Plot Twist - Again

Realizing drama is simply going to find us regardless of our efforts, Michael has lifted the talking ban and told me to "come clean."  Thank you for your prayers as retirement nears and we continue to search for answers. He really was the picture of health until 2012.

We believe God writes the story of each person's life. We've felt fairly certain for a few decades that we knew and were cooperating with His story - His plan for our lives (Ps 139:16).  We would  minister, as a family, to the military. We would then spend 10 - 15 years as missionaries (depending on when retirement came - most recently we've thought 15 years as missionaries).  We would spend 1 - 2 years living in an RV, visiting all our kids (we'd be 70 by then) and finally settle down.  In the past few years several of our children, as well as Michael and I, have felt God specifically call us back to Japan. We've studied a difficult language and culture. We've prayed. We planned a vision trip for mid-July 2015. We hoped to move to Japan in 2016. We'd live in the trailer (The Caboose) until all the pieces fell into place for a move to Japan. 

PLOT TWIST! It happens. The story isn't over. It's taking some unexpected turns. We trust the Writer of our story.

Six weeks ago a neurologist informed Michael he had "all" the symptoms of Parkinson's Disorder (PD) and gave him a preliminary diagnosis of PD. It looked to be stage 2 or 3.   He said it was pathological and not Essential Tremors - as the AF docs had said.

Our military doctor, whom we love, looked over the tests coming back and the doctor's notes and called to let us know with a diagnosis of Parkinson's Michael would need to go through a medical evaluation board and would not be retiring in August.  This was a low point as we had to cancel our July trip to Japan and thought we'd be active duty another 12 - 18 months. We have to be out of our house in August - you can see how our thinking had to change. We began to search for motor homes and quit pushing on retirement ceremony/VA claim.  

For six weeks we rested in the fact that this diagnosis explained every symptom Michael was having from tremors, balance impairment, stiffness - that elusive, unexplained pain in his side.  Of the ten symptoms of PD - Michael has 8 or 9. During this time they did a bone density scan. Osteoporosis is often seen paired with PD. That came back showing Osteopenia (between normal and Osteoporosis). Everything points to Parkinson's. We, obviously, were not happy with this plot twist. We were confused as we were convinced God was leading us to Japan and that seemed unlikely with PD...and Parkinson's is a not a fun condition to deal with. We determined to fight back with courageous joy - we have quite a few funny stories from this time which will stay in our family memory. We all waited for the final confirmation of the disease from the DAT scan.

We met with the neurologist yesterday.  He said and I QUOTE, "The DAT scan is normal. Let me look at you walk. I see no indication of Parkinson's." He seemed ready for us to leave.

We asked about all the symptoms which led him to the preliminary diagnosis. He said they could be associated with arthritis or lifestyle.

He said  Michael has Essential Tremors (ET).  Which we'd been told years ago - BUT he now shakes when he sleeps (and it's supposed to get better at rest).  It's head to toe. He prescribed a drug which may help the tremors if they are atypical Essential Tremors.

The neurologist loved me when I asked, "OK - you are explaining away most the symptoms and the tremors may be atypical ET - but what about the balance issues? The trouble walking?"

Um....His answer?

"I don't know. I told you I have no idea."

He did order an  "urgent MRI" on Michael's brain. He ran a complete thyroid screen - Michael had a bout with hyperthyroidism years ago, and this doesn't feel the same - but that would be an EASY answer. He's also checking liver and kidney functions and a B12 deficiency.  We will see him in two weeks.

And the plot twists AGAIN  -  we are RETIRING AGAIN IN 7 WEEKS.

We are woefully behind the timeline we need to be on for both the  retirement ceremony and the VA claim. In fact, we STILL have outstanding referrals so they may not let us begin the VA claim yet and he's not been allowed to have his final doctor's appointment with the military. We would love to say all is well - but  all is ODD right now.  Michael doesn't feel good. Something is simply not right. We would LOVE answers while we are still active duty - the VA will cover future care differently based on if it was diagnosed while he was active duty. Yet, we are planning as if we are retiring. If something turns up and retirement is postponed, we are going to have a big party on the 14th of August anyway. LOL

We are no longer looking for a motor home as we don't plan to drive around America until we reach our upper 60's or 70's. I was determined to make that dream a reality for Michael and that meant doing it now if he had Parkinson's and we couldn't go overseas.  We DO plan to move into our trailer, we will do some trips and live in it until we are sure nothing in our health would keep us from living overseas. We are going to study Japanese and wait for God to say, "NOW."

