March 14 – “Latest malady alert …”

Latest malady alert …

I had an MRI on my head yesterday.  The purpose was to see if I have some kind of tumor growing on the nerve that controls hearing in my right ear.  Might be something much simpler, like gritting my teeth or some kind of dental issue.  But apparently all the symptoms point to this malady.  An MRI look at the head is the only thing that can officially rule it out.  So, here we go …

 

Yes, they really did schedule it for Saturday morning at 8:45.  Me and the front desk girl were the only ones there.  And I mean from the time I entered the clinic building to the time I arrived at the desk on the second floor.  No one.  It was eerie.  Oh, and she wasn’t wearing a mask.  So I pulled mine down, too.  Hey, who were we going to infect?  She was six feet away, behind a glass wall.  Rebellion, anyone?

 

I got checked in and settled into a chair to wait.  At my appointment time, she told me that they would be right with me.  Right.  She said the same thing fifteen minutes later after she saw me dozing off and on.  She apparently called someone.  It worked.  The tech came out with the previous victim … er, customer … er, patient.  He wasn’t wearing a mask, either.  The tech was, but she never mentioned it, so I didn’t even think about putting mine on.  At least not until she ushered me into a little dressing room and told me to remove all my clothes except my underwear and put on the nifty paper scrubs she had for me.  I was to leave all my belongings in the locked locker.  So my mask stayed there as well.

 

The test went as well as could be expected, I suppose.  27 minutes for the first go-around.  I kind of dozed on occasion and almost dropped the little disaster, come and get me out of this thing ball I was handed at the start.  I managed to stay still enough, I guess.  The she pulled me out of the machine and started an IV full of dye to course through my veins.  She warned that it might give me a stomach ache, but that would pass.  Then she crammed me back into the tube for another 17 minutes.  It was quite the photo session, but I made it through. 

 

My back was sore from the hard table and the requirement to stay flat and still.  She asked if I needed any help getting up.  I held out my hand and replied, “Oh, yeah.”  She was a pretty strong lady.  I didn’t give her much help, but she hauled me right up to a sitting position.  She turned to leave and tossed over her shoulder, “You may be a little dizzy.  Be careful.”  Heeding her warning, I sat on the side of the bed for a few extra second before following her.  Good thing, too.  I was indeed dizzy.  Made my way to the side of the room to have some support as I gathered myself.  Strange feeling.  Finally, she guided me back through the maze that led to the elevators. 

 

So, I made it through.  There are now rumors that some brain matter was even detected.  Unconfirmed rumors as of yet …

 

Isaiah 66:13 says, “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you …”

 

Father, thank you for the miracles of yet another invention of the creative minds you gave us, that MRI machine.  It is amazing what it can show.  Amen.

March 13 – “All faded away”

I made it through my three-miler again yesterday.  Strangely, though, the calculator on the health app of my phone indicated I went four plus miles instead.  Guess I’ll take its word for it.  Meanwhile Chris had a full morning.  She had cardiac rehab, as usual.  But afterwards she was blessed with the opportunity to have another hour of physical therapy to endure.  This time it was for her shoulder, which has given her trouble since a rotator cuff tear years ago.  Now she has that therapy twice a week for 20 sessions along with the cardiac rehab.  She is a veritable exercise beast right now. 

 

Back on the home front, I received an email about our phone bill.  Seems the incentive deals we were on have all faded away.  Now it looks like the bill will be going drastically up from this point forward.  Add it to the ever-growing expense list.  That notification reminded me to call the TV people to see if they have come up with any new loyalty incentives.  Nope.  No such luck.  They encouraged me to keep calling at random times. 

 

Josh called while I was on the phone with the TV people.  I called him back and was able to thoroughly enjoy the interchanges between him and Luke.  They had just bought a new printer, and Josh was trying his best to set it up.  Luke was there for “moral support.”  Sure, Josh.  You’re forty now.  We all understand that when you reach a certain age, you need the help of someone younger to understand current technology.  And who better than the first-grader who lives in your own house?  Between the two of them they finally got the thing up and running. 

 

We also made it to one of Jachin’s baseball games.  He played right field again.  Although their team lost both games we saw, Jachin did knock in two runs with a single to center, and he made a really good catch sliding on his knees.  We are proud of that boy.

 

Psalms 19:14 says, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

 

Father, thank you for Luke’s help yesterday.  Actually, it was really refreshing to hear the exchanges between him and his Dad.  Brought back memories.  Amen.

