Tuesday, August 1
I started the new month by driving out to Yantis for the weekly prayer meeting, then stopped by Our Little Lot at Holiday Villages of Lake Fork to putter around Big V for a while.
When I got back to the house, we decided that since the day was going to be a scorcher outside, we might as well warm up the house, too. So, we each started work on some of our favorite "fix it, freeze it, and eat it later dishes." By the time we finished, the house was full of the smells of chili, meatloaf, and homemade bread, all packaged so we could have several meals prepared later in the month.
We started the day with Barbara's rehab session, and then went over to Aunt TJ's house to do some more cleaning. Later, we drove to the church at Yantis so Barbara could join Diane, Claudetta, and Mary for a ladies lunch at Oak Ridge Restaurant (I spent the time working at Our Little Lot, which is just a few minutes away from Oak Ridge).
While we were at the church, Barbara managed to get some shots of Keely and Trevor, two of church children.
Thursday, August 3
Some days provide bonus surprises. We had two of those today when we received some pictures of grandson Kaiden from his recent vacation trip with Leah and Ryan, and then when we went to the store and "found" our friend Pat who had come to Mineola from Winnsboro to do a little shopping.
Friday, August 4
If it's Friday, it must be "crunch time" for finishing our work on a children's sermon, so we spent the morning doing just that.
We normally do our rehab/workouts in the morning, but because we had spent so much time working on the children's sermon this morning, we paid a rare late afternoon visit to the rehab center.
Saturday, August 5
Saturdays don't usually have "highlights" around our place, but we did go downtown this afternoon to catch the matinee movie at the historic Select Theater.
Sunday, August 6
Pastor Craig was out of town this week, so we had a visiting preacher, Brother Stone. Brother Stone had graciously given us his scripture and topic for the day, and we took it from there.
Our children's sermon this morning was about miracles. This is what we had to say...
When I got back to the house, we decided that since the day was going to be a scorcher outside, we might as well warm up the house, too. So, we each started work on some of our favorite "fix it, freeze it, and eat it later dishes." By the time we finished, the house was full of the smells of chili, meatloaf, and homemade bread, all packaged so we could have several meals prepared later in the month.
++++++++
Wednesday, August 2
We started the day with Barbara's rehab session, and then went over to Aunt TJ's house to do some more cleaning. Later, we drove to the church at Yantis so Barbara could join Diane, Claudetta, and Mary for a ladies lunch at Oak Ridge Restaurant (I spent the time working at Our Little Lot, which is just a few minutes away from Oak Ridge).
While we were at the church, Barbara managed to get some shots of Keely and Trevor, two of church children.
++++++++
Thursday, August 3
Some days provide bonus surprises. We had two of those today when we received some pictures of grandson Kaiden from his recent vacation trip with Leah and Ryan, and then when we went to the store and "found" our friend Pat who had come to Mineola from Winnsboro to do a little shopping.
++++++++
Friday, August 4
If it's Friday, it must be "crunch time" for finishing our work on a children's sermon, so we spent the morning doing just that.
We normally do our rehab/workouts in the morning, but because we had spent so much time working on the children's sermon this morning, we paid a rare late afternoon visit to the rehab center.
++++++++
Saturday, August 5
Saturdays don't usually have "highlights" around our place, but we did go downtown this afternoon to catch the matinee movie at the historic Select Theater.
++++++++
Sunday, August 6
Pastor Craig was out of town this week, so we had a visiting preacher, Brother Stone. Brother Stone had graciously given us his scripture and topic for the day, and we took it from there.
Our children's sermon this morning was about miracles. This is what we had to say...
August
6, 2017: Colossians 1:16 - Miracles
Jim: Brother Stone is
going to talk this morning about miracles an unusual or wonderful event that is
believed to be caused by the power of God...(; so we thought Colossians 1:16
would be a good Bible verse for us to talk about. It says, “For by Him all things were created: things in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible...all things were created by Him and
for Him.”
This verse reminds us
that everything we see...the beauty of the skies, the blue of the water in the
lakes and oceans, the majesty of mountains...everything in nature was made by
the Lord. Each one of these is a reminder that we serve a Lord who is bigger
and better than anyone or anything. They remind us of the miracles of creation.
