This week’s mission is going out to a very special little girl named Grace. Grace is just over 4 months old, and the last four months have been…we’ll say challenging. Our team member Heidi (who we actually Love Bombed a few months ago!) nominated little Grace and here’s what she had to say:
” Baby Grace will be undergoing Open Heart Surgery next Tuesday. I would love for her family to benefit from an outrageous outpouring of love, for them to feel the prayers of so many people surrounding them and uplifting them, to see the hand of God reaching down to comfort them through the generosity of people they don’t even know. There aren’t words for how much all of the kind words, prayers and thoughts meant to my family or for how much they strengthened us in what was surely one of our darkest hours.”
As you’ll see from the photos on her family’s blog, Grace is just too cute for words. Not that any baby going through Open Heart Surgery isn’t deserving of our Love, but just….just look at that face. Let’s drop this Love Bomb on Baby Grace, giving her the good vibes, strength and encouragement she needs to get through this surgery.
I got there a little after nine (after stopping by work quickly), and left just before four.
Oh, I left for around 20 minutes to come home and eat lunch and check the mail and stuff.
But other than that, i hung out in the hospital room for nearly eight straight hours.
They kicked me out for maybe 15 minutes around 2-ish so that the nurse could show my mom how to change some stuff, so I went in search of the only vending machine on the entire floor. Only set of vending machines, I should say, I guess… Bought myself a bag of chips and a bottle of lemonade. Finished the chips while staring into a fish tank. That was exciting. Took a picture of the fish to send to two best friends, and sent a text to one of them to feel better soon—she had her wisdom teeth removed this morning. I had that done a couple of years ago, and it’s not fun. =\ She appreciated that I was thinking of her. 🙂
I brought my laptop (thought it was funny/interesting that nobody stopped me to see what was in my backpack…), but I couldn’t get onto the internet. 😦 So I read a little bit, and talked to Dad, and tried to not fall asleep.
Who knew spending all day in a hospital room could make you so sleepy??
So… yeah. That was my day.
My mom showed up around 2 (hence being shown how to change things), and we both left at the same time.
I got a phone call right before we left, asking if I could babysit tonight. Said yes, because I have nothing else to do and I have no idea who else they’d find on such short notice. So I get to go babysit for … eh, two and a half or three hours? Somewhere in there. Four kids. I’ve watched them once or twice before. I don’t think I’ll have to worry too much about bedtime; I think Mom or Dad should be home just about in time for that. And I don’t think I have to feed them, but we’ll see… I’m going to eat at least a little some (a sandwich or something) before I go over, so that I don’t get super hungry (and cranky) while I’m babysitting.
And they have a dog!!!! The last time I babysat, the dog was new. She’s rather large (well, tall-ish; almost like a labrador maybe?? I think she’s kind of a mutt…), and very friendly. 🙂
Four kids, ranging from around two to about… eight?? I think the oldest is maybe about eight. I think it’s probably around two years between each of the kids. It’s a good spread. They’re a little crazy, but I managed them last time (mostly because one of them was sick…), so hopefully it all goes well tonight!
Our main pastor (we have five, each with their own specific area to focus on) called this morning, as did my grandpa, to check on my dad. And then the pastor who’s the newest to the congregation (been here… a year and a half, maybe? Almost two years?) stopped in to chat for a little while. She gave me a hug right before she left. That was nice. 🙂 And she told us that the room my dad was in is like our church’s room. A guy from church was in this exact room last week after he had a surgery. Hahaha. 🙂
Hopefully Dad gets out tomorrow, but we’ll have to see. If he has to stay ’til Thursday, he has to stay ’til Thursday. We’ll deal with it. But he’s looking and feeling and sounding a lot better today, which is good! He got “real” food for lunch today. Solids! Yay! They let him have soup and bread and even cookies! Haha. 🙂 He ate pretty much all of it, which is good. He’s on a different schedule in the hospital than he’s used to; he’s had to adjust a little the last couple of days. But he’s doing fine. And I’m glad.
It’s weird to see him so dependant on others and just kind of stuck.
He said this morning his nurse caught him laughing and asked what was so funny. Three days ago he was running/biking in a duathlon, and today he’s stuck using a walker.
But it’s weird.
He’s so active, and now to see him stuck in a bed with nothing to do other than watch TV and read and walk up and down a hall…? It’s strange.
It’ll be at least a couple of weeks before he can ditch the catheter and start running again, two more weeks ’til he can bike, and another two weeks before he’ll be allowed to swim. But he’s taking it all in stride. He doesn’t seem bothered by it. He’s focused on meeting his daily goals to be able to leave the hospital and come home (where he’ll still be limited), and hitting those weekly milestones after coming home.
