Dear Kids,

Just a reminder about super Sunday next week, 3pm, at the park in Centerville located at 850 East 550 South.  Allen will provide the drinks and everybody will provide the fun. And the food.  See you there!

And happy Fathers Day to all our wonderful sons and sons-in-law.  We really appreciate the wonderful way you take care of your families and set such a good example for them.  Dad seems to be having a good Fathers Day.  For a present I gave him a new bar for his chain saw.

My brother Charley had a seizure last Wednesday night and is in the IHC hospital in Murray, the “Death Star.”  It could have been caused by his forgetting to take his medication, but they’ve done all kinds of tests to rule out other things.  He’s going to be transferred to St. Marks rehab next week, according to Andy.  I’m praying really hard for him, and I hope he pulls through without permanent damage.  He’s been living on borrowed time for three or four years now, and I hope he can borrow plenty more.

I saw the pulmonologist on Friday, and it was very discouraging, but I expected that.  The nurses gave me the breathing test where you breathe into a tube and then blow it out hard, and they kept wanting me to do it over and over, to get consistent results.  I finally told them I couldn’t do it any more. Then I met the doctor and he was very nice.  He says he has to rule out every possible thing before he assumes it’s just my cancer doing what cancer does.  He ruled out asthma right away, which I could have told him.  The funny thing is that my oxygen is always around 98 or 99 percent, which is excellent, but why am I always gasping for air?  I’ll be having  an echocardiogram on the 28th, to rule out heart trouble, and then I’ll see the doctor again July 2.  That adds two more weeks of waiting.  I guess I can stand it, but it’s really hard.  I just get through every day, one at a time.

The farmers here are really concerned about the drought.  One of Dad’s friends at the coffee club told him he has 6 more days of watering, and then he’s going to cut his hay and be finished for the summer.  Usually they hope for at least 2 cuttings.  When you live in the city a drought only means you’re supposed to “slow the flow,” but farmers lose thousands of dollars.  It was a little cloudy yesterday morning, and while Dad and I were working at the cabin about six drops of rain fell, but that doesn’t help much.  I pray every day for rain.  When I say my prayers, the Lord knows what to expect–I want help with my lungs, and I want the drought to end.  I hope He’s not getting tired of me.

I love you all.  Mom