It seems we had gone to Michigan to witness one of God's miracles. Before we got there, Butch had his feeding tube removed and had not been able to eat anything solid for two weeks, when he awoke one evening as Deanne was fixing chicken for dinner and in a low whisper said "chicken". Deanne ask him if he wanted chicken to eat, he indicated yes and she said if you want to try we will feed you, he ate chicken that night.
We stayed three weeks and every time we saw him he had made progress; first sitting on the bed and eating pizza feeding himself, then getting out of bed, (with help of course), and sitting on the couch or wheelchair. The day we left, he had burgers for lunch, was sitting at the table to eat from his wheelchair, was standing from his wheelchair and pulling himself up with the walker (with help) and said he wanted to walk next. Then he sat on the couch with his brother Billy, (who is also undergoing chemotherapy for his bone cancer), and was laughing so hard his sides hurt. Watching them made me really see that laughter IS the best medicine!
It has been three weeks since our return to Texas from Michigan and we have been fighting an upper respiratory infection, but Butch has continued to improve!
We have also continued to improve. By the time we got back to TX, we hadn't walked much in MI due to the weather, then promptly got sick for 2 weeks, and are just now getting OUR strength back! It's amazing how weak one's body gets when you don't use it! We are now able to relate a little with Butch and Frank, as they fight to regain their strength.
All in all we had a great visit with our son Eugene and his precious wife, Lynn, as well as some of our friends and other family members. It was good to be able to visit with Bruce's brother Frank and encourage him.
The birds were glad to see us get back so Lynn could fill the feeders. Looks like we'll be putting out the hummingbird feeder in a couple of weeks! The weather here in Texas is looking like spring. Some of the trees are actually getting new leaves! Only a couple more of those below freezing nights, I hope!
We are expecting a visit in a few days, from some of our Michigan friends who were wintering farther south. It will be good to see Fred and Barb. We met them in Yuma, AZ last year! We've made many new friends here in Texas, as with anyplace we go it seems!
