Gratitude.

[garden variety]

Hello again friends.

There's a BIG place for this one on my gratitude list - AT THE TOP!

Had the lung surgery last Thursday. It was a pretty incredible experience. I met the lung exercises within a week. I'm in remarkably good shape today, almost as if I didn't even have surgery. In fact I never had surgery that went so quickly with no complications. There was definitely some pain first couple days, but remarkably enough, after getting home, all I needed was 2 Tylenol 2-3 times a day for about a week.

The initial biopsy (during surgery) indicated the mass was benign - they biopsied while I was under because it looked malignant. It turned out it was just a "very ugly" (the surgeons description) benign tumor the size of a baseball. I haven't heard from pathology yet so no news is good news. I just got small stitches for the chest tube hole (size of a nickel). The rest of the stitches were done from the inside out which I still don't know how they did that?

Thanks to all of you for the prayers. I knew I was in Good Hands. I know lots of good folks held me there, and sure made this trip easy. I'll be getting up to speed shortly.

Thanks again to all of you so very much for your love and prayers.

God bless, and He sure does listen!
Paul

[GeoffS]

That is good news Paul.

[Tim]

Paul--

It was wonderful to read how well your surgery went and how your recovery is going. You remain in my prayers for strength and a continued good outcome

[ccs]

YEAHHHH!!!! PAUL THATS AWESOME NEWS !!!!!! so happy to hear that!!!!!! Happy Easter to you All luv Cess

[Dallas]

Paul, that's GREAT news!!!!

Welcome back to the site and I hope your continued recovery from surgery is just as amazing as the surgery was!!!

I'VE MISSED YOU!!!!

Hurry back! And, my best wishes for you.

Dallas

[Jools]

((((((((((((Paul))))))))))))))

Welcome back, I've missed you too..you big ole bear you!

Sooo happy to hear everything went ok.

Sincerely,
Julie

[sunlight]

Paul

The ol' get up & go seems to have got up & went without you.

Please be back soon to recharge the sunlight!

Praise & thanksgiving for your recovery! It's a joy to be grateful for His grace & mercy.

Love you

[Sermon]

I'm Grateful for:

1. Having a Higher Power that Loved Me when I couldn't Love Myself
2. Being able to live rather than just survive today
3. An understanding of myself and seeing that I'm not a bad person but a sick person.
4. A group of friends that care about how I'm doing rather than what I have.
5. Being able to love people for who they are not how much I envy what they have.
6. Seeing the 12 steps work in someone elses life. (You know when the light comes in a newcomers eyes and for the first time they get a sense of hope)
7. A loving family
8. AA and taking me in when I had nowhere else to go
9. Being employable. I use to have a job but I didn't feel like I deserved it. Today I feel like I am right where I need to be in life.
10. Being able to be wrong and able to be humble enough to make it right.

[Dallas]

I'm grateful for: You firing up this topic of gratitude again!!! Gratitude is like spiritual medicine. And, it's like spiritual vitamins. I need all that I can get! I'm grateful that I've learned how to be grateful!