Gil and Denise Thomas
August 2022
Life continues to be full of adventure at the Thomas household. From July 24-28 we were able to participate in and enjoy the fellowship of our annual ABWE Missionary Enrichment Conference. It was a very large crowd as the last several years were cancelled because of Covid. It was a joy to share with everyone what has been happening with Good Soil as far as new partnerships, new resources and new training opportunities. The conference was held in Pittsburgh, PA, and the hotel was on an ideal spot where we could see the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers which come together to form the Ohio River. We had a beautiful view of the rivers and the 3 Rivers stadium from our 18th floor room.
Because of my upcoming surgery in Ohio, we drove there to spend several days with family and friends. Well….life took a bit of the change when Gil took a hard fall while playing pickle ball (Our grandkids thought that this must be a pretty funny sport). He was running backwards (back peddling is the official term) to hit the ball when he fell back and caught himself with his two hands. After driving a few hours north to Akron to be with Gil’s sister, Amy Lowe, and their family, she took him to an urgent care place to get it checked out. They said that he had broken his two wrists and put him in two support braces until we could get him to an orthopedic doctor, since it was late on a Friday. Since we were needing to be in Cleveland on Monday, we were so thankful to get into a Clinic doctor. Well…. We had a bit better news from this doctor. Just his left wrist was broken and was put in a cast. The right one was badly sprained and traumatized but not broken. What the first clinic saw was a break that had healed from when Gil was in college. We’re so thankful that he has permission to start using it even though it hurts like the dickens.
We are now settled into our Airbnb house that will be our home until the 12th. On Tuesday I will be having many pre-operation consultations. The open-heart surgery (to replace the aortic valve and possibly another one) will be Wednesday, though we won’t know the exact time until tomorrow. I might be in the hospital for up to a week.
We are thankful for the support and prayer of so many people. Our daughter Andrea and her husband, Ben, will be joining us on Wednesday and will stay with us until we go back to Harrisburg, PA. Gil will not be able to drive until the cast comes off in 5 weeks and I won’t be able to drive for 3 months because they don’t want to run the risk of the airbag going off and injuring the surgery site. Besides, Gil is now unable to help me with some tasks when I’m out of the hospital and he also needs some assistance, too. Thirty-five years ago, while spending two weeks in the hospital during Andrea’s birth and not having the opportunity to even see her because we were in two different hospitals, God gave me comfort through His word in Isaiah 26:3. It helped me focus on Him and he calmed my anxious heart. This has been my special verse ever since. Now I have a new verse that God has shown me to help me through this next medical procedure. A friend gave me this card with Psalm 73:26 on it. I will be putting it beside my bed to be a witness to all who might see it. I also find solace in verse 25 also “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” Your prayers are greatly appreciated, Gil & Denise