It's about 3:15pm on Monday the 2nd and the furnace / heat pump assemblies were replaced in about 2 hours this morning. The timing was also great as they finished right before the bad storms came rolling in. They put in a different model Lennox system so I hope this one works better than the last one. It really is good to have air conditioning again! My asthma really doesn't like humid conditions so I'm feeling better and I believe LaDonna is also.
That''s all for now.
God Bless,
Pastor
Monday, June 2, 2008
Monday Morning and things are looking up
It's Monday Morning about 10am and the week is starting out on a good note here at the Mingus house. LaDonna continues to improve and we thank God for that; but the BIG news is that AFC Heating and Conditioning are here to install our new heat pump/ AC / furnace today! They are on the job as I write this. They have already moved the new furnace unit into our basement so LaDonna and I are excited at the prospect that we may not need to survive another night without air conditioning! Of course the 'hit' on the checkbook is not desired but it's necessary! I'm hoping they can get it all done before the thunderstorms and possible hail hit us. I believe the storms are scheduled to be over the 'metro' between noon and 5pm.
LaDonna took only some pain medication at bedtime last night. She took none yesterday so that is good news!
It was great being back to church yesterday! The only thing missing for me, was, of course, LaDonna. But that will take some more time and we both are attempting to be patient.
That's all for now.
God Bless,
Pastor Dave
LaDonna took only some pain medication at bedtime last night. She took none yesterday so that is good news!
It was great being back to church yesterday! The only thing missing for me, was, of course, LaDonna. But that will take some more time and we both are attempting to be patient.
That's all for now.
God Bless,
Pastor Dave
Thursday, May 29, 2008
It's thursday and improvement is continuing
It's Thursday afternoon, the 29th and LaDonna continues to improve slowly. She is still eating semisolid food due to her teeth and that may be slowing her recovery some.
She is not back to normal as far as her entire digestive system is concerned as I've given her some imodium. I believe that was anticipated as that medication was mentioned as a possibility in her release orders about medication.
She is not taking much pain medication at all now. She is taking 3 or 4 'laps' around our back porch concrete pad a couple of times a day now. I have to remind her that her incision cut her diaphram open and that will need a lot of time for recovery.
She is not taking any of her vitamin supplements yet because her digestive system is not back to normal and we need to see that improve before we introduce anything else to her diet.
Of course we miss the church a lot but, I will be, someway, returning for Sunday services this next Sunday. LaDonna is still weeks away from a trip that long and strenuous. And she is nowhere near being able to sit up for that long yet.
That's about it for now....God bless to all who have prayed and are continuing to pray.
Pastor
She is not back to normal as far as her entire digestive system is concerned as I've given her some imodium. I believe that was anticipated as that medication was mentioned as a possibility in her release orders about medication.
She is not taking much pain medication at all now. She is taking 3 or 4 'laps' around our back porch concrete pad a couple of times a day now. I have to remind her that her incision cut her diaphram open and that will need a lot of time for recovery.
She is not taking any of her vitamin supplements yet because her digestive system is not back to normal and we need to see that improve before we introduce anything else to her diet.
Of course we miss the church a lot but, I will be, someway, returning for Sunday services this next Sunday. LaDonna is still weeks away from a trip that long and strenuous. And she is nowhere near being able to sit up for that long yet.
That's about it for now....God bless to all who have prayed and are continuing to pray.
Pastor
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
LaDonna is getting better and better at home
It's the 27th of May (our oldest, David Russell's birthday) and LaDonna is continuing to improve at home.
First of all, she's really happy to be at home.
She is limited to our family room level of our front-to-back split house. We put a twin bed there. Her appetite is improving even though I'm limiting her to soft foods due to her dentures problem I've discussed before in this blog. I'm giving her scrambled eggs and oatmeal for breakfast, and mashed potatoes and Salisbury steak for lunch. Last night she had meatloaf and mashed potatoes. She has had ice cream for in between meals. I'm trying to figure out how to give her variety in her meals and at the same time giving her something that will be easy on her gums.
She walked out on the back deck (downstairs, of course) today, several laps so that is good for her.
She has to go back to see the surgeon June 4th (staples removal and check up of her recovery) and our family doctor June 20th (for recovery checkup), as well as the previously scheduled trip to St Louis to Barnes Hospital for her vitamin A problem June 24th.
We have heard nothing about the liver biopsy yet.
Of course, going to the state meeting in Springfield the first week of June is completely out of the question and I'm glad we already canceled our trip to the National in July. LaDonna's complete recovery will pretty much take care of the entire summer. Her attendance at VBS in June is, of course, also out of the question now.
I imagine it will be at least another month before she can make the trip to church. I'm figuring her first long car trip will be the trip to St Louis to Barnes Hospital June 24th. And that will probably be a 3 day affair: day one will be the trip over; day 2 will be the actual visit to the doctor; and day 3 will be the trip back. Of course the Lord may accelerate her healing so nothing is set in stone. I AM hoping she is well enough for me to go to church this coming Sunday without having to get our son Doug or daughter-in-law to come over from Topeka to be with her while I'm at church. My two weeks of vacation time away from the church will be up by this coming Sunday. The Lord will take care of all though. He always provides a way.
We are still without any air conditioning; the complete replacement of the heat pump/furnace is supposed to start sometime the first week of June. The hardware is costing nothing but I have to pay for the labor...which is somewhere in the $900 category. This has been an expensive spring to be sure.
Continue to pray for LaDonna as, of course as it is with most of us, she wants to recover quicker than her body will allow her.
That's all for now.
God Bless and thanks for all your prayers.
Pastor
First of all, she's really happy to be at home.
