Last Wednesday I had an incredible day with the Lord that I felt like I needed to write down and then last Saturday I had another amazing day so I decided to write it all down so I wouldn’t forget God’s amazing faithfulness… not that I have done that yet but just in case…. :)
Before I get to last Wednesday, I feel like I need to go back to Friday, July 30th.when Faye had her surgery to remove a cyst from her bladder. I hung out with Gerry for most of the day while Faye was in surgery and when she was done Cecelia and I made sure she and Gerry were all set at home. Faye went through the surgery well and was fine that night but then started to decline over the weekend. On Monday, August 2nd. (Monday’s are my usual days with Gerry and Faye) Gerry called me in the morning and asked me if I could come early and help her get Faye to the emergency room because Faye was having a lot of difficulty breathing. So, I did and we got her to the emergency room so they could do what they could for her. I do have to say that It was quite an adventure for Gerry and I to accomplish that task with her catheter and oxygen hoses and trying to get her dressed, down the stairs and in the car!!
So, once we got there it was mostly a waiting game as we waited for blood tests, breathing treatments, and x-rays to happen. Faye was dozing off and on during this time and while she was resting, it seemed like she was laboring more and more to breath. The doctor came in at one point and said that they would give her one more breathing treatment and then send her home because they didn’t know what else they could do for her. I wasn’t real sure that was a good idea so I went out and talked with the nurse about it. When the nurse came in, she agreed that her breathing was not good and talked the doctor into doing a CAT scan so they could see if there was a blood clot or something causing the problem. In the mean time, they gave her something to relax her in the hopes that it would help her breath better. When they were taking her to run the CAT scan they told us that it would take 10 minutes to do the test and then 30 minutes to get the results so Gerry and I went for a walk to get some fresh air and stretch our legs (it was about 3:00pm by this time).
When Gerry and I came back to Faye’s room, there was a lot of commotion going on with a couple nurses and a new doctor attending her… she was going into respiratory failure! The doctor was asking her if she would give him permission to intubate her and get her on a respirator to save her life but the drug they gave her relaxed too much and she wasn’t understanding what was going on. So, Gerry and I walked in just as he was saying, “You are critical and you won’t survive unless we get you on the respirator!!” Wow! We went from, one doctor saying she is fine and we will release her to her being critical and not surviving the night!! Both Gerry and I had to take a seat as tears sprang to our eyes as the gravity of the situation his us. We had to make some phone calls to her boys to get the permission the doctors needed to put her on the respirator but by the time we got it together Faye had rallied and she wasn’t in such critical condition. What we found out was that they never did get the CAT scan because she started going through repertory failure before they could get her in the tube so they aborted the procedure to stabilize her. That was the beginning of a very long two week ordeal with Faye in the hospital.
So now we can fast forward to last Wednesday. It was my day to be with Marteen so on my way to her house I called Gerry to check in and get an update on Faye. Gerry told me that the doctor had called a family meeting for 4pm that day because he wanted to discuss Faye’s situation with them. Gerry wasn’t sure what he had to say but felt pretty strongly that whatever it was wasn’t good. I told Gerry I planned to stop by the hospital on my way home from Marteen’s between 5 and 5:30 so I could find out what the doctor said. While I was talking on the phone the car started to act a little funny. I was almost at Marteen’s but I was still on the phone so I pulled over under a shade tree to finish talking with Gerry and then the air conditioner went out. Then I noticed a light displayed that I had never seen before but I was distracted so I rolled the windows down, finished my conversation and then drove to Marteen’s. When I parked the check engine light came on and it sounded like something was boiling!! But, I just dismissed it and got to work at Marteen’s.
It ended up being a very short day with Marteen. I got everything done that she needed me to get done so she sent me home early but asked that I drop her library books off on my way home. It was about 2:30 so I was excited that I had some extra time to play with. My sister-in-law asked me to stop by an assisted living facility to visit her best friend’s mother who was recently transferred to Cary so I thought this was a great time to do this. So I dropped the books off and then the air conditioner went out again and that funny looking light went on again. So, while I was driving I dug the cars manual out of the glove box and found the meaning of the light and it said it was a “coolant” light! I, for the first time, looked at my temperature gage and it was peaked out at RED HOT!! OMGosh!! I had to pull over!! I was really close to a restaurant I knew so I pulled in there and when I did, steam started pouring out of the hood of the car so I grabbed my purse and jumped out just incase anything was going to explode! Oh, did I mention that it was about 102 degrees outside??? We have had an incredibly HOT summer and this was one of the hottest days!
So, I slip into the restaurant thinking it would be nice and cool with air conditioning… NOT! It didn’t feel much cooler in there than it did outside! But at least it was shady! So, I call Tom and let him know what is going on and he had me look under the hood and describe the situation to him. There wasn’t anything visibly wrong, no water spraying out anywhere other than the pressure valve for the coolant overflow so he had me call Bryan. I called and left him a message and then waited for about a half hour in the hopes that the car would have a chance to cool off. While I was waiting, an employee at the restaurant offered me some water while I waited! That was so cool! I took him up on his offer since I was sweating like a big dog and it looked like I was in for a long hot ride home. He hooked me up with a nice tall cup of Ice water as well as some water for the car.