But...did you realize
that to your parents you are the greatest miracle in the world. That’s right!
When you were first born the love, the wonder of you, the gratefulness...just
overflowed and probably even brought tears to their eyes. That God would give
them such a precious gift was a powerful feeling! You can bet that they looked
into your eyes, touched your ears, fingers, and toes and marveled at how
beautifully made you were. You were their miracle.
And, then to watch you
grow...to know the responsibility they have can be overwhelming...but such a
joy. Again, you continue to be their miracle.
When you come to church,
you aren’t just some little kid coming with your folks or on your own. You
become the miracle of us older members; because, you see, we know that our
church growth depends on the youth. You are needed to keep us young and to keep
our church growing. You are our hope, our future, you are the key to opening
the doors of this place years after we are gone. You help keep the miracles
alive for us to see.
Barbara: Let’s talk about a miracle that each of us have
recently witnessed. This day started out like every
other year, every other Monday morning of VBS...the kids were arriving;
the youth were in place...and then...we hear that EJ...our very own cheerful,
bouncy EJ was trapped in his vehicle after having a wreck on his way to be with
the VBSers. Oh, the concerns,
the prayers, the feelings that emerged after each report were powerful. We
each, in our own ways, watched and waited not knowing what the future would
hold. But we prayed...we prayed for a miracle. And...as you can see...we got
it! Every Sunday since EJ was able he is here witnessing that God is still in
the miracle business! For that we are grateful. God has great plans for EJ and
for each of you!
It was too nice an evening to be cooped up in the car for the drive to Yantis tonight, so we unshackled Taz, geared up, and took off...only to find when we stopped at Wally World for gas that I didn't have my wallet with me.
So, we took off in the other direction and returned to the house to get the wallet out of the car...
And return to Wally World so Barbara could watch me give Taz a drink...
And then head north to Yantis for a Sunday night gathering.
We didn't have an evening service planned, but a number of church members thought it would be a great idea to have a Root Beer Float social since it was National Root Beer Float Day according to the internet (and you know the anything on the net must be true, right?)
++++++++
Monday, August 7
Barbara had a rehab session this morning, so while they were putting her through her paces, I enjoyed a workout on some of the machines.
The rest of the day isn't noteworthy, but the evening sure was fun. Our pastor, Brother Craig, and our music director/youth minister, Brother Chad, along with their wives, were serving meals at AJ's Fish House in Alba as part of the annual fundraiser for Wood County CPS. Pastors from around the area participate and encourage their respective flocks to attend.
We were excited because it was a great reason to ride Taz while we supported a good cause...and because it was an all-you-can-eat catfish and seafood meal!
A lot of folks showed up to have a good time, including a large contingent from Yantis First Baptist Church, and cousins Ladd, Angela,Maddey, and Jarhett from Mineola.
Tuesday, August 8
It's always a great day when we can do something to promote the Patriot Guard Riders and Snowball Express, and that's just what we did when we had lunch and presented the program at the local Kiwanis Club meeting today. Snowball Express and the ETPGR Vest Program are near and dear to our hearts!!!
Wednesday, August 9 - Thursday, August 10
Barbara spent the morning with Cousin Angela as they were trying to sort through food, meds, and many years of this and that in her closets.
This afternoon we had our semi-annual appointment with Leon at Edward Jones, making sure that we still had a little stash left in reserve. We don't brag on a lot of businesses, but Leon and his staff could easily be the poster children for all that is good about Edward Jones!!!
Tonight I drove out to Yantis for praise band rehearsal and then returned home to what we thought was going to be a quiet and uneventful night. But...
Barbara had mentioned yesterday and today that she was having some pains in her left arm. She took some Tylenol, but not only did it not help, by the time we went to bed, the pains were even worse. She woke me up around 11:00 pm and said she thought we should go to the emergency room at ETMC in Quitman, so we quickly got dressed and made the short drive to the hospital, where she was admitted.
After an hour or so of blood draws and testing, the emergency doctor was preparing to send us back home when one of the nurses came in and asked the name of Barbara's cardiologist. We gave the name and asked why they needed that information, and the nurse said one of the tests indicated she was having a heart attack, and they were going to send her ETMC-Tyler.
