Prayers requested

Updated 3/16/14

Mary Jo's sister, Carol, had emergency surgery this afternoon. The surgical team that did her operation on the 14th left a 30cm (11.8 inch) surgical instrument inside of her. The surgery is over now. Two surgeons successfully removed the instrument. It  had made a 3cm puncture wound in her liver. Evidently, something like this is not as rare as you would think. A publication called "Patient Safety Monitor Alert", announced in 2003 that 1,500 instruments were stitched into patients each year. Nobody knows for sure The Joint Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Organization (JCAHO) stated that “unintentionally retained foreign bodies without major permanent loss of function” are not required to be reported. Nurses have been discouraged against reporting all errors because of the threat of malpractice and liability issues. Estimates are “undoubtedly low. Supposedly, the requirement is that the number of surgical instruments are counted by two OR nurses before and after surgery. Makes you wonder. Praise God that apparently everything is going to OK with Carol.Thanks again for your prayers.


Updated 3/14/14

Great news! Mary Jo's sister, Carol, had her operation this morning. There was no cancer present. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Please keep her nephew Billy in your prayers.

Posted 3/12/14

My wife Mary Jo's nephew, Billy, who had leukemia and now has lymphoma, has taken a turn for the worse. The chemo that he was taking was not working. So they stopped it. Now his calcium levels are dangerously high. Death is near. Billy is hoping to live until Saint Patrick's Feast Day on the 17th. Patrick is Billy's middle name and his patron saint.

On top of that, Mary Jo's sister, Carol, was having abdominal pain. She thought that it was something minor. But, it looks like it could be ovarian cancer. They've called in an oncologist-surgeon. They are both here at Baptist East in Louisville. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and prayers, Gerry




A picture of Billy from a few years ago when he was one of the top runners in the Louisville area