Through all this - Stacia kept saying, "Dad can't have Parkinson's, because GOD told us we were going to Japan."

As Michael told Vince, our denomination's Global Mission's Director, "God has a plan. We know it's a good plan. We have no idea what the plan will look like."

"For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 NASB.

 We determined years ago to be a family which would love courageously, follow God courageously, serve courageously... As we face this ongoing challenge and the many questions - we've decided to handle it with courageous joy (defiant joy even ::smirk::).

There is much I could say of the past weeks about symptoms, lessons learned, high points and low points - but perhaps this is enough.

"Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9 NLT

Update 19 August 2015 - Neurologist #2 and #3 feel that Michael does not have essential tremors. They have currently given him a diagnosis of Parkinsonism. He is weaning off the meds the neurologist #1 put him on. The next step is to try Lepodova - a Parkinson's med. If he responds favorably to the meds he will be given a positive Parkinson Disease diagnosis. You can read more details here.  They told us, "Live your lives. We'll get through this together." They knew we were going to be traveling in an RV - so we still are. LOL  We are living this dream NOW - why wait until our 70's?

Let go my soul and trust in Him

The waves and wind still know His name....

THE FIRST SHAVE

The FIRST SHAVE is a momentous right of passage for our male Gherkins - not so much for the females. ::wink:: Alex/Zander has needed to shave for quite some months. The passage was slow - for several reasons: he sort of liked growing a beard, busy schedules, traveling, his sensory issues (SHAVING y'all  - he won't even get a haircut in a salon since we left Barbara in Misawa - Arielle buzzes him) - and possibly we didn't want to admit our last and final male Gherkin was old enough to SHAVE.


YES



It


WAS


PAST


TIME

The whole family participates....Arielle was a bit alarmed that "my baby brother has a razor!"

Nolan's expression is a familiar one these days

 

 

Ah, what a handsome young man he's becoming.

Rachel's Slow Cooked Tri Tip Sandwiches

Pictures  to follow but I'm determined to save this before I have to ask for the recipe again. I've not actually eaten this (being a nutritarian and all);  but it smells good, is simple and I've served it at a couple of chapel things - people always ask for the recipe - and I always ask Rachel  - AGAIN.

one tri-tip
1 can beef broth (14.5 oz)
1 jar sliced peppercinis
1 packet dry Italian dressing

Cook in crockpot til "shreddable"

 Serve on toasted French rolls with cheese.

This seems to be very forgiving....adapt it how you like.

Power Outages

Who would guess? Power outages all day. There were no storms. I suspect PGE was simply working on the lines.  We thought it was done as they'd said lights would be on by 5:15 p.m.

Then they went out again - I don't know WHY we didn't think to prepare for an outage at night.  Stacia immediately wanted to know if "this is going to be like the time the power went out after the earthquake?" No.

This was fun message to find when I turned on the battery candle! 

 

The little tri-pod LED flashlight from Cynthia at the Volunteer appreciate saved the day!

 

The kids enjoyed making shadows on the wall.

We went to bed and the power was back on when we woke up. That's it - the big excitement for the day. LOL

Pittsburgh Baby

While the kids had adventures in Oregon and Mexico - we had a great time at convention - Authentic 15!

Pittsburgh is a LOVELY city. We enjoyed our day of sightseeing and the conversations with our taxi drivers.

The evening sessions were all great. The Relational Workshop Session I attended by Ken Sande was fantastic.

It's no surprise to any that know me, that the topics resonated! Authentic purpose, authentic relationships and authentic ministry. Love God - Love others - it all flows from relationship. GREAT messages.

I have NEVER been in a business meeting which accomplished so much in such an organized manner.

Women's Luncheon, Mission's Luncheon, Men's  Luncheon - all great.

