Resurrection, Part 3

   There was no way to know for sure if a lodged stone was causing the pancreatitis, nor whether such a stone had passed. Modern medicine is really just a lot of guess and check. So on the morning of my 8th anniversary, they took me in for some sort of x-ray that would take two hours and try to get a picture of my liver, gallbladder, and pancreas function. Blood testing would determine if my liver was getting better. If things weren't getting dramatically better, they would go in through my throat to try and find and dislodge any stones. Blah, blah, blah. I dozed through the x-ray, then went back to bed. I was in a fair amount of pain all the time and I couldn't eat or drink anything. Not even ice chips or water, because again that could aggravate my pancreas. Through phone tag, I finally got to talk to my mom. Lee was with the kids at Nan's, and I got to talk to them on the phone, too. Nan told me that Julius was still fighting with her to eat. It hurt, but there was nothing I could do. Lee arrived to spend some time with me and bring things from home. 

There was a sweet little nun who was visiting all the patients on our floor. She said a special prayer for our anniversary and held my hand while she prayed for me. I think I squeezed her hand. Then she visited with Tara, who was going down to her surgery this day. She found Tara a picture of Jesus guiding the hands of the surgeon. That was nice. After the sister left, I was visited by a Father Donald who offered me communion. I explained to him that I wasn't allowed to put anything in my mouth, and he offered to annoint me, instead. It meant so much to me to receive the annointing. He read from the passage from James about going to the men of the church when you are sick, then annointed my hands and my head. I am the kind of person that is really uplifted by being touched, so the squeeze of the nun's hand and the scent of the oil are a special kind of grace for me. The Father promised torcome back and give me communion when I was able to receive it. This is why I love going to Holy Spirit, even if your doctors or nurses are not necessarily Christians, the healing presence of Jesus is meant to be present in every room. 

The day was made better by visitors. Mommi came to see me. I wasn't a very good conversationalist, but having her in the room felt good. I honestly don't remember what we talked about, but it still made me happy. 

Then my neighbor's father came to visit her before her surgery. She was due to have her gallbladder out this day. He father stayed almost until her surgery, then left because her mother arrived. They wheeled her away.

In the evening, Lee cavame to spend some time talking with me and bring me some reading material. Then Daddy arrived, too. That wass a lot of fun. They left shortly after visitng hours were over. I found out that my liver numbers were getting better.

Around 10pm, my neighbor got out of srurgery. She was supposed to have gone n at 2, but didn't go in until 4. The surgery was supposed to take two hours with rcovery, but took about 6 instead. They weren't able to do her surgery laparoscopically, and had to cut her open the old fashioned way. She was tired and in a lot of pain. It was so late that her family couldn't stay much longer. Her sister, mother, and grandmother, all had to go to work the next day, so none of them could atay to hold her hand like she wanted them to. I was heartbroken. There wasn't much I could do, tethered to my IV pole as I was, but at one point in the night I could get up and helped her with her mouth swabs. (I got in trouble with the nurses of course, lol).  She would cry and then apologize for it.