Well, thank the Lord, I made it through the surgery with no complications.  I had the operation Tuesday the 17^th and came home on Thursday the 19^th.   Isn’t that amazing?  I just can’t believe that anyone could have a total hip replacement, spend 2 nights in the hospital, and come home.  To be truthful, I have never been any sorer in my life.  It’s not so much the hip part as the incision.  I have to be on a walker for 2 weeks, then a cane.  There are 3 major precautions that they drilled over and over in my head… I cannot bend over to pick up anything, I cannot cross my legs or feet, and I cannot let my left leg go past midcenter of my body…. FOR THREE MONTHS.  This has already been harder than it sounds.   Have you ever thrown a piece of paper in the trash can, but missed?  What is your natural reaction?  Well, I have caught myself several times!  I have a grabber thingy to help pick things up.  Oh, I have to give myself a shot twice a day to prevent blood clots, and I am going to Physical Therapy 3 times a week for 3-4 weeks.    That’s about it. 

Friends have been so special during this long, long week.  We have had someone here at least once every single day, usually more.  Neighbors and church friends have provided meals each and everyday…. The phone has rang more than we have been able to answer…  Everyone has been so wonderful.  My days are still long since I am still confined to sitting or lying down, but at least I’m not hurting as I had been.  So, it seems that the worst is behind me.  Thanks so much for the calls, visits, prayers, and messages.  We sure appreciate all of your kindnesses.  Thank you!

 OH!  I forgot to mention this… while I was gone, we had a new pet show up.  It’s a homing pigeon!  He is so pretty!  I haven’t been on the computer enough to look it up, but I wonder if he is lost?  He is eating with my red birds in the morning and sitting on the peak of the back porch.  He flies around and makes loops, but comes back to sit there.  Any ideas as to why?   I’d love to keep him around! 

Well, the LORD spoke to me this morning!  He surely did!  I know that this is directly from him:  “And the LORD said unto Moses (yes, still talking to Moses, but this time it was also to ME… TO DONNA),   “Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, (the afternoon sun, here in Middle Georgia, around August when the temperature is around 105…my interpretation…) that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.”  Numbers 25:4

There.  That is my rhema from the LORD today.  Got it firsthand in my quiet time, so I know it is FROM the LORD.  LOL!  Really, maybe I need to start using hormone cream or something!  But, this is exactly how I felt this morning!

BUT NOW…. Things have cooled off a bit.  I went for my biopsy, which was supposed to last around 1 hour.  I have just gotten home (almost 1:00 PM) from a 9:00 AM appointment.  What took so long?  A WONDERFUL doctor, Dr. Minette.  He refused to do a biopsy until they made around 20 more different views.  He said what I have are small calcifications, they could or could not be cancer, but they were so spread out that he just would not feel comfortable doing them with a needle biopsy.  He called the surgeon twice while I was there to talk about all the different views that he had taken.  He told the surgeon that right now a needled biopsy just would not work, but he also took the time to look at old reports.  He could see the spots on the old records and they did not seem to have grown.  All I asked him for was a wait of at least 2 weeks so I could have my hip surgery and be over some of the soreness.  Well, I’ve gotten a 3 month reprieve.  I was so excited that the doctor actually hugged me (he was a cute little fellow, maybe 34 or 35) before I left. He made me so happy!

He wanted to make it clear that this still could possibly be cancer, but in probability, maybe only 20%.  See, he was positive!  Felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders.  

So, my pre-op for hip surgery is tomorrow.  I have been stuck in this house for soooooo long that I’ve asked Quincy if maybe we could go partway to Atlanta today and not have to get up quite as early in the morning.  I really hate to waste money doing this, but I think I need to get out of here for a while…especially since the thought of hanging heads on the lower branches of our pecan trees has started to appeal to me!  So, we’re at least heading that way sometime this afternoon.    I feel so much better now!  Thank you LORD!  And thank all of you for your prayers and concern.  

