- - - - Status Provided By Greg Businelle - - - -
Friday, December 1, 2000
Hello everyone, it is me Greg, trying to pick up where Jill has left off. I'm
going to try to do the updates justice and the fact that Jill is typing this should ensure
that. I guess that is my first update. We are working on the speech recognition software.
However, what I have found is, it is not me teaching the package to understand my voice,
it is the package teaching me to understand how to say the words "correctly". I
spent a couple of hours the other night and successfully got one, 1 line, email off to a
friend. So, if you can type, I strongly recommend against trying to get one of these
packages :)
Here are a few updates in which you might be interested. The medicine for my blood clots has finally reached a therapeutic level as of today, thank the Lord. This was a long 6 week battle; so, thanks to the prayers of everyone who prayed for this. It turns out that the medicine put in my body is actually a type of rat poison. Now isn't that exciting!! Another update that you may be interested in is the TIRR therapy. We have actually gone back and forth with our insurance and the Texas Rehabilitation Commission to see who would pay for this. Long story short, it looks like we are going to have to wear out every penny of our insurance before the state will help out. This has been very frustrating in the least, but the good news is that my therapy should start in a week or so. I don't want to give the wrong impression, though. Jill and I have been doing home therapy that exactly mimics the TIRR therapy that I was receiving in the hospital. Jill and I have been pushing me pretty hard and I have excelled in all areas, thank the Lord.
OK, on to the van. The van was delivered a couple of weeks ago and it is absolutely marvelous (check out the web site Photo Album to have a look) . On Thanksgiving for example, we were able to visit 3 different homes of families that are very dear to us. In the past, we would only have been able to visit 1 family and then come on back home. Our love and thank you's go out to everyone that made the purchase of the van possible. We are still way behind on sending out our thank you's, but we will get that taken care of in the near future. As far as this update is concerned, we thank you and God bless you.
Did you happen to see the Wall Street Journal article??? I tell you it was one of the absolute pinnacle publications of our lives. Not only did it touch family and friend's lives (even some of Sugar's) it has touched peoples lives that we do not even know. There have been so many inquires from people that we do not know, that I can't even go into them in this space, but I will give you one example. Today, literally, I was feeling pretty down about my physical limitations to date. When we synchronized email tonight, there was an email from a student at a northern university that had just read the article telling us how great the article was, how it touched her and what a wonderful Lord we have... Praise the Lord.
Here is a new bit of information for you, we have been talking so much about functions that have returned to normal. I want to give you a window into my life, so that you can see everything is not normal. We have attended 2 church services since my accident because I have not been able to get out and stay awake that long, frankly. At the first service, we missed the song praise, unfortunately. However, we made song praise at the second service and I was so happy because I was starting to forget the wonderful songs that we sing during our service (Thanks Howard!) Well, they were singing one of my most favorite songs when I arrived and once we had my wheelchair situated, I got ready to belt out the song. And here is what I realized, I no longer have the lung capacity to sing at full throttle. If I tried to, I could get about 1 word out per line. So, here is what I had to do, I had to sing under my breath for the entire praise portion of the service. Those of you that know me well, know that I use to sing in a band before the accident, so this really hurt me. Here is the deal, I lost a portion of my lung capacity because of the lake water and the drowning that I will never get back. We do lung capacity therapy, but unfortunately, it will never bring full capacity back to my lungs. So, I will just have to sing under my breath, praise the Lord.
Well, I just looked at the screen and realized I have gone on for more than most of you would care to read. So, I will end it here. God bless you all. Please continue to keep me in your prayers. Bye Bye.
Colossians 3:15 (NAS) - "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts."
Friday, December 22
'Twas two nights before Christmas and all through the house, the heat was cranking trying
to warm the house. However, since the heat has been on now for over an hour, I don't think
it is going to be successful. MAN, IT IS COLD! I think that pretty much goes for anyone
that would be reading this update. Oh well, stay warm.
Jill and I started TIRR therapy I believe two weeks ago now and it is going quite well. One thing we were especially delighted with is that the physical therapy will only be twice a week. This is because we have picked up physical therapy ourselves so well at home the therapist felt twice a week would do. However, we still have to go to downtown Houston 3 times a week for occupational therapy.
Perhaps, my greatest accomplishment in this round of therapy is that today, on a tilt table, I literally stood up. Before you get too excited, know that the table did all of the work. All I did was keep my blood pressure from dropping so low that I would pass out. I can tell you that it was neat, though, standing up again. I actually felt weight on my feet, something I haven't felt since April 29th.
Back on the Christmas theme, I want to thank Jill's family for coming over to the house and helping Jill decorate everything from the front door to the Christmas tree. As of yesterday, we even have presents under the tree. Jill is even getting some gifts from me, thanks to Dan the Man who ran me around and helped me shop.
My health has been good. I have been taking some medication for a suspected urinary tract infection. The doctor hopes some oral medication will take care of the UTI, if not, I'll have to go for another stay in the hospital. Please pray that this isn't the case, as I find that Jill and I are allergic to hospitals.
Since it is Christmas, the Lord has laid it on my heart to mention some things that I am thankful for. I can't, in good conscience, say that I am thankful for my situation. Certainly, I have learned some things that I would never had learned without this accident. However, I still wish it would have never of happened. What I am thankful for, other than what you can probably guess (my family, my friends) is everyone of you that faithfully reads this website and prays for the prayer requests. One of my relatives made the comment that the only person that has gotten more prayer than me is Billy Graham! I still receive emails from people I have never met encouraging me on a monthly basis. Praise the Lord! My prayer to you is this that the Lord would pour His blessings on you and your household. Jill and I will pray for your health and happiness. May you have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year - Greg and Jill Businelle.
Matthew 1:21 - "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him
the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."