From Linda Partlow

To the bestest prayer warriors ever:

An email...finally from ME!!! Wow- what a wild & crazy 17 days. After I found out surgery took 10.5 hours I really didn't want any more information. Intensive care wasn't too bad----your lights are just on all the time. They drove me crazy on the regular floor. I felt like a pin cushion because of so many shots and they always checked my vitals the minute I fell asleep. I was extremely blessed to have a friend at my side 24 hours a day for 10 days. The first 5 days after surgery were horrific because my back hurt so and I could never relax enough to sleep. But, on Friday - Good Friday- sleep finally came and things took a huge turn around. When they discharged me on Wednesday, 13 days after surgery, I felt so overwhelmed and blessed. Please know I would have never survived, or improved so quickly, without your constant prayers. I will alwa ys be forever grateful for your love, cards, emails, calls and visits. ! ;

Coming to Cindy's was another huge step, but my back felt 1000 times better. She has done such an unbelievable job being so attentive and caring for me NOT LIKE A SISTER THAT I HAVE AGGRAVATED ALL MY LIFE.

Today has been "best of all." I managed to spend two hours reading my emails, walking more, and eating a little more food. I still have a long way to go, but I am so glad these past two and a half weeks are behind me. Thank goodness for MARCH MADNESS, and for good rest at night. It has been a busy day for the person that has a zipper from her sternum to her bikini line! I go to the doctor next Tuesday to get all the staples out---that should be a blast--- but every day is a better day.

You all will just never know what each of you mean to me. One of my favorite sayings is "actions speak louder than words" and your actions have spoken VOLUMES!!! Never under estimate the power of GOD and the way he cares for every hair on your head.

All my love,
Linda - Coach- Partlow

Brother Johnson and Children

Brother Silas Johnson with Cathy, Betsy and Paul.

March 25 Update on Linda

"Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:50:58 +0000
Linda continues to steadily improve. She is tolerating a regular diet and is walking the circle around the unit three to four times per day. She does have some type of infection that is causing her to run a low grade fever and her white blood count is higher than it should be. Hopefully, antibiotics will clear this. The doctor has mentioned the possibility of discharge toward the end of the week. Thank goodness she has March Madness to keep her occupied - we'll have to figure out something else for April :-)

Please continue to pray for Linda's recovery and pray for my Mom who had a stomach virus over the weekend and has increased lung congestion."

Easter Sunday Update

Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:20:18 +0000
Happy Easter!

What a glorious morning to praise God! We have so many reasons to be thankful. The most important one is the resurrection of Jesus and that we, too, will be with one day when we leave this earth. Another one is God's faithfulness which He proved again and again this past week. We got wonderful news on Friday - Linda's pathology report showed that the lymph nodes were clear. Her liver enzyme levels are now within normal range.

Linda slept much more on Friday night and when I dropped by yesterday morning before driving to Tupelo to see Mom, she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" and talking a mile a minute.

Tammy Foster, a long-time friend, drove over from Fulton to stay with Linda yesterday to give Patti a break. Below is an excerpt from Tammy's note to friends after she returned home. It provides a great description of Linda's day yesterday.

"I spent a great 6 hours with Linda today. She had gotten 4 hours of sleep last night and was in true Linda form. (It is amazing what a little good sleep can do for you!) We walked twice, talked tons, and enjoyed a beautiful day the Lord has given us.

At lunch, Linda got her first taste of solid food. She enjoyed the taste of real food!! She ate good considering how long its been since she had real food.

In true Linda form -- after she got a full belly, she turned on the basketball game and caught a great nap.

To prove she is coming back strong I'll share this quick story. Some of us sent a goodie basket -- one of the items was a pair of yellow bunny ears -- 'tis the Easter season. Another group from her church also sent a goodie box -- including cute yellow Easter slippers. In true Linda fashion, she put on her bunny ears and Easter slippers, we gathered all her wires, IV's, etc. and the IV pole and we went for her morning walk!! As she made her lap, she greeted people with a warm Happy Easter and a great Partlow smile. Everyone loved her happy festive mood and admired her attempt to cheer up everyone around her! Just Linda being Linda!

I really admire her for being so positive. She has a hard time just concentrating on walking but she was encouraging everyone around her! What a great lady!!!!

She is being a real trooper! Linda has made giant steps in the last couple of days. She has still got a long way to go so don't stop praying for her!"

I am attaching a picture of "Bunny-eared Linda." She looks 300% better than she did on Wednesday.

Please continue to pray for her recovery. Please pray today for my Mom - she was sick yesterday with much congestion and nausea. She is a trooper, too; Linda comes by it honestly. We are so blessed to have such phenomenal caregivers who are attune to her needs since she cannot verbally communicate her needs.

