Friday, November 25, 2016

Thanksgiving

The fourth Thursday of November is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S and a national holiday.  It is a day for families and friends to get together and celebrate and be thankful for their blessings.  This year we had many things to be thankful for:  Our three wonderful  years in the temple in Copenhagen and the many good saints and friends we love there, Jim's survival of his heart attack at the airport and again the supportive friends  we had surrounding us during our three weeks "extension", and our terrific family and friends that have welcomed us home.
 A place for all 25 that came for turkey dinner.
 Our kids preparing the meal the turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, beans and several different kinds of pies for dessert.

 Gathering for Family Prayer...
    Again thanks to all of our friends and family who have prayed and helped us in any way these past three years and especially the past three weeks.  We have felt you concern and your prayers have helped carry us and Heaven has responded.  We love you.
  New blog going across the Atlantic  http://williamsworldweekly.blogspot.com/
2016/11

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Home Again!

Thanks to Elder Buxton and Elder Mordue who took us to the airport at 4 a.m. this morning.
 Peter came just to meet us at 4.30 a.m.  He brought the defibrillator three weeks ago and helped get Jim's heart working again. He came just to see Jim and make sure he was okay.  So nice.
Business Class was fabulous
 And meeting the family was even more wonderful!
 We all know we are Danish!
  This will be my last Danish Daily Doing Post, but I have started a new one called Williams World Weekly.  I will try to post weekly what is going on, on this side of the Atlantic.  The address is:
\http://williamsworldweekly.blogspot.com/





Monday, November 21, 2016

Neighbors

We will miss our wonderful neighbors.
 Hanne and Gregors Knudsen
Nilla Amanda, Jana and Nils.
   We are enjoying a little bit of Christmas before we leave.  Nilla Amanda mad us an Advent Calendar.  It will be fun to see the pictures she drew.

Scene Revisited

I went to the airport today to make sure of arrangements for our flight tomorrow.  Kenneth, the agent who was helping us three weeks ago was on duty.  It was a very sweet reunion.  He had really been effected by the incident and apparently it has been the talk among the workers since.  He was pretty emotional and so nice, as was everyone.
 This is the exact place Jim collapsed, hitting his head on the conveyor belt.
I was so glad I was able to connect with Kenneth again and reassure him that we were fine.
 I also talked to KLM and thanked them for the flowers they sent and gave candy to the Security People who were so kind to take care of our luggage and deliver it to the apartment.  People were so nice and happy to have some feedback.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Finals

I went to church today in the Frederiksberg Ward, but left Jim home away from the flu and cold bugs. It was a final farewell for some of our dearest friends like Ruth Hammerlund and Tom Pollard who made a special effort to get to church.
 Our temple missionaries came last night for "final" good-bys and thanks to Boyd Mordue and Jorgen Jeppsen for bringing the sacrament today.
Ellen McKnight came from Sweden and Mette, Jesper and Sebastian came tonight.  So we enjoyed a lovely Sabbath saying some final farewells.  However, there are many we expect to see again in Utah, so it isn't really final.....

Saturday, November 19, 2016

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

 Jim is feeling a bit better every day.  His shoulder is especially improving.  So with only a couple days left, there were some last-minute errands,
 These were samples of traditional Christmas fare: pebernødders, butter cookies, brunkage and clementiners.  You don't often see samples, so this help-yourself was unique.
 Frederiksberg Mall is all decked out
 and I found a lone nativity set, one of the few designed and sold in Denmark...


Friday, November 18, 2016

Changes to Consider

We discovered this morning that Jim's bed was too soft and too short, so we have made some changes..fortunately the 6 mattresses in the apartment are easy to move around.
Instead of one pill a day, Jim has quite an assortment now,
I went to the Copenhagen Temple for the last time today and did the entire session in Danish and actually understood most of it.  We will miss it, but it is in good hands with the new presidency.
 The snow was last week, but this is such a great picture.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Home!

Ready, set, go....


 Home!  After 16 days in hospitals, Jim is thrilled to be home....
And if all goes as planned we could be in Salt Lake next week! Thanks for your continuing prayers.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Last Procedure!

