Code Blue, Room 619
Dear Friends, The past three weeks have been a most difficult time for our family. Yet the goodness, love, and mercy of the Lord has never been so manifest in my life.
I'm a 42 year old who had never spent a night in the hospital since the year I was born and never had any real health scares. Until now.
In the days leading up to Saturday June 13 I felt like I had the flu. That Thursday Becky noticed a spot on my foot that began to darken. Within 24 hours my foot turned black and swelled horrifically.
My family convinced me to go to the local ER and be checked out. By convinced I mean they literally drug me into the car against my will and drove me to the hospital.
As it turns out I had a couple of serious issues going on. The main one was severe staph infection in my bones that was getting out of control rapidly. Over the next few days my body retained around 50 pounds of liquid poison.
I had surgery on the foot and thought we had turned the corner.
As it turns out that was only the beginning, as my condition worsened.
On June 20 my sister, who is a nurse practitioner, spent the night in my room watching over me. In the middle of the night, she recognized that I was going into complete respiratory failure. The poisons in my body over ran my kidneys, lungs, and heart's ability to process and I was actually drowning from inside my own body from the 50 pounds of "goop." She listened to my chest and quickly ran for the doctor.
I owe my life to my sister. My faith assures me that God had her there that night for that very purpose. It was not a coincidence.
Within minutes a "code blue" was called and I ended up on a crash cart being hooked up to a ventilator. I would ultimately spend the next several days in the ICU on life support.
I am home now. I am still hooked to a machine on my foot and will be for a few weeks. My wife has to administer liquid antibiotics through a central line in my arm every eight hours and my mobility is extremely limited temporarily. But I am recovering and getting better every day.
In the days and weeks ahead I have so much to share with you about how God moved, and the incredible ways He will use and has used this experience.
Here's what I know and where I have thrown my anchor.
I believe that God either allows or orchestrates (big difference) everything in our lives. In the life of a person of faith I believe that God uses everything to bring glory and honor to His name, that He rewards the faithfulness of His children, and that in all things He is working to bring more people into His kingdom and into relationship with Him.
Because of that belief, I will gladly suffer any hardship, bear any pain, endure any trial, or persevere through any suffering. Because I know my God is simply using the experience for a higher purpose, I am privileged to play any role He desires, no matter how difficult.
And I know that is the case here. And would endure it again if called to by my Lord.
I also more than ever have personally witnessed and experienced the intimate love of Jesus through this. If I can find the words I will share here soon something that happened to me while on life support that reinforced that so much that I am weeping now as I think about it.
Finally, never ever underestimate the power of prayer. The prayers of so many of you, friends, and saints from churches all over the community and country-- your prayers saved me and sustained me. God was moved to respond to your petitions on my behalf. I will never find adequate words to thank you for what you did for me.
That's all for now. More later.