Well, that certainly lit a fire under all of us! As they were getting her ready for the ride, I said I'd go home, pick up a few things, and meet them at the Tyler hospital, but Barbara insisted that I needed to go home and get a few hours of sleep, and that she would be just fine, so we said goodbye and headed our separate ways.
I talked to Barbara early Thursday morning, packed a few things that she wanted, and then headed to Tyler to see what was going on.
The day was mostly all about waiting, testing, waiting, more testing, and more waiting. For the first time in a long time, we were thoroughly disappointed in and disgusted with the doctors that were assigned to us. The folks in Quitman called the wrong cardiologist, and the guy who showed up said this was an extremely serious situation and that it would take at least another day for our doctor to be available. We should have called his hand on it, but who is going to mess around with a possible heart attack? So, we took the hand that was dealt and found that there are a few doctors out there that are not only patient unfriendly, but are not all that qualified for what they are doing. Such was the case with the cardiologist and the hospitalist.
After all the tests were run, the scans completed and read, and diagnoses misdiagnosed, we discovered that there wasn't a heart attack after all, and that the pain was supposedly being caused by bone spurs on the left rotator cuff...but, they were going to keep her another night...just in case.
So, with dark descending on us, I said goodnight and left Barbara in the hands of a highly capable and professional nursing staff to return to Mineola to get everyone caught up on the latest news and try to get some sleep.
Friday, August 11
This was a day that we were wanting to get answers and remedies from the doctors, but ended up getting far less than that.
When the cardiologist finally arrived, it was to tell us that the scan from last night showed no cardiac problem, so he was out of the picture. Since the same pain that got Barbara to the hospital was increasing, we asked what they were going to do about it, and he said they were going to dismiss her because she came in for a heart problem, and there was no problem with her heart, so they couldn't do anything else under Medicare rules.
Then, after a lengthy wait to find out about a dismissal, the hospitalist came in and reiterated that even though there was a problem, it wasn't what we were there for, and he was going to send us home without further treatment. However, he did condescend to send in an orthopedic intern to visit with Barbara and possibly make arrangements for a follow-up visit...if she needed one...as if she was faking the pain just to spend "quality" time in the hospital.
The orthopedic guy was friendly, caring, and professional, and helped us make arrangements for a contact visit to see about surgery or another treatment for the bone spurs that the doctors thought were the root of the pain problem. He and the nursing staff were fantastic and helpful...the doctors, not so much.
The paperwork was finally completed and we left the hospital with Barbara still in the same pain that brought her to this point, but at least she was going to get to sleep in her own bed tonight, and we had hope that the orthopedic folks would be able to help.
The trip home was without incident, but shortly after we got there the skies opened up and we had another much-needed rain.
Saturday, August 12 - Sunday, August 13
We didn't accomplish much of anything these two days. Barbara's pain was excruciating, and nothing she took seemed to make a dent in it. The situation was made even worse by knowing that we couldn't even talk to anyone about pain relief until Monday.
The only bright spot during the weekend was, if you believe it, the dark clouds that blanketed the area and dropped 4 inches of rain.
Monday, August 14
While Barbara stayed in bed and tried to ward off the pain, I spent the morning trying to get appointments with someone who could help us. It took most of the morning, but I finally got the correct information for the orthopedic clinic that had been recommended. When I explained what we needed, the scheduler said that the earliest we could see the doctor would be September 7. I told her that we needed to be seen by someone earlier than that, so she checked and determined that Barbara would be covered by Medicare if she saw the nurse practioner for a follow-up visit based on having seen the intern while at the hospital. That meant that the earliest we could see someone would be Wednesday, but it was all we had, so I got us signed up.
Tuesday, August 15
I began the day with yet another doctor visit, but this time it was to go with Cousin Angela to take T.J to see Dr. Bankhead here in Mineola.
When I returned home, I called Dr. Smith, our cardiologist. I left a message on the answering machine and waited, and waited, and waited for a response. Shortly after noon I got a call back from the scheduler. She said that she was preparing to call and set up an appointment for next week when she suddenly had a cancellation for this afternoon...we could see Dr. Smith in Quitman, just 10 miles away, instead of having to wait a week to go to Tyler.