Jim was able to get the ICD implanted this afternoon and the doctor said he didn't need to see him again for 8 years, when the battery needed to be changed...
The bandage and padding are pretty tight and Jim has had more discomfort this afternoon than anytime in the past two weeks.  Hopefully it will be better when it is off.  He was awake for the whole procedure....
 It didn't help his appetite, this is what he chose for dinner..certainly not going to gain any weight here.
 But this game has been a life-saver to pass the time.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Long Days

Amazing how long days can be when you are just sitting around waiting.  Jim is waiting to make sure there is no infection.  His white count was up a little so they are being very careful.  We know we are on the Lord's timetable......patience is a virtue.
 Pres. and Sis, Olsson, the new temple president and matron, took me out to the hospital today and we had a nice visit.
 My day was brightened by dinner at Knudsens.  Look at this wonderful group of Senior Missionaries serving here in Copenhagen .  There are temple missionaries and presidency,  CES, office, and records preservation.


Monday, November 14, 2016

Progress

Jim had his Eco-cardiogram today and some physical therapy instructions and was moved back to the Gentofte Hospital tonight.  He traveled in style and this time I was able to sit with him in the back of the ambulance...without the sirens.
This was his hospital room at Ryshospitalet, but we are glad to be back at Gentofte, It just feels more friendly and cosy and he has his own room for a few days.
Henrik, his roommate, left earlier in the day, after receiving the bad news that he has to come back and do it all over again as they found a small hole in his heart they missed and will need to patch.  They wanted him to stay and do it tomorrow, but he couldn't do it.  He wanted to go home to his wife and son for a few days.  We were so sad for him and promised to put him in our prayers.


Sunday, November 13, 2016

Slow Sunday

The hospital basically shuts down for the weekend, especially Sundays.  So the visit from Elder and Sister Pilz, and the Bernskovs was very nice. He is our Area Authority and was here for CCM, which we attended as Temple President.
 I went to the Frederiksberg Ward.  We feel so blessed by the members' faith, prayers and well wishes.
Benjamin Andersen fixed Jim's computer which has cheered him up considerably.

Saturday, November 12, 2016

"Must Does"

While still here in Copenhagen, today, I took advantages of some of the "must does."
Several of the Senior Missionary Couples went with Irma Warnsdorf out to the HUGE Bella Center Loppemarked.  In three hours, Irma and I only covered about 15% of it.  But we all found treasures to our liking.  Mine had to be very light-weight as they have to come home in a suitcase.
 The cute Stokholm girls came and took me out to their "happy place,"  the oldest lagerkage/konditori in Copenhagen: La Glace.  It has been in the same family since 1870 and was a must visit before I left. The layer cakes were fabulous as was the hot chocolate.
 So thanks Eva, Sophie, Kristine and Anne who we luckily ran into..
I'm afraid Jim did not have as good as day.  Non-working computers are so frustrating!

Friday, November 11, 2016

Picture This

The surgeon talked to Jim today. The marker marks the bypasses.  Don't you wonder how they sew everything in?  very tiny stitches..
This fellow was either posing for a picture or looking for lunch out the window on our 14th floor balcony..

 And Jim is doing great, his heart is now in a stable rhythm and he is able to join all the other ambulatory patients choosing their own meals.  Actually a pretty good plan.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Getting Around

I missed my bus stop this morning on the way to the Commune to sign in again, so ended up walking through the  Frederiksberg Gardens.
 The herons were all  lined up for a meeting...
 The ducks were taking it easy on the ice..
 Jim was up walking the halls a couple of times
And Karen and Anne came all the way from Esbjerg for a happy surprise.
Thanks to them and everyone else for all the many prayers, kindnesses. and help.  We are so grateful.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Rough Day for Jim and....Hillary

A pretty painful day for Jim, until they took the drain out tonight.  It was causing a lot of back pain every time he moved or breathed.  So much better when I left about 8.30.  He was even sitting up to receive guests.  Watching the election news did help take some of the pain away....

We are back on the 15th floor with the stunning view.

Som.e new additions to cheer up the room...People are so nice. Thanks!

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Not As Bad As Knee Surgery..

Jim's comment in the recovery room: "It's not as bad as knee surgery."  It's a unique experience for him to be able to move after surgery with such little pain.  There were only two bypasses, one vein came from the chest and one from his leg, though the vein from the left leg wasn't usable so they had to open the right one....
They had him stand while they put clean sheets on his bed....pretty good just five hours out of surgery.
 
There is a drain taking the blood away from the surgery site. It goes through a filter and then is transfused right back into him, so he only gets his own blood back, Brilliant!
I
I sat in the waiting room with this dear family from the Faroe Islands.  The father is in for a third surgery to "unstick" his heart from the surrounding tissues.  I'm sure it is more than that, but it was touch and go. After I found I had been in the wrong waiting room for 90 minutes,  I left them with a little positive news and hope again.  The daughter is an international trend-setting hairstylist.