the essence

Isn't it odd how everything seems to happen at once? Four weeks ago today I got a call that my grandfather (who just turned 85 this month) was driving to work when his truck flipped. He ended up all cut & bruised & also with a fractured neck. Amazingly, thankfully, he wasn't paralyzed & was going to be sent home rather quickly. But, he ended up contracting MRSA, a staph infection in his lungs, so he is still in the hospital with very poor oxygen capacity & disorientation. I just can't believe how much he is recovering though.

Ray's also been going through a ton of tests & MRI's the past couple of weeks. A spot on his spine was discovered about five years ago & he didn't really receive bad news about it but they wanted him to continue monitoring it. Being self-employed with no insurance we couldn't pay for yearly MRIs out-of-pocket. We also couldn't get Ray insured for a decent price because of his "pre-existing" condition. Instead we've been paying an astronomical amount each month just for his insurance, which runs out this weekend when he switches over to a much cheaper plan but with thousands of dollars in deductibles. So, he's been trying to get all of these tests & stuff out of the way while he's still on a co-pay plan.

The good news is that the latest MRI says the spot on his spine hasn't changed & it's also the "good" kind, the kind that doesn't tend to cause paralysis & that has been there since birth. But, something came up with the bones in his legs or something so he has to go for a bone density test I think & his neurosurgeon wants him to go see a neurologist (I don't remember why).

Last week at little Ruth's 6-month check-up she was referred to three specialists. I won't go into details on here because it's not my child, but so far they've come back with good news.

Another friend at church has a two-year-old girl who has had horrible instestinal troubles for about three-weeks now & the doctors don't know what's wrong.

And, this is the HUGE one, that I would love to get a ton of prayer: one of the families from my old church in Orlando, John & Sarah, has a little girl, Ellie, who turns eight-years-old today. I remember when Sarah was just pregnant with her & for whatever reason Ellie has been so special to me since the time she was an infant. I know that she's always been one of my favorite kids & when she was three she was the adorable flower girl in my wedding.



Last Thursday she woke up blind in one eye. It turns out there is a lemon-size mass behind her nose & they've since found 2 spots on her spine, one spot on her pelvic bone & a bone scan has shown signs throughout her body. They've diagnosed her with Neuroblastoma, Stage IV but with a 50% prognosis. She starts chemo tomorrow. This is a site set-up with updates & a lot more information.