Good Morning.  I hope this weekend was good to you.

Jennifer and I expected to be back in Franklin by today but things haven’t worked out that way.  On Wednesday, Hutch, Sadie-Claire, Jennifer, and I helped Pop Pop plant the farm garden.   Elias, Hutch’s cousin and best buddy, was there too.  It was a picture perfect day as we planted rows of vegetables and flowers in the mild Missouri sun.  For supper all of us (11 counting our family, Mimi and Pop Pop, and Jennifer’s sister’s family who lives on the farm as well) gathered around Shantel’s big farm table and ate meatloaf and cheesy potatoes.  It was idyllic.

On Thursday we woke up sore, but it was a good sore.  However, on Friday Pop Pop awoke feeling awful and as the day passed he began to worry that his Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) was acting up.  By suppertime he felt like he might be having a heart attack so Mimi took him to the Emergency Room.  A few hours later he was released, feeling no better but assured by docs that his heart was functioning normally.   On Saturday he woke up worse with a migraine and terrible nausea that wouldn’t subside.  By suppertime we were back in the ER and a few hours later he was admitted to Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Festus MO.

Initial tests show two “tumor-like” masses around his heart and one on his kidney.  His bones are irregular too but a bone marrow biopsy has returned negative for cancer.  Docs say this isn’t the CHF but they aren’t sure what is going on.  Scans are also showing inflammation all over his body.  More MRIs and CTs are being done this morning to see if any of this has to do with a terrible pain he has had behind his right eye for several months.  A head MRI should tell them us something today and rule out or reveal any possible tumors.  Pop Pop battled with nausea and vomiting all evening yesterday but was able to sleep last night with the help of some morphine.

Our family would appreciate your prayers in this, especially for the doctors to sort out the diagnosis soon.  Pop Pop is very close to Jesus and his zeal for God’s Kingdom is as strong as anyone’s I have ever met.  We’re not worried about that part.  But being immobilized in a hospital bed is worse for him than just about anything.   Mimi is a stress-case too.  She drives school bus seven hours a day and used most of her vacation days last month visiting and helping Jannel (Jennifer’s sister) with her new baby.  We’re all taking turns being with Pop Pop but Mimi is battling to keep all of her plates spinning.

Hope to report good news soon,

Peace and Rest,

Jeromy