Aloha 5/1/13

Aloha,

Touchdown!  In Las Vegas at midnight April 24th.  I grabbed my bags and headed to EZ Rentals.  I stood in line for 40 minutes and then was told you were supposed to pick up your car yesterday!   Now what????  Right next door was Payless and "yes" they had a car, but of course, the amount would be higher... go figure!   I got me a little compact and headed to the Seven Pointe Hotel and Casino.    Got to bed about 2 am with a wake up call for 9:30 am.  I needed to be in St. George for a Dr. appointment at 2:30 that afternoon.  SO, I was scheduled for surgery NOT gambling.

When I left LV and started out on the freeway, I found out my little compact didn't have cruise control!!!  What kind of car in the 21st century doesn't have cruise control?  This was a test!  Not only hadn't I been driving for 9 months, but now I had to remember to use a gas pedal and a brake. Watch out drivers... We both arrived in one piece and in time to stop and get some soft food items from Target.  As I was waiting to see the doctor, Dr. Chandler called and asked how I was doing and said, "I don't see you on the schedule for Friday."  I said, "I was scheduled for Monday."  He said, "See if you can have it on Friday because I work."  I said, "I would talk to Dr. Lewis."  Dr. Lewis came in and had gone over my tests that I brought w/ me and said we were good to go for Monday AND then told him what Dr. Chandler said.  He called and I was put on the schedule for Friday.  I left his office for blood work at the hospital and then went to Costco for some soups and tapioca pudding. It was about 5:30 and I hadn't eaten, so I decided to stop at the "Bear Paw."  Only it was closed!  Just then Mike, (Dr. Chandler) called and asked what I was doing and said to meet him at the house and he would find something for us to eat.   I got to see Spencer, Ofa, and her children.  Mike asked me to come to a function for their Stake. They were having a 10 year reunion for all the past and present Stake Presidents.  It was enjoyable because I knew several of them personally.    I was helping cut cakes and visiting w/ some of the women when this one looked vaguely familiar and then she said, "I used to go to church at the green church in Orem... did you know Richard Heaps? My husband Rudy...!"  That is as far as she got.  I said, "Are you Dora Moe?" and sure enough.  We knew them when Tim was attending BYU and we lived in that Ward.  She is now Dora Moe Weems.  She recently lost her husband and wanted to go on a mission, but the Stake had other ideas for her.  What a small world.  After the function, I followed my friend Darolyne Childs to her home.

John and Darolyne Childs have a darling 2 bedroom home and took me in as a patient.  The first thing John says to me after, "Welcome!"  "We have another little visitor here."  I said, "As long as it isn't a gecko I'll be fine."  He said, "It's a lizard!"  In the back of my mind, I knew it would be in my room!!! They had called an exterminator for next week and had some sticky traps set out.   The Childs' are serving an 18 month mission in St George at the Visitors' Center, Brigham Young home, Jacob Hamblin Home and the Tabernacle.  When I left to return to my mission, they had reached their month mark.

Friday, Darolyne and I sat around visiting because I wasn't scheduled for surgery until 11 am.  About 9:30 we decided to get ready for the day and I turned my phone on to a message that asked if I could come in early for surgery.  Oh, yeah!  I called the surgical center and said I'd be there in half an hour.  I jumped in the shower, washed my hair and my body w/ the special surgical soap and then Darolyn dropped me off.  They took me right in and got me all ready, BUT then an emergency came up... so I bided my time.   Mike came by w/ a doctor friend and gave me a blessing and said he felt Lynn was there watching over me.  I asked him something else AND this all she wrote.    I don't even remember recovery.   I am in my room... hurting.  This is NOT like the last surgery.   Kathy Diederich came by for a short visit on Friday.    So nice to see her.   The one thing I remember was watching a fun HGTV show on Friday about 2 teams in a flea market finding items and re-inventing and selling them for the best profit and the winner receiving $5,000.00.... it helped lessen the pain.  As I said, "This was a harder recovery."  I left the hospital for the Childs' on Monday afternoon the 29th.  

Darolyne would walk w/ me and make sure I was eating and drinking.  She was a wonderful caretaker.  We would have a group prayer and study together in the evenings before retiring.  I had some trouble finding a comfortable position because of the surgery.  They cut a little wider and cut out a little more than last time and also added mesh.  It is a lot slower process.  I thought I'd come bouncing back like that little rubber ball.

I send all my good thoughts AND remind us... "It's not so much what happens to us but how we deal with what happens to us."  Elder Scott

Mahalo,

Sis Morris