I started to have one of “those” days today. Where i wished I had different clothes, a different body, a clean house, a maid to clean the house, that I got to go gallivanting off for a pedicure/vacation/shopping spree on a whim. All it took was a few facebook posts to get me both INTO and then back out of that funk real fast.
See, a few posts below the ones about the vacations and pedicures and clean houses, was one about a good friend of mine’s daughter, who spent the entire night in an operating room, receiving a new small intestine – and a new shot at life. I knew that she was likely going into the surgery last nite before I went to bed, and I fell asleep uttering prayers of strength for my friend as she and her family sat in the waiting room, for her beautiful daughter “N” as she endured a surgery of this magnitude, for the surgeons as they performed this life-saving and life-giving procedure, and for the family of the child whose organs were being transplanted.
Today she is still sedated in the PICU – but the surgery is complete and “went well”. She has a huge uphill battle ahead of her – but the smile on that little girls face – speaks volumes about the kind of inner strength she possesses. She has fought against a GI tract that has really never worked for 5 years. And now she will have a chance at someday being able to eat, of being able to get off of life-saving TPN (IV nutrition delivered through a central line in her chest – like Kendall has currently). And while my heart aches for the immediate part of her journey in recovery from the transplant, I am SO excited for the future that she will now have because of this transplant. Please join me in prayer for Miss N and her family as she continues on her journey in recovery! And also please pray for the family who made the ultimate gift – choosing to donate their child’s organs so that others could have a chance at life. I cannot imagine their pain and grief today – and hope that they receive some comfort by knowing that their sacrifice has helped other children today have hope.
I am also reminded of another little girl’s battle – on this day one year ago. It was the night of Kendall’s first 
benefit, and I left her in the hospital with Ben while I went to pick up my babies from school and drive to the benefit. Ben tried to put me on speaker phone when the team was rounding, and I only caught every third word or so – but I heard enough to know that it wasn’t super awesome. she had been in the hospital for two days at that point, and had been very ill at home for two days prior to that. I don’t think I even had any idea how very very sick she was… She was septic (blood infection) from two bacteria and a fungus, and was also fighting influenza A. And as sick as she was that morning when I left – she was even sicker by that evening, when we all paused to pray for Kendall. And I still hold firm in my belief that that nite, our prayers were heard. I was unable to make it back up to the hospital that evening, partly because at that point I had been awake for almost four straight days with literally only a few minutes of sleep – and I couldn’t even function. And yet – I could not sleep that night either. Something kept me up, kept me on my knees begging and pleading for God to just fix her, make her better, let her stay here with us. And the next morning was when kaylen locked the keys in the car as Ben was calling to tell me they were taking her to surgery and I felt like a caged animal – wanting so badly to just FLY UP THERE and be with my baby and yet having to wait for the police to come and then the long drive and obeying the speed limit and just….ugh. hard memories.
And yet we have a happy ending. Here she is – having destroyed the TV room/kitchen area I worked so hard to have clean last nite because she is having a crappy pain day – but she is HERE. She is home. We are together. She has LIFE.
So how can I even think about complaining about my house/toes/lack of vacations??? I have the greatest gift of all – my family. All together. Under one roof. Mostly healthy.
No words for my gratitude today. Just thank you.
Hope you all have an awesome weekend! Don’t forget to go like “terra talking” on facebook! I’m still fine-tuning the new blog look and will reveal it once we hit 250!!!
and to everyone who helped sign our petition – we hit 1000 after four days! We are shooting for 10,000 now! Thank you for helping us Keep Kendall Home!
terra