Teach Your Children Well

Prayers are so powerful and we are so grateful for all of yours.

At this time we do not anticipate any more surgery. It has been such a roller coaster ride. Everytime I would go to post the most recent news or have Jon do it for me, we would have another issue come up. We were told on Tuesday we were probably going home on Wednesday. Paul was putting out a huge effort of showing the doctors he was ready. Then we noticed that fluid was coming out the left side of his nostril and his headaches became intense. His eye was not looking very good and looked a bit infected. So they put in a call to the doctors who did the surgeries. It was very late at night, so we didn't see anyone until aroun 6:30 AM. Both doctors came and checked on Paul. They ordered a CT scan to see if the area of repair had stayed intact and also ran a glucose test on the fluid in the nose. There was no sugar in the fluid, which is what they had hoped for. Sugar in the fluid would mean it was CSF. The CT scan shows there is a fluid build up right behind the orbital bone and there is also a small pocket of air. Both of these are going to be watched and so we were told that we would not be going home. Paul was so disappointed. He had been in such high spirits to get back home and said it a bunch of times on Tuesday he just wanted to get back home to his dog, Abby.

Wednesday was a very long day of waiting and Paul was in some very intense pain. He wanted to get up a number of times, but was not able to walk down the hallway before he would experience intense pain in his head and his nose would start to have the fluid come down. Late in the day the doctor came back and said that they think that the fluid is coming from the accumulation that was seen on the CT scan and is making its way out through the sinuses. Paul is in worse shape than when he came in and so they are going to continue to monitor the functioning of the shunt and hopefully the downward trend of the size of the fluid accumulation and the air pocket. There was good news though and that is that the ventricle size is coming down.

Paul was visibly disappointed he was not going home. I was too. I tried to keep my spirits up for Paul and I opened my prayer book to find something consoling to read. I opened it to the page where the second half of the reading from Tuesday was written. It was about the woman who had hemorrhages for 12 years and she had seen many doctors and it only got worse. She lost all her money in the process. Then she was near Jesus and she touched his cloak with the faith that all she had to do was touch his clothing and she would be healed. He asked who touched him, and his disciples said it was impossible to know, as they were in the midst of a large crowd. The woman was instantly healed and she came to Jesus to tell him the truth about what just happened. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you." I read this to Paul and said we were called by God to have great faith in His healing power and in His mercy. We were being called to wait and to show that we trusted Him, no matter the time frame. Paul said that he would continue to do this as long as God wanted and he would offer up his pain for Juanita and Joe, since he knew how much Juanita had to be hurting. He also said he would offer it up for the mother of the young boy who died weeks ago from a brain injury after falling from a tree. I told him that is exactly what I would do too. I would offer up all the pain and sadness I felt as I watched Paul suffer.

Later, I was looking out the window into the dark night and prayed to God to show me how to have the faith of the woman in Mark's gospel 5:21-43. I wondered out loud how I could ‘touch the cloak of Jesus’ too? It immediately came to me that I should go to Mass the very next day, no matter what was happening at the hospital, and receive Communion and get someone to bring it to Paul. I went to the noon Mass and I got there a few minutes early and asked Fr. Robert if he could have someone bring Paul Communion, as he might have to have surgery again for the 3rd time in a little over a week. He said he was busy, but would make time to get it there. Once again, God spoke to me in the readings. From the Letter to the Hebrews (12:11-15)- “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.
Endure your trials as “discipline”; God teats you as his sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline? At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled.” To that I had to answer, yes Lord. Teach me your ways.

Fr. Robert again almost beat me back to the hospital after Mass! Paul and Jerry were able to receive Communion and Fr. Robert said he would offer the next day's Mass for Paul. He also administered the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. Paul was very glad he was able to have this done. Then, we went back to waiting, but with lifted spirits.

