I am not certain just when I stopped writing on this blog. Looking back I think I will find that it coincides with my introduction to Facebook.
Connecting to the world on the web, suddenly became easier...seeing across the miles on Skype became a weekly treat...suddenly it didn't seem quite as important to me to keep a written record of life.
I was wrong....through the ups and the downs of the past couple of years, much of the daily detail has been lost. I arrive at today, barely able to remember how to get to this site...what is my access?...what is my password?...where did I leave off?...and what have I forgotten?
And here you are...right where I left you...silently keeping time and ready for me to step in. I begin right where I am today. There is no need to fill in all the details of the past, today is ready to take me from where I am to wherever the day will now take us.
Today is nearly the end of an impossibly difficult week:
Last Monday, November 14, 2011....Blake was taken to the doctor to check out a suspicious bump...something just didn't look right to Mamaw Lilly. We got the call around 4:30 pm...which back in Ohio meant it was the end of the day....and Blake was being admitted to the hospital with a tumor on his right kidney...large...about the size of a man's hand. Surgery would happen in the next 24 to 48 hours and this was urgent.
Through the night we heard that family had been arriving at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus. Blake was not in pain...though the tumor was admittedly very large, the doctors were hopeful that it was not attached to any other organs. It was evident that the kidney would not be spared. More tests would be done on Tuesday. For tonight, our sweet family was right where they needed to be, and they were in the best of care. This will not be a quick fix, there will be some settling in and bracing for spending some time in the hospital while the details were figured out.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011, was a day of waiting. We waited to hear what would be decided...what the outcome of the tests would be..what the diagnosis would be...when they would all be going home and when we could put this all behind us and get back with the life we knew.
But..as often happens, our initial waiting became more..and more waiting. We did the only thing we could do as we waited...we called for prayer...we fell to our knees and we prayed...and our family and our friends prayed...and before we knew it, Blake was on prayer lists around the city, the state, the nation, the world. Intercessors on our knees, taking this precious little boy into the Throne Room..for the moments...the hours...and the days of waiting.
Soon we learned that surgery would happen in the morning...scheduled for Wednesday morning, November 16, 2011...it should be done by noon....we will know more then, don't check the Internet...don't jump to what "could be" wait to hear what "is."
And then a delay...another season to wait...waiting now for a bowel movement. Constipation was a problem. In spite of the heavy medication to empty those bowels, there had been no success. We would wait..and while we waited we now had a special focus. We knew what we needed to see, but we did not see it. As the day ended the surgeon made the call to go ahead with the surgery. Again we waited...we waited for what was scheduled to be 4 to 5 hours while the surgeon worked to restore Blake to health.
And the surgical results were mixed...there was the success of hearing the tumor was removed...but at what cost? This bully of a tumor had destroyed the right kidney and enlarged itself to push away at the internal space that was needed for the other organs to thrive. If pushing everything out of it's way wasn't enough, this bully of a tumor had attached itself to the liver and to the artery.
But the tumor would not be allowed to stay...the surgeon pulled it away...prepared to destroy all evidences that it had invaded as an unwelcome intruder. But, in the pulling, the tumor split...spilled some of it's contents, and tore at the artery on its way out. The surgeon patched the tear, and we waited to see if the patch would work. We waited to see if the left kidney would favorably respond to it's new role. And as we waited...we prayed...and sent the call out to our prayer warriors who also prayed...and waited as Blake's body did what only the body could do.
In the early hours of the morning of Thursday, November 17, we got the call that the kidney was not responding...we would need to see pee or another surgery would be needed. So we watched, and we waited...and we prayed...for pee.
We got the call that the miracle we had been looking for had been given! We know that Angels are on assignment around Blake, but now we know one of the Angel's names...his name is Brandon....coming to us in the guise of a RN...standing guard over Blake in blue surgical scrubs. Brandon felt compelled to adjust some tube sizing, and a flood of pee began to fill the bag...such excitement!...such a miracle...and right on time :)....The next couple of hours were spent watching the numbers, measuring the output...and realizing that the numbers are not sufficient....there was concern and another trip is made to the surgical suite.
Friday, November 18, 2011...comes and goes with watching and waiting...and praying...always praying...without ceasing, we are praying...our hearts on our knees...we are praying.
Steven calls to let us know he needs us there....as soon as we can...he needs us there. We had intended to be the second wave....arriving down the journey a bit....when chemo...and all that entails... have once again overtaken, and those who were now there and will have needed to return home are gone, we would come and be the reserves. But those reserves are needed now...that emotional support is being called in....and we make the arrangements to go.
Airplane seats are reserved, trips to /from the airport are arranged...and somewhere in the middle of it all, we realize that the presents we had intended to mail for Christmas, the reason that we had determined not to be panic mailing in mid-December, we could take with us. We would bring Christmas with us...early perhaps, but in reality, right on time :) The countless details that had been being taken care of "early" we now saw the reason for the timing...though we did not know about this trip, God was already putting the details in motion. Even when we did not know where we were headed, God had met us here.
The invitation to decorate the house for Christmas was given in conversation on a late night Skype call, on Friday. We began the planning on Saturday, November 19, 2011, to decorate the house for Christmas. With plans in mind and ribbons and papers in hand I set about the balance of today, Sunday, November 20, 2011, gathering supplies and making the mental considerations for preparing their house for Christmas. And in the planning I have not lost sight of the reality that I am preparing for the arrival of a special little boy to celebrate the arrival of the most special little boy... for the birthday of the King.
We enter into Thanksgiving week...thankful for the many miracles we have seen this past week. Though this is not a path we would have chosen, we know that God's hand is ever present with us as we walk it out..and His timing is always perfect.
Rest well, my precious little warrior...Grammy loves you tons and bunches...I will see you very soon
December 30, 2011
