Yes, the Lord was indeed very serious!! January 31st and into February 1st those were my questions. Lord, seriously? You're kidding, right? Pinch me now-am I dreaming a bad nightmare? The Lord replies "No, dear child of mine. This is indeed real" ( I just hope the Lord calls me dear child-I added that part! :) )
Okay, here is my story. A part of me wants to call it a nightmare but it really wasn't-well, maybe it was. January 31st was Megan's 7th birthday. We were having a small party for her with a few of her friends. The night before I had taken Stephen to Urgent Care because he was having some pain and discomfort and we wanted to get it resolved. He was diagnosed with a bladder infection and given an antibiotic. The next day he was not better and was getting worse. He now could not uses the restroom. So he came and went during Megan's party. He would come downstairs for a while and then head back up to rest. I was trying to keep things going for Megan but in the back of my mind I knew Stephen had to go to the hospital. Once the party was over, Stephen came downstairs and said he needed to go to the hospital. We think he will get a catheter put in and then come home. Meanwhile, Nicholas has gotten a fever so I decide I need to stay home with him and ask David (Steve's dad) to take him to the hospital. We don't have many people that can watch Nicholas-well, mainly just my mom-so I knew I had to stay with Nicholas. When he gets a fever, he acts a bit different so I didn't want my mom to be nervous while watching him.
So...I wait. And wait...and wait for the phone call saying all is well and they are coming back home. Nicholas' fever meanwhile is getting worse so I give him Motrin. Then Stephen calls and tells me they think it is a kidney stone but will do a CAT scan because the pain is not any better. This is killing me! I want to be with Stephen but have to stay with Nicholas. Then comes THE phone call. "Lisa, I am headed to surgery. I have a ruptured appendix and they are doing surgery now." Okay, I think Steve is being funny. No time for jokes, honey. This is not a joke. I immediately start crying. What can I do? I have to be there with my husband. I call my mom and ask her to watch Nicholas-praying the fever will go away and he will be okay. I call our closet friends and immediately the two husbands. Todd and Kevin, head up there to take care of Stephen. Once my mom gets to my house, I head to the hospital with Stephen D. He wants to be there for Daddy as well.
Well, I miss Stephen by mere seconds!! I couldn't believe it. They just wheeled him back. Now the waiting game again. They said it would take 20 minutes. Don't ever believe that! They neglected to come and tell us that they went to surgery late so we did not hear from them until 12:45!! He went back at 10:00. That was a long 20 minutes.
I will bypass the jokes that the two men were saying (Todd and Kevin) while the surgery was taking place. Let's just say they did keep us laughing. One funny part that has to be mentioned real fast. Stephen D and I were getting nervous because it was taking so long. I won't go into details but it gets ugly when I get nervous and my nerves go crazy. Let's just say I need to be near a bathroom. Very near. So, a nurse comes running by-running! Stephen D. and I see this and get nervous. Oh boy, is she running to tell us bad news? She runs right past us!! But....Stephen and I both get up and take off to the bathroom. Running full force! So funny. Afterwards, he says "Boy, mommy, I got nervous when I saw the nurse!" Me too buddy which is why I was right behind you headed to the restroom. Guess my son has the same nerves I have-too much info? :)
Okay, back to Stephen. 12:45 and the surgeon comes out. "Boy, your husband was a mess!" Gee....thanks. "But he is good now. We had a lot of cleaning up to do." The quick 20 minute laproscopy turned into a "we need to cut open and clean out surgery" Stephen's appendix had evidently ruptured 3-4 days previously. A pelvic abscess had formed from the infection and pushed his ruptured appendix on top of his bladder. This was causing the inability to use the restroom therefore even more waste getting emptied into his body. He had so much infection and waste in his body. The surgeon said he would have given him maybe seven days. How the Lord blessed us that we did catch it and get him to the hospital. The Lord protected my husband- big time! If he had not lost the ability to use the restroom, we may not have gone. This was not a bladder infection by any means!!
So, I visit my husband in recovery and they tell me in 1-2 hours he will be in a room. Everyone heads home at that point and I decide I will head home for a little bit to check on Nicholas and then come back to the hospital. Little did I know the night /morning was about to get even worse!
I get home and Nicholas just does not look right. Mother's intuition says something is not just right here. His breathing is funny and he is shaky. I know deep down we have got to get him to the hospital. Now which one? Stephen is at Wesley Long. Do I go to Brenner in Winston or stay near by and go to Cone? Meanwhile, I am a nervous wreck. I am shaky all over fearing a nervous breakdown is coming. So, I call my dear friends, my friends I know I can lean on and will hold me up right now. I call Todd and Cheryl. Poor Todd had just gone to bed from staying with me at Wesley Long. They immediately come. Cheryl drives me to Cone and Todd goes to Wesley to be with Steve.
Long story short, Nicholas is admitted for a viral infection for 6 days. Steve is in for 6 days, coming home a day before Nicholas.
Meanwhile, our close friends were headed to Philly because their son was having major back surgery. So here we are, dying to be there for Chris and Teressa but stuck in our situation. That was almost as hard as everything we were going through. It hurt Stephen and I so bad that we couldn't be there for Chris and Teressa. We love them so much and wanted to be there but we were all in hospitals. When Stephen and I talked about this later he said "You know, I am thankful I was in the hospital during Timothy's surgery. I was ale to just concentrate on Timothy and pray. My time was in prayer for Timothy. No other distractions just prayer for him."
I don't know why all of that happened. We have no regrets. Stephen was able to focus on prayer time. I was able to learn more how to depend on my friends, let go, accept help. The Lord never gives us more than we can handle. He knew, with our friends help and support, that we could make it through this. Wow. That says a lot. We could never have made it through without His strentgh, without our friends support and love, meals, everything. We are loved-so loved. We know this and treasure this.
Thank you to everyone for your love and support. We love you too.
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