January

My last post was at the end of November.

Life has been a little hectic since then. My son-in-law is in the hospital for the second time since then. At Christmas, he was admitted because he had pneumonia and the doctors were afraid that his chemo-treated body wasn't responding properly. Well, he managed to get back from that, but hasn't made it back to work yet. Over the week-end, he was readmitted with a temperature of 103, and a blood pressure of 80/50. Three pints of blood later, his blood pressure is back up enough to make the doctors happy, his temperature is responding to the antibiotics - slowly, but responding. The bad part is that he appears to have given up...he is asking his wife to start making funeral plans. We are all hoping that as the fever recedes and the blood pressure returns to normal he will regain his zest for life. I think that and his desire to see their son graduate from high school are what has kept him going these 32 months since his diagnosis. Their son is, so far at least, handling his father's illness well.

They have many friends who jump right in to help out with taking care of the son ... getting him to and from practice, making sure he has a good dinner if our daughter has to work ... We think of them as part of God's blessing on the family.

If you have an inclination to do so, please send prayers, good thoughts, good vibes ... whatever you can. I personally feel that prayer helps.