She is limited to our family room level of our front-to-back split house. We put a twin bed there. Her appetite is improving even though I'm limiting her to soft foods due to her dentures problem I've discussed before in this blog. I'm giving her scrambled eggs and oatmeal for breakfast, and mashed potatoes and Salisbury steak for lunch. Last night she had meatloaf and mashed potatoes. She has had ice cream for in between meals. I'm trying to figure out how to give her variety in her meals and at the same time giving her something that will be easy on her gums.
She walked out on the back deck (downstairs, of course) today, several laps so that is good for her.
She has to go back to see the surgeon June 4th (staples removal and check up of her recovery) and our family doctor June 20th (for recovery checkup), as well as the previously scheduled trip to St Louis to Barnes Hospital for her vitamin A problem June 24th.
We have heard nothing about the liver biopsy yet.
Of course, going to the state meeting in Springfield the first week of June is completely out of the question and I'm glad we already canceled our trip to the National in July. LaDonna's complete recovery will pretty much take care of the entire summer. Her attendance at VBS in June is, of course, also out of the question now.
I imagine it will be at least another month before she can make the trip to church. I'm figuring her first long car trip will be the trip to St Louis to Barnes Hospital June 24th. And that will probably be a 3 day affair: day one will be the trip over; day 2 will be the actual visit to the doctor; and day 3 will be the trip back. Of course the Lord may accelerate her healing so nothing is set in stone. I AM hoping she is well enough for me to go to church this coming Sunday without having to get our son Doug or daughter-in-law to come over from Topeka to be with her while I'm at church. My two weeks of vacation time away from the church will be up by this coming Sunday. The Lord will take care of all though. He always provides a way.
We are still without any air conditioning; the complete replacement of the heat pump/furnace is supposed to start sometime the first week of June. The hardware is costing nothing but I have to pay for the labor...which is somewhere in the $900 category. This has been an expensive spring to be sure.
Continue to pray for LaDonna as, of course as it is with most of us, she wants to recover quicker than her body will allow her.
That's all for now.
God Bless and thanks for all your prayers.
Pastor
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Sunday afternoon, May 25th and we're home!!
I didn't get a chance to blog anything from the hospital this morning because they told us that LaDonna could go home and it happened so quick. Thank the Lord that He was gracious to bring LaDonna back to a healthy enough condition that she was able to come home today.
She still has a long recovery period to go before she will be back to being able to go to church and do all the things she did before but yet she is on her way!
We bought a twin bed and have put it in the family room so she will not have to do the stairs, at least at first. Also it's cooler down in the family room which is important because, if you read the earlier blog entries, they won't be able to replace the furnace/heat pump in our house before the first week of June.
It's the hottest day of the year so far but the wind is blowing good so we have all the windows open (which we never ususally do because of my asthma) but it's bearable.
Continue to pray for her quick recovery.
The entries will probably only be once a day now. Also pray that I'll be able to attend to all of LaDonna's needs. First up, I'll have to find out what she can eat (due to her teeth/dentures problem that started these bad 2 weeks) as well as being easy on her 'reconstructed' digestive system.
God is great and we praise His name.
Love & prayers,
Pastor
She still has a long recovery period to go before she will be back to being able to go to church and do all the things she did before but yet she is on her way!
We bought a twin bed and have put it in the family room so she will not have to do the stairs, at least at first. Also it's cooler down in the family room which is important because, if you read the earlier blog entries, they won't be able to replace the furnace/heat pump in our house before the first week of June.
It's the hottest day of the year so far but the wind is blowing good so we have all the windows open (which we never ususally do because of my asthma) but it's bearable.
Continue to pray for her quick recovery.
The entries will probably only be once a day now. Also pray that I'll be able to attend to all of LaDonna's needs. First up, I'll have to find out what she can eat (due to her teeth/dentures problem that started these bad 2 weeks) as well as being easy on her 'reconstructed' digestive system.
God is great and we praise His name.
Love & prayers,
Pastor
Friday, May 23, 2008
Friday Afternoon May 23rd 5:30pm
I'm really seeing improvement in LaDonna's recovery this afternoon. She is off the morphine IV and is taking her pain medication and her antibiotics with pills.
She has walked a couple of times so far today with 2 more to go.
She still isn't eating a lot but she is used to eating just a little bit about 6 times a day instead of eating 3 large meals as most people do. That's just how gastric bypass recepients learn to eat.
Not much else to say at this time.
This may or may not be the last blog of the day.
God Bless,
Pastor Dave
She has walked a couple of times so far today with 2 more to go.
She still isn't eating a lot but she is used to eating just a little bit about 6 times a day instead of eating 3 large meals as most people do. That's just how gastric bypass recepients learn to eat.
Not much else to say at this time.
This may or may not be the last blog of the day.
God Bless,
Pastor Dave
Friday Morning 10:15am
The surgeon, Dr. Jones was just in to see LaDonna. In the meantime the furosemide has 'kicked in' and she is going to the bathroom a lot. Dr. Jones said she is doing well and would imagine LaDonna being sent home sometime through the long weekend.
LaDonna asked her how long this condition (the large intestine that 'kinked over' on itself ) took to get so bad. Dr. Jones said it happens very quick; probably only a couple of days or so.
LaDonna is trying to sleep right now but the furosemide is causing her to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so. She has pushed the 'call button' for that reason right now.
More later......
LaDonna asked her how long this condition (the large intestine that 'kinked over' on itself ) took to get so bad. Dr. Jones said it happens very quick; probably only a couple of days or so.
LaDonna is trying to sleep right now but the furosemide is causing her to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so. She has pushed the 'call button' for that reason right now.
More later......
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