A Reminder of Our Limitations

As I go through most days I don't give much thought to the limitations due to my disabilities. I know I can't walk, but with my electric wheelchair I can move around quite easily. I have enough use of my arms so I can do a variety of things for and with my sweetheart, DebbieLynne. That allows us to be "just the two of us" for much of the day.

As much as I would like to, I can't do everything for DebbieLynne. She, too, would like to be able to do everything for me. But due to our limitations we do what we can for each other, and rely on the help of others for the rest.

For the things we can't do for one another, we need the help of people serving as personal care attendants. Today we learned that the woman who has been helping get DebbieLynne to bed on Sunday and Wednesday evenings, and help her get up Sunday mornings, will no longer be able to do so, starting this Sunday, the day after tomorrow. Due to an unexpected situation the woman is moving out of state.

One lady from church has already offered to help this Sunday evening and again on this coming Wednesday evening. That generous offer took some of the pressure off of us. Once we find somebody for this Sunday morning we'll be able to move on to trying to locate and hire somebody who can do those time slots on a regular basis.

Deb and I would sure like it if we were not disabled and could be the ones helping others less able than ourselves. But Deb didn't choose to be born with minimal use of her arms and legs. And I didn't choose to become paralyzed by polio when I was six years old. So we do whatever we can and appreciate the help others provide to do what we can't do on our own.

Being reminded of our limitations does have the benefit of bringing to mind that everyone has certain limitations that can only be met by God. We both need help when it comes to thoroughly washing up physically. Everybody needs the help of Jesus to be thoroughly washed up spiritually. ("If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 ESV)

People near and far are praying for God to provide a new personal care attendant for the times DebbieLynne now needs help. Whoever that person is will be paid for the work she does, so hopefully that money will be a help to her.

Thank you for your prayers. We thank God for you, and for those who are helping and will be helping us do what our limitations don't allow us to do for ourselves.

I So Appreciate the Help Deb Gives Me

Gen 2:18  Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." ESV

 I need help. I get to be reminded of that quite often. For example, just yesterday I was letting the day go by without calling the paratransit service to request transport for DebbieLynne's doctor's appointment today at noon. After all, the office is less than a half mile away and the weather forecast was for no rain until late afternoon. But DebbieLynne reminded me that it would be good to request the trip, and in the morning cancel it if the weather was indeed what it was forecast to be. So I called.

Well, sure enough this morning we woke up and it was raining. Not heavily, but enough to have soaked DebbieLynne and me if we're tried to get to and from the doctor's office in our power wheelchairs. It was still raining both when the van took us to the office and back home again afterwards.

Deb also helps me eat healthy, which is so important for somebody like me who's had cancer and a heart attack. She finds healthy recipes online and adjusts them to fit our dietary restrictions.

She also helps me improve the writing for my blogs. She's an excellent writer and has even served as an editor. Now that I'm blogging more, she's giving me points to help me communicate more effectively.

She also helps me be a better husband. When I blow it as a loving husband, she helps me try to do better. She also forgives me, and that, too, make me want to do better.

She also encourages me to be a more godly man. Even though we very much like to be with each other while at church, she's happy for me to spend time fellowshipping and praying with the other men.

I thank God that Deb is my wife. I can never thank Him enough for that.

Updates On Two Fronts

First, as we near the date (May 15) of my surgery to remove the section of my colon with the cancer, Deb and I met with the surgeon yesterday.

Unfortunately he said it wouldn't be possible to do the surgery with two small incisions because my polio affected insides down there aren't lined up properly. So he'll have to make a larger incision in the abdomen to remove part of the large colon and sew back together the remaining colon.

There will be the possibility of infection afterwards until things fully heal, but measures will be taken to lessen the likelihood of that happening. But once the cancer is removed the daily bleeding should end. That should eliminate the need for blood transfusions I now get about once a week.

 

 He said that it is more likely that I'll have a prolonged period of limited pulmonary function. Since my heart attack the day of my colonoscopy I've only been able to be off the ventilator for very short periods. Lately the best I've been able to be without the respirator is about 20 minutes.

During the estimated 3 hours of the colon surgery I'll be under anesthesia and have a tube down to my lungs to breathe for me. The surgeon thinks it may take many weeks for my breathing to recover.

But Deb and I are thinking that with no more bleeding after the cancer is removed I may regain strength more quickly that what the surgeon thinks. And as soon as I'm able to be up in my wheelchair again, I'll be able to have my new vent on the back of my chair and use it on battery power for about 4 hours, or plug it into an electrical outlet when one is available.

Please do keep us in prayer regarding the surgery. Things haven't been going as we've hoped. The "out-patient" colonoscopy session led to the heart attack and heart procedures and this prolonged hospitalization with no time off to be home together. We don't know when I'll be able to return home after the surgery. So, please, keep us in prayer, including that I do get through the operation and recovery.

The other update I want to share with you is in regards to my earlier posting about the debt we'd incurred while paying for disability related needs to qualify DebbieLynne to be on MassHealth when she moved here to Massachusetts to marry me.

Thanks mostly to the help of caring friends, the $3,000 in credit card debt is now down to about $1,200. Thank you for all those who have helped with that. You have blessed us with your prayers and your giving.

I also want to thank all of those who have helped and will help DebbieLynne during this time of my being in the hospital. I wish I was there to do as much as I can for her myself. But until I get back there, I greatly appreciate whatever anybody does to help Deb.

Thank you for your prayers, your gifts, and your helping out in whatever ways you can. May God abundantly bless each of you.

Reporting Progress On Two Fronts

Last night for the first time ever I made it through the entire night using just the Trilogy BiPap machine that I'll need to use during my colonoscopy, surgery, and for sleeping with afterwards. Like the previous two nights I slept for about 60-90 minutes at a time, and then had to make adjustments to make it possible to get back to sleep. But unlike the previous nights, last night I didn't ever have to switch over to using the negative pressure motor to finish getting through until morning.

One difference last night was that I used an oral (just the mouth) mask instead of the larger face mask (nose and mouth) that I'd used on Thursday and Friday. My respiratory therapist thought the oral mask might work well for me. I will also try to get used to the other mask in case my pulmonary doctors want me to use it in specific situations. But we are so happy that this is working well enough to make it possible to go ahead with the colonoscopy on Thursday.

The other area of progress is in the matter of the debt we incurred when DebbieLyyne moved here from California nearly 10 years ago and we legally married rather than just live together. In order for her to get on Mass Health and get coverage for personal care attendants we had to spend a certain amount of money on disability related expenses in a certain time frame.

I had to use credit cards to meet those requirements, and by the time they were met we had about $7,000 of debt. Over the years we have been paying it off as best we could, but when it was discovered I had colon cancer a couple of weeks ago our debt still amounted to about $3,000.

I hope God will allow me to survive the treatment of this colon cancer, but I don't know if or when I will ever be able to get back to earning any income other than the Social Social Disability income that is based on my late Dad's earnings.

That's why I posted a request for help with our debt, and in less than two weeks, we've been blessed with gits amounting to $500. I thank you so much for your generosity and for the prayers of all those who are asking God to meet our needs.

I will continue to do whatever I can on my own to eliminate our debt, and whenever it is gone we will post that news here and on DebbieLynne's blog.

 If you choose to help us with a gift, you can do so via Paypal. I'd ask that you use DebbieLynne's PayPal email ID rather than mine in case I'm in the hospital and not able to use a computer to go online. Her PayPal ID is:

debbielynne_7@yahoo.com

Thank you again for your love, your gifts, and for your prayers.