Monthly Archive

Glad tidings!

I’m very pleased to be able to let you know that Lea‘s hip seems to have completely healed. Praise God, we went for her check up, and the xray shows no sign of the fracture! The doctor wants her to take a couple of rehabiitation sessions, mostly to help her use the cane again . . . she was pretty apprehensive, but overcame that real quickly with the therapist’s assistance. Her leg shortened somewhat, so her balance is even worse than before, although, quite honestly, she had been off her leg long enough for all the pain in her knee to subside. Some blessings come in disguise, don’t they? She is reducing the amount of pain killer she is on, and is now down to two 2-milligram doses a day . . . half what she had been taking. She is back walking on the cane, but still using the walker so she doesn’t get her knee all inflamed again.

We went upstairs at Link’s today for the first time since she broke her hip last November. The therapist had focused on retraining her to go up and down stairs with use of the cane and a “spotter’ to catch her in case of missteps. She can go up stairs pretty normally, but has to take a single step at a time coming down, because of putting full weight on the hip nd bad knee. She was delighted to be in the kitchen again, and made us lunch from leftovers in the fridge. We were tickled that Lyndi got home from school early and was able to join us. (Megan was off to a tennis match.) Lea particularly enjoyed the view from the lanai, where we had lunch, and she snapped the attached photo of the scene from where she sat.

We are trying to get the airline to fly us back home in mid-March, but haven’t had much success as of yet, as they want nearly $800 per person for our return tickets, and I keep arguing that I have already bought the ticket, and I shouldn’t have to pay more. They have put me on perpetual hold, or just dropped the line, and I haven’t gotten to talk to a supervisor yet to see if I can get them to give us a little slack. Even with the credit they are giving us for the amount we paid for the original return ticket, it is going to cost almost a thousand dollars difference! It isn’t fair, but what are you going to do? It is getting pretty tough for us financially, but I know we will be provided for, and just trust that patience will continue to be a virtue.

We have greatly enjoyed the church we have attended here is Hawaii, and our son and my brother and their families are very involved in the church activities. One of the very nice things the church does is provide an ‘Aloha table” for its members. Many folks here have fruit trees in their lawns, and bring whatever excess they have to the church, and share it with members via the aloha table, at no charge. Bill and Jane Buckingham operate the Sacred Grounds Coffee Farm, and have all kinds of fruit and nut trees . . . more than they can use, or harvest. They have allowed Lea and I to come down on Saturdays to pick as much fruit as we want to take to the church the next day. Lea takes pictures while I pick fruit. (That seems fair to her.) Attached is a photo she snapped of me picking papayas. I also picked five gallons each of avacados, pummelos (ancient grapefruit), and oranges.

Their farm overlooks Kealakakua Bay, where Captain James Cook, who discovered these islands, was slain by natives. The fruit trees are at the top of the farm, near the houses, with the coffee trees below, and the macadamia nut trees at the bottom edge. In the mac nut trees is a very nice, quiet, spot where I like to take a break from the sun, and share a few quiet minutes with the Lord amid the beauty of His creation. The farm is a very attractive and touching place, made even more precious by the folks who own it.

Lea continues to make good progress, although she is still relying on too much pain killer (in my opinion), to the point she doesn’t yet want to check her email or work on writing on her memoirs, which she started before her illness in Hartford. I am really anxious for her to come on out of that protective fog, but realize that she is still dealing with a tremendously traumatic blow to her sense of self, and that is going to take a while. Hopefully, when we return to Indiana we can get her abdomen closed up and then get her knee surgery completed. The case worker at the insurance company is working to find surgeons for her in Indiana, but isn’t at all willing to discuss going back to Hartford. So, we are probably going to be spending the next couple of years in Indiana getting surgeries and doing recovery. Then, we’ll see.

Thank you again to each of you who have been so supportive over the past months. We send you our love, and look forward to seeing you again in the very near future. We pray for God’s richest blessings for you.

In His service,

Lea and Larry

Yesterday I had the priviledge of sharing with Lea our 43rd wedding anniversary. I took her out to dinner at an oceanside restaurant here in Kailua-Kona, which is a local favorite location for watching the famous Kona sunset. The surf was up quite a bit above normal, and was a joy to experience. In fact, I took a little video clip of the raging surf and sent it back to friends and family in the midwest, where temperatures have been well below freezing for several days now. I’ve been getting hate email ever since.

