Writer's Workshop

1.) Your trip to the ER...spill it.
My trips to the Emergency Room are not for me…but for sweet hubby! Early in May, I received a phone call, just as I arrived at a church craft day I was to attend with my mom. I pull in the church parking lot, and my phone rings. On the phone, is a calm, sweet hubby, asking where urgent care was located because he cut himself on the table saw. I nonchalantly gave him the location and hung up. Then, realizing in was the wrong location, I dialed again. I sat…and as I sat, I realized that he said that he had cut and tablesaw in the same sentence! What, this man who has so deftly, creatively, and, above all, carefully operated our tablesaw for over 40 years, building china cabinets, Barbie houses, toy kitchens, trebuchets, patio roofs, shelving additions…could not be. He answered, and I told him where the correct location was, and asked if he wanted me to meet him there. He said yes, so I went. On to the adventure of the day. First, the urgent care doc and he looked at the cut…I was at his feet…the cut was so jagged…almost half his thumb held there by a piece of flesh, but not through the bone. Urgent care doc couldn’t treat it, so he cleaned it, counseled us to not go to the hospital next door…no hand surgeon…but downtown, over 40 minutes away…to a major hospital. That hospital is absolutely for the birds. I was left in a waiting room for over 4 hours, waiting to hear…surgeon or not. He snuck calls to me from the forbidden cell phone, giving me information that the hospital refused to share with me. Meanwhile, I am a basket case. I can handle most anything happening to me, and Mom Mode takes over during my kids’ mishaps…must remain calm and optimistic for the kiddies…but when it happens to him, I lose it. I imagined that he had coded and they were working on him, hauling him down the corridor to intensive care and that my only word would be when he regained consciousness, or they found the evil cell phone in his possession. I was nearly in tears, drove both my daughters in law nuts, and, I fear, proved to my mother in law that her son indeed should have married someone much more stable!! Finally, after 90 minutes of stitching, he came out, happy…and numb…ready to face the world. We determined that, during our LONG wait, they were deciding whether this 50 something guy and his thumb were worthy of a hand surgeon. Cigna, apparently, thought he was too old for that kind of repair, so a nurse practitioner did the tedious work. Oh, boy, here comes “Obama-care”. And we, now, are left…a numb thumb, and questions over what could have been if he had been younger…or I had not needed those little pieces of wood…that yet are unfinished due to the guilt.


3.) Describe one of your 'God Moments'.
My daughter had struggled through difficult pregnancies, and had lost two babies. When she finally got past the time she lost the others, we felt “home free”. Whoa…not so fast. Another sidestep came, near the end. Daughter began experiencing difficulties…elevated blood pressure put her, first, on bed rest, and then in the hospital. Decisions as to baby’s condition led to the decision to induce. Even that went nowhere. Finally, there was no other way except to deliver baby C-section. Worries over baby’s lungs…no one could be sure. He would probably need special care for awhile…we would not see him right away. Prayers flooded our minds and hearts. Here I was, worried about my baby…my first baby…my first miracle…the one that made my dreams of being a Mommy come true…and her baby, her first baby…the one that will make her dream of being a Mommy come true. It would be fine…little one would be on oxygen…maybe we would see him tomorrow. Suddenly, a figure walked down the hall…my son in law. What was he carrying…blankets? He came, closer, and closer. Soon, we could see the broadest smile on this face, and those blankets…were not blankets…but a sweet, wonderful, healthy – albeit thin- baby boy. What a moment, to look in awe and gratitude as nurses cleaned and cared for sweet baby boy, while I watched unaware of the many, many others watching in wonder at this sweet, wonderful miracle baby. Our prayers had been answered…and yet, I was not at peace until my final prayer, the one for my baby, was answered. And, it was, and she was wheeled down the hallway, and to her room…a happy, healthy Mommy. Yes, a God moment indeed, and what was more miraculous was later to be found out. It seems the Lord in his wisdom, knew better than any. Baby boy was attached to the placenta in such a way that, had he been born “naturally”, he would have bled to death before anything could be done! That “lack of progress” in labor, that c-section, saved baby boy’s life: another God moment. And this sweet child, and his every so sweet younger sister, have given us opportunities to witness miracles. Heavenly Father gives us so much, and we drop to our knees in gratitude for these moments, these precious and tender miracles.