Hello Family and Friends, June 30, 2005

It’s been so long since the last update- sorry. We’ve had so much to deal with since we’ve been back from Pittsburgh- mainly our dear sweet mom’s memorial. We thank all of you for your kind words, thoughtful cards and caring phone calls in regards to our huge loss. We also appreciate all of you who were able to make it to her service and to those of you that were there in spirit. It has meant a lot to our whole family. During this hard time, we are continually thanking God for all our blessings- which are many. We are so grateful for my successful transplants and for the fact that we did have this amazing, incredible mom/grandma/wife and sister in our lives who loved us all so much and who we all loved to pieces. Although, the time was much too short and we would give anything to have her back, we are celebrating the joys and getting through the sorrows with time. Gosh, we miss her…

So here is what’s new…I do have a new medical issue going on, but I will get to that later. I actually have been back to work in the last month and a half! Unbelievable! I never thought I would be well enough to work again. But I substitute taught five days this school year. It was great to be back teaching. I loved it. I also have picked up eight tutoring students for the summer- which I also love. And I am also teaching a quilting class, which has always been a dream of mine. I told many of my quilting friends- years ago- that someday when I could breathe well enough I wanted to teach quilting but not just quilt making but the “art” end of quilting. My class is an “art” class focusing on learning all about color and design. It’s my own curriculum that I put together so I am pretty proud of it. Two quilt stores so far have put me on their class schedules- one of the quilt stores being voted as “one of the best ten quilt stores in the nation!” Pretty cool and praise God!!

My amazing nurse/husband is back to work at his old job- which we are so grateful for. He is happy to be back at work and with his co-workers he has so enjoyed. Helen and James finally have somewhat of a normal life back. They have an up and running mom again and are so happy to have the family all back together. What an ordeal for these two kids these past few years! We are so proud of their deep faith and unwavering strength. It makes Jim and me so happy to see them a little more carefree and without big worries and able to just be kids again.

Now, for the medical issue- I wouldn’t call it a crisis- just a medical issue that needs to be dealt with. Last week I had to go the ER at the UW because I woke up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain due to an intestinal blockage- not fun! Everything is better now but when I was in the hospital they had to do many cat scans and ultra sounds on me and incidentally found that both my ovaries are enlarged (they don’t know why.) And one of my ovaries has a large growth on it- the size of a lemon and the other has many cysts on it. We met with the surgeon from the UW today, and he said both my ovaries need to be removed. When your immune system is suppressed, you can get cancers easier and they grow much faster- part of the trade off of getting a transplant. Anyhow, it is very unlikely these growths are cancerous but we won’t know for sure until I get my surgery and they biopsy the ovaries. Because of this issue with cancers, the surgeon also decided that I should just get a full hysterectomy and not leave any “pockets” where cancers could potentially grow in the future- we totally agree. My surgery will probably be in about three weeks or so. In trying to see the glass half full- all I can say is, “At least this time I only have to get something removed but I don’t have to get anything replaced” Yes, please laugh. I am. We will keep the website updated as we again ask for your prayers. With all my medical issues, I am considered very high risk for surgery so we will take all that the power of prayer has to offer. Thank you all so much for your ongoing concern, prayer and love. We appreciate it so much and please know it is returned full fold. Hope this finds you all well and enjoying the splendor of summer.

With much thanks,

Annie and family