Monday, October 8, 2012

After a long hiatus, we're back.

I see the last post was in 2009. Amazing how much has happened; I just haven't had time or inclination to write for three years.

Not long after my last post, my Dad passed away at the age of 92. Mom continues to live with us, and she is now 92.

I have continued working at the Software company with occasional trips to Mexico and other places, to train clients in the use of the software.

Our six-year-old granddaughter Ariadna was checked into a hospital in Aguascalientes about seven weeks ago. When Marcela (her Mom), called Daniel (our son, her husband) to tell him about it he got on the first airplane he could find to Aguascalientes.

The day he arrived they were given the diagnosis: Ari had a brain tumor. She has had seven surgeries, including two craneotomies, since then. They were unable to remove the entire tumor, which had begun in her eye. She is currently still in the hospital and we hope she can be sent home tomorrow. A week ago she was fitted with a tracheotomy tube to help her breathe and a g-tube (gastrostoma) so her parents can feed her.

So far she has not been able to move very much and she can't talk yet. We will see what comes next. Meanwhile, the Doctors have said that they don't think that radiation or chemotherapy will help in her case, and that given the aggressiveness of this tumor, she probably has from six to nine months to live.

We appreciate the wonderful and amazingly skilled Doctors that have given her such good care, but realize that isn't their call. Ari will go home to heaven whenever God calls her; not before and not later. We are still praying for a miracle of healing. We have seen tumors disappear after prayer. Why not this one?

The good news is that Daniel and Marcela are together, taking care of their (our) precious Ari and raising their other two little ones as well. Daniel will be working as a local representative for the Software company, which will enable him to stay there instead of returning to the US to work.

Ingrid is here with us in Phoenix and has launched a language school where she teaches Spanish-speakers English and English-speakers Spanish. She is sharing the bedroom with her grandma and the dog she brought out of Mexico, since launching a business takes all the capital for a couple of years until it starts being profitable. She is having a great time with this project.

Pray for Ariadna. We need (another) miracle.