Dr. Smith listened to our sad tale from last week, ran a couple of quick tests, and then had us look at the scans that the other cardiologist had run. What we found was very disturbing, as the scans clearly showed major blockage in the arteries. While that was not the reason for the pain that sent Barbara to the hospital, it was a major misdiagnosis by the other cardiologist, and something that Dr. Smith would need to correct once the pain issue is resolved.
Wednesday, August 16
We left the house around 9:00 this morning to drive to Tyler and the ETMC Olympic Center to hopefully find out what Barbara's excruciating and non-relenting pain is all about. After signing in and taking care of all the paperwork, we were directed to an examination to wait for the nurse practitioner. While we were waiting, we spent the time taking photos of ourselves and the window washers who were scaling the building. (Anything to help Barbara not focus on the pain!)
Jason Johnson came in, introduced himself, and a very friendly, but professional manner began asking questions about why we were there. After hearing about our experiences, he asked Barbara about the intensity and location of the pain. She was about 10 seconds into her explanation when he interrupted her and said it wasn't a heart issue and it wasn't a bone spur or rotator cuff issue. He gave the reasons why he said that, and then said he was almost certain that the shoulder and arm pain was caused by a pinched nerve in the neck. He gave some explanations for thinking that (such as shoulder problems don't cause pain down into the hand...nerves do) and then sent us downstairs to Imaging for a scan. Before we left, Jeremy told Barbara to forget about the pain meds the doctors at the hospital had prescribed, because they were worthless in this case.
The pain was still there, but for the first time in days, we had hope that someone was going to be able to do something about it.
Thursday, August 17
This was another busy day. We began with an early morning limited rehab session for Barbara and a workout for me, and then drove to Quitman for a visit with Barbara's primary physician, Dr. Martinez. There wasn't much Dr. Martinez could do about the pain situation, since that was being covered by another physician, but at least all of the doctors were now in the loop.
We returned home, had lunch, and then just rested for the afternoon.
Tonight was the first rehearsal of the new year for the Lake Country Symphonic Band. It was a good first rehearsal and a nice break (for me) from everything we had been through the last week.
Friday, August 18
With all the rain we had in the last week, yard work was still out of the question, so we spent the day piddling around the house and doing only what we thought was absolutely necessary.
Tonight we joined our friends Jerry and Diane Nickerson for dinner at Cow Burners, a new restaurant in downtown Mineola, and then a trip to Dollar Tree. It doesn't take much to make us happy.
Saturday, August 19
We had every intention of hosting a baked potato supper for a group of church friends before we all went to Cross County Line for their monthly gospel sing, but neither of us felt up to it, so we cancelled our plans. Of course, the gospel sing received rave reviews from all of our friends who attended.
Sunday, August 20
We made it to church this morning, but because of all our other issues, we didn't have a children's sermon prepared, and I hadn't had a chance to work with the praise band, so we were just regular folks attending a great church service.
This evening we drove to Lindale and joined the Mineola family in celebrating Maddey's birthday at The Catch, a really good seafood restaurant. No one walked away hungry, and everyone had a good time!
Monday, August 21
Barbara was feeling a little better today, so we decided we'd go fro a drive up to Sulphur Springs and indulge in a little Chinese food at our favorite Panda Express. Not only did we have a great meal there, we also ended up with enough leftovers for at least one more meal in the next few days!
Today was my turn in the doctor's office. We made the short drive to Lindale to see my dermatologist and have a few more spots frozen off.
Wednesday, August 23
Today was a really busy day by our recent standards. Since we hadn't done much lately in housecleaning and yard work, we had Sophie come over for three hours to deep clean our kitchen. While Sophie was working in the kitchen and Barbara was doing some straightening in our room, I went outside and fired up the lawn mower and trimmer to get the front yard shaped up.
This afternoon we went to Naturally Nails to have Leslie to fix Barbara's hair and lower my ears a bit. We have both been looking a little rough around the edges lately.
Tonight I got back in the swing of Wednesday night activities at Yantis First Baptist Church by returning to the praise band for our weekly rehearsal and preparation for the Sunday morning service.
