Update:
Monday was a long day filled with medical appointments with encouraging
news sprinkled throughout:
My physiatrist gave me permission to begin short motorcycle rides. She did manage to throw in a good zinger in
granting permission. I had told her as
busy as my days were I was having trouble doing my exercises more than three
times a week. Her response, “How are you
going to have time to ride your motorcycle if you don’t have time to do your
exercises?” Ka-Pow! She is good!
“Yes, ma’am I will get my exercises done before I go outside to play.”
During my visit to the prosthetist, I got my work boots “fitted” to go
onto my prosthesis. She had to put a pad
up in the toe of boot so that my prosthetic leg would be at the correct angle
while I was wearing it. My orthotic
insert for my left shoe (my natural leg) also had to fit into the boot and
still leave my foot enough room. All
that worked and now I get to test my boots walking around the yard at home to
make certain there are any issues. I do
have to tie my left boot differently so that the prosthetic ankle can still
flex. Basically the bottom part has to
be laced up tight and the top half of the boot has to be loose to allow the
prosthetic to move properly. Also,
unless I have problems or need my leg adjusted, I don’t have any more
appointments scheduled with the prosthetic lab.
So I might have one or two months until the next appointment there. After how often I’ve been there over the last
three months, that will be strange.
Here’s a short video of me walking with my first permanent prosthetic
leg:
I had some very encouraging news at the retinal specialist’s
office. Every appointment starts off
with questions about my vision, “Any changes in your vision? Improvement?
Sudden loss of vision? Floaters?”
and an eye test. I told them that I
thought my vision had improved and it has.
When I first went in to see Dr. Wu my right eye tested at 20/2300. Following two injections, yesterday my eye
tested at 20/40. What a change! Now that is with staring, blinking, and
guessing on the test—but they were pretty amazed at how quickly I’ve responded
to the treatments. My vision is still
blurry and distorted but Dr. Wu said that the vision test results gives hope
for continued improvement. So between
the medical treatments and God answering prayers—I am making good progress.
After receiving the good news, it made receiving the injection in my
left eye not seem so bad. Still after
the treatment, I put the eye patch on and we headed home so I could spend the
rest of the afternoon and evening in bed.
On Tuesday morning, I had some ability to read for a short time; but the
eye needed to rest for the remainder of the day.
I counted up the number of medical appointments that I have had from
January through April: Thirty-one. Wow! I
think things will be slowing down in the coming months, but I have certainly
gotten my money’s worth out of my health insurance! I don’t even want to think about the total
amount that I’ve spent on medical care since Thanksgiving Day 2013; but each
time I get an eye injection, the procedure costs $1,500. I will be doing two of those each month for
the rest of my life. And that is using
the inexpensive drug—if I required the expensive alternative; the cost would be
over $3,000 a time. Unbelievable!
Tuesday was a good day. I was able
to read some by about noon and it kept improving throughout the evening. While I could not do much with my eyes, I
managed to sweep and wet mop the first floor of the house (including the front
porch). I ended up spending the
afternoon and evening in Altoona with the police and then the fire
department. It felt good to do some of
the things I used to do prior to my amputation and to serve as a chaplain
again.
Thought for the Day:
2 Corinthians 5:7 “We live by faith, not by sight.”
“Over the years I have run into many businessmen who make the
statement, ‘Whenever I get things in order in my business, I want to get more
involved in ministry.’ What are these men really saying? They are saying that
as soon as they can get the amount of money that creates security, they will
trust God. They are saying that what they have been doing to date has not been
ministry. This separation of ‘work and faith’ is common among our culture. We
fail to understand that life is sacred to God and there is nothing ‘holy’ and
nothing ‘sacred’ in itself.” [Os
Hillman, TGIF Today God Is First, on-line devotional, 04/30/2014].
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Each one of us, no matter what our vocation is, has an important task. How we work and what we accomplish should all
be a part of our life of worship. In our
minds we tend to separate “Sunday worship” from the rest of the “work week.” Actually how we live everyday of our lives is
just as much a part of our worship as what we do on Sunday if not more so. You cannot separate the two. God doesn’t just check in on us on Sundays—He
watches over us 24/7. And that is how we
should approach life and worship too—24/7.
Imagine that life is one big college class. What kind of grade would you expect if you
blew off the daily assignments and the weekly quiz, never attended class, and
trusted your entire grade to the final? Our
entire life is an opportunity to live in such a manner that God is honored.
Colossians 3:23 “Whatever
you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
If you are a stay-at-home
mom, do everything with a God honoring attitude. If you are in sales, treat each customer with
honesty and give your boss an honest day’s work. If you are a teacher, remember that God has
entrusted those young lives into your care—seek to nurture and encourage each
one of them on a daily basis. If you
drive a garbage truck, do it with pride and have a “job well done”
attitude. Every job can be God honoring
depending upon how we go about it.
You see, it is not just
people who are employed full-time in Christian ministry who work for the Lord. Each and every one of us actually do. Some of us just don’t realize it. Some of us just don’t work like it. Wherever you are called to work; no matter
what your job is; you should do it in a manner that pleases God.
If the way you worked today was
the “offering you put into the plate,” what kind of offering would you be
giving God? Give Him your very best. Honor the Lord by the way you live each hour
of each day.
Colossians 3:23 “Whatever
you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
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