Friday, July 18, 2008

bad day

Scroll down for blast about the Shack.

Today is great but yesterday was a bummer. I take about 10 pills every morning. Barbara takes them out of bottles and puts them in a cup. We have been doing this for a year and a half. Yesterday we had a pill that came carded and Barb tore it off and put it in my cup reasonably assuming that I would take the pill out of its container. I never look in the cup so I put the pills in my mouth and swallowed the whole thing.

The card was about 3/4 of an inch square with very sharp edges. The pill was inside a little plastic container with tin foil on the back. Of course it got stuck in my throat. I thought it was just a stuck pill so I drank a ton of water but could not get the 'pill' to go down. I called Barb for more water and she brought it and wondered why I was having so much trouble and then asked it I had taken the pill out of the plastic container. I asked "what container" and then we both knew what had happened.

It was starting to hurt especially when I swallowed. We called the doctor and said to head for the emergency room at the hospital. I got there at 10:30 am and got home at 6:00 p.m. with the pill gone. They knocked me clear out for about 25 minutes and shoved a little camera down my throat and them pulled it out with some sort of grabber.

IT WAS AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE.

But I was pleased with the doctor even though it took forever waiting for different doctors and nurses and paper work. All's well that ends well. I am now a little hoarse but otherwise back to 'normal' with no pain.

Getting out a lot lately for different activities.

Best Wishes to All,

Don Holmes

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

update

We are having absolutely beautiful summer weather in Bellingham. I am now up in my power wheel chair all day some days without getting tired out. Life is truly getting better again. Hope to get my car equipped soon so I can drive and release Barb from chauffeur duty. The grand kids were over last evening and I had hoped to play chess with Andy but I got upstaged by "Marry Poppins". They never get tired of watching Mary and Bert.

Finished "Post American World'. It is our book club book that meets this Friday. I can tell from the book if I should be discouraged or encouraged about the place of America in the future.

Tim is in the midst of negotiations to buy a power boat that sleeps 4. He would moor it near where he works so he could get some solitary time. He works two weeks on and two weeks off, 24 hour days with three others in tight quarters but has lots of free time in between boats and putting our oil booms to absorb oil if there a spill -- kind like a fireman's job. He says that it would be great for the family for he and my two son-in-laws to go fishing and for the new grand-kids to go boating overnight to some of the islands in the San Juan Islands.

Still fuming about the "Shack". The more I think about it the worse it is in my mind. The feminization of the Trinity is just awful. The profound differences between the feminine and the masculine should be respected. We are all feminine before God. We are his bride and He must therefor be best represented by masculine imagery. It stands Christian theology on its head to promote female imagery as approproate imagery for the Trininty.

God is ever-present and we have no complaints.

Don

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

doing well

Hi - We are doing quite well. Getting out more and more to Church, meetings, kids' homes - they all have ramps except for Tim.

Just finished a book on tape - The Long Walk, a book published in 2006 about 7 men who escaped from a Russian Prison in Siberia and walked 4000 miles in about a year across the Gobi desert and Himalayan mountains to India. It is number 4 on Amazon.

Video - Broken Brides: Great drama on reconciliation.

Very hot here - nearly 90 degrees which in hot for Washington.

There is a reunion this week in Nebraska for my family. I have two sisters in Nebraska. Counting all the kids there will be quite a crowd. My brother and most of his family is going.

Life is beginning to get good again. For a long time I thought is would never happen. I have a caregiver from 9-12 a.m.every day. Neither Barb or I could get along with out them. We see Suzanne's kids quite a bit. I help Andy to read and we play chess.

Will keep you posted about books and videos. I still dislike The Shack even though it is very popular.

I passed my eye test and driver written test so I will be able to drive when I get hand controls put on our Van.

Don