What a welcome home!!!

As you know, my mom, Lori, Stan, Abigayle and I left Leoti at about 5:00 a.m. on Friday morning and set out to Hays. We just assumed that we would be coming back home later in the day. So, we packed no extra clothing, no medicines that my mom, Stan and I need every day AND we locked the doors to our house. Leighlyn had spent Thursday night with one of her best friends so that she could go to the fair and re-connect with another friend who was coming home for the weekend.

As soon as the doctors in Hays realized that Lori was a walking time bomb, they immediately admitted her into the hospital. Because of how critical her condition was, the rest of us deemed it necessary for us to stay in Hays also. I made a phone call to Leif who had stayed behind because like us, he had believed that Lori was just going in for a CT Scan. He is also the president of the Wichita County Amusement Association so he really needed to be here to help with the carnival rides.

Once we were told how serious Lori's condition was, I made a call to Leif and told him that he needed to be on the road to Hays right away. He immediately made emergency preparations for his substitutes, picked up Lars, Leighlyn and the prescription drugs that we needed and headed to Hays.

We never even thought to have them drop our housekeys off to someone to take care of our pets before they left... Fortunately, Leighlyn had her thinking cap on. She put out extra water and food for our herd before they left.

Tonight at 10:00, we arrived back at home. Stan unlocked the door and we stepped from a hot furnace outside to an even hotter furnace inside. It was 85 outdoors and way over 90 inside the house... If we had just gotten keys to someone, they would have noticed the air conditioner problem before we got home. Stan went outside and checked the A/C unit. It was all iced over. Stan is now concerned that if the freezing happened quite awhile ago, our compressor may be ruined now. Just what we need! We have turned the A/C's fan ON and have turned the rest of the unit OFF for the rest of the night so that it can thoroughly defrost. Then, tomorrow, we will know more about the situation.

We have been sooo very blessed with MANY calls from family and friends who are quite concerned about Lori!!! While in Hays, several of them offered to do anything that we need them to do when we return to Hays sometime this week for Lori's surgery. Believe me! We have already told one of our friends that she will be given keys to our house as well as Leif and Lori's so that they can care for all of the pets! Thank you, D and J!!!

On to Lori. Lori was to drink her first bottle of chemical that needs to be taken before a CT Scan tonight at around 9:00. She will have another bottle of it early in the morning. At 9:00, she is to have her CT Scan. We are hoping to have the results of that as early as possible. In the meantime, we will be working on various things including laundry so that we can pack up and head back to Hays as soon as Lori needs us there.

This morning, the nurse weighed her. It was the first time since Friday morning. Between Friday and Sunday morning, Lori had lost ANOTHER 15 pounds! Her grand weight loss total since July 6th is 102 pounds!!!

She is starting to feel better for the first time since she became ill. She had more problems with oxygen drops during the night but her heart never stopped beating as it had on Friday night. More antibiotics are being pumped in to her. Lori has had not one thing to eat since last Thursday when she ate just a few bites of food. She is not allowed to have any water or ice chips yet either. The doctors want her bowels to have as much rest as possible since they have been leaking.

Without going into drawn-out details, Lori's health has been declining for years. She was basically being allowed to drown in her own fluids. Little or nothing was being done to help her until she went to two very special doctors who then did tests and sent her on to specialists. We cannot expect Lori to be well again overnight. The important thing to remember is that she is on the road to recovery now.

Your prayers are doing amazing things for Lori!!! Once again, I ask for you to continue to pray for Lori. God is the one and only Miracle Worker out there!!!

As of right now, we do not know when we will need to be going to my Lori again. I would ask you to check into my blog for updates on her. We do not own a laptop computer so I have to use the house computer at the motel. Due to time constraints, it will be much better for me to just update the blog. Please call me at 620-376-8922 whenever you want to. Your concern is ALWAYS welcome!!!

By the way, we are so very fortunate to have the friends that we do!!! We couldn't go through all of this this well without you!!!

VLE-B