Thursday, August 24 - Friday, August 25
Except for my LCSB band rehearsal tonight, these two days were pretty slim on activities. It was too hot outside to do yard work, and frankly, neither of us was excited about doing housework.
Saturday, August 26
This morning we put the finishing touches on our children's sermon for tomorrow, and then broke our self-imposed isolation by joining Jerry and Diane Nickerson for lunch at Red Dome in Quitman. It sure was good to get out of the house for a while and visit with friends!
Sunday, August 27
We weren't up to full speed today, but we were able to function during the church service as we returned to one of our favorite activities...delivering the children's sermon...
We went back to the house and decided that since we were up and about anyway, we'd visit some church friends and deliver some jalapeno bread. Unfortunately, in our state of mind, we didn't think of taking any pictures until we got to the last stop at Wayne and Carol Smith's Trophy Lodge at Lake Fork.
After all of our medical experiences this month, we thought this quote from noted Nuevo Mexicano philosopher Jaime Arturo Pequeno was very appropriate.
The rest of the day isn't noteworthy, but the evening sure was fun. Our pastor, Brother Craig, and our music director/youth minister, Brother Chad, along with their wives, were serving meals at AJ's Fish House in Alba as part of the annual fundraiser for Wood County CPS. Pastors from around the area participate and encourage their respective flocks to attend.
We were excited because it was a great reason to ride Taz while we supported a good cause...and because it was an all-you-can-eat catfish and seafood meal!
A lot of folks showed up to have a good time, including a large contingent from Yantis First Baptist Church, and cousins Ladd, Angela,Maddey, and Jarhett from Mineola.
++++++++
Tuesday, August 8
It's always a great day when we can do something to promote the Patriot Guard Riders and Snowball Express, and that's just what we did when we had lunch and presented the program at the local Kiwanis Club meeting today. Snowball Express and the ETPGR Vest Program are near and dear to our hearts!!!
++++++++
Wednesday, August 9 - Thursday, August 10
Barbara spent the morning with Cousin Angela as they were trying to sort through food, meds, and many years of this and that in her closets.
This afternoon we had our semi-annual appointment with Leon at Edward Jones, making sure that we still had a little stash left in reserve. We don't brag on a lot of businesses, but Leon and his staff could easily be the poster children for all that is good about Edward Jones!!!
Tonight I drove out to Yantis for praise band rehearsal and then returned home to what we thought was going to be a quiet and uneventful night. But...
Barbara had mentioned yesterday and today that she was having some pains in her left arm. She took some Tylenol, but not only did it not help, by the time we went to bed, the pains were even worse. She woke me up around 11:00 pm and said she thought we should go to the emergency room at ETMC in Quitman, so we quickly got dressed and made the short drive to the hospital, where she was admitted.
After an hour or so of blood draws and testing, the emergency doctor was preparing to send us back home when one of the nurses came in and asked the name of Barbara's cardiologist. We gave the name and asked why they needed that information, and the nurse said one of the tests indicated she was having a heart attack, and they were going to send her ETMC-Tyler.
Well, that certainly lit a fire under all of us! As they were getting her ready for the ride, I said I'd go home, pick up a few things, and meet them at the Tyler hospital, but Barbara insisted that I needed to go home and get a few hours of sleep, and that she would be just fine, so we said goodbye and headed our separate ways.
I talked to Barbara early Thursday morning, packed a few things that she wanted, and then headed to Tyler to see what was going on.
The day was mostly all about waiting, testing, waiting, more testing, and more waiting. For the first time in a long time, we were thoroughly disappointed in and disgusted with the doctors that were assigned to us. The folks in Quitman called the wrong cardiologist, and the guy who showed up said this was an extremely serious situation and that it would take at least another day for our doctor to be available. We should have called his hand on it, but who is going to mess around with a possible heart attack? So, we took the hand that was dealt and found that there are a few doctors out there that are not only patient unfriendly, but are not all that qualified for what they are doing. Such was the case with the cardiologist and the hospitalist.
After all the tests were run, the scans completed and read, and diagnoses misdiagnosed, we discovered that there wasn't a heart attack after all, and that the pain was supposedly being caused by bone spurs on the left rotator cuff...but, they were going to keep her another night...just in case.
