Good Evening All,

I hope your evening is going well. I am having one of those days and nights that I just don’t feel good but nothing is wrong.

I have some news from Charleston and I was hoping that I could give you all of the details at once but I can’t. The news is the lung doctor in Charleston has told me officially that all of the test ran proved nothing about where the fluid in my chest is coming from. He furthermore stated that there was no other test. He was holding out for a leak from my transplant, but no proof of that. He now is suggesting another pleurodesis with talc; you know that’s the surgery that I have whined so much about, because it hurts so badly. Oh well, I have not agreed to the surgery yet but I have a great group of doctors I am polling right now for their opinion. I have been told that it can take two or three of these procedures before they work.

OK now this is my Possum Kingdom Red Neck theory.
There was only about a 70% chance of it working the first time and I hit that 30% group. My thoughts are what has changed, my answer is nothing. That is when my local lung doctor told me it could take two or three times. I of course have other options, one is where they make a bigger hole and go in and scrape the entire outer lining of the lung and make it irritated and therefore it would stick and of course there is the procedure where they strip the outer lining off with their hands and it would stick. The other question that I had to get answered is that if the leak was coming from some where else after the chest area was stopped up what then? They told me the fluid would go some where else but it would not cause as much of a problem as it does in the chest cavity. So if my belly don’t stick out enough it could have a few more liters put in it. He told me that it could be drained from my belly as well, sounds like new fun to me!!

Anyway I am gonna talk to some other docs and do a lot of praying for the answer, and the answer will be in God’s will and time.

FYI – We have had our second meeting of Christian Firefighters and we now have a web-site and we will be posting prayer request and concerns as well as meeting information. Go to http://www.upstatechristianfirefighters.org/ and check out our web-site and come and join us. It is under construction so keep checking, it will be running full force soon.

God Bless You,
Thank You,

Lightning

Good Afternoon All,

Well I am just sitting here in the house while looking out at the sunshine wishing I was out there rambling around. I know what you are thinking, well why don’t I just get up and go outside? Well I wish I could but I can not right now because I can not walk very well because I have the gout in my right ankle, again. Oh well I will whine a while and maybe it will go away soon, guess my uric acid is still up. I get to go see the vampires tomorrow so I guess we will find out in a few days.

Well you will be glad to know that the leak did not go away as I removed over 950mls today. I did however hear from Charleston about those test I was telling you about, they all came back negative, oh well can’t imagine where they might stick a needle next.

Don’t forget that Saturday night I will be at Mt. Bethel Baptist Church for the men’s wild game supper, I sure am looking forward to those vittles.

The meeting of the Christan Firefighters will be on Thursday March 13, 2008 at Cedar Shoals Baptist Church on Hwy. 247 in Possum Kingdom, hope to see you there, more good vittle eating.

Well I guess I better go it’s about time for more medication. I hope you have a great day or night if it’s already dark.

God Bless You,
Pel

Well I guess you have thought that I forgot about you and that is not the truth. The truth is I have not felt like writing in my blog. I have not felt like doing anything, yesterday I read and cleaned up my e-mail. I sure do thank you for all of your prayers, I am glad our God does not mind repeated request. Your prayers and God’s blessing have allowed me to get to feeling better. I am still whining about one thing and that is my stomach. The doctor told me I tore my stomach muscles while I was coughing so bad because my muscles were still weak from the transplant. I like this doc’s definition of what muscles are, people have always told me that was fat now we know it is muscle.

Tomorrow will be two weeks since I went to Charleston for these last rounds of tests. We still know nothing about the test. I am going to call them tomorrow if I have no news today.

I have some awesome news to share with you, on Sunday February 17; our daughter Abigail was baptized, God is awesome. Preacher Mike stated that being saved was so simple that even a child could understand. Who is Preacher Mike? He is our new pastor at Cedar Shoals Baptist Church in Possum Kingdom, God just keeps blessing us. Please keep Preacher Mike in your prayers along with Preacher Frank. Preacher Frank has a new church in Anderson and God is blessing and challenging him in this new adventure. Prayer is a powerful tool that God has given us, and we so often only use that tool in bad time, pray in the good times as God will make them better also.

I am excited about a new road that I along with others am traveling. That road is called transition because we now are a part of the new era of public education in organ donation for SC. You know how proud I am to be a part of making people aware of the need of organ donation. You know I have been a volunteer with Donate Life SC since my transplant. We now have an old organization that has taken on a new role of public awareness, LifePoint Inc. We the volunteers are now a part of a big organization that will allow us to get the word out for the need of organ donation. What happened to Donate Life SC? Donate Life SC are in the role of the state registry only! WOW to be a part of such a great organization as LifePoint Inc. is truly an honor, so thank you LifePoint Inc. for allowing me and the other faithful volunteers the honor of being a part of such a great organization. Check out LifePoint Inc. at http://www.lifepoint-sc.org/ Please remember get your heart right with God before it’s to late and then commit to help save the life of someone else, when you are gone, through organ donation and please tell your next of kin of your wishes.

I have some other exciting news and that is on Saturday March 1, 2008 I will be one of two speakers at Mt. Bethel Baptist Church Wild Game Supper, there will be about 300 + men there in fellowship and good ole eating, keep your eyes open for the failed Possum crossing yeilds, so if you can please come join us as I will tell you how God humbled me and how he has now opened new doors in my life. Just remember ain’t no plate sharing on the failed Possum crossings. Mt Bethel Baptist Church is located in Anderson County right at the Abbeville County line at 2603 Due West Hwy. Belton, SC 29627. We hope to see ya there, you can even bring your own road kill.

Finally for the latest weather report from Possum Kingdom, today sunny and cool with a breeze 100mph or so, so unless you eat a second helping of failed Possum crossing last night you better put some rocks in your pockets or you will be visiting you neighbors. Don’t worry Mark I am not a threat to the world of weather forecasting, just fact telling in Possum Kingdom.

God Bless You,
Thank You for all you do for me and others,
Lightning,
Pel,
Pelham

Quick update on me, I got sick Tuesday night and on Wednesday the doctors got with me, you know I have one doctor up here to consult and two doctors in Charleston and I have to keep them all on the same page, sometimes quite a task. My lung doctor and my local doctor thought that my lung catheter may be infected. Since somewhere around two months is all they leave them in people, normally. I have just crossed my fifth month. Those test so far have showed the lung catheter to be OK, some test are still out. The lung doctor said that after he checked me out he thought that I had something viral going on causing me to feel extra bad. He did however go ahead and conduct other test such as a CT to look for pockets in my chest cavity and be sure the lung is OK and that the catheter is still where they want it.

When I was down in November and he ran the other nuclear medicine test, there was a national shortage on nuclear medicine. He checked while I was down there and they were able to go ahead and conducted the second nuclear test. Well this is the one that I was kind of dreading because they have to stick a needle between your toes and inject the nuclear medicine in there and watch it flow through your lymph system. Well I was wrong about the test. It was not one shot between your toes it was four shots between four different toes, two on each foot. They said even at MUSC they only do this test about once every three months, glad I got in that number. That study will see if they can find a leak in my lymph system and allow the fluid to track to my lung. Anyway after a full day, starting at 0800hrs at MUSC we arrived back at the motel around 1900hrs last evening.
We arrived home today about 1630hrs, Saturday.

God Bless You,
Pelham, Claire & Abigail