Pray for Metricia

Please pray for our youngest daughter Metricia. She has been in the Salina Regional Medical Center since Monday night with initially a high blood pressure event that caused to to go unconscious. The highest BP reading was 180/120. A large battery of tests have been performed. All tests results has been returned as clear. The doctors are sure there is no circulatory problem such as blockages around the heart, lung, liver, or kidney. The length of time of her unconsciousness lengthens each day for each day she has several of these attacks. Today she was persistently unconscious for a full 2 hours. Finally, a doctor has been able to witness her at her worst and has gotten a ICU doctor to come to her room and sedate her. Her breathing is not so 'hyperventilated'now... While there are many details I could include right now I must close this post with this... today she will be tested for Spinal Menningitus.

Please pray fervently. We appreciate it.

That's My Dad!!!!!!!

It was around 4:00 PM when we pulled into sight of Mom and Dad Mahin's house Wednesday, July 7, 2010. Dad was extremely low on energy, like he has been a lot lately after a long 4 hour session in dialysis. He has been wheeled around a lot in his wheel chair lately because his -- well, hmmmmm, he's just wearing down. I had parked the car at the end of his sidewalk and had gone to get his wheel chair from the house, I'd almost gotten to the door, when suddenly I heard dad give a painful yelp. I quickly whirled around and saw dad flat on his back on the ground just beside the car. Seconds later I was at his side asking if he's okay, worried, hoping for no broken bones, broken back, etc., As I'm lifting him up and trying unsuccessfully to get him to sit back down in the car until I could return with the wheel chair ... while he's moaning and groaning, and mom's standing beside him nearly in tears apologizing that she didn't catch him, she loving leans toward him and places a sympathetic kiss on his ear lobe. Before she can pull her head away from him dad let's out this blood curdling screech ... directly into mom's intimately close ear "Nahhhhhhhhhh". Mom jumps so badly she bumps into the still open car door behind her. Immediately I thought he was having a major muscle spasm in his back thus confirming my worst fear that his fall had just broken a vertebrae in his back. Mom stammering breathlessly asks him, "WHAT!!! WHAT!!! WHAAATTTTT!!!!" Instantly he turns on his most energetic voice on and blurts out so loudly that it reverberates off the neighbors nearby house... "BABY, YOU JUST KISSED MY EAR!!!!!!" Mom, peeved but beginning now to giggle, playfully swatted his arm and let him know that she didn't think he was too terribly hurt after all. We all laughed all the way into the house, relieved that even though he might be bruised and sore tomorrow, and for sure he will be since it was a hard fall, NOTHING can dampen nor diminish his ability to make the best of even the most painful of situations.

We don't think the Lord will allow Dad to bless and enrich our lives here on this earth too much longer, but its the memories that were made today that sure makes me rightly proud to say, "That's my Dad"!!!!!!!

Tragical Hysterium

Saturday, March 6, 2010, is to the David Mahin Family something similar to a Day of Infamy. It started with the loss of a gas cap off the work van, the rusty, ugly Astro. Just a couple hours later, the 'Sunday go to meetin' van, (the pretty red Ford Windstar), decides its time to have tranny problems!?!? It only goes in reverse now. (Good thing Kansas' roads are really straight but I still have a crook in my neck .....) Then, last but not least, I DID THE LAUNDRY. Things went fairly well. It was a really, really, dirty load of cow barn clothes, (oh, that's right, I haven't mentioned my mission of mercy, with Davey and Doug, to a certain dairy farm family), well.... the clothes were 'cow barn' filthy so I reset the washing machine to agitate twice as long as usual. One problem. MY CELL PHONE GIVES ME A STEELY GLINT OF A GLARE FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE WASHTUB. No, not my cell phone. Forget about my car that only goes in reverse now but please not my cell phone too. I coddle and apologize over it but it won't have any of that. I try to turn it on but it only reboots itself 14 times a minute as if its throwing a royal 'poor me' fit.

Well, we drove the work van to church on Sunday. And because I didn't have the cell phone alarm to vibrate at 1 minute before church service time... Well, the pastor started 2 minutes late because the sancturay clock is not visible enough from the back of the church....... you get the idea, Sunday was NOT a good day. (Good thing the Good life has more to do with than just Techie things.)

