Happy New Year

Yes, I know that was a while ago, but my days have just gotten away from me.

I’m beginning to feel like I’m part of a soap opera.

I thought – we’ve got the car all settled, we’ll celebrate Christmas and New Year’s, and get back to school.

It was not to be.

Friday, January 4th at 4 am I found myself in my bedroom, surrounded by seven men and one woman, responders  from my husband’s 911 call, who were all watching me as I sat next to my husband in my nightie and threw up into an ice cream bucket! This was not my idea of a good time, and it didn’t get any better for a while.

I had severe upper GI pain – just like I did 4 years ago before I spent ten days hospitalized while they figured out what the problem was.

We’ve been told that doctor’s families get the strangest illnesses and I think our family is trying to set some kind of record. During my hospitalization four years ago, they discovered that I had a gall stone (never mind that I had had my gall bladder removed twelve years earlier, so it took days before they even considered this a possibility), stuck in my common bile duct. After three attempts – because my insides are just a bit different than most – they were able to cut my sphincter muscle so it could pass painlessly. The chance of having gall stones without a gall bladder – then having it get stuck in your common bile duct – is less than one percent.

Well, back to my bedroom… I was finally taken by ambulance to the hospital – begging all the way for pain medication. I continued to do this for what seemed forever once we arrived, too. After several doses the ER doctor asked me to rate the pain. I said, “It’s still there, but I’m starting not to mind as much.” The drugs were taking effect!

After running tests it was determined that I had acute pancreatitis, but they didn’t know why. After more tests it was determined that scar tissue had grown over my sphincter muscle and was causing all the problems. You guessed it – the chances of this happening are less than one percent!

Well, we’re laughing now, but it didn’t seem quite so funny at the time. I want to publicly praise the Lord for his care and provision during this time. To name just a few ways He provided:

Our friend and Christian ER doctor was working that night. It was a great comfort to all of us to have him caring for me. He also allowed the ambulance personnel to give me pain medication on the way, which they usually don’t do. Thank you, thank you, John!

This was our first experience with the hospital in the smaller town we moved to three years ago. We’ve always had all the big city hospitals and specialists available, so we were a bit concerned about the availability of what would be needed. Everything we needed was provided – even a surgeon who was able to access my sphincter muscle the first time. The care I received was first class. I was in my room recovering by Friday evening.

The surgeon was a Christian and a real blessing in directing us in how to handle an additional medical issue we’ve been concerned about for over a year. He also did some repair to my hiatal hernia while he worked on me.

We were able to keep our sense of humor. When we celebrated our daughter’s birthday in my room on Saturday, my dear husband said, “Well, this is appropriate. You were in the hospital on her first birthday too!”

I’ve had to repent because this isn’t the way I wanted this to happen. You see, I’ve been having this problem for over a year. The attacks were never as bad as they were Friday, but I’ve told my doctor several times I thought it was the same problem. I had test after test to figure it out, but nothing showed up, and she never tested for the real problem because she didn’t think it was the same problem – the less than one percent stuff, you know.

Before the paramedics arrived I even stomped around my room saying, “I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to be sick, I don’t want to go to the hospital.” As if that helped at all!

So, if the Lord could have prevented hours of excruciating pain and done this simply as an out patient, why did He make me go through all of this?

I don’t know.

But this I do know – God is faithful.

Deuteronomy 7:9 says: “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations:”

He is trustworthy, so much so that Job was able to say:

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” Job 13:15

He is worthy of my praise:

“I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.”
2 Samuel 22:4

So even though things didn’t go the way I had hoped, I will trust in the Lord’s faithfulness, and I will trust in His mercy, and I will continue to praise Him.

Finding Joy in the Journey,
Phyllis

Phyllis Sather
Proclaiming God’s Faithfulness at:
http://www.Phyllis-Sather.com

© 2007 Phyllis Sather
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Contact me at: Phyllis@Phyllis-Sather.com