Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Earth's Best Patient is Back in the Game

I wrote yesterday about the pastors praying with me last night. It was so comforting just to be touched, to feel God's amazing presence and peace as each person spoke. They each prayed something different, and yet they prayed things that really spoke to my heart. Obviously that my dad would be healed completely and have many more days with us, but also that I would have wisdom about whether the girls should come home, and that I would have good communication with the doctors, and for my brother and our family relationships at this time, and more. I hadn't shared many of the thoughts on my heart, but somehow God revealed them to  these people as they prayed. It was one of those truly remarkable times. If the only result of these prayers was gaining the comfort I felt from the act of praying, it would have been enough. The really cool part is that the prayers actually worked. My dad, who had five major organ systems not working right and was ready to give up last night, woke up in the night and started eating. His kidneys, digestive tract and liver started functioning, and he started to feel better. By the time I saw him in the hospital he was joking with the doctors again, and was cheerful. Prayer works!

I did face the language barrier again. The doctor came in and said "Your liver function is high." Dad said "That's great!" "No, that's bad." Well, it sounded great. They also ordered a scan of his gall bladder, and Dad cheerfully said "OK, that's great." But then when the doctor left he said "I don't actually have a gall bladder, so I wonder what they'll scan?" Dad didn't even complain that now that he finally had his appetite back, they wouldn't let him eat because of the scan. I would have been mad or unhappy, but he just said "That's the way it goes!" 

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