The joy of the Lord will be my strengthChris did make it through the entire hour and half gallbladder test laying flat on his back without any pain medicine and without throwing up. The test revealed what Chris has been saying the entire year. Chris' gallbladder was functioning only at one percent. Dr. Winger decided to remove his gallbladder and do a laparoscopic surgery to find out what was causing the blockage because he didn't think that the two had anything to do with the other. The next morning, Friday, December 17, 2010, the day of surgery, Chris' mom came to the hospital along with Susan Rine, my mom's best friend. Susan kept us laughing the whole time so it seemed like time flew by. She also told me that on her way to the hospital, she reminded God that He cared for the birds of the air and so how much more He cared for Chris. As she was driving, she asked God to show her a bird as she was looking in the trees along the side of the road. All of a sudden, a very plain, uncolorful bird flew directly in front of her windshield. She knew that it was God confirming to her that if He cared for a bird that the world would not notice, how much more would He care for Chris.
When Dr. Winger finally came out of surgery, the first thing he said was that Chris was okay and I was so thankful. He also said that when they first opened Chris up that their hearts dropped because they thought he had cancer but found no masses or cancer. Dr. Winger showed us a photo of the blocked area and it, literally, looked like someone had skinned that section of his intestines because it was so red and raw looking. Chris' mom had to explain everything later to me because I didn't hear anything after Dr. Winger said that Chris would probably have to stay in the hospital for five to six days. It felt like a punch to the gut. I couldn't believe that we had just gotten back from China after spending eighteen days away from our kids and now we were going to have to stay in the hospital for almost a week. I wanted to break down right there in the floor but didn't only by the grace of God. Dr. Winger had also mentioned that because the intestines were so inflamed that he had also nicked Chris' intestines causing a small hole. They decided to clamp that area to stitch later, continue with the surgery and make a five inch incision near his belly button in order to take care of the blockage. Later, we learned that bile had leak into his body because of the small hole. Praise God that the nick happened near Chris' stomach rather than the colon where there is not as much bacteria. Dr. Winger also told us that Chris would not be able to have anything by mouth, not even ice, until his intestines started working properly again. I learned that anytime you have surgery or trauma to your intestines, your intestines becomes paralyzed and, after time, they will slowly start moving and functioning again. In other words, until Chris passed anything through his intestines, he would not be allowed to have anything by mouth and we would not be able to go home. I knew how close it was to Christmas and I could not even imagine spending more than six days in the hospital. Before Dr. Winger left, he told us that Chris would have a tube up his nose, going down his throat and into his stomach to drain anything that was left into his intestines for at least two days.
After we kept waiting to see Chris, they finally told us to go to Chris' room in the hospital and they would bring him to us. Chris' surgery was at 10:00 a.m., they were done at 12:30 p.m. but he didn't make it to his room until almost 5:00 p.m. I would later find out that he had tachycardia (150 BPM) from the anesthesia. When they finally brought Chris up to me, I was not prepared for how he looked with the tube coming out of his nose. I was surprised that I was able to hold back the tears. The only thing Chris kept complaining about was how dry his throat was and how the tube hurt his throat. We didn't have the heart to tell him that he would have to have it in for two days which I knew would seem like two weeks. About an hour later, to our surprise, the nurse came in and said that Dr. Winger was having her remove the tube going down his throat. I couldn't believe it and busted out crying. Later, Dr. Winger told us that he was able to see the x-rays done after surgery at home (x-rays are computerized now). He said that he saw that the tube was curled at the bottom of his stomach and that it was not working properly so he decided to have it removed. What a wonderful doctor! God is so good!
During our stay, Chris was not able to have any water by mouth. He was allowed to dip small sponges attached to straws into water and place them in his mouth but he could not swallow the water. It was really torture to watch this go on for almost 4 days. He also was not able to sleep because of them constantly checking his vital signs as well as giving him antibiotics around the clock. I would stay with Chris through the day then go home at dinner time to put the kids to bed. Some nights, I would tell my mom I was going to take a thirty minute nap and I would lay in the floor of our bedroom. I knew better than to fall asleep on my bed because I would never wake up. God allowed me to have these little naps so I could think clearly to do payroll for our business one night and also to be able to drive back to hospital without falling asleep. One night before I left to go back to hospital, I read an email from a close friend that she felt like God had given her the verse, "The joy of the Lord is my strength", over and over again concerning us. My friend told me that she knew that I prayed it over Ian but she felt that the Lord had wanted her to pray this over us even before she knew we were in the hospital. Once she learned that Chris was in the hospital, she felt like the Lord wanted her to share the verse with me. She said she hesitated for several days because she felt that it would be insensitive to give me the verse, "The joy of the Lord is my strength" when we were in the hospital. Finally, God would not let up so she decided to send it to me. When I received her email, I knew that the joy of the Lord is my strength did not mean what I had always thought-to have the joy of the Lord on my face as I was going through this and, by doing so, this would give me strength. I told God that I wanted to "see" and "feel" what the "joy of the Lord is my strength" looks like.
That same night at the hospital, Chris woke up in pain, telling me that he felt like he was going insane from being in the room and was afraid we would never get out of there . The doctor had encouraged him earlier to walk the hospital because it can help the intestines to start to move but Chris was in so much pain from surgery that he could barely walk. I just sat there on my little sofa bed in hospital and didn't say a word. I was too exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally to even encourage him. All I could pray was, "God, please help us." Another close friend told me that God had woken her up to pray for us at that exact time. About thirty minutes later, we tried to go back to bed but Chris yells out that he thinks he has bowel sounds. I leaped from my bed and put my ear to his stomach. When I heard the noises in his stomach, I shouted, "THANK YOU, GOD!" Chris immediately wanted to get out of bed and walk the hospital so that things would continue to move. It was 4:00 a.m. but Chris was ready to roll. Earlier, I could not even get off the bed and now I was ready to do sprints around the hospital. At that moment, God said, "This is what the joy of the Lord looks like." I realized that our circumstances had not changed, that we were still in the hospital, Chris still had not passed anything through his intestines but he had given us joy at that moment so that we would have the strength, His strength, to move forward in the battle. He would show many more "the joy of the Lord is my strength" moments as you prayed and fasted for Chris' healing, emailed prayer teams, visited us in the hospital, prayed for us in the middle of the night, sent us words of encouragement, brought food to the hospital, bought me lunch at the hospital, prepared meals to feed our family, delivered payroll checks to our employees, brought little gifts to Chris to encourage him, took our trash to the curb, cleaned our pool, took care of our yard in the bitter cold which all helped my parents, who I am so thankful for, to be able to take care of my children. Thank you for allowing God to use your time, your words, your hands and feet to give us strength when we were so weak. "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement" (Philemon 1:7).
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