Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Temple #99
The first thing we try to do when I get here in the morning is to have prayer, read from the Book of Mormon, and do a section of "Come Follow Me." Many times we are interrupted and have to finish up later in the day.
Ainsley, a muscular black man, is his nurse today. James's blood sugar was 294 but that was after eating oatmeal, a blueberry muffin and some orange juice for breakfast. Ainsley did not give James any insulin but waited a couple of hours and took his blood sugar again. This time it was normal. Before James ate his lunch I had him drink a protein shake.
I bonded with Ainsley over colored pens. He had about seven different colored pens in his shirt pocket. I use a different colored pen for every day of the week when I write in my journal. We laughed about it together. Ainsley also put a heat patch on James's ribs to provide a little relief.
David and Terry came to administer the sacrament to us. I am grateful for worthy brothers who can do this for us. In Vernon, the ward is fasting and praying for James's speedy recovery.
Lisa, one of James's case managers came in today and said he would need to go to rehab when he left the hospital. She gave me a two page list of choices. I chose number 1 on the list in Chandler, less than a mile from the hospital, and for second choice I chose one in Gilbert. Hopefully the one in Chandler has room for him. He is not liking the idea of going to a live-in facility but I told him I needed it.
I missed Dr. Watt and the trauma team today because I fell asleep and Ainsley didn't want to wake me up. Dr. Frances, a part of the trauma team, is trying to find James a regular room in the hospital now that he is off all of his IV's and his pneumonia is under control.
His oxygen needs are down to 4 liters instead of 70 when he first started. They are keeping the chest tube in because it is still draining. James has had no Dilaudid today, just Oxycodone and Roboxin. Roboxin is a muscle relaxer.
Trina came for a visit this afternoon. James's blood sugar was 121 before lunch. For lunch he had turkey, potatoes w/ gravy, broccoli, apple crisp, and a protein shake.
It was nice of Trina to come and visit. She and Ruby are getting ready to go to Oregon where Ruby has been invited to run in a race sponsored by Nike. Trina is also helping Lola get ready for girls camp, plus trying to get everything ready for their move out of their house. Trina brought some leftover cake from Lola's birthday party.
I got a call from Lynn Jones today. He actually called the hospital when he heard about James from Nancy VanVleet. Ainsley told me someone named Lynn Jones called and gave me his number so I could call him back.
President Lynn Jones has a special place in our families' history in Chandler. He was our first bishop. He called me as Primary President of the Chandler 2nd ward. He was the first bishop to ask us to bring our scriptures to church with us. Kathy, his wife, was my first visiting teaching companion. We visited Mary Noel, Barbara Huish, and Jean Griffin.
When President Jones became our stake president he was the one that called me, in the temple, to be the stake Relief Society President. Jared and Pres. Jones's nephew, Chris Carpenter bought Pres. Jones's optometry practice. He and Kathy have been a part of our lives for over 40 years. Now he is a sealer in the Gilbert temple and Kathy is the one that helped James rent clothes the last time we attended the Gilbert temple. They are dear, dear friends.
President Jones said they wanted to come and visit James but they would wait until he was feeling a little better. That would be wonderful.
James had another chest x-ray. He is groaning with pain. Dr. Frances says to keep him on the Dilaudid a little longer. Ainsley has not given him any. He has had Oxycodone, Tylenol, Gabapentin, and Robaxin. Robaxin is a muscle relaxer and seems to help with pain.
This evening at 8 pm Abby, our favorite nurse, came in to say hi and I guess goodbye because it was the last time we saw her. The world needs more people like Abby, even if she does have tattoos and a nose ring.
Stacy and Paul came for a visit and we were both asleep and they didn't want to wake us so we didn't get to see them. How sad.
As part of our "CFM" lesson we read a wonderful talk by Elder Bednar, "Meek and Lowly of Heart" from the 2018 April General Conference. This talk is amazing because it helped me to understand the difference between meekness and humility.
I got texts from Michelle Beckham, Sheri, and Dennis. Rod Beach texted James. Jane Rosen told me the entire ward is fasting for James. I talked to Kim and Tom. Brian brought me my stuff from Vernon that I asked for: my temple bag and Perk for Addy and my password book. Jared checked in on his dad this evening.
Martin Kempton texted and said they were praying for James. I suppose he hear from President Jones.
Brent and Rebecca came for a visit this evening. I had a nice visit with Brent. He is one of the most interesting people to talk to that I have ever met. He is like an encyclopedia of information. I wonder if his middle name is Google. I have some notes written down from our visit together but now I'm not certain what they mean. Here and some of the notes:
* The Edge Effect by Eric Braverman
* Dr. Bing on YouTube
* Strataus.com
Rebecca gave us a thank you note for the cabin memories and for the money we donated for Scott's funeral expenses.
Lily is having twins in October and Marin is due in July so their family is growing.
Brent told a faith promoting story about when they were called to be temple workers. He was working 6 days a work about 12 hours a day in his lawn business. In spite of this they had the faith to accept the calling in the temple. Brent said the year before this calling he had tracked their budget very closely and they were $800 a head at the end of the year towards paying off debt. The first year after working in the temple once a week and cutting back on his working hours they were $8,000 ahead towards paying off debt. I love these two faithful saints.
We listened to President Eyring's April conference address, "Prayers for Peace." We feel like the Lord has provided so many tender mercies for us in the past week. We are so blessed with such wonderful people in our lives.
Alex moved in with Sheri & Ian this weekend. Shayna won't let Alex see their dog Zeno because she says she is afraid Ziggie will attack him. Alex's is very upset!
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on one of the upstairs balconies.
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