Wouldn't you know, today, Monday March 8, while driving the work van all over Cloud county Kansas, the muffler system decides to literally break in half and begin to scrape and bang every single inch all the way across the Walmart parking lot, the BUSY Walmart parking lot, to the nearest empty parking spot. I'm sure the horrific noise turned many heads. However, this time, fortunately, I was NOT a part of this scenario. I was in my parents car many miles away--heading AWAY from the busy AND NOISY parking lot that my wife had just driven into. I was driving my parents away from my dad's dialysis treatment and, thanks to a borrowed cell phone that reported my wife's case of hysterical laughter in Wally's parking lot, I came to a full stop in a turning bay to conduct a conversation with my dad. "Dad, can I use your car to turn around and travel 13 miles back up to Walmart to see if I can get my work van to travel inconspicuously once again? Or do you want me take you home first? Just 12 miles away." (Dialysis is always hard on dad and often he just goes to bed once he gets home.) Bless his heart even though he was absolutely washed out from a hard day of Dialysis, his fatherly heart still yearned after his "car impaired" son, and after calculating miles, gas, time, and expense decided we should retrace our steps to Wally World and try to get the broken muffler fixed.

We started up from the turning bay, thankfully no one needed it for its intended use while we used it for our Father To Son Talk, and as I accelerated up the ramp that lead toward the broken muffler job, he turned to me and, no lie, asked, "IS THIS USUAL FOR YOUR LIFE?" I turned on the windowshield wipers to chase away the rain that had been falling for 2 long hours, "Yes, dad, the 'usual' of my life is that when it rains it POURS, then everything's good for a season and then out of the blue it just lets loose and pours once again. Yes, THIS IS USUAL."

The muffler does not drag now but it still obnoxiously roars its disgust of 293,000 miles every chance it gets. Is that embarrassing? By all means,YES. Better that though, than having a sore neck from driving looking over one's shoulder because a stubborn tranny will only drive in reverse.

Dad back in wheelchair

Due to yesterday's vomiting dad has been so weak that he has had to be wheelchaired around all day. Yes, it's a setback but we're still trusting the Lord to give him another strengthening touch.

Dad Mahin's busy day

Dad Mahin woke Tuesday, Dec. 22nd, feeling much improved. He tried walking without his wheelchair and the longer he walked the better he felt. He didn't need his wheelchair at all Tuesday. However, during the latter part of the afternoon he became nauseous and began vomiting around supper time. Around 7 or 8 in the evening mom measured his temp at 104. The town nurse showed up, and called dad’s dialysis doctor and he recommended an ER visit. So an ambulance was called, much to dad’s fussing and fuming, and they got him to the Clay Center ER around 9:30. They checked his dialysis ports for infections, did a chest x-ray, drew blood, etc. They found a possible indication for pneumonia in the left lung but ruled that out as any reason for concern or reason for his fever and immediate sickness.

They put him on antibiotics and sent him home feeling much improved. We got home around 11:30. So it was a busy day for dad but he is definitely doing better compared to last Friday.

Keep praying. It’s working.

Dad's slight improvement

Douglas and I went to Grandpa’s house this morning to visit and then help grandpa into the senior agency van with his wheelchair . (The grandkids sure like grandpa’s house being only 100 paces away.) We found him in good spirits and a little bit improved. He is now able to walk 2 to 4 steps from his chair to his wheelchair. I know that does not sound like a lot but it is at least a ‘step in the right direction’.

The 11 inch snowstorm of 2 weeks ago has melted down to about 3 inches. One of the ‘locals’ told us when we moved here in ’08 that only once a decade does Miltonvale get to enjoy a White Christmas. Last Christmas we had a measly inch of snow that melted the next day. (Why have a white Christmas when the kids can’t sled in it?) Now, the forecast for the rest of this week seems to assure that North Central Kansas will be having a REAL White Christmas this year. (Don’t you just love Global Warming?) The approaching storm is supposed to start with a coat of ice Tuesday evening that according to the forecasters could bring some power outages, but then through Wednesday and Thursday drop 5 to 10 inches of Christmas Cheer. (Now that’s ‘sledable’!!!!!) For sure we’ll have to put snow chains on dad’s wheelchair tires for a few days this week.

On a more serious note, a few readers have responded to the last several postings with offers to help mom and dad financially. From our hearts, thank you for your thoughtfulness. If you do not know their address and would like to contribute to them please email me at mahinalive@gmail.com and I’ll get their address to you.

More Later.
Thanks for stopping by.
MAHINALIVE

Dad Mahin Still not walking -- Day 2

Please pray for Dad Mahin so he could be able to walk again.

A Senior Agency, funded by the State of Kansas, has been providing Dad's transportation to Dialysis for several years. Due to budget cuts here in Kansas, the agency has informed all its riders, including Mom and Dad, that they will have to pay 30 cents a mile starting January 1, in order to utilize that agency's transportation services. Well, Salina is 50 miles away, so a round trip to there and back would cost $30.00 daily. Dialysis could also be done in Concordia, Kansas, but that still would be 50 miles daily; still too far and too expensive. After close figuring they decided they could drive it for cheaper with their own car, or my van, than the fare charged by the senior agency.

Now that Dad is not walking the use of my van or my folks car is virtually out of the equation for 'daily' dialysis transportation. So, please pray that God's perfect will will be done.