Seems to be our family motto right now.
For the past couple of years, the thing that I have been most afraid of (other than snakes) is that Rowdy would be severely debilitated by his Crohn's. So when his surgery last week went so amazingly well, I thought, "Sweet! This is easy. We'll sail through this." But as those things normally go in life, what I think is the way things should go and the way that the Lord thinks they should go are two different things, particularly when it comes to a refining trial.
Rowdy was in the OR for three hours with four surgeons. He developed some scarring just downstream from the surgery site in his small intestine, and that backed things up. Since things were backed up, there was a tiny leak in the suture site. From that tiny leak, Rowdy developed very bad inflammation in his abdomen. And because he had so much inflammation, the surgeon needed to take apart his surgery site and stick the ends of the small intestine through Rowdy's skin. It will stay that way until the inflammation has gone away, which will probably be in the next 6-10 weeks. Until then, he can't eat anything, because he will not have enough small intestine working to take in enough nutrition. So he will have to be fed through an IV.
As far as connecting things back up then, well, it will either work or it won't. And then he will either be able to eat again, or he won't. Thanksgiving and Christmas plans are currently on hold.
One of the things that I love so much about Rowdy is his ability to smile in any situation. He keeps drifting off to sleep, then waking up and smiling at me. He took the news of his surgical outcome pretty well, for one thing. My main concern is that it will be really hard for him psychologically to have the scarring and stomas. Maybe it will be when he has more time to process it, but for now, it seems like he's ready to move forward with whatever happens.
"Come what may and love it"? Well, maybe it's "Come what may and handle it".
But here's what I know--no matter how daunting the situation, Heavenly Father is there for me. He knows me, and he loves me. Jesus Christ knows what I am going through because he's been through it before. The pain doesn't have to be as great because of that. The Holy Ghost will comfort and guide me.
The last thing that I had to deal with that was what I thought would be the worst thing in the world ended up giving me the greatest blessings of my life, including my sweet husband. This is probably going to be a similar experience. I went through the last one kicking and screaming, and I am going to try to handle this one with more grace and composure.
6 comments:
Your right Diane, just hang in there! How lucky we are to know that even through our trials we can have hope, find peace and become stronger and more refined individuals. Stay positive. You guys are in our prayers! Love you tons!
Oh I'm so sorry, Diane. It's so frustrating not to have control over this situation. But you know who has control, I can tell by what you say.
I think it was the people of Limhi in the Book of Mormon who were enslaved and burdened by their situation. They did a lot of praying, and had a lot of faith. The result was that their burdens were "made light", and much easier to handle. Eventually, they escaped from enslavement, and the burdens were gone. So...at the very least, recognize anything that makes your/Rowdy's burden lighter. Eventually I know that things will work out for the best.
Thanks, Deen! That is one of my favorite scriptures, too. One of the things about that is that the people were cheerful in the face of their trials. So I am going to try to be more cheerful.
Well, there are things to be cheerful about - Rowdy is still here, you have the resources to take care of him, you have many people praying for you both, it may only be for a relatively short time, etc., etc. It isn't good, but it isn't all bad, either.
You know Mom, Dad, Kiki and I will do all we can to help. Kate put your names in the Orlando Temple.
Tell Shrina thanks from me.
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