Forty-five years ago today, Arla was in the hospital.  She was giving birth to her oldest daughter Mary Ann.  Life intermingles with joys and sorrows.  Just like in childbirth, joy often comes with pain.  And the pain makes the joy all that much sweeter.

Arla had a restful night, although she managed once again to pull out her feeding tube.  We told her she better be good or they were going to kick her out.  Perhaps that is her plan.

Also, just so you know.  Harold understands a lot of what is happening to Arla, but from time to time, we find he has the information a little wrong.  For example, he has said that the doctors did not need to do anything to the blocked artery in Arla’s heart.  The reality is that the doctors did some ballooning but in the end could not totally open the artery.  It was a small artery and trying to do more would risk further damage to the artery than allowing it to remain blocked.  Harold also is still trying to understand the atrial fibrillation that Arla is experiencing.   This condition was not being treated, and we are certain (looking back and now knowing this was going on) that she has been in A Fib off and on all summer. A Fib is the condition that would have directly contributed to Arla’s stroke and heart attack.

We tell you this to encourage you to use the blog to gather information and keep up on Arla’s progress.  When asked what happened, Harold starts at the very beginning of the story and tells what he knows.  He recounts ALL the events.  It is exhausting!   He can understand that Arla was sick and needed help getting dressed and was taken to Lutheran and was very good on Sunday night and suddenly took a turn for the worst Monday morning better than he can understand the medical chain of events.  We are trying to help Dad learn a short version of the “story”.  He is also directing people to the blog.  So Harold is learning to run the marathon and not the sprint.

Please pray for endurance!!!!  Please pray that Harold can develop a selfish nature, one that will allow him to consider his needs first.  Dad is an unselfish man, that will need to change.