Prayers and Blessings

Prayer works.

Consider that statement for a moment.

Prayer works.

When a person needs the help of a ventilator to breathe, there comes a time when you have to be weaned off of the vent. I had been on the vent for about a month when my respiratory therapist decided I was ready to try breathing on my own.

My first trial off the vent lasted for 30 minutes. At the end of those 30 minutes, my lungs and all the muscles helping me breathe were completely worn out. It felt like that strange tightness you get in your when you've laughed to hard and you have to gasp for breath.

Two weeks after this first trial, my average hours of breathing unassisted per day hovered around 3. Even though I worked every day at keeping calm, taking slow breaths and ignoring the slow ticking of the clock, I really hadn't made any significant progress towards total freedom from the vent.

Discouragement loomed, compounded by a weekend where I was simply too sick and weak to even attempt any time off the event and I felt like I would never be able to breathe on my own.

That Sunday night, one of my regular night nurses, Mini, asked if she could pray with me. After dispensing my meds, she closed the door, took my hand and began praying aloud. Mini asked God for complete healing and for strength so that I could breathe on my own. Her prayer was simple and direct, and left me feeling more hopeful than I had in days.

On Monday, I stayed off the vent for 5 hours. Tuesday, I increased my time to 8. From there, I kept building each day, until Thursday I stayed off the vent for 24 hours. To go from a place of total weakness and dependence to a place of freedom and strength in less than a week was nothing short of a miracle -- a direct result, I believe, of Mini's prayer and the prayers of my family and friends.

That progress has continued by leaps and bounds. I went back to work this week part-time exactly six months after Jim and I went to the ER. That kind of recovery simply doesn't happen without faithful people praying for strength and healing.

I look forward to continued progress and to the complete healing that has been prayed for by so many of you. I feel like the paralytic man whose friends lowered him down through the roof so that he could be healed by Jesus. I can only praise God for the dedication of my family and friends and for His blessings!

Hodge Podge

Hello again, everyone. I don't have one thing to write about today, but several things to catch you up on. I've also included a couple of pictures. The first one is Jim and me (yes, that's grammatically correct even though it sounds weird, I wish they'd change the rule already) modeling this year's youth group t-shirt.

The second is me trying to act natural while Jim takes a picture of me standing up. Of course you can see by the sheer awkwardness of the picture that I failed miserably at acting like I wasn't in front of a camera. I only added it here so you could see me standing up. I wanted to give a preview so that no one would be overwhelmed by the sheer awesomeness that is me and my walker (which you can see in the bottom left corner).

Over the past two Sundays, I've been wowing all of our church friends with my impressive walking skills. It's been about two months since I came home from the hospital, and in that time I feel like I've become a completely different person. I'm using the walker more and more now, and with Jim's help I'm using our front steps to get in and out of our house.

Aquatic therapy went really well on Thursday. I had to walk forwards, backwards and sideways across the pool. I also had to do different leg exercises, like hamstring curls, kicks and heel raises. The therapist (who spends about 32 hours a week in the pool) said water offers 12 times more resistance that dry land. I definitely believe her, because I was really wiped out when I got out of the pool!

Not this Monday, but next Monday I start back to work part-time. My company is being really great and allowing me to come in for two half-days a week. I'll only be working a total of 7 hours, but I'm so excited to get back to my desk. Mostly because I bought a box of SweetTarts a couple of days before I got sick, and I want to see if they're still good. I also have a Page-a-Day calendar that's probably still showing March.

Okay, so I'm only partially kidding about the SweetTarts, but it will be nice to get back into a normal routine. I can't wait for people to ask me if the coffee is fresh and if I brought the cookies. I also can't wait to complain about my computer being slow and ask my cubicle mate if it's five o'clock (or, in my case, 12:30) yet.

I'm also very excited to announce that Jim will be preaching on Sunday, Sept. 27 at both the early and late services. Everyone is invited out to hear this rising superstar in the Methodist church. There's no word on what he'll be speaking about, but I'll keep you posted as things develop!

More Walking and a Little Fishing

Today I left the wheelchair in the trunk of the car and just used my walker at church. I felt pretty confident that I could get around with out too much trouble, but I definitely over did it distance-wise. My ankles, knees, hips and back are protesting, and I'm sure it will be worse tomorrow.

A few people have asked me if I have any pain when standing or walking. In case you're wondering, but are too nice to ask, the answer is no, not really. My feet are still pretty numb, so when I stand up I can feel pressure in my heels but not in my toes. It's a very strange feeling, and it makes it hard to balance or tell where my feet are in space.

Getting around in the walker is definitely a sign of progress, and this week my therapist had me do a walking test to see how fast I am in relation to scientifically established averages. I had to stand up, walk 10 feet, turn around, walk back and then sit down. This took me about 50 seconds. The average person can do this in about 10 seconds. So I'm currently five times slower than you.

Even though I was worn out from my exciting morning, Jim and I took the wheelchair off-road to go fishing at our friend John's house. Well, Jim tried to do some fishing, but Ruth Ann had other ideas. Jim let her off leash, and she had the most wonderful time running around with the neighbor's dog. She also discovered how to dog paddle and how to jump in the water and retrieve. I had a great time sitting by the lake, enjoying the beautiful view and watching Ruthie splash around.

This week I start aquatic therapy! In addition to my regular PT, I'll be adding one session a week in the pool. It's nice because you can work on stretching, strength training and endurance all at once.