Frustration and Confusion

Just checking in with a little bit of an update. We are a bit frustrated. My Mother in law, Charlene is confused half the time. And sometimes she even comes up with wild stories. And sometimes she even forgets that she has had company. My husband talked to her yesterday evening and we knew that her brother John had been to visit her. Well when my husband asks if she has had any company she says no. She had told John that she had not seen my husband in a week, when in fact he had been at the hospital like 8 out of 10 days - and the only reasons why he had not gone those two days was one day he was sick and the other day was the day after he spent 9 hours with her - after working at his job ALL day long and so technically he had been there 9 out of 10 days because he did not get home till after 1am. Anyway we are frustrated because if it is normal for patients to be confused then I think that the Dr or nurses should have prepared us for it- they should have taken the time to warn us that this might happen and maybe then give us some hope of - if the patients usually return to their previous selves. That would have been nice. Now we are concerned because we have no idea. Is this the new normal or what? I am cleaning up some of her robes and gowns to take up to her tomorrow. And we are hoping by getting more of her stuff there - that maybe she will think a bit better.

Anyway I would sure appreciate any prayers for her- that she can come out of the fog that she is in. And that she will stay with reality. Maybe also pray for acceptance for what has happened and peace through this process. Thank you so much! :O)

God's Promises...series... 1 Peter 5:7

God's Promise

 

by

 John Bradshaw

 

"Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."

1 Peter 5:7

 

 

When a four-year-old girl lost her favorite stuffed animal out the window of the family car, her parents mistakenly thought they would be able to find a replacement toy she would be happy with. But the little lady made it very clear that nothing her parents could do would make up for the loss of her special dolphin. So Mom and Dad contacted the local police and explained the situation, and within minutes, a rescue operation began to retrieve the lost dolphin. The four-year-old girl was jubilant, and her parents were greatly relieved.

It was just a stuffed toy, a little thing, yet it was important enough in the eyes of someone to search for and return. Small things in your life matter to God. 1 Peter 5:7 urges you to cast "all your care upon Him, for He cares about you." Another translation says, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you." No matter how trifling they may seem, or how enormous they appear, God invites you to bring your cares to God, with the assurance that He cares for you. You can be confident that there is a God who cares about you and the things that are important to you. He has promised!

 

 



God Gives Second Chances...Even With Blessings

I'd like to share a personal experience that goes to show that sometimes we are just not ready for the blessings that God has in mind for us.

 

About 8-10 years ago, a friend from church shared about how a book had really blessed her. I can't remember if I bought the book or if she gave it to me, I'm thinking she gave me a copy of it. Anyway I read a couple of chapters and just wasn't that impressed with the book. I put the book in my bookcase and forgot about it.

 

About 6 months or so I reorganized my 3 bookcases. In the process I ended up getting rid of a stack of books. And off to the thrift store they went to bless someone else. And I think that the book was in that pile.

 

Anyway let's fast forward to this past week-end. At Sabbath School a sweet couple had bought a stack of books to share with everyone in the class. I thought it was such a nice thing of them to do. This was a big deal because recently I had been struggling with the whole idea of my prayer life. I had experienced what seemed to be a list of things that I was praying for - for myself that were not being answered - well at least no in the way I had wanted them to be answered and it was discouraging me. I had experienced answers to prayers for others, but not myself. So I had a lot of questions. And wanted to find the answers to them.

 

Well once I figured out that I thought this was the same book that I had been given years before - I had decided to share the book with someone else. But something amazing happened.

 

Wednesday night at prayer meeting I talked with the couple about the book. And they shared how it totally changed their thinking. Well at first I said that I was reading another book(which I was) and that I would read a chapter or so of the book and that I had thought that I would pass it onto a friend to read because she was going through some rough stuff. Then I would read the book later. Truth is I did not know if I would or not. So I went home that night and read a chapter in the book, so I would be doing what I said I would do. And I was SO blessed by that chapter - it opened my eyes to the need of prayer for others and how "God never violates the free will of anyone, but when we pray for someone else, it permits Him to work in the lives with a special power. He unshackles the individual from the chains of sin so that he can use his freedom of choice to choose good."

 

As of today, I have only read the first 3 chapters of the book - but what a blessing I have gotten. I am so glad that I gave the book another chance. I am so glad that I did not allow my preconceived notion about the book - cloud my judgment in reading it. What a blessing.  I have a couple of other quotes that I read in a chapter today that I would like to share with you all. They are actually quotes from other books - so I will list where they originally came from for your reference point.

