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