the reason that she keeps clotting up is that the blood flow is too light to her legs. So we're really hoping that this will do the trick.
If you can believe this....I haven't started Christmas shopping yet!!! I'm in a bit of a panic now. I get payed on the 20th...and that cheque is dedicated to Christmas. I popped into Walmart today and the lineups were insane!!! I was thinking that I could just go and get my shopping done in one day....hmmmm I sure hope this works out.
We were supposed to be going away for Christmas this year....We go to my family's Christmas get together every 2 years....so I'm quite saddened that we can't go this year with my mil in hospital. I guess we could go really but I just can't see leaving her here all alone for Christmas.
Nonetheless we will miss seeing everyone. It doesn't happen often that we see everyone at once anymore. Our kids are getting older now and starting to have jobs. Family get togethers are difficult to coordinate with so many new schedules to add to the mix! Anyway...You all have a super awesome Christmas!! Hug your loved ones! :D
Love Heather

This was taken on the drive up to visit Grandma at the hospital today.





Missy having dinner with Grandma at said hospital.



Close up of our Christmas tree. It looks like we'll be postponing our Christmas trip so I decided to get the tree decorated since we'll be here! It looks really pretty but the camera is very old and takes terrible pictures with the flash....everything looks awful. I'll have to try it out in daylight to see if it works better.

more....



a weird picture of the tree....I tried to take it without the flash but the shutter stays open for a long time and apparently I moved!

EEEEEEEEEK!! We have MICE!!!

I opened the cupboard to get the flour out for pancakes and all of a sudden realized that there were mouse droppings all over the bottom shelf of the pantry cupboard!! NOOO! I HATE mice! I started opening drawers and cupboards and realized that it's EVERYWHERE!!! Even on the corner of the countertop! I left some clean dishes to dry on a tea towel beside the sink...I guess he was a thirsty mouse..cuz there was mouse poo on the tea towel. :( We've lived here for 17 months and have not had any mice before this..I'm thinking that someone left the door open one too many times.
Well I'm off to eat pancakes then get the kitchen de-mouse pooped!!
Have a great day/night.
:D
Heather
okay maybe the big grin isn't quite accurate~ :~\

Update....

It's been a long 3 weeks! Randal had surgery on Nov. 16th, friday. [The disk between the 4th and 5th vertebrae ruptured INTO the spinal canal!! This caused him to lose control of his legs. They wouldn't hold him up and he ended up falling all over the place.]The following Tuesday he was mistakenly sent home! He called me from the hospital with the names of two drugs he needed a prescription for...he wasn't certain of how to spell them. I found this very odd that they'd send him home without prescriptions! He was told to go home and call outpatient services. We couldn't even find anything by that name! So called the rehab centre at the hospital. They sent someone over twice. Then after having him home for almost a week I was feeling quite at loose ends as to what should be happening with him. I was concerned about the incision and dressing on his back. He had 20 staples! It didn't look pretty...If I'd thought of it I'd have grossed you all out and taken pictures. :D
So I took him in to see our dr. on Monday, after him being home for 6 days. Our doctor was surprised to see him. He asked why Randal wasn't in the rehab unit at the hospital. Randal told him that the nurse had said that the hospital he was supposed to transfer to was full and that he should go home. Dr. was very surprised! He showed us the letter he had gotten from our neurosurgeon, saying that he'd arranged a bed for him in the rehab unit and that he'd been transferred there!! He quickly left the room and went out to make some calls. He came back in after speaking to the neurologist and the rehab unit. He said that yes they still wanted him in there but now there really were no beds, so go home and wait for them to call. Our dr. seemed very stressed and upset about this mixup! He said you hear about people dying because of medical mixups in hospitals but this was the first time he'd seen such a stupid mistake. They finally called on Thursday afternoon and I took him up there. He stayed until today. Six days with a 24 hr pass over the weekend.
My mom was here for 2 weeks and 1 day throughout this time. It was so nice to have her here. I don't really like staying alone with the kids but do on occasion, if I have to. I didn't ask her to come because I don't like to ask her to do things. She's quite busy with what she has going on at home there and in their church. But she came. So it was great having her here. She took over the cooking, the laundry, schooling Janelle and many other tasks! (I was her assistant :D )
It was so wonderful..We got alot of work done around here too. We sorted out the kids clothes and got rid of the stuff that no longer fits anyone....a huge job to tackle! Another job that she helped me with was grocery shopping...I really don't care for this task. So it was very cool to have someone help me with it.
We also switched two of the girls rooms. We got paint to do their rooms too. We also picked out some inexpensive blinds for the living room windows. There are 5 3x5 windows and I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do with them other than the white blinds.
We did alot of different things, including hospital visits, all the while doing the everyday stuff...It has been exhausting.
There is still a bunch of stuff to finish up before we can start our Christmas decorating. Courtenay put up our prelit artificial tree on the weekend. We're debating getting a real live tree that's extra tall...our ceiling is about 10 ft. So we'll have to see how that works out.
Anyway.. that's the long and the short of it. We've just been plugging away here, bit by bit getting things done.
Randal will now have to see a physiotherapist for awhile, privately. We just found out that our health plan doesn't cover this...well I shouldn't say that they don't cover it...they cover $8 of each visit. Each visit is between $50 and $65! But we serve a big God who takes care of his children! He will work this out..even when things seem impossible...they aren't..not with God!
Oh...I almost forgot! His Mom is doing well too. She had a bloodclot that wasn't too big...which is a first! She usually waits until she is going crazy with pain before she goes in and by then the clot is huge. One time she went in with a clot that went from her knee down to her foot! So this was great to catch it before it grew. She's driving and back to herself!

