Streets of Gold

This is Jessica, Cindi's daughter with a quick update.

Yesterday morning Al went home to be with Jesus.  He battled cancer for 4 short months.   He was such a wonderful man of God.  He guided us, prayed with us, and lead us all to the Lord.  My life would not be what it is today without him.  The Lord used him to impact all our lives.  His healing didn't come in this life, but in the moment he went to heaven he was healed!  All day I have been thinking about Heaven.  How wonderful it must be.  I can imagine him walking hand in hand with our Saviour Jesus Christ down the streets of gold.  I am heartbroken because I miss him tremendously, but I am also rejoicing that one day I will get to see him again healed, happy and walking again.  I want to thank everyone for your prayers.

My mother will update more when final arrangements have been made.

Status Quo

Status quo is good, at least for me. I don't crave a lot of excitement...I'm happy nestled at home with my husband, psycho dog and a good book. Status quo for us lately has been good. Almost three weeks ago we went back to Holmgreen for rehab. Al was doing great there, anxious to do his therapy everyday, eating well and was regaining some much needed strength. He was on schedule with his therapist. Considering that he hasn't walked since Christmas morning, he was progressing nicely.

And then, flu season hits us. Thirteen days into Holmgreen, Al got a slight fever, some loss of appetite and just an overall "blah" feeling. It really wasn't too serious, so they monitored him for a couple of days. The rolling electrical blackouts occurred during the third day of his mild fever and we were not getting results on blood work quickly enough because various lab sites were down due to the electrical issues. Holmgreen decided to send Al to the ER to run his blood work and chest x-ray. Everyone fully intended for him to be back at Holmgreen that night. That was 8 days ago. Upon admission, he tested negative for the flu, but he did have a small amount of fluid in his lungs (talk about status quo), so they decided to keep him. I was glad due to the horrible weather that was approaching. The hospital is closer to home and I just felt safer knowing he was in the hospital during those days.

Yesterday, out of the blue, his doctor came in and told us that his flu test (which was once negative) was now positive. So, Al has the flu. We both had our flu shots in early October, but due to his weakened immune system, the flu shot just didn't cut it this time. He is doing good, his fever is gone, but you would think we are in Outbreak mode due to the hospital's policies and procedures concerning patients with influenza. This is on our door:

Then, there is a tray full of masks and gowns;

By the time you're done, you will look like this:

We will probably stay in the hospital until early next week. Until then, this status quo is good for me.