March 12 – “Cars … Tires … Sigh”

Just one bit of news from yesterday.  We finally managed some time to drop our car off to have the oil changed.  I know.  Sounds easy.  But with all the new types of oil and weird access points, it’s just easier to trust Dennis to take care of it.  He also got us a new air filter.  The one we had was almost completely clogged.  He also checked out why our internal sensor keeps telling us that the right front tire only has 16 pounds of air.  I check it and there is always the usual 30.  As it happened, however, the right rear tire was, indeed running low.  Come to find out, Chevy’s tire sensors aren’t smart enough to figure out when the tires have been rotated.  Well, OK, then.  Of course Dennis did some further checking, and that right rear tire has a slow leak in it.  Plus all the other tires are worn down to the “dangerous” level, so we need four new tires.  And we get the new ones, we have to ask them to rotate the back ones to the front in an attempt to un-confuse the computer.  Sigh.  Guess we’ll just add that to our ever-growing list. 

 

We did watch some college basketball yesterday.  Baylor barely squeaked by in its conference game against ninth-seeded Kansas State.  Both teams looked really bad.  Now Baylor plays Oklahoma State again in the semi-finals.  If they play like they did yesterday, it’s bye-bye Baylor (until the NCAA tournament).  Next to the Astros, this is my favorite sportsy time of year. 

 

Psalms 91:2 says, “I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’”

 

Father, thank you for providing us with a mechanic and friend like Dennis who knows how to be honest and forthcoming instead of just being a high-pressure salesman.  Amen.

March 11 - “Happy No Mask Day!”

Happy No Mask Day!  Or is it Un-Masking Day? Or maybe You Choose Day? Or perhaps Not Much Has Changed, Really Day. The governor’s wear a mask order has been lifted, but businesses can still require it. I guess the idea is to take it out of the hands of the government and let the individuals decide for themselves. I kind of like that idea. Makes me feel like they don’t consider me quite as stupid ...

I got my run in. No, not a run-in. I mean I ran my 3 miles. I mean I walked three miles and in the process had a Run-in - not in a bad way- with one of my neighbors who happens to be a retired firefighter. We talked for a good fifteen minutes, sharing horror stories about back pain. He had a doctor appointment coming up for his. I shared some ideas about stretches and exercises that have helped me. So not a bad run-in. I just ran into a friend and had a chat. 

The bigger news was I had an appointment to be fitted with new hearing aids. It was scheduled for 11 am. Pretty reasonable time, I thought. Chris came with me on the outside chance she could help me with any big decisions. We arrived about fifteen minutes early and settled in. Finally, at 11:30 I returned to the desk to ask what the holdup was. They didn’t seem to know. I tried again fifteen minutes later. They finally got up and went to the back to check. All I got was, “the doctor is with another party.”  

I was finally called back right at 12. Guess I can say I had a morning appointment and didn’t get in until afternoon. Long wait. 

Chris couldn’t accompany me for the first part. It was another series of tests. I didn’t know about this one, but they locked me in a sound proof room and had me listen to sounds again. The strangest one was when I had to tell them which sound was the upper limit of what I could stand. Felt like some kind of torture device. I was back there for another hour or so before they went and got Chris. She was allowed to be there for the discussion of manufacturers and prices. It is amazing how the technology has changed over the last five years or so. If they can do what these people say they can, I’ll have some pretty decent bionic ears. The whole  process took a while, but I think by about two we had made the selection and we’re heading out the door. Now we wait a few more weeks until they come in. Shipping has been disrupted by Covid, so they really had no idea when they would arrive. 

After all that we deserved a treat. We stopped for a late lunch at Saltgrass. We had some gift cards, so it was an extra special treat. Good stuff. 

Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Father, thank you for miracles like those hearing aids. You did some amazing creativity inspiring there. Amen 

March 10 – “Farmer’s Daughter”

I didn’t get to walk yesterday.  Why?  Because I spent most of the morning on the phone with AT&T … again.  Yep.  They still haven’t corrected the issues from back in December.  I thought about just going back to that day’s blog from one of my earlier monthly excursions with them and just copying and pasting it here.  But after finally reaching the “Loyaly Center,” they assured me that all the issues would be cleared up by March 18^th or earlier.  Otherwise …  “just call us back and we’ll be happy to fix the issue.”  Right.

 

Chris had what they call a hospital follow-up appointment yesterday.  That’s where you have to go see your PCP to let that person know that you were in the hospital.  Not sure why they can’t just get an email to check your records, but I guess they have their reasons.  Hopefully among those reasons is at least one that has to do with health rather than money.  They told her that they were going to let the cardiologist handle all issues with medication from now on.  As I recall, that’s the same thing they said back during her last visit … right before they started tweaking her meds.  Oh, well.  She has to go back in two weeks to have some blood work drawn and see the doc again. 

 

We had a quick post-library visit from the LaMarque grandkids in the afternoon.  Ostensibly, they were coming to get a clipping from one of Nana’s plants for their school lesson on botany.  Practically, they needed their pantry and ice cream fix from Nana’s Kitchen.  Of course, we enjoyed the hugs and snuggles that come along with it.  Not a bad trade-out, I guess. 