God’s creation is just SO amazing when you take time to pause and take it in. I have spent quite a bit of time in recent months reflecting on the joyful relationship Lea and I have shared over the years, and find myself thanking her for all she has been to me, and thanking God for putting her in my life. She inspired me to try to capture in writing how important our relationship with God has been in our marriage, raising our children, and ministering to others. That inspiration was very evident in the Updates I sent from Hartford.

Many readers have suggested that body of work be collected into book form, and I continue to work on “the Hartford Letters” when I have some spare time (usually when Lea is sleeping). I have already completed the draft of the first two volumes, and am now working on the final volume of the set. The first two volumes, of course, were already written. The first is a 200-page collection of emails my family sent out alerting family and friends to Lea’s sudden illness, and it includes the updates “I” wrote during the 180 days we were in the hospital. You’ll also find them posted here on this website.

Volume two is a 300-page collection of the emails I received from friends, family, and folks we have never met who were forwarded the updates, and often forwarded on to others they knew would benefit from reading them. Many of those emails contained wonderful testimony that uplifted me, and, I am absolutely certain, will be spiritually inspiring for readers of that volume. They, too, will appear here eventually.

The third volume is going to be lessons learned from the experience, my personal philosophy and my relationship with God. I’m planning chapters on my youth, Lea’s childhood (If I can get her out of the drug-induced fog to write it), and our marriage. I think those chapters will prepare the reader to better understand how my relationship with Lea developed as the catalyst for building my adult relationship with God.

I pray continually that the Lord will lead me to write the message He would have me deliver. I also wasnt to dedicate a portion of any profits from the sale of this book to Living Stones Church, which was so supportive during our time in Hartford. How it would be marketed, and who would publish it, is yet to be determined.

Meanwhile, we continue in prayer daily seeking direction from God; who, what, when, where, and sometimes how. We will probably return to Noblesville from Hawaii as soon as she is permitted/able to travel, probably sometime in late March or early April. We are also in prayer trying to determine whether we should return to Hartford CT to get her stomach closed up, and also, whether we should get her stomach closed up first, or get her knee replaced so she can walk first. That is all unknown at this point in time.

Believe it or not, there seems to be some question whether insurance will pay for her stomach-closing surgery if we insist on going back to Hartford Hospital. It is considered somewhat “elective,” because the insurance company believes there are qualified surgeons in Indiana who could perform the operations needed. We must get this surgery done, and I don’t suppose it really matters where we have it done, although Dr Mah knows the case very well, and would probably be the most qualified.

So, Lea is on disability now, having been fired by her employer after a year of sick leave. I am currently not working since I am focused on taking care of her, our COBRA insurance ends this December, and I don’t think we have enough time to get both of her needed surgeries completed before our insurance coverage runs out. So, some of the questions we are pondering (and praying about) include which surgery should come first, realizing that the second surgery may never happen.

If she doesn’t get the abdominal surgery, she can never drive, or do any activity that might expose her to risk of rupturing the very thin skin covering over her intestines. If we don’t get her knee replaced, she will be wheelchair bound from now on, as the knee has deteriorated beyond the point of stability. We have placed this in the Lord’s hands, and know that He will provide the solution in His time.

Meanwhile, we are at my son, Link’s, home in Kailua-Kona Hawai’i, and we have our cell phones on all the time for friends and family can reach us. Keep in mind that we may be several time zones behind those in the U.S. mainland time zones; (four hours Central, five hours Eastern). So, we’d prefer afternoon or evening calls (your time) to early morning (middle of the night here) calls.   : -)

Thank you for your comments and support. May God bless and keep you. Here’s shot of Lea at dinner last night. Glory to God!

It is time for a more thorough update on Lea. I have received several emails in the last two weeks asking about how she is doing ( does the full moon have anything to do with when the inquiries arrive, or is that happenstance?)

Lea seems to be doing better, recovering from her fall at Thanksgiving in which she broke her right hip. At her first visit to the hip surgeon, on Jan 8, the x-ray showed that her femur had collapsed slightly into the hip socket, and the heads of the screws, which were originally up tight against the femur bone, are now extended out slightly, leaving a gap that could trap muscle tissue and cause problems later on.