So, with dark descending on us, I said goodnight and left Barbara in the hands of a highly capable and professional nursing staff to return to Mineola to get everyone caught up on the latest news and try to get some sleep.
++++++++
Friday, August 11
This was a day that we were wanting to get answers and remedies from the doctors, but ended up getting far less than that.
When the cardiologist finally arrived, it was to tell us that the scan from last night showed no cardiac problem, so he was out of the picture. Since the same pain that got Barbara to the hospital was increasing, we asked what they were going to do about it, and he said they were going to dismiss her because she came in for a heart problem, and there was no problem with her heart, so they couldn't do anything else under Medicare rules.
Then, after a lengthy wait to find out about a dismissal, the hospitalist came in and reiterated that even though there was a problem, it wasn't what we were there for, and he was going to send us home without further treatment. However, he did condescend to send in an orthopedic intern to visit with Barbara and possibly make arrangements for a follow-up visit...if she needed one...as if she was faking the pain just to spend "quality" time in the hospital.
The orthopedic guy was friendly, caring, and professional, and helped us make arrangements for a contact visit to see about surgery or another treatment for the bone spurs that the doctors thought were the root of the pain problem. He and the nursing staff were fantastic and helpful...the doctors, not so much.
The paperwork was finally completed and we left the hospital with Barbara still in the same pain that brought her to this point, but at least she was going to get to sleep in her own bed tonight, and we had hope that the orthopedic folks would be able to help.
The trip home was without incident, but shortly after we got there the skies opened up and we had another much-needed rain.
++++++++
Saturday, August 12 - Sunday, August 13
We didn't accomplish much of anything these two days. Barbara's pain was excruciating, and nothing she took seemed to make a dent in it. The situation was made even worse by knowing that we couldn't even talk to anyone about pain relief until Monday.
The only bright spot during the weekend was, if you believe it, the dark clouds that blanketed the area and dropped 4 inches of rain.
++++++++
Monday, August 14
While Barbara stayed in bed and tried to ward off the pain, I spent the morning trying to get appointments with someone who could help us. It took most of the morning, but I finally got the correct information for the orthopedic clinic that had been recommended. When I explained what we needed, the scheduler said that the earliest we could see the doctor would be September 7. I told her that we needed to be seen by someone earlier than that, so she checked and determined that Barbara would be covered by Medicare if she saw the nurse practioner for a follow-up visit based on having seen the intern while at the hospital. That meant that the earliest we could see someone would be Wednesday, but it was all we had, so I got us signed up.
++++++++
Tuesday, August 15
I began the day with yet another doctor visit, but this time it was to go with Cousin Angela to take T.J to see Dr. Bankhead here in Mineola.
When I returned home, I called Dr. Smith, our cardiologist. I left a message on the answering machine and waited, and waited, and waited for a response. Shortly after noon I got a call back from the scheduler. She said that she was preparing to call and set up an appointment for next week when she suddenly had a cancellation for this afternoon...we could see Dr. Smith in Quitman, just 10 miles away, instead of having to wait a week to go to Tyler.
Dr. Smith listened to our sad tale from last week, ran a couple of quick tests, and then had us look at the scans that the other cardiologist had run. What we found was very disturbing, as the scans clearly showed major blockage in the arteries. While that was not the reason for the pain that sent Barbara to the hospital, it was a major misdiagnosis by the other cardiologist, and something that Dr. Smith would need to correct once the pain issue is resolved.
++++++++
Wednesday, August 16
We left the house around 9:00 this morning to drive to Tyler and the ETMC Olympic Center to hopefully find out what Barbara's excruciating and non-relenting pain is all about. After signing in and taking care of all the paperwork, we were directed to an examination to wait for the nurse practitioner. While we were waiting, we spent the time taking photos of ourselves and the window washers who were scaling the building. (Anything to help Barbara not focus on the pain!)
Jason Johnson came in, introduced himself, and a very friendly, but professional manner began asking questions about why we were there. After hearing about our experiences, he asked Barbara about the intensity and location of the pain. She was about 10 seconds into her explanation when he interrupted her and said it wasn't a heart issue and it wasn't a bone spur or rotator cuff issue. He gave the reasons why he said that, and then said he was almost certain that the shoulder and arm pain was caused by a pinched nerve in the neck. He gave some explanations for thinking that (such as shoulder problems don't cause pain down into the hand...nerves do) and then sent us downstairs to Imaging for a scan. Before we left, Jeremy told Barbara to forget about the pain meds the doctors at the hospital had prescribed, because they were worthless in this case.
