Stand Tall and Look Up

This chair and I spent a lot of time together. Here I sat watching Mike while he slept. Here I sat as doctors and nurses continued treating him. Here sat when sleep finally came to my exhausted body. It was made of noisy purple vinyl but it was comfortable. Here I prayed for divine intervention and for the doctor's hands to be guided. Here I sought the comfort from the Spirit. Here I began planning how I would help Mike recover. 

      The Premier Inn only had a vacancy for one night and the other hotels near the hospital were also booked. I wasn't sure what Tenika and I would do. I called our home ward Bishop, Steven Weitzel, and asked for his help. He was able to reach the bishop from High Wycombe. It wasn't long before I received a phone call that Jo Barron, the Relief Society President in High Wycombe had offered for Tenika to stay in her home. She came to the hotel the next morning and took Tenika and most of our luggage to her home. Jo and her family were wonderful. I mostly stayed at the hospital with Mike but they picked me up and took me to their home so I could shower. They helped Tenika to feel comfortable and made sure that she made it to the airport to catch her flight home on August 12. The hospital did not have any internet access but the Barron's would let me use their international phone to call home and their internet to take care of everything else.         In the meantime, back

      Tenika and I sat in the waiting room at the hospital while doctors evaluated Mike. It was a small room with a bathroom. I don't know how long we waited but eventually the nurse came and said I could go see Mike. The doctor came in as well and told me that Mike had suffered a stroke that had affecters 25% of his brain. He was fully paralyzed on the right side of his body and could no longer speak. They were admitting him to an acute care unit in the hospital. From the waiting room at the hospital I phoned our friend, Kofi Bentil, who lived outside of London. He helped me to reach the local LDS missionaries who came and gave Mike a blessing. The elders also went to a nearby store and, using cash I had given them, they purchased a local phone for me to use.       Once Mike was stabilized on the acute unit at the hospital, Tenika and I found a bus to take us back to the hotel in Slough. She packed up our suitcases while I stayed in the lobby trying to find a hotel for us near th

        We spent 7 days enjoying the sites and history of London and planned to travel to Oxford on August 9, 2013 for a few days before our scheduled flight home. Mike hadn't been feeling well for a couple of days. He would go into the city with Tenika and I but he was sluggish and needed to sit and rest often. He insisted that he didn't need to go to the doctor. On August 8, we were in the hotel lobby talking with family and business colleagues back home via Skype. Mike said he was tired and headed to bed. I stayed in the lobby for a while longer talking with the kids. Mike was already in bed when I arrived back in our hotel room. It was nearly 2 a.m. so I quickly fell asleep.         I awoke the next morning because of a funny noise in the room. I opened my eyes to see Mike sitting on the bed leaning in a strange way to one side. He was making strange noises and a water bottle was spilled all over the bed. Mike had had high blood pressure for years so I immediately asked hi

Caught in a London downpour. Tenika and I climbed 528 steps (85 meters) to the Golden Gallery in St. Paul's Cathedral. The view of London was spectacular! London Bridge The home of William Shakespeare and the highlight of the trip for Tenika.

 When Tenika was nearing her high school graduation, Mike wanted to take her on a special trip. She chose England. We used some of our Wake Up Now luxury bonus dollars and Mike made reservations. I got busy planning all the sites to see: Windsor Castle, the Churchill War Room, London Bridge, the Tower of London, Stratford-Upon-Avon, and many more.