Sunday, May 30, 2010

Alive

What has transpired in the days since my last post is so incredible that it's almost not believable... except I've lived through it (as has the rest of my family)! It's been like riding a horrible roller coaster and when you reach the end you just sit still and marvel at life. This is a very brief synopsis:

Three hours after my last post I was in the ER at Christ Hospital which led to a weekend hospital stay. I didn't know you could hurt that bad and still be alive. The details are not important but I will tell you last weekend I was on Dilauded (a narcotic) for pain...today I took four Tylenol (which is less Tylenol than I took before surgery to deal with the pain). Prayer does change things. Not always answered the way we want, but in this case I received grace.

My parents stepped up their plans to be here to help from my surgery and arrived Tuesday morning. At that time my mom had what looked like leg ulcers but she didn't seem too concerned. Tuesday night and Wednesday morning Daniel was sick to his stomach (he had also been sick on the previous Sunday afternoon while I was in the hospital). Thursday was Allan's graduation party (this I will blog more about later) and we had a nice evening, cleaned up, went to bed in good time only to awaken about two hours later and within the space of and hour and a half all five of our family and my dad was hit with (what is strongly suspected to be) food poisoning. All night long the five of us lay on the upstairs floor and I could hear my dad downstairs and I kept thinking, "This cannot be happening!" By this time it was evident also that my mother had something far more serious going on with her legs than just a simple infection. She needed to be in the hospital but my dad was too ill to drive her back to PA and none of us were any help but she sailed on and tried to care for us as best she could.

We sent out a call for prayer Friday morning and by Saturday my dad was well enough to drive back to PA. Though he's not doing great he was able to take her to the hospital today and she was admitted this morning. I will not go into detail now but there have been some definite answers to prayer regarding her situation. Would you pray with us that God gives the doctor's wisdom to know what the problem is and how to treat it?

The other five of us are still struggling with the after affects of food poisoning which, though unpleasant, are much more tolerable than the condition we were in Friday morning. Stephen and Allan are struggling more than Daniel and we're working to get what little food into them that they will take. We're sort of all at that point where we're hungry but nothing sounds good and it's hard to force yourself to do what you're body is rebelling against. But ...... we're alive! I can't believe we made it through this week but we did!

Tonight we sat down as a family just to thank God for all of the help and mercy he's given us over the past week. We were singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and the boys were sitting in the floor. Little Stephen was just watching but when we came to the chorus, though he doesn't know the words, as we sang, "Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see," his little hand went up in the air (he's done this before in church in response to watching someone else but never on his own). His brother's giggled a little bit and we kept singing so he put both arms up in the air and we joined him! "All I have needed, His hand hath provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me."

6 comments:

Sharonda said...

Glad to hear you all are still alive after such an ordeal, but most of all am thankful to once again hear of God's marvelous faithfulness to His children! I was feeling a little "down" today, but your post certainly has uplifted my soul! Seeing children praise God in their own way is so special and wonderful! These times are unforgettable, although the circumstances that brought about the situation may have not been so pleasant. Thank you for sharing, and will be praying that everyone will be well again soon. Great is His faithfulness!

Liz said...

Wow. I'm sorry. Your kids will probably remember the thanking God time more than the sickness. Praying you're all much better soon.

小天 said...
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Charity said...

Looks like your comments are being hacked- agh! Anyways- sooo very glad you're feeling better!!! A new month- let's just bury the last one ;o)

Denise said...

Marianne, I had no idea all you're going through! I spoke with your mother-in-law about a cake and she said you weren't well. You will be in my prayers. Your blog was a sweet treat to find ~ I didn't know you had one until I went to leave a message on your Facebook. I pray you have a wonderful, energy and God-filled day.

A Moment in the Life of a Mother said...

It's been a while since I have been on your blog. WOW!! Trust everyone is getting better. In reference to the "gas pain" you mentioned, when my mom had gall bladder surgery she had that very same pain. She started putting 3-4 drops of Beano on some bread before each meal and that helped tremendously. Just thought I'd pass that on to you. I saw you at camp but didn't get a chance to introduce myself. My girls were both sick and we missed a lot of camp. God bless and hope you are getting some relief.