So, I stopped in to visit my dad for a little bit before work today.
Chatted, held his hand, refilled his water…
He’s good, but “groggy” in his own words.
Sleeping a lot, which is to be expected.
He has to stay in the hospital until at least tomorrow night, if not Wednesday morning.
I think I’m going to spend part of tomorrow morning with him. Bring a book, maybe my laptop… something. Just be there if he needs something, y’know?
And I’m sure at least one or two people will stop by tomorrow. One of the pastors, probably. They make the rounds when people are in the hospital for whatever reason.
So, yeah. That’s all I’ve got right now.
He’s not allowed to move much for the next two weeks or so.
Which means no driving, because sudden movements could rip out the stitches or the catheter or something. Which’d be bad.
Which means he might have to be excused from work for a while, unless one of us is able to drive him to and from work, which would be hard. So I don’t know how that’s going to work.
But other than that, he’s fine other than tired. …And needing to use a catheter… =\
My mom was just home for lunch, and she said the surgery went well.
I don’t know how long it took or anything like that, but I know that it’s over now and all we have to worry about is recovery.
She left me a note with his room number on it so I can stop over and see him later this afternoon before I go to work.
I’ll probably go over at least half an hour before I have to be at work, just to make sure I have enough time to get to the hospital and find his room and be able to talk and stuff.
But yeah, everything’s going fine, I guess. Which is good.
I’m guessing he’ll stay in the hospital at least for the rest of today; I’m not sure if he has to spend a night or two there or not; I’ll find out later, maybe?
But yeah, hopefully he’ll be home in the next couple of days and we’ll get into somewhat of a routine in helping him with things. I know that he won’t be moving as much as usual, and he’s not allowed to run/bike/swim for quite a few weeks. He’ll get over it. Hah. His health is more important than the races he’s missing out on, y’know. 🙂
So anyway, I know he’d appreciate prayers for good recovery and possibly patience in being stuck at home all day every day…
Granted, he didn’t have surgery (he did some other treatment) and the cancer came back and spread and killed him.
But my dad’s going to have the surgery on Monday (the 23rd), and hopefully that takes care of everything.
We know a guy at church whose PSA levels were much higher (his was aggressive cancer), and he had the surgery (nearly 10 years ago now) and he’s fine. He goes in every couple of months for a shot or a blood test or something, just in case, but like I said, his was a much worse case.
Still, I’m scared.
I’ve told several people at church (mostly the leaders), and a lot more of the congregation knows because Dad’s been mentioning it.
And our family knows. We told them at Easter. (Awkward, but we were all together and wanted them to know sooner rather than later.)
So I have support.
But I’m still scared.
I’m terrified that something is going to go wrong during the surgery.
I’m terrified that the cancer will come back. And spread, like with my neighbor.
I’m terrified that something will go wrong after the surgery, while Dad’s home recovering for a few weeks.
So if you could, please, pray?
Especially on Monday, but before that if you feel like it.
Pray for the doctors.
Pray for my dad’s recovery.
And if it’s not too much to ask, pray for peace. For me. And my mom. And maybe my sister. I don’t know how they’re dealing with it, but I take things really hard; I worry a lot.
Yeah.
And if you could, maybe remind me of some verses to look at in the next few days and weeks to come? I’m probably going to need them.
And if my posting is way more sporadic than normal in the next month or so, it’s probably because I’m helping my dad while he’s home recovering.
I don’t think I say this enough, probably because there are only a couple of people ever commenting regularly, but I really appreciate this thing called Blogging. I appreciate the community, the extra laughter and support it brings me on a regular basis. Thank you for that.
First, something funny, and the title of this post.
Have you seen this??
I love it.
I WANT one of those bubbles. Especially right now.
Last night (Saturday), the youth pastor was apparently counting on me to watch eight children by myself.
That was not happening.
I was so thrilled when one of the moms asked if her daughter and a friend would be welcome to help me watch kids.
THRILLED.
So that was good.
If they hadn’t been there, I would’ve had to make the pastor give up one of his teenagers, or call someone to come help me. Which wouldn’t have been fun.
But aside from a couple of kids getting kicked accidentally during a game, and one kid not listening to direction, everything went okay.
Except it went longer than I was expecting, by at least half an hour.
And then I stuck around to help clean up a little, and went home.
Today was good.
We played trivia in Sunday school, movies and Bible, and MY TEAM WON.
I’m not a game person.
But if it’s trivia, you can bet I’m in on it.
And when it comes to Scooby-Doo and Star Wars and Disney…
Don’t mess with me.