The pain was still there, but for the first time in days, we had hope that someone was going to be able to do something about it.
++++++++
Thursday, August 17
This was another busy day. We began with an early morning limited rehab session for Barbara and a workout for me, and then drove to Quitman for a visit with Barbara's primary physician, Dr. Martinez. There wasn't much Dr. Martinez could do about the pain situation, since that was being covered by another physician, but at least all of the doctors were now in the loop.
We returned home, had lunch, and then just rested for the afternoon.
Tonight was the first rehearsal of the new year for the Lake Country Symphonic Band. It was a good first rehearsal and a nice break (for me) from everything we had been through the last week.
++++++++
Friday, August 18
With all the rain we had in the last week, yard work was still out of the question, so we spent the day piddling around the house and doing only what we thought was absolutely necessary.
Tonight we joined our friends Jerry and Diane Nickerson for dinner at Cow Burners, a new restaurant in downtown Mineola, and then a trip to Dollar Tree. It doesn't take much to make us happy.
++++++++
Saturday, August 19
We had every intention of hosting a baked potato supper for a group of church friends before we all went to Cross County Line for their monthly gospel sing, but neither of us felt up to it, so we cancelled our plans. Of course, the gospel sing received rave reviews from all of our friends who attended.
++++++++
Sunday, August 20
We made it to church this morning, but because of all our other issues, we didn't have a children's sermon prepared, and I hadn't had a chance to work with the praise band, so we were just regular folks attending a great church service.
This evening we drove to Lindale and joined the Mineola family in celebrating Maddey's birthday at The Catch, a really good seafood restaurant. No one walked away hungry, and everyone had a good time!
++++++++
Monday, August 21
Barbara was feeling a little better today, so we decided we'd go fro a drive up to Sulphur Springs and indulge in a little Chinese food at our favorite Panda Express. Not only did we have a great meal there, we also ended up with enough leftovers for at least one more meal in the next few days!
Today was my turn in the doctor's office. We made the short drive to Lindale to see my dermatologist and have a few more spots frozen off.
++++++++
Wednesday, August 23
Today was a really busy day by our recent standards. Since we hadn't done much lately in housecleaning and yard work, we had Sophie come over for three hours to deep clean our kitchen. While Sophie was working in the kitchen and Barbara was doing some straightening in our room, I went outside and fired up the lawn mower and trimmer to get the front yard shaped up.
This afternoon we went to Naturally Nails to have Leslie to fix Barbara's hair and lower my ears a bit. We have both been looking a little rough around the edges lately.
Tonight I got back in the swing of Wednesday night activities at Yantis First Baptist Church by returning to the praise band for our weekly rehearsal and preparation for the Sunday morning service.
++++++++
Thursday, August 24 - Friday, August 25
Except for my LCSB band rehearsal tonight, these two days were pretty slim on activities. It was too hot outside to do yard work, and frankly, neither of us was excited about doing housework.
++++++++
Saturday, August 26
This morning we put the finishing touches on our children's sermon for tomorrow, and then broke our self-imposed isolation by joining Jerry and Diane Nickerson for lunch at Red Dome in Quitman. It sure was good to get out of the house for a while and visit with friends!
++++++++
Sunday, August 27
We weren't up to full speed today, but we were able to function during the church service as we returned to one of our favorite activities...delivering the children's sermon...
August 27 - Luke
16:1-13: Being A Trustworthy Steward
JIM:
Our scripture from Luke this morning teaches us another lesson about
stewardship, which is choosing to be wise and honest in using and sharing what
God has given to us.
In
the lesson, Jesus told his disciples a parable about a rich man who had a
manager for his properties. When the
rich man found out that the manager was using the properties to make money for
himself, he called the manager in and fired him. Jesus then told his disciples, “Whoever can
be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is
dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”
Now,
here’s a real life story about being trustworthy: Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th
president of the United States, but before becoming president, he had many
different jobs and responsibilities.
