Nan is home again

Dear Friends and Family,

Long day, feel lousy, got a speeding ticket, fell during the afternoon inspection, still feel lousy.

But the good news is, Nan had a good experience with her procedure, minimal back pain this time, minimal bleeding. I left home at 7 this morning but had almost no traffic for the entire trip, arrived at 8:45 but Nan was not able to leave until 10:30. We drove directly home and in a area near Brentwood where the speed limit has changed recently I was clocked at 54 and the limit was 40. Jerk did not care to hear that we were on our way home from the hospital and Nan was in pain, just took forever and suggested traffic school could help keep it off my record. Nan kept saying, be nice to me as I was not feeling nice at all. I've been ill for a couple days getting worse, probably running some fever but really could not change our plans so just slugged my way through them. Nan was glad to finally get home and settled into her recliner with the heating cover Nikki gave her for Christmas and I built a little fire to raise the room temp some. I worked in for a bit and then had to go to Stockton to see a house for a relo company, they have been putting me off for two weeks it turns out. My day was really made when I discovered the house was round, almost impossible to measure and when I got there the owner told me I was the third appraiser, that the first two could not agree on the living area of the home, were 150 feet different in living area so I was hired at a rate of $500 to solve the difference. In the process of measuring I found myself start to slide and slip and the next thing I knew I was flat on my back in some mint bushes. Nothing broken, just a bit jarred and I smelled like mint the rest of the afternoon. Finally I could head home and was very glad to do so. Found Nan still in the chair so we just relaxed together for the rest of the evening. I had brought some fire wood home from Safeway but it does not want to burn, I think it is wet, our course to go with the day the box broke when I picked it up and wood spilled all over the floor, they gave me $4.00 off for the broken box.

So I'm heading to bed with a head that feels solid from side to side, ears hurt, throat hurts and I feel lousy in general. Tomorrow our normal rest day will take on new meaning, I really plan to rest, listen to music, try to temp Nan with some food, she had several nice meals in the hospital. I'm sorry to say I see no difference in the amount of leaking in the wound tonight. They were quite terrible at the hospital at dressing changing, Nan and I do it much better, 6 months of experience helps a lot.

We sat out 4 boxes of very good quality clothes for a charity that was picking up today but of course they didn't come and so the boxes are back in the front room to wait for another day or another charity.

Some days go better than others and I'd like to forget this one but I rejoice that Nan could come home, is feeling pretty good, that the medicine we have been begging for for the last 3 months to help build Nan's blood and possibly to ward off so many transfusions, that precious little vial came in our medical supplies today from Crescent. That is wonderful news, finally insurance company, pharmacy, doctors got it together and came through with the drug. Terri will give it to Nan on monday. Over the last 24 hours Nan has felt pretty good which is wonderful to see. I know she felt every bump in the road coming home today but she toughs it out and does not complain.

Please keep Nan's leaking in your prayers. It is still happening, not at the levels of a month ago but it is still there. I beg God to heal this up as He has healed many things before over the past year.

If you have special prayer requests please respond to the blog with them and we can all join together in talking to Jesus about them. I know of many people who are wrestling with huge medical issues right now and my heart goes to them.

I'd like to report that several lenders have paid on their accounts and we are now able to almost be up to date on at least some of our tax issues, the most critical ones. Loree reported a large amount was recently donated to recovery fund, this will come in handy very shortly when our new years deductibles come out, We thank you for your help, words do not begin to convey how much better I sleep knowing that some of the financial chasms are not so deep now. I want to especially thank Dona Want for sending a Safeway card to assist with groceries. Since our safeway is right down the street and I do the shopping I know how helpful that card is in our daily lives. Thanks so much. We are also grateful that over the last couple months work orders have continued to come in. Perspective is this, in 2003 we prepared nearly 3,000 reports and last year we prepared about 775 reports. That tells you how much things have changed and why we no longer have a thriving company of 8 people working together. Summer decided to have a baby and liked it so much she never appraised again, Kevin became an important manager over at E-loan, Ron is retiring to enjoy life, Jean is helping a lot with writing for me, Heather is busy with her boys but helps when she can and Steve and I work hard traveling all over the place to stay busy and generate income. It looks like I will need to head to Redding on monday for a very good client who is in a jam, now that is a long trip for one appraisal but she has been our faithful client for many many years. Nan has decided to allow her license to expire, it costs hundreds of dollars for the classes and then hundreds more for the license itself and she has not practiced at appraising for several years. It is a hard decision but probably a wise one in light of her recovering status.

Even on hard days there are bright moments. Driving in this morning early I enjoyed the beautiful clear morning over San Francisco, the wind had blown all the junk away and the air was fresh and clear, the bay was beautiful. And seeing Nan's glowing face when I got there was the best sight of the day. Her blue eyes are something to enjoy!

Well, enough for now, we are sending our thanks for your special prayers for Nan's surgery. They did what they sat out to do, now we wait to see if the black fluid will diminish and eventually quit.

We send our love and appreciation for yours,

tim and nan