The End of the Beginning

Philippians 4:6-7
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

As threatened, Dad finally moved off the ICU floor up to a luxurious suite on 16. That may sound sarcastic, but with wood floors, a lovely dining table and a private bathroom, this is the good life--a far cry from the dark, loud, community ICU. He is unhooked from most monitoring devices, but has a few tubes left to pump fluids and the all-important pain medicines. The hospital gown is gone in favor of cotton t-shirts and pajama pants and on his head, the Texas Tech baseball cap. Still tucked in a bag are the New Balance 991s...maybe for another day.

Although some things like clothes seem more "normal," the pounding headaches continue. As the nurses warned, this is definitely a rollercoaster of up and down moments. Dad has tried to describe the head pain, but says it's something pretty indescribable...like pressure is just building up behind his eyes with no relief. When he gets the right combination of medicine, it seems to work, but often leaves him so woozy and "out of it" that it seems just as bad. Ugh.

Dad is still within the critical 14-day period, so this is what to expect. Each day the doppler reveals that the vasospams are non-existent, so this is good, but somewhat confusing to be in so much pain without spasms.

We covet your prayers for God to ease Dad's pain. As Dad said, "Let's keep the hammer down on the praying." As family and friends, we keep wanting to hear the official "We're out of the woods," from the doctors...but those words have yet to come. While everything looks overwhlemingly positive, the doctors remind us that there are no guarantees. Of course, that's true for everything in life, but it is a different reality when various medical professionals are using those words every day.

The blessing of God's promises through his Word have sustained us. The morning of Dad's hemorrage, Mom wrote down and prayed the verse at the top of today's blog. Feeling anxious about several situations, she prayed through each one and surrendered them to God. Little did she know that God was preparing her for the ride of her life. Still, it's amazing how quickly we want to choose to worry about bumps in the road instead of continuing to trust God. We are really learning how faith and trust are renewed every single day and how trust is a choice.

We know you are praying and for that we are so thankful. As with all rollercoaster rides, there are moments of delight, terror, confusion and anticipation...and moments you feel them all at once. Thanks for riding the rollercoaster with us and thanks again for lifting Dad before the Lord, who does all things well.