When he was a young man, Roosevelt was a working cowboy who staked a
claim for land in North Dakota and started his own ranch.
One
day Roosevelt and one of his cow hands lassoed a stray calf. They built a small fire and prepared to brand
the stray. They were on a part of the
open range that belonged to Gregor Lang, another rancher, and the rule for
cattlemen was that a stray animal belonged to the rancher who owned the land where it was found.
As
the cowhand started to put Roosevelt’s brand on the calf, Roosevelt said,
“Wait, that should be Gregor Lang’s brand!”
“That’s
all right, boss,” said the cowhand.
“But
you’re putting my brand on it,” said Roosevelt.
“That’s
right, boss,” said the cowhand.
“Drop
that iron,” Roosevelt demanded, “and get back to the ranch, pack your
belongings and get out. I don’t need you
anymore. A man who would steal for me
would steal from me.”
That
story showed that Theodore Roosevelt had a good understanding of the meaning of
honesty and stewardship.
BARBARA: Being
trustworthy doesn’t just miraculously happen! It starts when you’re young and
your parents begin teaching you right from wrong. For example, when my Jimmy
Clint was young, about your age Trevor, we went to this favorite fish place. On each table there was this cute little
lemon to use to put lemon juice on your fish. When we returned home, I noticed
this bulge in Jimmy Clint’s pants’ pocket. I asked him what he had in his
pocket, he showed me a little lemon he had taken from the restaurant. When I explained
that he had stolen that lemon, he cried but it’s just a little lemon! By taking
it back to the restaurant and apologizing to the owner, was his first real
lesson in, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with
much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with
much.”
Today
your treat is this bag of bubble gum that says, “Thank you for “Chewsing” to be
trustworthy.”
JIM: Dear Father, help us to remember what Jesus taught about
honesty, and help us to be honest in every situation, big and small. It’s in the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Our church inducted a new class of deacons this evening. New to the group were Jerry Nickerson and Reed Gammill.
When the last class of deacons was inducted a few years ago, Barbara and Holly Long staged a "See no Evil, Hear no Evil, and Speak no Evil" pose. Here is the latest edition with Barbara, Holly, and Karen Libs doing the re-enactment.
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Monday, August 28
We woke up this morning with great anticipation about finally getting Barbara some relief tomorrow from the pain she's been having. Our appointment with Dr. Olvera was scheduled for 8:30, so we got to Tyler in plenty of time. We had our consultation and were getting ready to leave and return tomorrow for the injection procedure when a question came up about blood thinners that Barbara might be taking. To our horror and dismay, the scheduler for the procedure had failed to tell us that Barbara should have stopped her 81 mg aspirin several days before the procedure, so now we were put on hold for another week. This was no time to receive news like that!!! And...Barbara barely made it to the car before breaking down in tears! Rough Day!!!!!!
We went back to the house and decided that since we were up and about anyway, we'd visit some church friends and deliver some jalapeno bread. Unfortunately, in our state of mind, we didn't think of taking any pictures until we got to the last stop at Wayne and Carol Smith's Trophy Lodge at Lake Fork.
Then we drove home to Mineola to lick our wounds and get set mentally for another week's delay in getting the pain management for Barbara.
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Tuesday, August 29
I got up early this morning and went to church in Yantis for our weekly prayer meeting, and then joined Jerry Nickerson, Wayne Smith, and the builders group from Lake Fork Baptist Church in constructing a wheelchair ramp for a man who has limited mobility. During the morning, we were also joined by some of our other YFBC members.
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Wednesday, August 30
We just took it easy around the house this morning and then had an appointment with our cardiologist, Dr. Smith, in his Tyler office this afternoon to go over scan and test results and talk about scheduling a heart cath procedure after Barbara has her first pain management procedure. In our lives, it seems we are always on hold until someone else does something first.
This is what constitutes high adventure for us these days...
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Thursday, August 31
Finally...It's the end of a long, frustrating, and painful (literally) month. We celebrated, more or less, by doing absolutely nothing noteworthy!
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After all of our medical experiences this month, we thought this quote from noted Nuevo Mexicano philosopher Jaime Arturo Pequeno was very appropriate.
From our hospital(ity) home in Mineola,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
