To say Alex is "doing great!" would be an enourmous understatement. He truly has been pain-free and has been able to walk the halls several times. Consequently, he's been unhooked from all of his 'attachments' other than the wound vac. ALL of the credit must go to our many prayer warriers...and to say thank you alone seems somewhat insufficient. So-THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU...for all of your loving kindness, thoughtful and kind words. Thank you for being our constant intercessors to "be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let (our) requests be made known to God."
Alex is sleeping, and I settled into the computer to write this blog bost and to complete some online courses for continuing education I started yesterday. I saw a young lady walking down the hall on my way in and saw her walk by our room-alone, twice. Each time, I clearly heard God say, "go walk with her!". Now...I don't know about you, but I don't "hear" God talk to me directly very often. You'd think I'd learn to listen. A million reasons not to ran through my mind-she is probably enjoying her time alone, not being bothered by nurses or doctors or lab techs...she may not be feeling like making polite small-talk with a stranger...I'm sure she's almost back to her room anyway. Man, I'm stubborn sometimes (ok-all the time). Reluctantly, I put the computer down and caught her in the hallway, asking if she wanted someone to walk with her. She said, "No, I'm just waiting for the IV nurse to come by and thought I'd walk in the meantime." Ugh....I knew it. Still, she turned and walked with me a bit. So I asked her where she was from and she told me she lived in North Carolina. I told her we were from Kansas City, so I knew how hard it was to be so far from home. A lady walking by turned abruptly and said "Hey! Did you say you're from Kansas City?! So are we!". Ugh...of course. I was wrong and He was right! I immediately recognized her as the woman I had seen with her young daughter in the business office of the Mayo Clinic on Thursday. Embarassingly, I noticed them because her daughter had on some really cute boots ;). We started chatting and found out they are from Leawood, KS, which is where we go to church. I found out that her daughter has been battling Ulcerative Colitis and this is her third surgery here. This time her surgeon was no other than Dr. Devine. We talked briefly (with the other patient, too) about the struggles of being young and having health difficulties. We found out that the lady I originally walked with also had Dr. Bo Shen in Cleveland and switched her care here recently. I shared that Alex recently started a support group at COR for people with IBD and how other resources seemed to be for older people in a different stage of life.
Eventually, she needed to get back to her daughter and the other patient was needing to rest. I'm not really sure why God has put these people in our path, but I have no doubt that he did so intentionally. It is WAY out of my comfort zone to just strike up conversations with strangers in a sometimes touchy situation-like, I don't know...during recovery from major surgeries. It's incredible to me that I would ever doubt hearing Him speak so clearly, yet I still do. Maybe that was the lesson in and of itself. Maybe there's more...stay tuned ;).
So-with that confession of my thick-headedness off my chest, how about some specific prayer requests for today.
1. Guidance, open hearts and open ears to how Alex (and myself) can be used to turn this less-than-ideal situation into one that is for His purpose.
2. Continued pain control for Alex.
3. Tolerance for Alex's diet upgrade from a liquid diet to soft foods tomorrow (no nausea).
4. Healing, rest and recovery.
God is good, all the time.
All the time, God is good.
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