THANK YOU all for your prayer~ I so very much appreciated it!

I just got a call from Randal. There are 15 people in the hallway in the hospital here in town where they want to transfer him. In other words...no beds available. They need the bed where he's at for someone else, so they are discharging him home and having someone come here to do rehab with him. This is not exciting. I'm exhausted and stressed....the thought of looking after him is...well...a bit overwhelming. Not that I don't want him home...it will be nice...I'm just worried about him not getting the care that he needs. He's going to need dressing changes on his back..and I don't know what else...But I guess we'll see about all that when he gets home. I guess this is a symptom of our health program in crisis.
Randal's mom is also coming home today. She'll go to her sister's in town here, as she shouldn't be staying alone. Will update later when I know more.

Today is Monday....first day after a very busy weekend. Like I've already said..Randal and his mom both had surgery in the past three days. Randal on Friday night and then his mom on Sunday night. She was supposed to have her surgery on Sunday morning, but the nurse didn't follow dr.'s orders and put blood thinners into her I.V. bag. Which caused her to have a long nosebleed and her blood was much too thin to be able to do surgery. She spent the afternoon/evening coughing up the blood. Then the other thing the nurse did was give her food on Sunday morning. She figured she should feed her because Florence is a diabetic and her blood sugar was really low. She should have put dextrose or something of that sort into her I.V. This made it impossible for them to do surgery for 12 hours. When her dr. came in he was furious! He went up one side of the nurse and down the other...right in front of Florence. She was quite amazed...she said she'd never seen a dr. do that before. Can't say that I'd blame him though. If the clot in Flo's leg had gone to her heart/brain and she had died before surgery because of these mistakes...it would have been very bad, obviously. So it has been quite the weekend! Hope you're all well.
So here's my devotional today... I thought it was an apt subject after the experience I just described.

Fellowship Without Forgiveness: Impossible
by Jon Walker

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32 NIV)

Fellowship without forgiveness is impossible.

As believers, we’re called “to settle our relationships with each other.” (2 Corinthians 5:18 MSG) We need to consistently forgive others and receive forgiveness from others, or we’ll “give up in despair.” (2 Corinthians 2:7 CEV)

Whenever we’re hurt by someone, we have a choice to make: Will we focus on retaliation or resolution?

The Bible speaks candidly about settling the score: “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.” (1 Thessalonians 5:15 NIV)

In God’s economy, it’s not enough to say we won’t seek revenge; we’re to press into the very heart of forgiveness, forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave us. (Ephesians 4:32 NIV)

The Bible is very clear that forgiveness is not optional for the Christ-follower. God sets this high standard because he knows how much is at stake in your life: Bitterness and unforgiveness are a cancer that eventually will destroy you from the inside out. Forgiveness is the scalpel that removes the tumor.

This doesn’t mean you’ll always be able to immediately forgive and be done with it. As you become more and more Christ-like, that will become possible, but for now you may have to work at forgiving someone who has hurt you in a particularly painful way. In other words, you may forgive this person but soon begin to feel a root of unforgiveness growing in your heart.

When this occurs, you can go to King Jesus and ask him to help you with this cycle. He will help you release the offender, and the Holy Spirit will guide you in your effort.

A major point here is that forgiveness is a choice you can make. The power of God, working within you, means you no longer have to remain a slave to unforgiveness or bitterness.

In Colossians, the Apostle Paul provides the basis and motivation for forgiveness: “You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” (Colossians 3:13 NLT, italics added). When we remember the price Jesus paid to forgive us, how can we not forgive? (Romans 5:8)

What now?

· When you forgive, you’re not pretending it didn’t hurt – Forgiveness means you no longer hold the offense against the offender. It means you’ve pardoned the debt, and you’ve intentionally chosen to release the one who hurt you. We’re to love deeply, because “love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8 NIV)

· Stop right now and talk to God – Have an honest conversation with God about someone you need to forgive. Our heavenly Father knows that it’s not easy to let go of our hurts, but he will give you the grace to forgive.

· Be honest with God – Cry out to God; tell him exactly how you feel. He won’t be surprised or upset by your anger, hurt, insecurity, or bitterness.

© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.