Reconnecting with old friends and making new friends - priceless.

I didn't take many photos. I actually didn't take a single one once the convention began.  The day before Authentic 15 officially opened, we went downtown to see what we could find. We didn't see nearly enough - we have added Pittsburgh to our "RV bucket list."  We had JUST spent a couple of weeks studying the Industrial Revolution. Stacia and Zander were disappointed we didn't go to a Carnegie library or museum. It will be fun to go back with them.

Mount Washington - originally a community where factory and mill workers lived

 

The Monongahela Incline (Mon)  was built in 1870 to transport workers from the mountain to the factories down below....thankful Betsy mentioned this trip to us...

 

Views from the top....lovely. It was especially fun to imagine Dick proposing to Betsy from up here.



Heinz Field - home the Steelers



Streets reminded us of Tokyo -  a bit wider.

 We had lunch at Shiloh Grill...some yummy pierorgies.

 

I loved the architecture.



Parsonage directly to the left of the Mount Washington Baptist Church.

 

We spent quite a bit of time walking....exploring a couple of things we saw from the heights.

Because I'm too lazy to type the info out

 

We walked across this suspension bridge - and I remembered the big earthquake



PA & Lake Eerie Rail Road

The building looked like a church, as we got closer we discovered it is being used as the Allegheny Courthouse. It was designed by the man who designed Trinity church in Boston...so we were close.

 

That's it for sightseeing. We'll go back.

Gherkins Scattered Here and There

I last wrote eleven days ago  - since then we've been all over the place.

Krista led a team of eight to Mexico.  They ran a VBS at Imuris Kid's Kingdom, the orphanage where Arielle and she spent time last summer.  They also went a rehab facility, did some odd jobs and a bit of sightseeing.


F- Krista, Arielle, Katie
B- Shawn, Eric, Wyatt, David, Kent

An hour or so after the team left our home, we piled into Michael's commuter. The team took our van to Mexico. We drove up to Oregon and deposited the three youngest Gherkins with BreZaak. In addition to seeing them, highlights of this flying trip were seeing Nate, Nadia, Will and Sherri and my folks.  We drove back to Oregon on Sunday. We flew out of Sacramento on Monday morning.

Kids realized they have it good in the 15 pass van LOL

 Michael and I enjoyed the trip home, the quiet home (not sure we've been alone in our home for decades), and our trip to Pittsburgh (photos in a separate post).

Michael in front of Mt Shasta

There is no simple, chronological way to organize THIS post....so... glimpses from the Mexico trip.

Krista - our 2nd Gherkin

Arielle (6th Gherkin) and Miley

Alejandro in the middle

 

One thing the team did was shop and cook an "American meal" for the kids. This was a big hit last summer - the girls made pizza from scratch. This time they did BIG hamburgers, all the trimmings, fries and watermelon. It was well received.

Alejandro and David

Wyatt

DINNER

 VBS was the  highlight

 

Kent spinning stories

Meanwhile in Oregon, VBS played a part of the 3 Gherkin's week as well. They enjoyed helping BreAnne prepare for "her" VBS.



Goliath to scale

 

Cousin Time

Izaak with the kids

Photo booth with Bre

 They had a great time at the River too....

 

Car wash

::snort:: This cracks me up.

In Texas, Jamin prepared to move to College Station for the next phase of his education. Josiah called with the news that he had accepted a job in the Seattle area. I need to write a couple more "Mommy posts". LOL

We flew back to CA.......the team from Mexico showed up late Saturday night...after a stop to Chick Fil A.....

They left Sunday a.m., Michael preached, we headed back to Oregon to pick up the kids. We had a 10 hour turnaround. I was pretty proud of the kids being outside by the van at 0645 ready to head home.

Our trip home was uneventful, except for the tire that nearly blew. I'm so thankful Michael took the time to stop and have the tire checked. It was bulging and separating. So very glad it didn't blow when the kids were driving or on either for that matter.

It was a wild week and a half....lots of great memories made.  Back at home we gave Michael a Father's Day gift - a set of DVD on natural disasters......and picked up Yuuki.

 

It's nice to be home.