TV Moms and Comic Books…? Not so much. But my team members were good on those categories.
And Bible… Well, we had a guy who helps teach Sunday school with us for several of the Bible questions. Which was good. 🙂
I like trivia. And when it comes to Bible trivia, sometimes I’m my own team. 😉
After Sunday school, we went upstairs for service, during which we had Communion.
Today’s sermon was about following Jesus.
We’ve been talking for the last month or so, leading up to Easter, about meeting Jesus, and now we’re on to following.
It was a pretty good transition.
And the pastor had an interesting … analogy? Metaphor? Example? Whatever.
He talked about his dog.
They’ve had some construction at their house lately, and their dog’s routine has gotten messed up, because she can’t go out to the backyard like usual. So our pastor has to take her into the front yard and try to get her to do everything there.
She’s so stuck in her routine that she just sits there and gives him a dumb look like, “What am I doing here?”
He asked the question, “Can you realte to my dog?”
Because sometimes we do that with Jesus; we know Him, but we’re not ready to follow Him and kinda sit there like, “What?”
The pastor said it much more eloquently than I, but I think you get the point, huh?
So that was cool.
And we sang a few sangs that I’ve missed hearing.
And it was good.
And then I came home, ate lunch, and have been kind of hanging out since.
I gave my mom a card for Mother’s Day. 🙂
And that’s pretty much my day.
I’m not excited for finals, but I’ll get through it.
Although… prayers would be appreciated, I guess.
OH! Did I tell you? My grandpa had his surgery, and it went well. Now he’s got several weeks of not being able to move his arm except for during therapy. Other than that, I think he’s all right now.
And my dad’s friend D is home now; he needs someone with him all day every day for at least a month, so the church is trying to step in and get someone to take over when his wife can’t be there.
OH! And one more funny thing. Since it’s Mother’s Day (almost over here, but bear with me), we watched this. And I think it’s funny (if a little hard to understand at times), so I’m sharing.
I’m super-sore, as you can see from the post title.
Oh, well, first off, HAPPY EASTER a day late. 🙂
Okay, now the reason I’m sore.
I went biking yesterday.
With my dad.
For like an hour.
Also, I wore like four different pairs of shoes. In a day. (Maybe three.)
I have those Avi-Motion shoes (like Skechers Shape-Ups) that work your legs and stuff.
They’re nice.
I can tell that they’re working when I wear different shoes.
Which I’ve done all weekend.
Today I fianlly put my Avis back on for delivering for work, but before that I don’t think I’d worn them since maybe Friday? Or before?
So I can tell my legs are being worked.
They hurt quite a lot after wearing different shoes, like they do now.
But some of the pain also comes from yesterday’s bike ride.
It was a good ride, but I haven’t been biking in … um… a year or more. (shame)
So, my legs (and butt…) hurt from that too.
But it’s a good hurt.
I think.
Lol. 🙂
Yes, it’s good pain. It means I’m getting some exercise.
I almost want to buy a pedometer and figure out how many steps I take in a day. I think that would be kind of interesting. Maybe next year…
Also, I’m thinking I may bring my bike to school in the fall.
I was talking to L yesterday (I picked her up on the way to K’s house to watch Tangled! And hang out.) and she said I should ride my bike, because if I end up where she’s living (fingers crossed!), it’s about a five-minute bike ride, and it’s downhill to class! And it’s easier than bringing my car, which would require a lot of work to keep running in the winter, and with snow advisories, I’d have to move it between lots and stuff. Yuck. So a bike would be a better option. It’s smaller and more portable… And I can always make a Target run on my bike if I need something small “likenow”. 🙂
**
On a not-so-great note, would you be praying for my family tomorrow (Tuesday)? My grandfather is having surgery. Nothing super-terrifying (it’s on his shoulder), just something that will require several weeks of recovery. But still, you know me: worry, worry, worry. If you think of it, could you pray for the surgeon(s) and our family and especially G-pa as he recovers and stuff? I’d appreciate it!
Oh, and my dad has a friend who had surgery on his heart (had a pump put in, or something? He’s had heart issues for a long time, and he’s only my dad’s age. Kinda scary.). He’s supposed to be out of ICU on Wednesday. Their hospital page says he’s doing much better, and that after the surgery his face had much more color than it’s had in years. Which is a good sign! And he managed to walk to his new room with the help of a walker, which was good! If you think of it, pray for D, too? Just that he keeps recovering well and stuff? Thanks. 🙂 Dad’s actually going to visit D later this week, since he’ll be near the hospital (in a bigger city) that day anyway. I may be able to update you on Thursday or Friday… But in the meantime, pray if you think of it!