Have a wonderful Easter praising God for His never-ending love for us!

Cindy

Bobby Marion

Sympathy to the family of Bobby Marion who passed away Tuesday.

Thursday Update

"Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:18:52 +0000
Good morning!

Great news - the pathology report indicated that both tumors were the same kind - neuroendocrine. Given that Dr. Arnoletti said that the two tumors were "stuck together" when he took them out, I am guessing now that they were one in the same. The tumor she had five years ago had continued to grow slowly. I know this doesn't make sense since all of her CAT scans the past five years had indicated that the pancreatic tumor was shrinking, but does cancer ever make sense? We are so thankful that he was able to remove the whole tumor - it's out of there!! I was not at the hospital when the doctor came by so I still have some questions for him; he did now say anything about the report on the lymph nodes.

Linda has another rough night - she only slept about 30 minutes; she could not get comfortable because of her back pain. The medical staff is trying numerous things to help her - heat/cold packs, different meds, etc. She is getting PT every day and is now getting respiratory therapy to ensure that she does not get pneumonia from being in bed so much. She is working hard to sit up as much as possible and to walk a couple of times a day. She is a trooper!!

I feel like Linda is having to settle to be an inch-worm this week when she had rather be a foot-worm or a yard-worm. She is slowly making progress. The doctors believe she is at the point she should be given the double major surgery.


Linda's friend, Patti, will be with her Friday through Sunday with some other folks coming in intermittently to give her a break. I will travel to Tupelo on Saturday to check on Mom and visit with her. Linda and I both decided that it would be better not to tell Mom anything about what is going on since we are not sure how much she would understand and don't want to upset her in any way.

Please continue to pray that her back pain will dissipate and thank God for so many of our friends here who are supporting us directly this week by staying with Linda, making sure that I get some rest, and running errands for us.

Philippians 4:6 continues to be such a comfort to me: "Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." He is faithful - I continue to be at peace.

Love,
Cindy"

Wednesday Update

"Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:26:41 +0000
I am a little bleary-eyed this morning - stayed with Linda last night and she had a pretty rough time. The nerves in her abdomen are beginning to wake up and her pain level has increased. She is on morphine and does not like the way it makes her see double, hear voices, and hallucinate :-) I told her it's not time to be tough - that she needed to get rid of the pain and enjoy visiting with those people she is hearing and seeing.

Linda's hemaglobin and hematocrit were low yesterday so they gave her two units of blood last night. Hopefully, this will help her energy level which has been zero.

Now on to the the good news....The PT was able to walk her for a short distance down the hall yesterday. She sat in a chair 4 different times for about 30 minutes each. Her liver emzynes are continuing on a downhill decline. Her NG tube was removed. And...she can now have ice chips. It's all of these small steps that are helping her progress on the road to recovery.

Pray specifically today that her pain will decrease and that she will be able to rest more.
We're very thankful that she has such wonderful doctors and nurses.

Several of you have asked about coming to visit her. She's not quite ready for visits yet. If you would like to send her a card, please send to me and I will take to her:

Linda Partlow
c/o Cindy Partlow
4717 Bridgewater Road
Birmingham, AL 35243

May God bless you for being such caring family, friends, and work colleagues!

Cindy"

Today's Update on Linda Partlow

"Good morning,

Linda was moved out of ICU last night at 8:45 onto the oncology-surgery floor. The move was hard on her physically and she had a pretty rough night. Since she is somewhat more alert, she awakens any time the medical staff come into the room - interrupted sleep does not tend to put us at our best :-) But....I am thankful that there are so many checking on her throughout the night.

The doctor asked that PT come and get her up today - hopefully this will help her back pain which has resulted from lying on her back for four days. They will also take her off of the epidural pain meds and put her on an IV pump with morphine - pray that this switch in pain meds will go smoothly and that are pain from the surgery will still continue to be under control.

Linda still has a lot of drainage from her adomen and stomach - they are watching this closely. She still doesn't know how extensive her surgery was - we'll tell her in time or as she asks. When she asked about the length of the surgery and we told her 10 1/2 hours, she said "that doctor must be slow" to which we quickly replied, "no, he was just thorough." (She did remember that he had told her it would be a 1 hr, 3 hr, or 5 hr surgery.)

Some of my friends and I will be covering night and day duty at the hospital this week. I am very fortunate to have a pharmacologist friend and nurse friend at the hospital who can help ensure she gets the best of care.

Thank you for continuing to pray. God will walk with her in every step of this long battle uphill.

Love,
Cindy"

Easter Egg Hunting

Happy St. Patrick's Day

By gosh and by gorry, have a happy St. Patty's Day from one whose ggrandfather came to Mississppi from Ireland ca. 1848.

