And the Winner Is....

An infection!  We have never been so excited about having an infection BUT we are ecstatic.  I may have an addiction to sarcasm but this is genuine happiness regarding this news.  It is temporary.  It is treatable. It is not contagious.  It is an answer.  The infection explains his body aches (he has been in constant pain and unable to get comfortable) and overall feeling of cruddiness (yes, I make up my own words and no, you never want to play scrabble with me).  Now, it is not a simple run-of-the mill, sinus type infection.  Nope.  It is an infection of his prostate.  What does this mean?  Well, first it means Jeff gets to the experience the joy of me blogging to the entire world about his prostate.  Secondly, it means it feels like he is peeing razor blades every time he uses the bathroom.  Hey, I've warned up before, if you read this blog, you are going to get updates on Jeff - the good, the bad, the "not dinner table appropriate".  Fortunately, if you know Jeff, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to embarrass him. Trust me, I try to no avail to embarass him on a daily basis.  We've been keeping a video diary of our journey and there are some great embarassing moments on there that you "might" be lucky enough to see once we reach the end of this road.

Jeff is anemic which also explains his extreme fatigue.  This too is temporary and treatable.

We now have a new specialist to join our medical bills , I mean medical team helping Jeff back to good health and monitor the infection.

Thank you for continued prayers.  Please pray for Jeff's pain to go away, this is the hardest part for me to watch.

Mentally, we are doing well.  Jeff wanted to be strong enough to take Kenzie to a Father/Daughter banquet this weekend and has been a little down about missing the event.  Yet, we are thankful he will be around in the future for many more banquets.  Brayden and I might just have to recreate our own banquet for them here at home.  Those of you who are our facebook friends know our dogs have been sequestered to the basement since Jeff's surgery.  Well, you will be happy to know we have allowed them a few minutes of freedom upstairs with us this evening.  As you can see, they are eager to join Jeff with his exercise on the treadmill....

Jeff is ready to get things moving, get stronger and start the rehab phase once he jumps this last mini hurdle.  We are confident the next few months are going to be great!!  The goal for the end of this week is to complete 3 x 10 minute walks in one day.  Good friends sacrificed their backs and dragged our treadmill up from the basement and it is beautifully displayed next to the dining room table.  It is not HGTV design worthy but it is Get Your Heart Pumpin' worthy.  Tomorrow is exciting because Jeff hasn't been allowed outside unless the temperature is above 47 degrees and tomorrow it's going to bust up to a blazing 63 degrees!  We have goals to reach the mailbox and maybe a few circles in the driveway.  Watch out Springfield, IL!

In the midst of all we have going on, there are SO MANY fighting difficult battles, some well known, some silently.  Please take a moment to lift those up in your life who are experience hardships.  Pray for those who may be dealing with a somber season in the their life, you may not know them by name, but God does and he listens.  Keep your eyes open this week for opportunities to reach out to others.  Remember the smallest acts of kindness or encouraging words can go a LONG WAY and make a BIG DIFFERENCE.  Never underestimate the impact you can make in this world.  



GOD IS GOOD!!!!!!!  ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!

-Stacy and Jeff