Goodness,,,

how time flies when you're NOT having fun!

Backstory - Eight years ago, I suffered with Ulcerative Colitis which would not be brought to remission by medical means, and at that time had my diseased colon removed.  I have a permanent ileostomy, which has allowed me a very normal, healthy good quality of life.  The present medical complications are subsequent to that, hence not something that just happens to folks in general.

Not exactly sure, as I have not grabbed a calendar yet, but I've returned home from a nearly 2 week stint at the University Medical Center where in a whirlwind, I have had a small bowel obstruction, subsequent surgery and another few days before being dispatched home to recover, in anticipation of a minimally invasive surgical repair of the hernia which caused the above-mentioned malfunction.



I also spent some time on the oncology ward (due to there being no available beds on the surgical service) and a good number of days in the cardiac/surgical ward, thanks to an unexplained elevated heart rate.

ugh... 

However, I am grateful to God, who has kept me safe through it all.
I am grateful for an experienced surgical team, steadfast nursing care and technological advancements in all matters medical.

While I'll admit to more than one round with discouragement, I'm grateful for my husband's sweet insight that last year, at this time, we were fighting a losing round with cancer in his dad and that this is, indeed, something that will heal with treatment, care and time.  His perspective often straightens my path for me, when it is hard to see ahead on my own.


I am blessed by my daughter, who is now a physician, who's knowledge was assuring and who's daughterly devotion was so tender and so precious to me. Her care and attention were exactly as I needed... not too much and always there in the moment that I called.

I am blessed by my new son in law, who can search out more types of cinnamon flavored gum than anyone else on earth... to be sure.

My boys, who kept the home 'fires' burning, tending animals and farm and each other, myself and their father, are growing into men of such grace.

For every friend and every church family member who called and came, who sent a card and said a prayer, for gifts of every thoughtful kind, I am so thankful.  I yet covet prayers for healing and for the surgery to come to be successful, so that I may get back to normal after a time.