Daddy's chili

Daddy has had a bit of a difficult autumn health-wise.  It has been one of those seasons where things keep happening.  Most recently he has been dealing with a severe bout of bronchitis (thankfully it never went into pneumonia).  This started with a bit of a bang at the beginning of November.  We were all at church one Sunday morning and Daddy was not feeling well.  He was trying to suppress his cough so he wouldn't disturb the church service.  Well, we all learned something important that morning.  Don't suppress your cough!  Daddy suppressed it so much that he basically suppressed multiple body systems! He had a neurally-mediated syncope where he passed out.  It was very quick, but the aftermath looked very much like a stroke.  It effected his vagus nerve (respiratory and heart functions) and was quite scary to watch!  However, if you have to have an emergency like that, our church is a wonderful place to be!  We were quickly surrounded by help of all kinds and the emergency services began to arrive while we were still on the phone with 911.  Dear Megan, who was sitting with Hannah in front of Daddy, immediately began doing a medical check on Daddy.  One funny thing that made us all feel better... when the paramedic made his way down the aisle to Daddy's side, he said loudly, 'Hi Jack'.  Daddy's response was to bring his finger up to his lips and whisper 'shhhh'.  :D  Daddy didn't want anyone disturbing church.  :)  We are so thankful for our wonderful church family at First United Methodist Church and appreciated hearing about the whole church prayer that took place after we left.

Once we got to the hospital, Daddy was already doing better.  But they needed to do a thorough check on him, which we appreciated.  Daddy had made a big pot of chili that we were all supposed to go eat after church.  By this time Daddy was telling everyone to go home and eat the chili.  Finally, all but Daddy, Mama, and I went home to enjoy Daddy's yummy chili.  They sent photos for Daddy to show how much they were enjoying it.  :)

(November 4, 2018)

Jackson and Brianna

:)  This was the first photo Jonathan sent us.  :)  

Then we asked for a photo of Jonathan, himself.  :D 

:D  Hannah, Megan, Marvin, Julie, Jackson, Brianna

By this time Daddy, Mama, and I were getting pretty hungry ourselves.  I ran out to the car to grab a few granola bars for us, but we were dreaming about eating a bowl of Daddy's chili, too!  Finally, about 4:00 pm we were released to go home.  That was the best bowl of chili, ever!

Best picture of the day!  

The weeks since then have been a bit tough as Daddy got a little better, then backtracked hard with the bronchitis.  He also had a recurrence of his trigeminal neuralgia which is horribly painful.  We have finally turned a corner just this week and he is on the road to recovery.  Hallelujah!  However, this bout of illness has been hard.  (We can all attest to the fact that this virus just grabs hold and won't let go of any of us!)  Now we turn our attention to regaining strength and preparing for a wonderful Christmas season with family (all will be home this year!).  That is definitely something to be oh so thankful for.  And hopefully we can convince Daddy to make another pot of his yummy chili for all.