This will be a very personal blog today. I’ve experienced something this week that I never want to experience again. That is seeing my wife of 42 years so sick that they took her by ambulance to St. Cloud Friday evening. Roxie rarely gets sick, so this was a big shock to me when the doctor in Dawson said we need to get her to St. Cloud.

Roxie had flu like symptoms for most of the week. She didn’t miss much work because school was called off for the extreme cold temperatures. Thursday and Friday she got much worse, so I took her to the doctor. She went to doctors in Dawson and after examining her they found that her sodium level was dangerously low at 110, and normal is 135-140. She also had pneumonia and a ear infection. So off to St. Cloud by ambulance. She was put in the progressive room which is between ICU and a regular hospital room. It was critical.

That is the details of why Roxie is in the St. Cloud hospital. The emotions and what I experienced Friday night and Saturday really caught me off guard. I’ve been in hospitals before with people I love when they were very sick or dying so I’ve experienced that. This was way different, this was my very best friend, the person I have loved for over 40 years. I’ve never seen her in this condition before. It was a very scary Friday night and Saturday morning. Don’t want to go through that again, ever!

I am thankful to a number of people. My sons Brandon and Joshua for being with me all night. I am lucky to have Joshua, his wife Kristine, and my grandson Zane who live in St. Cloud where I stay in their home. In fact, my grandson Zane on Sunday morning made me smile at the kitchen table when I was helping him with some school work and he asked me to write something on his laptop for him.

This is what we wrote:

Paul: Hi, my name is Paul and I am Zane’s grandpa. I am staying at Zane’s house for a couple of days. Zane’s grandma is in the St. Cloud Hospital and is very sick. I am thankful that I can stay at Zane’s house, he also lets me sleep in his bed! Zane has the most comfortable bed, I slept until 8:30. Zane’s mom made us egg bake for breakfast. We will be going to Culver’s for ice cream sometime today. We both like ice cream. After we have ice cream at Culver’s we will go to the Dairy Queen for more ice cream!

Zane: Hi, I am Zane and I am Paul’s grandson. He is staying at my family’s house until my grandma Roxie gets better. My mom is Kristine Raymo. My dad is Joshua Raymo. My dad is one of Paul and Roxie’s sons. Paul LOVES ice cream. If you offered him ice cream he would gladly take it.

It was a good distraction from what I was going through. I so needed to get my mind on something different and laugh. Zane always makes me smile. So now it’s back to the hospital, and I hope it’s some good news… So we can go home.

I want to thank Johnson Memorial Hospital, Dr. Shelstad, and all the nurses for their quick response. My church family at Calvary Baptist Church for all of their prayers and texts. Me and Roxie’s friends for all of their phone calls, thoughts, and prayers. Our families, and everyone else who prays and supports us. The many doctors and nurses that have been with us at the St. Cloud Hospital are fantastic. My final word is Roxie is getting better so hopefully we can go home soon.