Where the rubber meets the road...

After much prayer, discussion, consultation, agony, and many other emotions we have come to realize it is time to shut down Nordell Equipment Service Co. (NESCO). We have actively been trying to sell the company for the past couple of years to no success. We have had three promising possibilities, but unfortunately all have fallen through. The business has had a major decline over the past eighteen months and the value of the company, on paper, does not look attractive enough to have a serious buyer. Larry, my employee, decided to leave this past January. The calls that have been coming in since that time have been diverted to other companies so there has been no income to pay bills, except for the existing outstanding accounts. These are now exhausted for the most part.

Financially, the business is in good order as far as vendors and day to day expenses are concerned. However, in 2006 we took out a rather large SBA loan in the anticipation of expanding the business. At the time, this seemed to be the direction God was leading. Little did we know that a year later we would have our world change drastically with my illness. We are trying to make the right decisions based on God's direction on how to handle this situation. Bankruptcy appears to be our best, and possibly the only, option at this point since the business has not sold. Unfortunately, because of SBA laws requiring personal guarantees, this means not only filing bankruptcy for the busines, but personal bankruptcy as well.

The hardest part of all of this is the fact that we are holding our own in the personal finance area. It's a stretch, but God is faithful and always provides for our every need. All of our credit cards are paid off so the only outstanding debt we have is past and present (and most likely future) medical bills, along with our home mortgage. Though we have lived in our home for 25+ years, we have had to refinance on a couple of occassions.

We ask for your prayers as we seek His wisdom; yearning to hear His voice on what to do next.
I read in my bible today that trials will either turn you away from God or cause you to grow closer to Him. We choose to adhere to the latter and are trusting that this is NOT a negative but will become a positive as tomorrow brings a new beginning to something greater than we can imagine or hope for. I only wish the process was not so darn hard.

We realize this is alot of very personal information; and opening up in this intimate of a way is extremely difficult. However, we've felt from the beginning God has called us to be completely transparent in all things. We expected that in this stage of life we'd be doting on our grandkids (which we do!) and looking forward to future retirement...yet once again we're reminded that God's ways are not our ways.

Please don't hesitate to say what's on your mind; your thoughts and ideas are cherished and appreciated and will help us in making these difficult decisions.

With much love,
Ron

The best laid plans of mice and men...

Oh, how we appreciate the persistent advocacy of Ron's doctors, as well as their willingness to think outside the box.

Just a couple of days after j-tube procedure, Ron hit a bit of a snafu. Due to the presence of the j-tube within the g-tube, g-tube is now narrowed, causing the risk of clogging to go up significantly. And clogged g-tube leads to yakking. And so the vicious cycle begins...again.

Three time daily water feeding through j-tube was going well; however, he was never able to advance to nutritional feed because of the recurrence of yakking due to clogged tube. After a couple of weeks of this daily (and sometimes twice daily) yakking, we realized it was time to take a step back and reassess.

The original plan was to try to place g-tube for drainage and venting purposes in order to allow relief from reflux and yakking. Somewhere along the line it seems focus shifted from g-tube for decompression to j-tube for feeding. We were definitely not opposed to j-tube feeding; however, it became apparent we need to get back to priority of finding solution to yakking issue.

With the daily yakking came sleepless nights due to severe reflux, gagging, etc.; and so the slippery slope of regression begins. He wouldn't mind having the added benefit of feedings through j-tube but, again, relief from reflux and yakking enabling him to get some sleep needs to be the priority.

So where does that leave us now?

Options:
1. Remove J-tube
2. Retain J-tube within G-tube and attempt to add another G-tube strictly for decompression/drainage
3. Keep current G-tube for decompression/drainage but consider another J-tube (to be placed surgically) for feeding tube


Option 1 seemed to be the way to go for now. Get back to the basics...get the yakking under control. Therefore, as of Wednesday, the hubby is now j-tube-less!

When he went in to IR (early!) Wednesday morning, Dr. D told him "this is going to hurt me alot more than it hurts you!" I'm sure this is true for each of his doctors with all the time, research and mental anguish they've spent in coming up with a viable option and then several attempts to make it work. It's frustrating for everyone that despite their best efforts to make things better; things just didn't pan out.

So, we'll take a step back, take a deep breath; and remember "For My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8

Here's to days (and nights) free of yakking! Day three of no yakking, thus far!

Love, Christie