Bruce is continuing to do well, thank the Lord!  Sarah seems to be enjoying Spring Vale and the teachers seem to be enjoying her, thankfully!  Samuel has been working at stripping some dining room chairs for me, I hope to restore them to a nice mahogany finish.  Hannah is doing well, she is losing a lot of her pregnancy weight and is looking beautiful!
Oh where do I start to tell you about this past week, though.  I sit here trying to cope with all the information I was given in the last few days.  So it is hard to convey all of it to you.
I went to the physical therapist Monday.  He said the MRI reports show a lot of arthritis in the neck. After examining me he said that I will never be pain free, the neck has deteriorated to much.  He did think it was wise to get a second opinion about surgery.  So I did today.  I really thought this doctor would say I did not need the fusion surgery.  But instead he said that the problem is worse then the MRI report states it is and that he was leaning towards doing three disc removals and fusion.  However he was a little worried the fusion of so many discs may make the neck weak.  He explained that the more discs that are fused the more chance there is of it not working. .  He also agreed with the surgeon at Hershey, saying that the surgery will help the radiating pain in the arms  but he can not get rid of the neck pain.
The other bit of disturbing information was that they strongly feel I have an auto immune disease that is attacking the joints. They said they are very concerned it is rheumatoid arthritis. I have many symptoms but the disease seems to not be effecting my toes and fingers which makes me think they may be wrong, lets hope!  I am to have some blood work done this coming week to help identify the problem.
I will continue with therapy and I just ask for prayer, for wisdom to make the best choice in treatment and surgery.
Hope your weekend is a blessed one full of God's love and compassion!