Sounding Like a Broken Record...

Please send some more prayers....

Rich's good friend, Dwayne, had a heart attack early this morning. We don't have many details, but Woodie is on his way from Richmond to see Dwayne and Rich will be on his way to UVA as well as soon as school is out. Dwayne is only 37 years old and has a wonderful wife and five beautiful children.

Also, I failed to mention this in earlier blogs, but Rich and I both had blood work done before Thanksgiving. I checked out with flying colors, but Rich had four or five abnormal counts. The most concerning of which was his cholesterol. His overall count was 228, which should be under 200, and his LDL (bad cholesterol) was an astounding 190, which should be under 100! To add to that his HDL (good cholesterol) was very low. Rich is going to try dieting for three months rather than going straight to medication, so let's hope that it works! Here's the information from the American Heart Association:

LDL Cholesterol Levels:
Less than 70 mg/dL = Optional goal if you’re
at very high risk of a heart attack or death
from heart attack.
Less than 100 mg/dL = Optimal for people
with heart disease or diabetes
100 to 129 mg/dL = Near or above optimal
130 to 159 mg/dL = Borderline high
160 to 189 mg/dL = High
***190 mg/dL and above = Very High

HDL Cholesterol Levels:

***Less than 40 mg/dL for men = Low HDL
(higher risk)
Less than 50 mg/dL for women = Low HDL
(higher risk)
40 to 59 mg/dL = The higher, the better
60 mg/dL and above = High HDL
(lower risk)

I spoke briefly with Rachel and she said that Addie is gaining weight and that her heart is sounding better, but she will still need heart surgery to repair the holes. I'll have a further update once I talk to her this weekend.

Bill started intense chemotherapy this week as well. Hopefully it will do it's job without making his life miserable.

Mike is still living in and out of his car with Jack, so we are thinking them especially with the cold weather!

We have a lot of people to keep in our prayers during the holidays, so we greatly appreciate all the prayers that are being sent!