Tamara's surgery - all looks good

Hi All,

Here is a quick update on Tamara. I have been able to see her twice in the last two days and she is doing great. When I saw her on the first day she was much more spirited than I expected, both directly after the surgery and that evening. Today me and the older kids brought flowers. She looked very good today. She was dressed in normal clothes /normal pajamas and could move around a bit more. It looks like a great start.

On the home front all is going well, but mainly due to help from friends, neighbors, and the relief society, or women's organization, in our congregation. Every time I thought I couldn't go on, or was about to give up on something, they were there. Today I was uncertain about how to take the kids outside (because the weather was nice), finish Hannah's homework and get her off to a friend's house, give Ian something to eat, help Shantal make a cute dessert (which she has been dying to make), and like ten other things I needed to do. That is when brother and sister B. showed up. The husband said where is Spencer I've got a soccer ball for him, the wife started playing with the babies and feeding Ian. With Hannah out the door I got the babies ready and Spencer, brother B., the babies and I went to play some soccer. Emma was so happy to walk with brother B. to the soccer field. Spencer and brother B. had a great time, as did the babies. The babies were so cute in the muddy grass. It was a blast. That also gave Shantal some time to create a wonderful dessert. Hannah came back from a friends

That evening another sister brought in dinner and we had no worries. Wow, it was awesome. That is just one example of help from friends, neighbors, and members of our congregation. Naturally, one receives help often, but it moves one so much more powerfully in your moments of deepest need. I told the B. family that we shouldn't wait until Tamara gets sick again to get together. We could use their help more often. Our kids could use their help more often. I know Tamara could. They said the same thing. I hope that we will.

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. It was great to hear from so many about how they had experienced similar things and how life went on. My mother comes next week and I hope that Tamara's recovery will continue moving in a positive direction.

All the best,
Gardner

A Request

We have a challenging event ahead of us. Tamara will be heading to the hospital for a hysterectomy next week. Her tiredness had not completely gone away after taking iron and getting B12 shots and so the doctors looked a bit further. They asked about her periods and if there was a lot of bleeding. There has been. She was referred to a gynecologist. He said since we have all of our children, the best way to go is to have the hysterectomy, because otherwise the heavy bleeding would continue each month and the blood levels would always be down. Tamara wrote down all of the details on our blog.

Life has so many twists and turns, this is just the latest for us. It also quite a challenging time for me as I have had stomach problems as of late, causing me to miss a week of work a few weeks back. I have pain when my stomach becomes empty which indicates that I probably have ulcers in the duodenum, which is just below the stomach in the start of the intestines. I have to watch what types of food I eat, each 4-6 meals a day, and take anti-acid medication to reduce the acid build up at the end of each day. It's not overly fun, but the lack of pain is very nice. I will have to have an endoscopy in the next few weeks to see what to do next.

The announcement of the surgery seems to have come so fast that it is confusing at times. But, the speed has actually been a blessing. Work is relatively slow for me right now, plane tickets are relatively inexpensive which means that my mother is available to come and help with the kids, which will be a huge help and bring a great calm and reassuring spirit to the kids as well as help ease our burden. Our congregation, friends, and neighbors have also been a great help. They have offered to bring meals and take the kids to activities and let them play longer at their house. This is a huge help.

The kids have also been a great help. They are real pros at caring for the two babies. Spencer has postponed his soccer career by a few weeks until mom is back in shape to support him. Hannah is excited that grandma will be on this side of the pond for her birthday. I hope this will help mom regain some energy and strength. We sure realize how much we miss her at times like these. She is already making plans for farming out the kids a couple of times a week and on weekends. She is only replaceable by two - seven people. I should tell her that more often.

Please keep us in your hearts and prayers, especially this week.

Cheers,
Gardner