Her most recent visit, Jan 29, showed another 1/16th inch compression, which makes her right leg shorter than the left. We go back Feb 22 to see if the compression has ended, or if the fracture has stabilized. If it doesn’t stop compressing, it may require a total hip replacement. We would not be happy, if that is the result, but have put it in the Lord’s hand, because we know that we are very involved in working His plan.

In any case, her pain level from the fracture has greatly reduced recently, and she is taking less pain medication, which is letting her come back out of the drug induced stupor it causes. She was taking four doses a day of the narcotic Delaudid, but she has reduced that to two doses a day, most days. She keeps herself right at the maximum pain level she can tolerate. The pain med, of course, also clouds her mental processes, so any time she can reduce it, the better she can think.

It is delightful to be able to see her bubbly personality coming back! I actually got choked up at bible study two or three weeks ago because she was, for the first time in a long time, lucid enough to give some very moving testimony of her experiences. On the days she has to have more pain killer, I do the best I can to care for her, knowing that a better day is coming.

Even though she is still using a walker to get around, I work very hard at trying to keep her mind active, by taking her shopping, going out to eat (where she has to read menus and make choices), and any activity that makes her use her mind. I haven’t been able to get her back into the sudoku puzzles she was working before she broke her hip, but that will come with time.

She really enjoys church, and has started transcribing notes of the bible-based sermons delivered by our pastor, Bill Barley ( www.livingstones.us). We are becoming quite attached to our church family, which makes it even harder to think about returning to the mainland. She enjoys the weekly bible study at Link’s house, as well, and has formed a real attachment to several of the couples that are active in the church.

She has always loved to cook, and is now starting to feel well enough that she can cook one meal a day . . . usually dinner, since that is about the only time of day the majority of Link’s busy family gets together during the week, and she takes about all day to plan and prepare that one meal. When she feels well enough to back off her pain killers, she is able to think more clearly, she can plan two or three meals/days ahead. That makes shopping really fun for her, and it’s great great therapy, as well.

She can’t go up the stairs to the kitcfhen at Link’s house, so I gave her an electric skillet for Christmas, and she cooks meals under the pai-pai (grass roofed hut with no sides, used as an outdoor eatin’ place), next to the pool. I just run up and down the stairs, I just run up and down the stairs to get food, cutting boards, knives, spices, I just run up and down the stairs, napkins, bowls, plates, I just run up and down the stairs, this spice, that spoon, that serving bowl, as she prepares the meal for the family. I just run up and down the stairs making side dishes, and when she needs something else I just run up and down the stairs.  

I try to take her on sightseeing trips, but she really gets quite uncomfortable in a fairly short time. I took her up the coast about 10 days ago. We watched whales jumping up out of the water as the cows taught their calves various skills. Then we went on up the coast a bit to the shipping harbor for this side of the island to see the boats and whale activity in that area. It was great fun, but by the time we got back she was exhausted and in great pain.

It took two days of almost total rest (sleep) for her to catch up. She gets a deep, dull, ache in her hip and upper leg that just won’t go away quickly. She has a difficult time even sitting up to watch TV, so we don’t do much of that, either. Sleep seems to be her escape from pain, which is better than having her taking so much narcotic to relieve it. Although I wish she could spend more time out of bed, I am grateful that she can manage her pain though sleep, and back off on the drugs. She is SO strong! Glory to God for continuing to work in her recovery!

Our youngest granddaughter, age 15 (16 in March), has spent a lot of time with Lea, getting her involved in working puzzles, playing cards, watching an occasional movie, and just talking and laughing together. It has been great therapy for Lea, and a wonderful blessing, too. Lea really enjoys re-bonding with our granddaughters and it has been tremendously uplifting for her.

I don’t even like to think about what it will be like when we leave here and return to the mainland. She is going to miss them tremendously. The older granddaughter, however, spends very little time with us. Now seventeen, she is at the beginning of her adult life, and has much higher priorities. (Remember those days when you would find ANY excuse not to be with your parents?) When she is with grandmom, however, she is just as sweet as you could hope for. She comes to grandmom for advice, and then flitters away to do those things you do at seventeen, like consulting with another teen female about “all the things that are important” in life.     Life goes on, right? Have a blessed day.