It was a sad time indeed

Yesterday, just as I was attempting to pay our T-Mobile bill online, our DSL went out. I waited for an hour or so before calling about it; the tech talked me through the usual attempts at resuscitating my modem, and then decided there was a bigger problem. Later on my daughter called to tell me she was also without Internet.

I really didn't miss it so much yesterday evening. I had several things to watch on DVR. But when I wake up at 4 or 5 AM in the morning, that's when I am on the computer a lot. I was totally lost.

I fiddled around with pictures in Iphoto, editing them and arranging them. That made me feel more normal, since I was at least on the computer.

Did you know there's no Solitaire on a Mac? What's up with that? I do have a free game called "Hoards of Orcs" that I played for a while, but I was losing so much I gave it up as a lost cause.

Of course I always worry when I can't get online, because I have cakes baking in Yoville that might burn, and crops planted in Farmville that will ruin if not harvested in time. Oh, it was a rough period in my life, let me tell you. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't follow all my Facebook friends through their day.

My friend Judy went to St. Louis Monday for her heart surgery, and today was the day. The last report I heard, all was going well. It's a risky operation, so keep her in your prayers.

Also, the local boy I babysat many years ago, Kody, had a wreck yesterday morning; his left foot and pelvis are broken, and he has burns on his back that will need skin grafts (somehow he landed in contact with the muffler, as I understand it). I'm sure he and his family would appreciate prayers and good thoughts on their behalf.

I received this update on my friend Judy from Jessica at 5:P.M.: "I just got off the phone with Chris and he said Judy's surgery is over and things went well. She is in ICU recovery and in pain, but okay. The doctors did not need to do anything other then the bypass, which is really good news.

They said everything else is okay and not bad enough to mess with, and like I said earlier, not worth the risk to repair. She had some fluid around her heart and the doctor said she did have a heart attack, but the heart looked really good and there was not any heart muscle damage. It looks like everything went as good as it possibly could given the circumstances."

We never know what tomorrow will bring

In the early days of my working for Kohl's, back before all that walking on concrete totally finished off my knees, I loved the job. We worked in pairs, and at that time we were allowed to partner up with anyone we chose. That's me and my partner, Judy, in the picture. We worked at about the same pace and got a lot of work done.

Another former co-worker, Jessica, is a Facebook friend; she keeps in touch with Judy, and when I signed onto Facebook this morning I had this message awaiting me:

Hi Donna! I wanted to let you know some bad news about Judy. She was shopping with her husband yesterday and she felt tired and weak so he took her to the doctor. They sent her to the ER right away and found she was having an issue with her heart. She was having symptoms of a heart attack. They did testing and found she has 80 and 20% blockage and it's too close to her heart to do a stent. She went for more testing today and they also found she has calcification (sorry I'm a bad speller) on her aorta, and the flap on her heart is leaking blood. The doctor said all those things can be corrected with open heart surgery, but the calcification is very serious. He said the chance of her having a stroke while they remove the calcification is 85%. She is at (name and location of hospital) and the Dr. told her he knows a Dr. in Texas who does this kind of surgery every day and if she was his mom he would want her to go there. Her Dr. is going to try to schedule an appointment next week and if the doctor in Dallas is available she will fly there Monday for preperations for the surgery.

Judy is younger than I; when we worked together, she had some problems with her blood pressure, but finally got that all straightened out.

When the doctor discovered Cliff's heart problems and wouldn't even clear him to drive the car from his offices on the hospital, I thought that was a worst-case scenario. Now I can see how much worse it could have been! At least his problems were repaired within two days because an excellent surgeon made the time for his operation. Judy is going to have to travel to Texas for surgery, and even with the renowned doctor down there, it sounds like the risk is high.

I'm sharing this for two reasons: First of all, I know Judy would appreciate any prayers and good thoughts on her behalf. Secondly, to remind us all that we are never guaranteed our next breath; seize this moment.