Thank God For Friends!

Hello, Everybody! This has been a very different week for us! Ellen has been sick, Sharon had surgery on her right hand, and we had to say,"Good-bye" to a long time friend.

Last weekend, we decorated Ellen's Christmas tree at her home. She put up her tree, and then Sharon unwrapped the ornaments, and handed them to Ellen to put on her tree. In the meantime, Sharon unpacked her tree, and fluffed the branches on Monday. Tuesday, Sharon had an appointment with the hand surgeon. Neither of us realized that he would do the surgery right away, but he did. The second picture shows the swollen hand that says, "Ouch." Tuesday evening, we went to Sharon's house where we did the same thing with the Christmas tree all over again. This first picture shows Ellen working away at putting the Lenox Christmas ornaments on Sharon's tree. What would we do without dear friends?

Ellen took the day off to take Sharon to the doctor. The picture below shows the poor right hand all swollen. This surgeon's office was top of the line; he had state of the art equipment, and the finest staff you can imagine. We knew that he would remove the squamous cell carcinoma that had been left behind from the dermatologist's initial removal for biopsy. We didn't know how extensive the surgery would be. The first "excavation" left a hole about the size of a nickel between the first and second knuckle. He took that tissue across the hall for testing and warned us that he might have to return if he didn't get it all. Well, he had to make a second pass to get all of the cancer. The most exciting part of the whole operation was that we both got to see the ligament! Sharon felt like she was part of the "Bodies Human" exhibit, except that she was alive! Ellen was happy to be there so she could hear the doctor say, "Don't use this hand for two weeks!". Sharon may have forgotten to share that bit of information! (Of course, I would.)

Finally, this last picture was taken by Ellen at the going away breakfast for Alicia Loya, our substitute Assistant Principal. She is a retired administrator, and she and Sharon go way back with the EPISD. She stepped right in and did a fantastic job at Polk. There were many tears as she left the building today. She has to have knee surgery soon, and was unable to get around much since she fell at her home. She is a delightful lady--a first class lady. We will truly miss her. The kids will miss her enormously. She just had this way of getting them to be courteous, and to get along with each other. (You should have seen the big old fifth grade boys holding hands until they could shake hands, and tell each other that they were sorry.) Good luck, Alicia! Good luck and Godspeed to you.