Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

At about 1:30am on the first of April, I posted a prayer request. My wife’s blood count was dangerously low, hemoglobin. She eventually would be diagnosed with both diverticulitis and bleeding ulcers. Being on kidney dialysis, the doctors refrained from giving her a lot of blood transfusions. She got three, but that meant more fluid retention that dialysis would eventually have to remove, if her heart allowed that to happen. The blood pressure plummets when the fluid is removed too quickly, so they have to switch to filtration only.

She spent five days in the hospital. Her blood count is above the danger range, but not by much. As our family doctor told her a couple of days ago (while having another blood test taken), recovery will be very slow due to a variety of factors. In the meantime, she is getting around slower than normal, which was already slow. She does not go as far before she has to rest, for example, bedroom to kitchen to rest, then kitchen to the car – but she gets there. She uses the wheelchairs at the dialysis center and at the church. She only ventured to the grocery once since this happened, and I went into the grocery store and got a motorized cart so that she only had to take a few steps from the SUV and then back into the SUV after shopping.

And our biggest adjustment is learning new diets that in many ways conflict with one another. I joked with the pastors that we might be better off throwing out the food and eating the cardboard box the food came in, but probably somewhere in the fine print there would be something against eating cardboard. Far too much fiber.

So, I thank you for all the prayers.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.