Medical Status of Marie Houghtaling

Well, Marie/Mom/Grandma Houghtaling has (finally!!) returned home from Rex Hospital. What a relief, after all this time! We are so thankful to all of you who offered your love, support, prayers, and fasting, on her behalf. I have had enough of hospitals these past 3 1/2 months, so that I hope I never see the inside of another one again, either as a patient or as a visitor! They took excellent care of Marie following her 3 recent surgeries. But still, after awhile, hospitals truly get very old!

Marie's recovery, thus far, is coming along pretty well, but it's not yet complete. All the physical scars are doing very well. They took out the latest set of surgical staples (used instead of stitches) yesterday (Tuesday), and today they removed the drain-tube that was draining some really icky ozzy liquid from her abdomen! And she is weak, and still has substantial pain in the lower part of her abdomen, below the latest scar. (The surgeon told us this is "to be expected", because of what he did down there to fix her up.)

So now it's trying to revive her appetite, gradually do more and more physically so that she can get back her stamina and strength. The doctor told her she can eat just about anything that sounds good to her, but we'll probably stick with stuff such as potato soup for a few days more, since it has only been 2 days since she has had ANYthing via mouth.

So now the hospital stuff is over --- for a while, anyhow! This will be my last report (ever, I hope!!) on Marie's condition!

During the worse of her illness, because we were spending so much time at the hospital with her, I had suggested to many of you that it would be helpful if you wouldn't phone to inquire as to her status/condition, but contact me via email. That had the additional advantages of me being able to print out your emails for Marie to read in the hospital, plus I was able to respond quickly in most case.

But now, all that is over forever (we hope!) Therefore, please feel free to contact us any way you wish, because we are trying very hard to get back to "normal", whatever that is!

We again express our sincere appreciation to all of you for your sustaining support during a very difficult time in our recent lives. We are so grateful!

Love,
Bill and Marie Houghtaling