On Sunday
May 22, 2005 my wife's brother who had stayed the night awoke me in the early
morning hours to sign a consent for yet another cat scan. I am so thankful for
the people who stayed nights with me. Nurse 1 is on duty again. She feels that
things have somewhat stabilized by giving my wife more fluids; however things do
take another dreadful turn for the worse. My wife is taken for her 3rd
infection removal surgery in the afternoon. Nurse 1 came to the little lonely
waiting room at one point to say the infection had spread, the concern was that
a rash on my wife's belly was the infection. How could things have gone so
wrong, what was happening? What do you do when all hope is lost, you pray and
pray we did, we cried out to God again giving him our lives and asking him to
fulfil his purpose even if it meant taking my beautiful wife home. That is no
easy prayer to pray!
Luke 22:42
New
International Version (NIV)
“Father,
if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
1 Thessalonians 5:17
New
International Version (NIV)
pray
continually,
The
surgeon opened from the knee to the hip on the outside of the leg, they had already cut from the knee to groin on the inside. Another
abductor muscle was removed. The surgeon was pleased with the outcome.
The vac dressing was replaced with a normal dressing. The rash for the most
part was gone. Wow, what an answer to prayers, a miracle! One of my dear
brother's would later say that this was a very very hard day for him. None of
us had experienced anything like this. He was very inspired to pray and we did
a lot of casting all our anxieties to our all powerful God.
On Monday
May 23 things were stable. I went home to see the kids in the morning. Various
people were still staying the nights with me at that point.
On
Tuesday May 24, 2005 the doctors took my wife into OR, they are happy with the
sites and perform my wife's 5th surgery. They close up across the
groin, from below the knee to groin on inside of leg and down the outside of
the leg. They reintroduced the vac dressing.
On
Wednesday May 25 I spent the morning with the kids. My wife's white cell count
is as low as 9000, which is a great sign. It has been over 20,000. Early evening
though nurse 1 noticed inflammation on the leg. We spent time pouring our
hearts out to God again. A cat scan late evening revealed nothing new. I felt
an incredible peace, but urge to pray for healing. Surgery was booked for early
morning May 26. On Thursday May 26, 2 weeks into our journey an early morning
surgery resulted in a 3rd abductor muscle being removed from
the left upper leg. At one point during surgery Nurse 1 said that the surgeon
had found the source. Cultures were taken of the main muscle and sent for
testing. The surgeon reported that he does not know if he found the source but
that the surgery was successful. The groin and outer leg incisions were opened
and the standard dressing was introduced instead of the vac dressing. We later
found out that the main muscle was not infected. Thank-you Lord. I had been
dreading the day when they would say they have to remove my wife's leg. An
afternoon hip probe proved negative, a huge relief. The pain medication was
altered and the results are being monitored.
Still my
special girl was in a drug induced coma and had no idea what had happened to
her. What a hopeless feeling to see your loved one in such a condition. Cards
and what not had been pouring in, the encouragement was great, but the journey
was excruciatingly painful and lonely. Most of my time was spent in the
depressing basement of the hospital. Nothing makes up for or gets rid of the
immense pain and agony you feel standing next to a silent body, one that had
been healthy and vibrant, one that is your best friend, your partner, your
closest teammate. The only thing I had experienced that was similar was being
with my dad during his last days and watching him pass into eternity. Still we
had faith, I had observed many less fortunate as I watched many a dead person
being taken from ICU. What a painful thing to watch as people mourned the loss
of young, middle aged and old. I had gotten to know some of the family's and
would try and support them as best I could. It was an opportunity to share my
faith.
More to follow.........
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ReplyDeleteYour strength amazes me
ReplyDeleteI have many weak moments, but thanks
ReplyDelete