Later in the day, an elderly man came to the door and he said he was there to scrub the bathroom floor. Paul had just started to eat something and I was hesitant to let the man do the cleaning at the same time. I said it was okay, as he had a schedule too and so he started his work. He noticed the light was bothering Paul, so he closed the door to the bathroom and finished his work. A little later, he came out and said, "I have a problem with bright lights too. I have to have all the lights off when I watch TV at night and during the day." He looked at Paul and then at me and he said, "He will be better before you know it. He will be better soon. God will take care of Him." I looked at him and said, "Yes, God has blessed my son and I know He will help him." He smiled very sweetly and said, "God has blessed him." I got up to open the door to the hallway for him and as he was going out, I touched his shoulder and said, "Thank you so much and may God bless you too." He said, "God is good. Thank you and have a nice day." He again smiled so sweetly at me. Then he walked away. I had such a feeling of peace. I sat back down and was just sitting there smiling and thinking about those comforting words. Then I started to get tears in my eyes as I thought about how God might just have sent him to be of comfort to us. Jerry walked in at that moment and I told him about what happened. When I told him about how I just felt compelled to touch that man's shoulder and thank him, Jerry said, "Kind of like touching the cloak of Jesus." I said, "Oh my gosh Jerry! I had not thought about that, but you are so right. That's kind of what it felt like!" I was filled with so much joy at the thought that God might have provided me with a beautiful answer to my prayer. I have had nothing but a very peaceful heart since then.

The doctor came in late in the evening and said we were not going to be going home Thursday as he was going to adjust the shunt setting. He is very glad the ventricle size is trending downward, that is a good thing. They want to continue to monitor the pocket of fluid, and the air pocket to make sure they are going down also. He is hoping to let us go home before week's end. I hope his week ending is the same as my thinking..........no later than Saturday!!!


Jerry, Paul and I ended last night with lots of laughter. I don't know if it was just battle fatigue and the close quarters we are in, but we were finding just about everything funny. Paul had a few moments of real relief and he wanted to go downstairs for a walk. We left the 9th floor and went to the lobby. He had a white blanket wrapped around his shoulders and his sun glasses on. He started to head to the front doors and I asked what he was doing. He said he wanted to see how cold it was, since everyone had been talking about the snowstorm that was coming. He got to the second set of sliding doors and a cold blast of air hit him in the face as it opened. He turned around quickly and said, "Okay, so it's THAT cold!" He laughed as he headed back in. We talked about how much fun Abby would have if it snowed in Atlanta too. He said he missed his dog so badly and could hardly wait to get home. We said we would have Mike take pictures of her playing in it if it did snow. (Unfortunately, it only rained in Atlanta. But Charlotte got snow!)

This morning, Dr. McLanahan came in and said that he was going to adjust the shunt and would monitor it to see if Paul’s headaches lessoned when he actually was up and walking around. He has positional headaches, which means that the brain fluid decreases upon standing and it causes low pressure headaches. They are very painful. The shunt has an anti-siphoning device on it to help control that and that is the part they are trying to fine tune.

It was funny this morning because when the doctor came in at 6:30, it was just starting to get lighter outside. He mentioned right away that we had snow, but not a lot. As he was explaining all the things he was going to have Paul do today, it became apparent Paul was not listening. He started to get up out of bed, so the doctor moved to the side and he stopped talking as he watched what Paul was going to do. Paul stood up and walked to the window and opened the shades and looked out at the snow. He smiled and got back into bed, with seemingly no interest in the conversation. I guess he figured I was there for the purpose to listen and understand what the doctor had to say! The plan was that Paul’s bandages were coming off and he was going to get his first shower in 12 days. The shunt would be adjusted and then an xray taken.

All of the above has taken place. We will see if Paul is able to move around more with less pain when he is standing and walking. One other thing Paul did today was not on the doctor’s list. He walked downstairs and again went outside to see the snow. I got a picture of him, standing with Jerry. I will post it when we get home. (Along with so many other pictures that I have not been able to post.)


I got a real treat this morning after Jerry came over to the hospital from the hotel. I had to get laundry done as Paul and I had run out of clothing. I also wanted to freshen up the prayer blanket that was given to Paul in the days after his accident. It remains one of his favorites and we have used it for every hospital stay. I left the hospital and it was snowing again. It was so beautiful as it came down slowly and very lightly. The flakes were huge! It was so much fun to drive in the snow and get some time to be outside. I had a wonderful and relaxing break – even though I was doing laundry! I sat and watched the snow falling in between the loads and enjoyed the quiet. A real ‘pocket of peace.’ Yahoo!


May we all continue to be instructed in the ways of the Lord.
God bless you all,
Jon and Rebecca