August 18 – “A purple what?”

I made an early morning hospital visit yesterday.  I went to UTMB to pray with a couple we have known since I did their wedding on the beach about 20 years ago and they ended up coming to Seaside.  Mike eventually became the youth pastor and Cindy became the pastor’s secretary and then the administrative assistant of Seaside Christian Academy.  Quite the story of growth there, wouldn’t you say?  Cindy was scheduled for surgery to investigate a possible tumor causing a lot of pain in her leg.  As they wheeled her into the surgery suite her parting words were, “Make sure you ask the doc if this tumor was a boy or a girl.”  And that was before the medication even kicked in.  Love ya, Cindy.

Did I mention that I finally had some candles to blow out the other night?  Cailyn made some homemade waffles for supper.  Green waffles.  And she put candles in each serving, even her own.  Before we could eat we had to sing the Happy birthday song to each other. 

Last night we had our family birthday party over at Kel and Christina’s.  Nathan and April came, too, so there was a mass migration to Texas as far as the Vaughan clan was concerned.  Then Josh and his boys FaceTimed us, so the connection was complete.  Kel’s kids and Cailyn took off with the iPad and gave Zak and Caleb a tour of their house, so Josh called back on Chris’ phone and we got to talk to Luke for a while.  We came out of the evening quite nicely.  Gift card to Gringo’s.  Mexican food for Chris and a date.  Hope it’s me.  She also got a jewelry box from Cailyn.  Nathan and April got her a bicycle helmet and a cell phone holder for the brand new purple bike she got from me.  I know that means I will probably be getting one soon as well.  I’m trying to hold out for a motorized scooter, though.  Maybe I can plead the back pain excuse. 

Speaking of which, I called the neurologist’s office to get the results of my blood tests and MRI.  Blood work first.  I have to take vitamin B12 shots or nasal spray, whichever is cheaper and/or covered by insurance.  OK, not a problem.  I haven’t googled that one to see what super power I have been missing because of it.  The other stuff seemed to be inconsequential enough that no other action was recommended.  Then came the MRI.  I asked for the results of it, and her answer was, “We have faxed the results over to Dr. Weil so you can discuss it with him.”  OK, wait a minute.  When did Dr. Weil come into the picture?  He is the neurosurgeon who did my last three neck surgeries.  I finally convinced her to read off the results to me.  Sure enough, the stenosis in my lumbar area apparently warrants at least a discussion with a neurosurgeon.  Wonderful.  There’s a phone call I admit I am not anxious to make.  Sigh.  The drama that is my journey through pain continues. 

Colossians 4:2-3 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  And pray for us, too.”

Father, thank you for our family and for times when we can all come together.  And thank you for the pain, too.  I know I don’t need to know the whys, so I’ll keep on trusting you for those.  Amen.