A rough season

We’ve had some rough years, but this one has been particularly callous. I don’t even know where to begin this post, so I’ll start at the top. Buckle up because this is a rough ride. 

We did start the year with a nice trip to Colorado in February. But not even a week before we left, my mother became bedbound. That was the being of the end for her, and she passed less than a month after we returned. The day after her funeral, we headed out to Houston for Amanda’s sternal wire removal surgery that had been planned for a while. 

Somewhere in the mix, we found that Amanda would also need a complete redo of her knee replacement. Following the wire removal, she got an infection that landed us in the hospital for a week. Wound care with a lovely wound vac would ensue for weeks to come. 

Following the last wound care appointment Amanda had her second knee replacement done. She would go into physical therapy for months after, but she progressed well and only has two more sessions left. One random day a couple of months ago, Amanda got a call from our primary doctor. I was in Alpine, and she wasn’t expecting a call from the doctor. He asked her how she was feeling, and she replied that she was feeling good. He said he received a call from the transplant hospital, where she had her labs drawn earlier that day. Her potassium was dangerously high; he said it was so high she shouldn’t be standing or alive. 

The doctor advised her to go to the hospital in Uvalde immediately and have labs drawn and not to drive herself. She called a friend from church who lives nearby, and they were off. He called in the order and had strict instructions for the admission staff. The minute Amanda walked in and told them her name, they said don’t sit down and whisked her right back to the lab. It turns out it was a false high, but it was a scare nonetheless!

With all the time I’d been off with my mother’s passing, combined with Amanda’s surgeries and hospitalization, I used quite a bit of leave time. This cut into my vacation time, which I use for ministry purposes. So, when it came to summer camps, I couldn’t attend youth camp for more than a couple of days. 

On top of everything, we emotionally ate out of our regular whole food plant-based diet and packed on the weight Amanda a little, but I got almost 50 pounds over my new normal healthy weight I’ve maintained for years. Before, my weight would fluctuate pretty well. I could gain 15-20 pounds after a week of bad choices and get it right off. But our February vacation, followed by my mother’s passing, and then all the health issues and my emotional eating spiraled out of control to the point I was like, whatever. That felt good until my pants were tight, and I had to size up on shirts. I knew I had to do something when my watch informed me my resting heart rate was up ten beats a minute from my usual. 

We made a little while of fare sailing. Then, on my way to work one day, I pulled out on the highway after grabbing some tacos, I was still adding to my fluff, and heard a loud pop. My RPMs began to rev high, and a message went off that my transmission temperature was high. It seemed the transmission finally gave up the ghost. I limped it back and forth to work for weeks without using a couple of gears while I searched for a shop. 

I was served papers on the trip from the transmission blowing up. They would be from a judgment against my parents in 2017. I thought this would die with my parents, but it turns out I was wrong. It would become my responsibility and was for tens of thousands of dollars, and we had 60 days to produce the funds, or the property I inherited would be seized. I only inherited property and no money, as caretaking ate away all my mother’s money. The funds needed for this judgment were money we simply did not have. However, the amount we needed for that made a couple of grand for a new transmission seem small!

Oh, and both of our home AC units also took a dump this summer. One had a catastrophic freon leak and needed a whole new charge and patch. Please don’t ask me how much freon costs right now! Our other unit’s outside fan motor quit working as well. Though that may sound like the nightcap to this challenging year so far, there’s more that gets way worse, but I’ll save that for another post. 

After writing all that out, man, that sure was a lot! God still has his hand on everything, though. He’s gone before us and provided a way out for many of these situations. We know He’s in control, and we’ve been through enough to know that. 

Now, the praise reports. We had hesitated about Amanda having a completely new knee replacement, but it was the right choice; she is doing much better now. Excellent results would come, much better than the first. 

I had some prayer requests that were immediately answered and provided for. I also was fortunate enough to change my schedule to be there for all the kid’s camp. I didn’t have to work at all and was paid by the railroad to do ministry work for that week. Now, I have just enough compensated time left for our end-of-summer trip, our usual heartiversary vacation, and the December mission trip. 

Our weight has begun to come down. I’ve already lost over 20 pounds of my extra fluff! We were also able to secure money to keep from having the property seized. I even spoke with the person who was awarded the judgment. We had an excellent talk that was civil, and she even asked if we could end in prayer; it was a God thing for sure. We also have a Colorado vacation coming up soon. It is a long-planned trip, but it couldn’t have come at a better time.