What is the LORD trying to teach me? A dear, dear friend asked me that this morning.  This is the kind of friend who can ask me just about anything she wants to.  My answer….  I can wholeheartedly say - I don’t know.  I read my Bible, I pray, I try to have a quiet time each day, and the main thing I have gotten lately is that “The LORD spoke to Moses”...(I’m reading Old Testament).  Over and over and over, the LORD spoke to Moses, but He isn’t speaking to Donna much right now.  I have tried and tried to see if there is something in my life that I have a blindspot with.  Something that I just don’t see that is displeasing or that needs to be changed.  And the LORD has been silent.

I don’t think that He is trying to teach me contentment. I am content.   I don’t have to have the best, the most, or even ‘everything’~~ I can make due with most whatever we have. And what we don’t have, I can usually do without.   I am generally content to be at home, but with it going on 9 months of my sitting in this house, except when I go to my sister’s, I am getting somewhat tired of that.  Quincy took me to Macon the other day to get me out of the house a while.  We tried to let up the sunroof on our car, and it would not close.  That little incident ended up costing us $40.00 just because I told him it was such a beautiful day outside that we should let the window up….  Wish I’d NEVER done that!  Really put a damper on our trip.  Plus, by the time I walked around about 30 minutes, I was hurting really bad.  Was definitely glad to see my little house and animals again.  Back to the point, I feel that I am content.

Secondly, I don’t think He is trying to teach me patience.  I am generally pretty patient. I am probably the most patient one in our family.    If I ever get pushed to the limit, you will know it.  The only ones who generally suffer from my lack of patience are Quincy and Daniel.  If they are around. 

Hey.  Maybe that is it.  Maybe the LORD is teaching me to depend totally on him. I say that I do, but do I really?   Sometimes I feel I am just a burden.  I try not to be.  I still try to keep up with the clothes, keep the floors swept and mopped, and do most of the cooking (not an easy task on a cane or walker).  It just takes me much longer now than it used to. I don’t ask for help unless I just can’t do it. If I have to ask for help, I’d just as soon do it myself.  But, it also seems that I resent it now. The things that I have done all along, that are taken for granted, take me all day to do now, and then I hurt while in the process of doing them.  It all still gets done, but is this what is wrong?  Am I resentful?  Is that why is God taking me through this valley?

Sometimes I think I am having just a big pity party.  But I tell you this, being ‘lame’ has really opened my eyes.  I have seen the true friends and family that I have and know what true blessings they are.  The ones who have called, the ones who have brought food, the ones who have come by just to sit down and spend time with me.  The ones that I have not had to ask to do anything; they have just done it.  They show up and ask if they can clean my ceiling fans, or sweep my floor, or if I have any clothes that need washing.  Or they spend two hours cleaning the grease off a nasty, nasty shelf (Billie, you are a dear!).  This has all really given me a glimpse of whom we can really depend on as Quincy and I both get older.  And the ones that we can’t….  My eyes need to be on the LORD much more than on the people around me.   I just hope that if I ever get back to normal, I will be a blessing to someone in need somehow.  That I will be able to pay it forward to people who need.   And I pray it it won’t be much longer.

I have appointments with two surgeons next week.  Tuesday we are seeing a surgeon about a biopsy on my breast.  Thursday, it is a trip to Atlanta to the hip specialist.  If I have the biopsy before my hip surgery and it is bad, they will postpone my hip surgery.  I am just going to tell them the biopsy will have to wait.  If it is bad, at least maybe I will be more able to walk when I have to go back to that doctor.  Crazy.  Seems like my head is spinning with all the appointments I have looming.  I am here so much that having to go out twice in one week is adventurous (or overwhelming!). 

Well, I’m finished with my mile long post.  Just wanted to talk to someone I guess.  So, I’ve ended up talking to myself and writing it down at the same time.  Is that what a blog is????  Or am I just long-winded and desperate to talk to someone?  Maybe a little of both.  It’s been a long, quiet day!  Too quiet in many aspects.