There's No Place Like Home

Amen to that!! Paul has been in the hospital 5 times in almost 5 months and it is always so terrific to be back home.

When we packed up early Thursday morning (5 A.M.) to get Paul to the hospital at 6 A.M. I noticed the Marian Missal I have had since 5th grade that was on my night stand. I decided to bring it with me. I had originally pulled it off the bookshelf when Pope John Paul II died and they were saying the Mass in Latin. My missal has Latin on one side of the page and English on the other. I as able to follow along with that Mass and after using it, realized there is a wealth of information in the missal. While I was waiting for Paul to be taken to a room after recovery (which was 7 hours later) I decided to look up the readings for the day. I came across the information that on Friday it was the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The church used to commemorate by 2 feasts the martyrdom suffered by Our Lady in union with the Passion of Her Son. The first especially commemorates 'the Compassion of Mary', which was Friday and then on Sept 15, the devotion to the Seven Sorrow suffered by Mary as told to her by Simeon. I also read that this past week used to be referred to as Passiontide (Passion Week). I then realized that Friday was also the first Friday of the month and up until the accident, I had not missed Mass on First Friday in years. I had such a desire to go and prayed that I would somehow be able to manage that.

Uncle Joe and Aunt Bev visited with us Thursday night, which helped cheer up the evening for Paul. He was in a lot of pain and was very weak. He had not had anything to eat since the day before. That is the part I worry about so much as Paul ends up with so much weight loss and weakness after a hospital stay. They did bring him some beef broth later, which he drank.

When Jon was getting ready to leave, I asked him to call me at 4:30 A.M. so I could get home, get a shower and then we could go to the 6:30 A.M. Mass. Paul would surely be alright during these early morning hours. Around 1:00 A.M. the nurse came in and let me know that there was a CAT scan scheduled for Paul at 5:00 A.M. I was relieved to hear that, as he would be out of the room for a good portion of the time I would be gone. My prayer had been answered about getting to attend Mass. Jon and I were able to be at this early morning Mass for the first time in about 4 months. I was absolutely over joyed being there. We got to see our friends and were told that Paul is remembered in their prayers, which brings us so much comfort. Jon struggled to hold back his tears as people came up to us and let us know they were with us in spirit.

When I got back to the hospital, there was a 'liquid' breakfast for Paul. He finished a good portion of it and then slept until the doctor came. In that time frame, I stood in front of the large window and looked out at the expanse of the sky with all the beautiful early morning sun shining on the white clouds and I read the readings of the day for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Then I started to read the prayer Stabat Mater:
"At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.

Through her heart His sorrow sharing,
All His bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword had passed.

Oh, how sad and sore distressed
Was that Mother highly blessed
Of the sole-begotten One!

Christ above in torment hangs,
She beneah beholds the pangs
Of her dying, glorious Son.

Is there one who would not weep
Whelmed in miseries so deep
Christ's dear Mother to behold?

Can the human heart refrain
From partaking in her pain
In that Mother's pain untold?

Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
She beheld her tender Child,
All with bloody scourges rent."

While this is only part of the Stabat Mater, I could not contain the emotions it brought forth and I stood there crying. My pain seemed so minor in comparison to this vision I had in my head of Mary at the foot of the Cross. Yet, I knew my prayers had been heard and that Mary truly knew how much anxiety and pain I had felt in this past week. I truly experienced the comfort our Mother in Heaven was offering to me in that moment of prayerfulness. I then knelt by Paul's bedside and prayed over him, that he would be able to continue to offer up all his suffering in union with Our Lord. He will need prayers for that strength. All of this was turned over to Jesus and I was then able to sit and sleep very peacefully for about 45 minutes.

The doctor came in and said that the surgery did what it was supposed to do and he took the tube out of Paul's head. He immediately stitched the tiny hole, which caused Paul more pain, as there was no 'numbing' of the skin before the doctor stuck the needle in a couple of times to make the stitch. It took me by total surprise that he would do this in the room. I was glad I had not eaten breakfast yet!
He said that Paul could go home as soon as he wanted and that we will need to follow up in a week at his office to have the stitches removed. The place where they had to bore a hole in the skull has about 15 stitches and there are 2 other sites with 2 and 3 stitches, very minor cuts. The place with 15 stitches was in the same place as the original scar, so there will not be additional scars on Paul's head. Around noon, I started to help Paul ease into his clothing and when lunch was brought in I didn't think he would eat anything. He said his stomach really wanted food, but his head was throbbing. Then he said he would try to eat the turkey sandwich. He actually finished the whole thing! We left around 1:45 and got home by 2:15. Paul made sure to take notice of Abby, which delighted her to no end. He then went to bed and slept peacefully for 4 hours.

Last night, Bev and Courtney came over with the movie "Narnia" and we got some sandwiches from Subway. Paul ate his whole sandwich and at 10 P.M. told me he was really hungry. He decided to walk downstairs to see what he could eat. Nothing appealed to him and so he asked if we could go to Wendy's. I stood staring at him in disbelief and even checked him for a temperature. Bev was still there, so I told Paul that she would stay with him and I would quick get his hamburger. He said, "I want to go with you." I helped him walk back upstairs to get his tennis shoes and he put them on without socks. We walked back downstairs and I truly thought he would sit down and say never mind, he was too tired to go. But he didn't and we all walked out the door. (Jon was at the airport getting Michael, who was coming home from visiting his brothers at Ave Maria University in Naples.) I had Paul call his dad to let them know where we were going so that Jon would not go into instant panic if he got home before we did. He was at KFC getting Michael some dinner, so we all ended up at home at the same time. We stayed up until a little past 11 P.M. and then Paul wanted to know what movie we would watch next!!! We watched a few minutes of another movie, but we fell asleep fairly quickly. I woke up and turned everything off and that ended our First Friday!

May God bless us all as we enter into Holy Week. I will have my Dad in my heart as I go through this week, as it is my most favorite time of the year. He taught me to love it so much. He died on Easter Sunday after so much suffering during the week. It was a visual aid to me about how much suffering Jesus did for us all. This will be the culmination of a Lenten season that has brought so much more awareness to our family of what we are called to be as followers of Christ. God bless us all as we perservere on our journey. I will also have my sister in law, Kelly, in my prayers as she prepares to be baptized into the Catholic Faith on Holy Saturday. I know my Dad will be smiling.

Peace in Christ,
Jon and Rebecca