Life as a way of intimating art and this week, I am reminded of the commercial slogan "Life comes at us fast!"
We get so busy with our plans, and Life simply rushes past us at an amazing speed. Then one day, BAM! Everything comes to a swift halt while a detour reroutes our attention and actions.
I'm experiencing one of those weeks. We were floored to find out this week that Mom needs open heart surgery (triple bypass at minimum, possibly a quintuple). Especially since the nuclear stress tests she had to approve her for surgeries in '06 and '07 gave her a very healthy report and she went through two major surgeries! Her cardiac physician explained this did NOT happen overnight. Since we lost Dad in '86 WHEN he had his heart attack, we were blessed to discover her condition prior to an attack.
The cardiac surgeon met with me Monday; Mom is at a higher risk of having complications with her kidneys post surgery and possibly having a stroke during/after surgery. She is in good spirits, her faith is strong, and many are praying for her and the surgical/ICU/nursing staffs who will care for her. If you feel moved to include her in your prayers, we would appreciate that.
This week has been a bit tough, having to halt some pretty big plans, and simply choose to make family my priority while I watch a couple of dreams slip by -- but I always seek the silver lining in the dark cloud and this is what God has shown me so far:
- It's better to learn this way than the alternative.
- God's plans are not our own. But we can trust that His plans are infinitely better than our own.
- Let this be a wake-up call to refocus attention on my own health as I'm a firm believer in what we do today impacts the quality of life we'll experience later.
- People care and are willing to pray-- we have so many friends and family members lifting prayers for us and extending the prayer network by taking the prayer needs to their respective prayer groups . Wow! That's a lot of prayers.
We leave for surgery in just about 2 hours as we must check in by 5:15am; surgery starts at 7:00am and will last several hours before they take her to ICU. I plan to perfect the art of sleeping in an uncomfortable chair in a public space, resting in complete trust that God Himself will be guiding the surgeon's hands in caring for my Mom.
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I'll spend most of my time over the next few weeks at the hospital and seeing Mom through surgery and my blog will fall silent during this time. Back soon with more natural beauty photo posts! There are some great shots just waiting to be snapped near the hospital!Labels: faith, God, heart surgery, life, plans, surgery
