December 28

Greetings to all,

What a couple of days it has been. We have experienced some wonderful highs, like visiting with Rich and Rita on Saturday night and eating bunches of homemade carmel corn and laughing our heads off to intense bouts of pain and a hospital readmit.

Went to church yesterday, came home had 1/2 a sandwich for lunch and took a 3+ hour nap. Woke up from the nap in extreme pain. Not sure why...John said I never moved during the nap and was not in any weird position. (maybe it has to do with the Lion's record) The pain apparently has decided to take up residence in my body cuz it is not going away. Everyone at work today said she is hurting real bad....cuz she is not saying a word and walking real carefully. I am going to be hitting the pain meds hard tonight and if it doesn't subside I will be on the phone with Dr. B tomorrow. But as Kayla said tonight to John as he was ready to pack me in the car and take me into the hospital...Dad, pain has never stopped Mom before and it won't stop her now so let her keep building her character and strength through the pain. Mom can endure anything...SHE'S TOUGH. I love Kayla and her wonderful insight into life.

Rich went for his clinicals this morning and the report was not too good. His creatins are up so he was admitted to the "big house" better known as St. Mary's. They also drained a lot of fluid from around the kidney....this is a "normal" thing that can happen with a transplant and did another biopsy..as a precaution...to check for any rejection or ???. They think the creatins are up due to the pressure from the water on the kidney. He called me tonight, sounded his usual cheerful self, but did say he experience an intense bout of pain earlier today. Nobody knows what caused it but after a heavy dose of meds it went away. Rita thinks it may be due to Rich having to take his 2 handfuls of medications on an empty stomach...OUCH!!!!!! He is hoping to be able to come home soon, like tomorrow, and should have the results back from the biopsy then. Please pray for positive results and for an easing of his pain. Rita called me tonight and she needs our prayers also as she is exhausted from all the running around, care taking and trying to keep up on her work schedule. God never said this was going to be a smooth/easy road to take and each trial that we endure is making us stronger and growing our faith in HIM, but WOW what a bumpy road it has been. Praise God that he is with us, I can not imagine traveling this journey without having HIM with us.

Please continue to pray for a speedy painfree recovery for Rich, strength and endurance for Rita and for the med staff as we continue to travel this journey together.

Blessings to all,

Ingrid