Shirley, Rose, and I returned to St. Louis last night. Mark Goldman called for us at the airport. We were three old bedraggled ladies by the time we got home. Quickly, though, we have settled into our regular routines.

We had a updating e-mail from Brother Joe about his doctor visit today, which we are happy to post here:

"X-ray showed completely clear, lungs & heart continue to sound good. In my analysis, things are going as good as can be expected, probably even better than expected!

I will be going back on May 2nd & 3rd, to see the heart Dr. and get going on some monitored
cardiac rehab. Probably 3 days per week.

Weight limitations will continue through June, to insure nothing is pulled loose in the chest surgery area.

He said this type operation uses up all the reserves & I will also be building them back, as
progress continues.

Love, bro Joe"

We neglected to mention to Joe that Rose and I stopped by a Chevrolet dealer in Covington, KY, to see what the Uplander (the van he is considering) looks like. I went with Joe several years ago when he purchased his current van and helped his choose it--a task I enjoyed immensely. From what we saw of the Uplander, he did very well this time without my input.

Tomorrow Rose and I will make a quick trip to the lake to make sure all the work was done to my satisfaction--this from the leaky faucet in the new bathroom that did so much damage. The new whole house water filter is in, but still the shower doors are not installed. It surely takes a act of god to have anything happen when you are 150 miles from the scene. Rose and I will go to Home Depot this time since Lowe's completely dropped the ball on my order. Lowe's even lost the order completely. After some argument with the store manager, he did refund the monies I had already paid.

Speaking of home repair, Rose and Shirley noticed some lifted shingles on the roof of their house last week. Today the Farmer's Insurance adjuster came to take a look and determined the house had $6500 of hail damage! Looks like a new roof, siding repair, and other stuff will get done here to the complete surprise of all three of us.