Praise God for the many, many blesssings He has given us! September was a month of wonderful improvement for Lea! She is getting better by leaps and bounds, and the pain she has been suffering for so many months is finally subsiding. She is down to a single dose of narcotic pain killer each day, which is improving her mental acuity a great deal.

We had a delightful trip to Austin in September to visit our son and his lovely bride. They are in the last weeks of pregnancy, expecting a baby boy later this month! We also got to spend some time with the expectant mother’s parents, which Lea and I both enjoyed immensely. We met them at the wedding last year, but got to spend only a precious few hours with them amidst all the hubbub of the weekend. Lea, of course, was still on very heavy doses of narcotics and anti-depression medication at the time, so she remembers only highlights of the event.

Lea’s knee replacement seems to be settling down now, and her side-to-side control is greatly improving. The surgeon looked at her last week and was pleased with her progress. He did, however, want her to continue using the knee brace and wearing the surgical hose for at least another month. We hope she can continue the improvement so she won’t need that additional surgery.

We are not going to be able to get her abdomen closed up in the foreseeable future. We consulted with three separate surgeons, including one who deals with abdominal trauma, but none felt Lea was strong enough to survive sugical closing of the hernia. Of course, they all saw her before her rapid improvement started about three weeks ago, and they may feel differently next time we try to pursue that.

Meanwhile, she is going to have to continue wearing the abdominal binder 24 x 7, and, of course, can’t push, pull, lift or bend, in order to avoid hemmoraging. She isn’t allowed to drive, because the seat belt, in a collision, would cause hemmoraging, and she will have to continue using a cane until her knee is totally safe for her to walk on.

We continue struggling with her diabetes, trying to get it back under control. It continues to be erratic, and we are now doing four injections each day to attempt to get it to level out. Whether it will become controllable, or whether the pancreas will start producing insulin again, we don’t know. We just pray that her healing will continue, that her previous quality of life will return, and that we can serve Him through that healing.

We remain SO grateful to the wonderful folks in the medical field who made it possible for us to reach this point, and to our Lord, who gave us these challenges to make us better Christians. We praise God for the miraculous healing He has provided, and pray for His guidance in our lives. We continue to pray for clarity of the direction He would have us go to best serve Him.