It's been a week since Fred's surgery. He was a mess for about 4 days. He was dizzy and very weak. And finally, on Sunday, he was able to stay up for more than a few minutes at a time. He went back to work on Monday and has been doing well.
He still has a hard time at night with feeling uncomfortable and shooting pains through his ear.
He goes to his dr. next Tuesday for his first follow up. I will be able to breath a little easier once the dr checks him out.
Here are some pictures of his ear. It's a crazy looking thing. I told Fred this makes him officially cool. (not that he wasn't cool to start with)

This is a 'plug' that will stay in his ear for 8 weeks....

The 6 million dollar man?

Well, I don't know if it cost that much.... Fred had 'ear re-constructive' surgery today. His ear drum, to be exact. He's had problems with his ear forever, but his hearing had been getting worse the last year or so. He finally went to a specialist who determined he had a hole in his ear drum and that it would not be healing on it's own. Now, the cool thing is how they repaired it. The dr. took muscle from his JAW to recreate the ear drum. Then he took skin from behind his ear to make a skin graft. The doctor that did the surgery came up with the procedure, so Fred was in good hands.

This is an 8 week recovery. He has to go to the dr every 2 weeks to change the dressing. He has to put drops in his ear 3 times a day. And he can't get his ear wet for the 8 weeks. So I would say the surgery was the easiest part of this whole ordeal.

Please pray that he will recover quickly, no infection problems, and that he will recover his hearing after all of this.

Marking the 'correct' ear

Post Op. Poor Baby!!

Kim Walker

Our youth pastor shared this artist on his blog. I have never heard of her, but I like her... she has a unique voice.
And I right away thought that Laci would like it, so Laci, I hope you keep up with my blog! :)

change of Picture

I changed the pictures on the blog this morning.... I have to admit, I kinda 'disowned' Andy from my blog for a while.... so I had a picture of Freddy & Stephany from March. It was a good one too!

But I decided to let Andy back in 'the fold' of my blog. I couldn't find a real recent picture of the 3 kids together that I really liked, so I posted one from our Virginia Beach vacation a LONG time ago.

Well, as soon as Steph saw it, she DEMANDED I take it off. She is not fond of the picture, don't really know why. So, I played with the idea of leaving it up to aggravate her, but decided to spare her. lol

This is actually one of my favorite pics of them. I enlarged and made it black and white and have it hanging at home. Hopefully, she will like this better!

Friends and Cheddars, what could be better!!

Claude's brother was admitted to the hospital last week so he and Sheila are in town. We got them to go to lunch with us after church yesterday and they brought along the Birds with them, which was great!

the girls...

the guys...

It is always wonderful to catch up with old friends (even though Fred & I are the oldest in this group!). How cool is God to allow us to stay friends with folks whose paths have taken them away from us geographically? I am thankful for the road we were able to go through with these folks.
Ok, I sound WAY too deep for my own good. Let's just say I miss my buds and I'm glad we got to share some time at Cheddars with them! :)