That was my first stop where God met me with all that I needed! The assisted living home was just up the road a piece so I thought I would make that my second stop so that I could be visiting with Joan while my car cooled off. I pulled into that parking lot just as the temp gage was peaked at hot again so I planned to find water on my way out the door to fill her up again. After my visit with Joan I looked around and really couldn’t find anything or anyone to help me get water so I went out to the car and popped the hood again. Just then a truck pulled in right next to me and a very nicely dressed couple stepped out and asked if I needed help. I let them know my car was overheating and that I just needed some water so the guy offered to go get some for me. He comes back a few minutes later with two other guys and two jugs of water! They hooked me up and told me that it looked like it was my thermostat that was broken and they were the nicest guys ever! Two of them were dressed in suites and ties out in that heat to help me out (I found out later that they were both "big wigs" over the place)!! That in itself was quite heroic in my book!! That was God’s appointment number two :)
I wasn’t sure how far I would be able to go but I had a destination in mind that I knew was shady but as it turns out, I only got a couple miles down the road again before it got hot again and there happened to be a gas station right there so I pulled in. I had consumed about half of the cup of ice water I got at my first stop so I thought I would refill with more ice and water here. I asked the employee if he had anything I could use to put water in my car and he gave me a bucket and showed me where the faucet was outside. I was also able to buy a gallon of water to take with me because the next place may not have water available. That was God appointment number 3!
So, I waited again for the car to cool off enough to add more water. Fortunately I was able to park in a shady place while I waited for the car to cool off. By this time it is almost 5 o’clock and all I really wanted to do was get to the hospital to see Faye and talk with Gerry!! So, I hit the road again and I was praying I could get to the place I had originally wanted to get to from the assisted living home. I did end up there but I had to push the car and drove it hot a bit longer than I really wanted to. So, as I am pulling into the shaded parking spot, with steam billowing out from under the hood again, I see a women going to her car directly across from where I parked (across from the median of trees). She saw me and started walking towards me so I got out and told her I was having troubles with overheating and she asked me if I needed any help or if she could give me a ride someplace!! She saw my cross necklace and said “Hey, I am a Christian too! My name is Carol” God appointment number 4!! I got to that spot just in time for Carol to see me and offer me a ride so I made it just in time for that appointment!
I told her I was trying to get to the hospital to see a friend and she agreed to take me there. We talked about the Lord and "God appointments" all the way to the hospital and I got there at 5:10pm… two and a half hours from when I left Marteen's… soaked through and through with sweat but so amazed at God and how He took care of me all along the way!! But He wasn’t done yet!!
When I got there, Peter, Dana, Cecelia and Gerry were all there. So I told them my story up to that point and Cecelia had loaned Gerry her blue Durango (AKA “Big Blue”) and had asked me to help her get it back home earlier in the week so she said, "I can take you to Gerry’s and you can use Big Blue as long as you need to!!" God appointment number 5!! The fact the she was there when I got there was amazing because she is hardly ever there at that time!! When I was describing this to someone later that day I told them that I felt like I was being "held" by God through the whole thing... He literally held my hand, guided and directed each of my steps and made sure I was taken care of. He is SO cool like that :)
So the news from the Doctor was; Faye was using an oxygen mask about 90 percent of the time and only took it off during meals because she was having such a hard time breathing without it. He said that eventually that mask would not be enough for her and she will start gasping for every breath she takes. He recommended that they take the mask off now, before it gets to that point, and give her a steadily increasing amount of morphine to help her relax and go into a deep sleep and let her pass away in her sleep instead of gasping for her last breath. He felt like that would be the least traumatic and most humane way for her to go. So, all of Faye’s boy’s flew or drove in from PA and NY to spend the last day or two with her before she passed. This was quite amazing since some of them had not seen her or each other for over 13 years!! There were some “family” issues that kept them apart and Faye’s last wish was that she would be able to see her boys before she died. So, the fact that they all came was truly an answer to prayer!!
On Friday I went to the hospital, knowing the boys had all arrived the night before and had a chance to see her and the doctor and make the decision as to what they were going to do and when. As I was walking up to her room I saw three of the boys talking with the doctor so I went into her room and met the fourth, and his son. It had been about 13 years since he had seen his mother so her condition was quite shocking to him!! When the discussion in the hallway ended they all came in and the doctor started talking with Faye about her choices again. I was surprised because I thought they had already discussed this but as it went on I realized he was just reiterating it. What they had not discussed the night before was “when” they would take the mask off and start the morphine so that is what the doctor was asking Faye to decide at this point. This was a tough thing to watch!! The doctor was in essence asking her to decide when she was going to die. She requested one more day to be with her boys and told the doctor to start the process the following morning. That was quite a moment!
When the doctor left it was just me, Faye (who is very hard of hearing), and Faye’s four boys and her grandson (who was 27) in the room. I was struck by the amazing reality that all four boys were all in the same room together!! With Faye... and realizing that her last wish and prayer had been answered!! So I said “Wow, I can’t believe I am in the same room with all four of Faye’s boys!! I feel so privileged to be a part of this wonderful event!” I told them that Faye had told me so many wonderful stories of her past with them and how she shared so many fond memories with me that I felt like I knew them before I even met them.
Then I said that if Faye’s death is what brings them back together again, then her death will have a special meaning and God will get all the glory for restoring her family again. It was another major moment in time! God’s timing placed me there at just the right time to be able to share those thoughts with them with no one else in the room but us.
