Not often, but sometimes, I still play with trains. I am especially enamored with old, American steam trains. Bonnie and I have ridden several of them, and we have in mind someday to ride the train that runs between Silverton and Durango, Colorado.
Railroading must be in my blood. My grandfather Porterfield was a conductor on the Bessemer-Lake Erie Railroad, both during steam and diesel operation. My father and father-in-law as well as my brothers-in-law used to build and repair railroad cars. Bonnie and our children helped me over decades build a four foot by five foot railroad island table, and for several years, the easy gift for me was some train component. Some of the greatest recreation I have ever enjoyed was building the scenery and layout for our own little railroad.
My train set is aging, and some of the newer locomotives, for instance, will not clear the crossings and switches. With difficulty I was finally able to acquire a new, hopefully reliable engine that will pull my excursion train up the mountain and through the tunnels. Unfortunately, I had to resort to a diesel engine rather than a steam locomotive since I have had no success in finding a reliable N Scale engine to do so; I have three beautiful steam engines sitting on a siding because they refuse the assignment.
Herein are some photos of our train set, taken with my new camera that I purchased for use on overseas mission trips. That makes two digital cameras for us because with one camera and both Bonnie and me teaching at the same time, one camera is insufficient to take photos of both our classes. Sadly, Bonnie cannot go with me on my next overseas mission trip due to her recent and ongoing illness.
Bonnie is inching ever northward in her recent medical procedures. Her doctor in Winona, MS sent her to Grenada, MS – 25 miles northward. That doctor eventually sent her to Oxford, MS – an hour and a half north of Winona. After procedures and hospitalization there, now she is being sent to a hospital for a procedure in Memphis, TN – about two and a half hours north of Winona.
Bonnie, Rebecca and I returned from the hospital in Oxford, MS to Winona, MS yesterday evening, arriving home at about 10:45 p.m. An outpatient procedure on Wednesday turned into a total of four procedures in three days and hospitalization. Bonnie is resting at home. We await the results of tests that may take up to a couple of weeks or so to be completed. Then, Bonnie will return to the hospital for another procedure or for treatment corresponding to the test results. We are very appreciative of the moral encouragement and prayers made on Bonnie’s behalf. 
Today has been a difficult day for Bonnie. This morning, she received three units of potassium via IV, which burned; that took about five hours. Next, she had a repeat of yesterday, both as far as procedure and that it failed again to bridge the obstruction in Bonnie’s bile duct. Directly from that procedure, she was taken to radiology. There, that department attempted to go across the obstruction through the liver, which involved penetrating her side and liver through which a wire or catheter was placed. The obstruction was pierced, and a stint was inserted as well as drainage tubes attached to an external bag. It is still not known what is obstructing the bile duct. After consultation between doctors Friday morning, we anticipate a third attempt at the ERCP to take scrapings from which to identify the nature of the obstruction, to permanently internalize the stint and possibly to remove the so far unidentified obstruction. The obstruction may pertain to a twisted bile duct, an embedded gallstone, a tumor or other fibrous growth or cancer. I am staying in the room overnight with her again, but Rebecca is returning to our home in Winona; she will return with clothes, etc. sometime tomorrow. We do not know how many days Bonnie may remain hospitalized, but perhaps tomorrow if the obstruction can be removed without surgery we can get a better idea. Bonnie’s birthday is December 25, fast approaching. She just received pain medication and is trying to sleep.
So far, this has been Bonnie’s week to seek treatment. Monday she had a crown installed on the tooth that she broke while eating toast abroad in Asia. Tuesday, December 18, she had a follow-up visit with her surgeon respecting her recent gallbladder extraction. Since Thursday of last week, Bonnie has been alternating between heavy discomfort and excruciating pain in her abdomen, along with corresponding symptoms. She has turned yellow with jaundice, developed a widespread rash or hives accompanied by severe itching. Her doctor ordered more blood work and a CT scan, which led him to send her to a doctor on Wednesday in Oxford, MS for an ERCP procedure. The doctor was unsuccessful in determining why her bile duct is obstructed and transferred her from outpatient to patient in the hospital there.
Sunday, December 16 found Bonnie and me that morning at the serene setting of the Old Union Church of Christ in Carroll County, Mississippi. Tucked back in the woods, accessible via that day by some soupy muddy roads a full house assembled to worship Almighty God. The weather outside was dismal at best with a steady and relentless rain, but the quiet scenery was graced by classic, old, white frame meetinghouse accented with an old fashioned cemetery. Bonnie and I are pilgrims with no special place to call our own, sometimes like fish out of water, and we have been wondering lately where we will lay ourselves to rest on this celestial ball. Like the Patriarchs who were wanderers themselves, I suppose we will inter one another along our route of travel. If we still reside in Mississippi when life for either of us comes to an end, shaded by green, leafy trees and beneath the lawn of the Old Union Church Cemetery, visited daily by deer and squirrel, our idled bodies lying dormant there will be quite satisfactory.
Next, we made our way through the raindrops over wet highways to Byram, MS for evening worship with the Siwell Road Church of Christ, which is our sponsoring congregation for our missions ministry. We met briefly with the elders prior to the assembly, and once more I made the PowerPoint presentation 2012 Mission Trips. This congregation, too, had a finger foods get-together after worship, for which we stayed, mostly to commune with friends and brethren.
Monday, December 10, we were finally able to mail our November Rushmore Newsletter. We opted for outsourcing our bimonthly newsletter for the first time. Over the years, we have alternated between various in-house productions of our bulletin about our missions ministry. Our aging digital duplicators helped us make the leap to using our color laser printers (which is neither cheap nor fast, but it greatly improved the quality of the output). We are always weighing productivity and usefulness against costs and available funds. Finally, everything pointed to outsourcing at a price comparable to or less than other means of producing our newssheets ourselves. The bonus is that the Rushmore Newsletter never looked any better than it does now.
Wednesday, December 5 was a special day out for Bonnie and me – not recreational but medical. We have made several visits to doctors since our return from our most recent mission trip abroad. Some of the tests that Bonnie took led her to have her gallbladder removed today. We were at the hospital in Grenada, MS by 6:30 a.m. and back at the house in Winona by 1 p.m. – minus one gallbladder – with pain pills in hand. Bonnie is in pain, but the recovery is supposed to take only a matter of days. If she is up to it, Bonnie will travel with me to appointments in Alabama this weekend. Between now and then, I need to stay with her for at least the first couple of days. Our daughter Rebecca may come down this weekend to stay with her mother if she is unable to travel with me. We are thankful that such medical treatment was not required overseas, especially in some of the remote areas to which we had gone.
Louis & Martha Rushmore 
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