Dear Friends,

Gene is out of surgery and the news is good! Thanks so much for praying! Just a little while ago they brought him back to our room from surgery and the post op recovery room. When they brought him back into the room he was still
groggy from the anaesthesia but he managed to open his eyes half way, look up at me with a sly little grin and say, "wanna go for a run?!"

Don’t worry I will be reminding him daily of all your exhortations to take a long slow recovery! We don’t want to mess this one up!

The doctor came in a little while ago and said the surgery went VERY WELL Gene’s bone density was good and there were no complications! They gave us a little zip loc bag with three bone spurs in it- this is what they sawed off of his hip joint and the three added up to about the size of my pointer finger! OUCH!

Our hospital room is very nice, roomy and clean. Its fairly quiet except for the usual india street noise outside. But when you leave
the international wing that we are in and see the rest of the hospital it is just typical india. I think if we hadn’t been here many times
before we would have been really scared to do such a thing as major surgery here! They just brought Gene his first post op liquid- cocunut water! Its the Gatorade of India!

In our pre op consult with the surgeon he showed us all about the operation, the parts they use, the benefits of resurfacing
as opposed to replacement. He said he was on the team in England that worked to develop the procedure back in the early 90s and they have done it on patients as young as 12! He also said the hip operation would probably take care of the knee pain. There is a poster in the entrance hall of an international athlete who did a full triathlon 7 months after this procedure. We don’t need him back on the track, just back on the mission field!

Gene was doing his daily reading early this morning before they came to get him for surgery, his reading in psalms included psalm 20 (Psa. 20:1-9)! Read it! We were encouraged by its content especially how it related by God’s design to the surgery today. It has been a good Valentines Day- the love of my life is on the way to walking normal again! Of course, we are not taking anything for granted- please continue to pray with us for a perfect recovery!

Thanking you all for your prayers and support! We feel so blessed to be a part of God’s Royal Family! God is good, all the time!

Nan (and Gene)