Current Update on Linda Partlow

"Linda is still in ICU and still in very guarded condition. Dr. Arnoletti informed me yesterday that tests are indicating some liver damage from the vascular surgery. She is still on the ventilator and still very sedated; they want her body to rest as much as possible. Her vital signs remain stable except when we are visiting her and then her blood pressure and heart rate increases because she is trying to talk - imagine Linda wanting to talk!!! We can rouse her a little when we get to go in to visit. She is able to squeeze my hand and slightly nod yes/no to simple questions. She gave me a small wink yesterday and Kathy Cooke, her high school friend, got her to give a slight smile by telling her a funny story from the past. I just spoke with the nurse and she had a good night. Pray specifically today that her liver will begin to heal itself and that she will progress enough to come off the ventilator which will make her more comfortable. Also pray tha t we can keep her still and not talking and directing too much once she begins to wake up a little more - she loves to be in charge :-) However, since she appointed me the general when this all started two weeks and I haven't been demoted, guess I still get to be in charge...for a little while.

Thank you for your e-mails and calls - they mean a lot to me and I am saving them for Linda.
I feel so blessed that God has given us so many wonderful friends who are supporting us with prayer during this time.

His plan is perfect and I am at peace!

Cindy"

Update on Linda Partlow

From Cindy Partlow:

"I want to first ask you to continue to pray diligently for Linda - pray specifically for her to start recovering NOW from the surgery which turned out to be much more major than ever expected. It lasted 10 1/2 hours. The pancreatic tumor and stomach tumor were stuck together and could not be separated - a very large tumor. The he patic artery and the portal vein were stuck to the pancreatic tumor. The stomach tumor was blocking her stomach to the point that it was flacid and still contained food. I am amazed that she had so few symptoms of this underlying mess. Dr. Arnoletti and the vascular surgeon rerouted the artery and the vein, removed the tumor, and completed the Whipple procedure (removed the head of the pancreas and part of her stomach). The tumor and lymph nodes have been sent to pathology for testing. She had to be given blood and is on a breathing machine for at least 24 hours to let her body rest. She is not out of the woods yet - her condition is termed as guarded.

Linda was in great spirits this morning and totally peaceful. She is ready for whatever God has in store for her whether coming home to Him now or staying a little longer on this earth to glorify Him. You can bet that whichever God chooses, Linda will tackle the task with gusto!

Thanks for your continued support!
Cindy"

Election Night

The Parsonage

First Baptist in the Snow

Plantersville Snow

Brother Danny sent these pictures of the snow. The first is a view from the church toward the Coggin/Price house which is visible in the background. The second is, obviously, of the church and the last is the parsonage.

We here in Clinton had only a light snow; there's a sprinkling on our deck.

Happy Birthday to Betsy and Paul

Both Betsy and Paul Johnson had birthdays this week. This picture was taken in 1953 at Betsy's birthday party. Cathy please identify those attending.

Linda Partlow

Gloria shared this message from Cindy Partlow concerning her sister, Linda:

"Dear Friends,

Thanks to so many who have already called, sent notes, and lifted Linda up in prayer as she starts this journey again. How blessed we are to have so many caring people in our lives.

Today was "D-Day" (Doctor Day) Dr. Pablo Arnoletti is an oncology surgeon from Uruguay who has been at UAB for seven years. He met with us for almost an hour and was quite personable which is a must for Linda. He determined that Linda has a tumor in the lower part of her stomach causing a blockage with resulting severe indigestion, distention (swelling), and some weight loss. Although it is possible that this is a different kind of cancer from the pancreatic tumor she had in 2002, Dr. Arnoletti thinks that her pancreatic tumor may have grown into her stomach. We have a little trouble understanding this since her CAT scans have shown the pancreatic tumor shrinking every year for the past five years. He admitted that this was unusual but thought it would be more unusual to have a second type of gastrointestinal cancer. Hopefully, he will be able to tell what ty pe of stomach cancer she has from looking at her biopsy slides from last week.

So, what's next? Surgery....MAJOR surgery. Depending on what he finds when he starts the surgery, he will either do the "Whipple" procedure (remove the head of the pancreas and the bottom part of her stomach), a distal gastrectomy (remove the bottom part of her stomach), or just a by-pass if the tumor cannot be removed. The first one takes 5 hours, the next one 3, and the last one 1 with a less favorable outcome. The surgery has been scheduled for next Thursday, March 13, here at UAB - she has to be there at 5:00 a.m. - yikers!!. She will be in the hospital 7-10 days and recovery is 6-8 weeks. Treatment with chemotherapy afterward is likely.

This is probably enough information for now - it's a lot for us to process. We will have more answers next week.

Thanks for your support!
Cindy"

Plantersville Watermelons

This picture of J. W. Morgan with his watermelons grown in 1926 was published in Judy Borden's book.