Archive for July, 2007

23
Jul

WOW – What A Weekend!!

   Posted by: Lightning    in Uncategorized

Good Monday Afternoon,

I hope all is well and feeling great. I have had some more weekend. It all started Friday. Claire & I went to the hospital, so they could perform the ultrasound guided thoracentesis. The nurse put me on the side of a bed and I had to be rude and sit with my back to her. She then used the ultrasound and found the fluid; she then performed her artistic work and started drawing on my back. The doctor came in and we chatted for a minute while he washes his hand. He talked about what he was going to do, numb the area and stick a needle in my back to tap into the fluid, and then he would thread tubing and remove the needle. In a little bee sting and a good bye he was out the door. The nurse showed me my first bottle that came out, it looked like dark beer. These were 500ml bottles she used and she filled 5 up and started on the 6th one. I then had some pain in my back and left shoulder, she said she was done and put a band aide on my back. There was 3600ml, 3.6 litters or about 15 pounds removed. I then went for another x-ray and they let me go home. I felt really good then. I could breath. I felt so good I came home, drove to Greenville and returned home to run the weed eater.

Saturday I was a little sore and did not get into a whole lot, enjoyed some time with Justin & Abigail, while Claire worked. I felt good Sunday morning and then Sunday evening came with yet another blessing. I went to Hillcrest Baptist Church in Williamston and spoke during the evening worship service. My step-brother Larry Baldwin is the pastor there and I was honored to share the pulpit with him. I spoke for just a minute in my no clock world; I think it was some where around an hour. We handed out about 80 donor cards and got over 30 donors, Gods blessings still pouring out. I conclude my evening with a nice evening with my beautiful wife and daughter.

I want to ask you a question, when you are gone from this earth what will you leave behind? What kind of mark will you leave on this earth or on people? That’s a lot to think about!!

God Bless You,

Lightning

1 Comment
20
Jul

Speaking Engagement & Doctor Update

   Posted by: Lightning    in Uncategorized

Good Evening,

God is Great all the time to you and I.

God has again blessed me and has given me another opportunity to share my blessings. Please join Preacher Larry Baldwin, the great people at Hillcrest Baptist Church at 1300 Anderson Dr. Williamston, SC and me on Sunday night July 22, 2007. If you have not signed up to be an organ donor yet this would be a great time and place.

Remember if you have already signed up to Donate Life be sure your next of kin knows your wishes.

Watch for and purchase the Donate Life SC tags when your vehicle tag need to be replaced, this will help raise awareness.

This will be a short update, but I wanted to bring you up to date. I have tried not to complain to much but since May, when I had the (Pleural Effusion) this means fluid in the space between my lung & my chest wall, I have not felt as good as I had been feeling. I have been blaming it on the heat. In the past two weeks I have not felt good at all, I have gotten winded when doing nothing. In the past few days things starting getting worst, but on Monday I had to confess to Claire about not feeling good, of course she already knew. I went to see Dr. Kopp yesterday and he said I had the Pleural Effusion again, and he sent me to have a chest x-ray. The x-ray showed the Pleural Effusion was worst than it was back in May. Dr. Kopp then sent me to see Dr. Thompson a pulmonolotgist, a lung doctor. I seen Dr. Thompson today and he had some blood work done and has set me up for a ultrasound guided thoracentesis, in other words they are going to stick in a needle through my back and drain the fluid out, they will then perform studies on the withdrawn fluids, I may have to identify what fires they will be looking at. I have an appointment to see Dr. Thompson again next week to find out what has caused the fluid to build up and also find out what the studies on the fluid showed.

I hope you have a wonderful evening and God Bless You & Your Family.

Lightning

No Comments
1
Jul

Possum Kingdom – A Great Place To Live!

   Posted by: Lightning    in Uncategorized

Good Sunday,

Possum Kingdom – A Great Place To Live!

Well by now you know what I mean! First of all you know I praise God every day for just one more day and I pray for my donor family each and every day. With out God performing miracles and families like my donor family willing to participate in miracles, I would be a sick or dead man. Course you already know I ain’t dead. God is Great and Life is Good, but Life is Great when God is in it. Second of all there is no place like Possum Kingdom to live, I know you are jealous but everybody can not be lucky enough to live in Possum Kingdom

Donate Life what does it mean? Life – when you need an organ.

” I am not as good as I should be; I am not as good as I could be; BUT….. THANK GOD, I am better than I used to be.”



Breaking News: SC Donor Registry Bill Becomes Law!

Donate Life SC is pleased to announce that on June 14th, 2007, Governor Mark Sanford signed House Bill 3317 into Law. The passing of this legislation allows for the establishment of a SC Organ and Tissue Donor Registry that will be housed and maintained by Donate Life SC. On behalf of the nearly 700 South Carolinians waiting for a vital organ transplant, Donate Life SC and myself would like to thank the Governor, the Legislative body, Capital Consultants, Inc., and the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles for their unwavering support in this effort.

Look for the launch of the South Carolina Organ and Tissue Donor Registry in early 2008!


On to the health report, I went and visited the vampires on Monday June 25, 2007. I received more good news, liver number are still great, kidney numbers about the same and my Hepatitis and HIV panels came back negative. I felt great about the blood products I received but multiply units meant multiply donors, now I fell even better. The doctor cut my Prograf down to 4mg twice a day instead of 5mg.

I will return to the vampires on July 9, 2007.

My family and I want to wish you a very Happy Fourth of July.

On Friday June 29, 2007 Al Billings & I went fishing and you just would not believe the fish that we caught, so I am not even gonna bother to tell you about them. The ones that broke the line and straightened the hook, WOW. I will tell you that I am fixing to fry the fillets up right now.

WORDS OF WISDOM!

If you go swimming this summer always be aware of your surroundings because this could happen to you;

LOVE IN A MENTAL HOSPITAL

Just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to, doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.
LOVE
Jim and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool, Jim suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there. Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled Jim out. When the Head Nurse Director became aware of Edna’s heroic act, she immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital, as she now considered her to be mentally stable. When she went to tell Edna the news she said, “Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you’re being discharged; since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of another patient, I have concluded that your act displays that you have a sound mind. The bad news is, Jim, the patient you saved, hung himself in the bathroom with his bathrobe belt right after you saved him. I am so sorry, but he’s dead.” Edna replied, “He didn’t hang himself, I put him there to dry. How soon can I go home?”

God Bless You,
Lightning

No Comments
Back to top