I. D. K.

Spent the day at emergency.  After running a myriad of blood tests, x-rays, etc. the doctor came in and said I had I.D.K.

 

What's that?  I Don't Know

 

Back home again.  hooray

I need your continued prayers

rough rough day in dialysis.  lost lot of blood and struggled through the rest of the day.  I know you are praying for me and am very thankful for your faithfulness.

 

love, dan

Happy Memorial Day

Shortly it will be Memorial Day.

We hardly remember it is a day to remember those who have given their lives for your freedoms and to keep us free.

I'm thankful to my dad, my uncle Tom, Uncle Alex, Uncle Walter, Jimmy G., John E., Uncle Eddy, Albert, Dave P., my son Jackie, and a whole list of others. Thank you so much to them and their famllies that follow after them.

This last week was a rough one for me. In the hospital twice. My bad days seem to be coming more frequently. I must be getting closer to the day I'll be with the Lord. It's hard to believe and I never thought it would be like this. Harder and harder to keep positive about things. I thought when these times came, I would just say, "hey, I'm ready", but the will to survive is amazingly strong. I find when I'm losing ground, my desire to live becomes even greater.

Who knows, maybe the Lord will allow me to be here another 20 years. It doesn't seem so, but I'm not in control of things.

When I was younger, I never wanted to do it different "if I had to do it all over again", but now each day I find myself wishing I would have done things different. And although I know it's not true, it seems that most of my life was wasted. I never left another chiropractor to carry on the name, never left the family any wealth or reputation. No great fishing trips, or camp outs to remember. Waa Waa waa. woe is me. On the other hand, God has given me eternal life, and as far as I know to each one of my children and many of their children. That gift greater than any material costs and I wouldn't want to trade the difference.

I know the attitude is totally wrong, but forgive me for being human. If I wake tomorow it will be brighter and I'll look at life different. Rebuking myself for not thanking God for what He's done for me.

I'm not looking for pity, I'm just scared as my days get shorter. I'm thankful for my daughters who have been there at the nights I'm vomiting and are calm and sure and give me my pills and I finally go to sleep.

If I had any advice for whatever it's worth is to serve God with all your might. Spend your days serving Him and don't look back because you're old before you know it. Old age doesn't creep up on you, it attacks you with a vengeance.

Well, enough sob stories. Take advantage of your days.

Love, Dan

A time to reflect

First of all, I'm doing fine. Dialysis Sat. went well



As I left church today my heart was broken. My daughters were having a difficult time because it's Mother's Day and their mom isn't here. She went to be with the Lord 8 years ago. I wish I could wrap my arms around them and comfort them. I wish Dolly were here to see what wonderful daughters they turned out to be. They are caring and selfless and bring joy to many people. Every day it seems they do something to help someone, to bring comfort and smiles to their friends or family.



Their brothers were quiet today too but guys are like that. They usually just keep their hurts to themselves.



If you're reading this and your mother or wife is still alive, take advantage of it. Don't assume they'll be with you always. Every moment with them is precious and don't ever let your "busyness" of life let you forget it. Take time to thank them, to adore them, to love them. God has given you a great gift don't let it slip away.



p.s. thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement



Dan

It's Monday

all is well.

Had a nice weekend. Still recovering from Sat. dialysis. It was real rough.

Tomorrow I'm taking vicadin before dialysis to get through it. I hate that feeling of helplessness.

Note to those of you who deal with people: Please don't become insensitive to the people you work with. If your job is boring get another job.

Dan

You probably thought I forgot you!

But I didn't. Some of you have mentioned that you thought I must not be feeling good because I haven't written in a while. Actually, I have been feeling pretty good the last week. Other than a few glitches in dialysis, I'm doing okay.

Praise the Lord, I've been able to talk to Ken at dialysis. Our schedules are kind of weird, but at least I've had a chance to talk to him. His spirits seem to be a lot better than a few weeks ago when I discovered he was still alive. Please, Please continue to pray for his salvation.

I wanted to tell you a great experience I had when I was in the hospital about a month ago. There I was in the most excrutiating pain I've ever been in (on a pain scale of 1 to 10, my pain level was a 12 ! ). Nothing seemed to help and I literally cried out to God to please take the pain away from me. But I was still in terrible pain with no look for relief. "Lord please take this pain away from me!" I cried and then in the midst of it, I realized that all I was doing was thinking of what I wanted. Lord, if that pain is what you want then that's okay. If I have the pain, would you at least help me endure it?, I asked. It came to me that I was just thinking about myself and not what God wanted.

Once I came to that realization the pain started to subside and within a while the pain subsided to a tolerable level.

What I learned from that, that in all things we always need to be concerned about what the Lord wants in our life and not what we want. Of course, I never want to go through that again, but I am grateful for what the Lord taught me through it.

Please pray for the Sturgills, and for Peggy and Len.

God bless your day!

Dan