 

"And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ.. As knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of His character." 

 The Great Controversy - page 678

 

"Faith is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it will flourish only as it is cherished."

Great Controversy p. 527

 

Here is the book that I am talking about:

Incredible Answers to Prayer by: Roger J. Morneau

 

It is not a very long book, only 96 pages but I am sure it is full of blessings just waiting to be found.

I am so glad that I was open to the leading of the Holy Spirit to read this book. And I am glad that God did not give up on me - even when years ago I decided to let that blessing pass. God's mercy and grace is shown to clearly to me - in that even though I passed by the blessing the first time - He cared enough to bring it around again! Praise the Lord!!!
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Just a little update. Yesterday my Mother in Law- Charlene was able to not only stand up but with help walked to the chair and sat in it for about an hour. It looks as if today they will be moving her to a long term rehab hospital to help get her ready to go back home and have independence. She is still having some confusion and telling some whoppers- but hopefully as she is able to have less pain meds - she will have clearer thinking. Please pray with me that she had can hope and joy and that she will be able to be kind to those who care for her. And that she is able to get back to caring for herself and be independent. That is what she really wants. Thank you so much! :0)

Shock Therapy

At my last oncology visit- the dr informed me that I had gained a few pounds. 3 from the last visit to be exact. She also asked if I was walking every day. Well no...it's been rainy. I am trying to exercise at my house but with everything going on - I honestly have not been exercising every day like I should be. Well after this past week I learned a very important lesson, one that has me changing my priorities a bit.

As you all know my MIL had a lung surgery on the 11th. And then an emergency surgery 21st of this month. Before surgery my MIL had a pretty sedentary lifestyle. She would get out and feed and water her dogs and sometimes go to the pasture - the edge of her back yard to see the sheep. And she had been helping feed some baby lambs. She would do basic cleaning like sweeping and vacuuming. She would run errands - like to the bank, post office, and picking up groceries in the nearby town. But other than that - a lot of her time was spent watching tv. I think this is what contributed to her having such a hard time with being weak. Yesterday when I was at the hospital she asked how she could go from taking care of herself to an invalid so quickly. And as I thought about it I thought that is was sad that she had not been in any better shape before these last surgeries. Not only that - had exercise been a part of her routine - and after the lung surgery began to walk and get some exercise- there is a very good chance that it would have helped her body to continue to move and she may not have needed the emergency surgery. All of this hit home for me and I realized that I needed to make walking a priority. Not above my quiet time with Jesus, but I needed to make sure that I could walk or exercise some most every day. A day off here and there is not going to hurt you but exercise is very important. There is a book that I have that is called Strong Women Stay Young - and I think it is true I think that if we will work at keeping ourselves mobile and moving it will help us all the way around.

So because of this shock therapy that I have gone through - at seeing how a woman that seems like she is doing quite well can go from doing things for herself to not having the energy to hardly move her arms and legs and having a difficult time sitting on the side of the bed- of course some of this is due to the incisions that she has but when the therapy people are trying to work with her and train her how to roll to her side and then push the trunk of her body into an upright position - and she does not have enough strength in her arms to lift herself up - it made me pay attention.

I will be doing a much better job at making time to walk/exercise. And I know that the effort will pay off and I will feel SO much better. Exercise is SO good for you- there are so many benefits - to name a few - build strength and stamina, helps keep the systems of the body going, helps you sleep better at night, keeps your heart strong, and helps you recovery from surgeries better. Like I said, there are many benefits and it is well worth the effort and time put into taking care of your body. I hope you will join me in trying to make exercise a part of your daily schedule. Please leave a comment and let me know what you are doing for exercise or that you will join me. We can encourage one another. :o)

Percentage Has Increased

Ok - thought I would check in with an update. I am sorry it has taken me so long to get back on here to write an update. The good news is that Charlene is doing pretty good - especially since on Thursday her Dr only gave her a 20% chance of making it. Well she made it past the 72 hours time period - that was Sunday afternoon.