 

And speaking of grandkids, we had the privilege of picking up Cailyn and Lexie from school.  Lexie is one of our adopted grandkids.  Good friend of Cailyn’s and her parents are good friends with Nathan and April.  Her Dad is a fire fighter.  Guess we have a lot of connections there.  Besides, she’s a sweet girl to have around.  After we dropped Lex off, we went back to our house, but then we heard from Nathan that Cailyn had some Farmer’s Daughter chores to get done.  Something to do with their chickens.  Or their dogs.  Or both.  They picked up three more baby chicks.  Two of them look relatively normal.  The other one, though, has feathers on its feet.  Not sure what the purpose there is, other than I guess it won’t ever need to wear rain boots.  After chores we stopped by Whataburger for some supper.  Well, for Cailyn and me.  Chris had some heart-healthy leftovers at home, so she waited.  I did good, though.  I ordered a salad.  Crispy chicken salad.  It came out with grilled chicken, though, so I just kept it and ate healthy.  Yay me. 

 

John 15:2 says, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

 

Father, thank you for the unique educational opportunities our grandkids are getting.  Amen.

March 9 – “An elegant dining experience”

I got my three-mile hike in early yesterday while Chris was at cardiac rehab.  Good thing, too.  Had a big day afterwards.  Oh, on the walk I did have a really great chat with one of the fire fighters who also happens to be a neighbor.  He was taking a walk with his little son and much bigger dog. 

 

The big day started out when I left to meet the insurance adjuster at the church.  He was going to review the damages we incurred during the Deep Freeze that Winter Storm Megan dumped on us.  The appointment was for “sometime between eleven and noon.”  I was almost to the church when I got a call from Ed, who is our contractor for the job.  Seems he got a call from his workers who were getting things ready to work on the retreat center.  The inspector showed up at 10:30, insisting that was the time he was given.  Ed rushed over to give him the preliminary information he would need from the contractor standpoint.  All they needed from me was the answers to a few questions and the keys to the retreat center.  Hey, don’t mind me.  I’m just the pastor.  Not many answers to the questions he had, but I do have keys. 

 

He went around taking pictures of pretty much everything from ceiling tiles to bathroom fixtures.  He recommended replacing all the plumbing under the retreat center building rather than trying to piece together every little crack that might show up.  That’s good.  Ed was planning to do that anyway.  Once we get him all the paperwork (they wanted to see the last three months’ electric bills), he will turn it all in and the waiting game will begin.

 

Ed and I went to lunch after the meeting.  Ed’s restaurant of choice?  Waffle House.  It is an old-style dining experience.  No, I mean an old diner experience.  There.  That’s way more accurate.  There is a long counter with stools you can sit at, or some booths around the sides.  The cooks are right there in front of you.  The waitresses call out your order in code, and the rarely write anything down.  Got our order exactly right, though.  Hash browns that were nice and crispy.  Fresh eggs.  Wheat toast.  Bacon on the side and to top it all off, a waffle (Hence … Waffle House).  Oh, and plenty of butter all around.  On everything.  Not at all the kind of place someone recovering from a heart attack should frequent, but really good.  No frills.  Good service.  Fast service.  Kind of loud, but a really fun atmosphere.  And apparently they are always busy.  Needless to say, Ed is a regular.  And they might just see me back again …

 

John 14:26 says, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

 

Father, please be with those restaurant workers we met yesterday.  They are really working hard at what they do.  Amen.

March 8 – “More than”

Really big crowd at church yesterday.  Almost 60 people.  Plus our ever-faithful on-liners.  Several of our regulars had family in town that we got to meet.  Others “just came for no particular reason.”  Read here “because the holy Spirit urged them to.”  The singing was really great, thanks to the gifts and leadership of the Praise Team.  You would think I kind of like that place, wouldn’t you?  I admit … it is special to me.  Has been for a long time.

 

We enjoyed some special culinary delights yesterday, too.  We had some kolaches and donuts and cookies left over from the Craft Fair, so there was breakfast to go along with the coffee.  And we also had some hot dogs and hamburgers left, so after worship, we had an impromptu dinner on the grounds.  The fellowship was great.  More folks stayed than I expected, given the short notice.  But I guess that was a function of the one other thing I failed to mention that was left over … bacon.  Who doesn’t love bacon? 

 

We ended up being just a scant $94.77 short of our goal of $2000 for the event.  $1000 was for disaster relief - to cover our freeze storm damage insurance deductible as well as help out others who may need it.  The other $1000 was to go to help out our missionaries in Alaska.  When we arrived at church, I found $10 more in the donation box.  $84.77.  Then as I was announcing the results in church, Doug eased over and handed me a $20 bill.  $64.77.  And during the next song I was handed $82.85.  More came in after the service.  People just being generous with what God has given them.  Needless to say, we more than achieved the goal.  Pretty exciting stuff. 

 

Yep.  “More than.”  That’s kind of a common phrase when you’re operating in God’s realm. 

 

Ephesians 3:20-21 says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

 

Father, thank you for inspiring your Seaside folks to give a little extra yesterday.  It was really exciting to see.  Amen.