We are home!!

Dear ones,
The eagles (or maybe crazy turkeys) have landed!! This is Betty reporting that we are home. We spent part of Tuesday finishing up Paris with Notre Dame and the downtown area. Also took the subway to Monmartre to take a look at Sacre Coeur. Then back to the campground where we all spread our belongings out and repacked to include the items we added. We got it all in! Wednesday’s trip home went smoothly with no hitches returning the rental car or catching our flights. It was a 3 hour trip to Iceland and after an hour there we continued for 6 more hours to Minneapolis. Randel's brother, Rol, picked us up and Karen and Chris joined all of us for pizza. It felt good to be back in the USA-nice to be able to read and understand all the signs! But it was a very long day and we thankfully spent the night at Rol and Karen’s. They have been such a blessing to us as usual!
We’d made Randel’s regular Mayo checkup for Thursday and Friday to save a trip so he and I headed out real early to get there for a blood draw. Randel had continued to have fever off and on but that morning it was worse than usual and has been since then. After his blood draw he was shaking and weak enough that we got him a wheelchair. After checking in at the next appointment I was wheeling him to the waiting room and this tall young man comes up and says, “Hi Betty, Mom said you might be here today!” It was my nephew, Luke, with his wife, Erin, and new baby, Hendrick!! What are the chances that Randel and Erin would have an appointment in exactly the same place and at the same time in that huge place?!! No chances! Another God incident as He knew we needed each other at that time. Randel and Erin were in at their appointments for about an hour and a half so Luke and I had a good visit and I got to cuddle the baby! Please keep Erin and her family in your prayers as she learned she has a couple of malignant nodules where her previous thyroid cancer was located. We met again at lunch and were absolutely blessed by being with them. Back in Lakeville that evening Karen cooked all of us a wonderful supper with watermelon and sweet corn which we had been craving. Sarah, Russ, their girls, and Chris all joined us too so we had a great time catching up.
Friday we had more routine tests for Randel but also some new ones to try to figure out what is going on with his health. The blood work does not indicate any infection but his liver counts were up. The blood cultures are still cooking so we hope we’ll get some answers by tomorrow. There has been a little new tumor growth but that is typical. He was pretty miserable on the trip home as the fevers have gotten higher and last longer. We stopped at Mom’s to get Elise’s car but she’s in Canada so didn’t get to see her. Her neighbors and our dear friends, Rod and Betty Banks, were there mowing so we had fun visiting with them. We got to Norfolk around 9 pm tired but so thankful for the trip we’ve had. As we reviewed it together we recounted the many times we knew God was directing our steps and how we felt his presence. It was as if He were saying, “Here is a special gift for you because I love you.” “And here’s another, and another.” We saw His hand in so many of the experiences we had both planned and unexpected. And being together was priceless! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
I wish I had better news on Randel. He has pretty much been in bed since we got home with fevers that are up around 102. We called back to Mayo on Saturday and they had us go to the emergency room here. After three hours of more blood work and a chest XRay the doctor gave us the choice of admitting him for observation or going home because the tests all look good. Randel really wanted to come home so we did but he’s not any better as of today, Sunday. We’re to see the doctor here tomorrow and call Mayo as something may have shown up by now on the blood cultures. It could be a bacterial infection which seems unlikely by now or a viral infection that transplant patients are prone to get. Another possibility is that some of the tumors have outgrown their blood supply and have died and his body is dealing with that dead material. Please pray that the doctors can figure this out and that the fever subsides. It has really worn him out and we are very concerned. He has remained his positive self in spite of dealing with this for 12 days now. Pray for some relief for him. I’m to go back to work tomorrow but don’t think I should leave him so pray for wisdom and strength for me too. Brett and Elise left early this morning. It was so hard to say good-bye after being together for 2 months. They had to get Elise as least partially moved into a new apartment as much of her stuff was stored in Brett’s bedroom over the summer. Both go back to work tomorrow also. While we were on the trip Brett’s boss called and asked him to take the position of director of the men’s shelter at the homeless mission where he works. He prayed well into that night and said yes to this new huge responsibility. So keep Brett and Elise in your prayers also.
Thank you for going on this grand adventure with us and especially for your faithful prayers. Do check back as we may get more pictures posted eventually. Or make friends with Elise as she has three albums posted on her Facebook page. It was the trip of a lifetime and we are and will continue to relish the memories!
Love,
Betty