 It took 3 tries to get her off the ventilator- but this morning- they were finally able to get her off of it.
It was funny because after she was off the vent she told my husband that she was ready to go home. This is very typical of her. But she has been confused off and on since then. At first she did not even recognize her family members. My husband showed her photos and she did not recognize people. Later she called him by name - so maybe she is remembering things. He asked her if she remembered her lung surgery 2 weeks ago- no she did not. He explained to her what had happened - but I figure that it will have to be retold because she is still confused. She told the nurse that she had been told that she was gonna get "to go home in 90 minutes"...lol where she got 90 minutes... I don't know.

My husband is going to have to go back to work tomorrow - I am so glad that they were able to get her off the ventilator before he had to go back to work. It makes it a bit easier on him. I will be going to the hospital to spend some time with her tomorrow. I am sure hoping that the weather holds out. Today we ended up having a storm go through. We are so water logged.

The good news is that yesterday evening we went to Home Depot and bought a tarp and my husband and son - got up on our sunroom roof and got the tarp put over it. It had been leaking and with all of the rain that we have had we thought we better put a tarp over it till we can get out there and get it fixed up. So today when it rained there was NO leaking. Praise the Lord that we were able to get that done.

Oh my goodness - I almost forgot to share some exciting with you all. Yesterday afternoon I was talking to my Mom on the phone and I heard some meowing coming from the garage so I went out to check it out and guess what I found??? Kittens! A total of 3 of them.

Aren't they adorable!?!!

It does not take much for me to fall in love with kittens!

Well that is about all that is going on. I am trying to keep up with everything around here. I will check in as soon as I can. Thanks for the continued prayers- there is still a long road to recovery for my MIL.

God's Promises... series.... Revelations 21:4

Sorry I missed last week. This weeks promise fits the week our family has had. I hope it blesses you.

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God's Promises

 

by

 

John Bradshaw

 

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

Revelations 21:4

 

This world is full of sadness- death, illness, loss of many kinds. So many people are burdened by grief and pain. God makes us a wonderful and hopeful promise in Revelations 21:4, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death , neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away."

 

Imagine a world without grief or loss, a land without funeral services or cemeteries, a place where nobody will shed a tear. That's what eternity will be like! God did not create us to experience death or to grieve. Before sin, the Garden of Eden was a happy place, and God intended that His children be content and satisfied. But the fall of Adam and Eve resulted in sorrow and bereavement.

 

The illnesses and aches we experience, the tears of sadness that we shed, and the difficulties we endure are the result of sin. But in a new world where there is no sin, we will never again have to experience the bitter side of life. A time is coming when God will wipe away all tears, and there will be no more death. If it seems to good to be true, remind yourself that you can look forward to this new life with confidence. He has promised!  

An Update....

Just wanted to check in to share an up date. My Mother in law, Charlene(so you guys can add her to your prayer list) had a bath(well sponge bath) and had a good night. Today she looked better than yesterday- she has more coloring today. Yesterday she was quite white. They are keeping her mostly sedated. She does know what people are there and recognized voices. And has learned how to let my husband know what she wants. She will raise her hand/arm and then he will go over and he asks questions to find out. She holds your hand firm when you talk to her- she knows people are there. Some people may think that when they are out of it like that - that they don't know what is going on- but they do - and it is important for people to talk to her and to let her know that they love her. It is what gives her a will to live and she needs that will. When the Dr's only give you 20% chance to live - you really need to know that you are loved and that there is a reason to live.

We have been blessed with the outpouring of love from her family coming to visit her and letting her know how much they care. And all those praying have given peace in a tough time. I am still just so shocked of how serious she got and how quickly - something like that happened to her. And I am heart broken that she is having to go through this. I am so dreading when she wakes up and is told about the C bag. My husband says he is hoping to be able to tell her. But we are praying that God will give who ever is the one that tells her first to do it in a gentle way. I mean - it almost makes me cry just thinking of it. I hurt for her- because this is not something anyone would want to happen to them.

Sunday afternoon - will mark the 72 hour point - the point in which - the % will increase for her survival. Please continue to keep her in your prayers- especially during this critical time.

My sister has a friend who - when she shared with her what was going on with my MIL - shared that she too had a problem going to the bathroom. And up until that point had thought that it was normal. And because of the knowledge of this - went to the Dr and asked for some help. So one person at least has been helped by this that we know of - and I hope that with the knowledge being out there that more people will be helped.

Anyway I just wanted to share a quick up date. I hope you all are doing well. :0)