Just in Time

I often start my day envisioning what I think is to come and try to prepare myself to handle the coming course of events. This morning Sarah and I were both anticipating Elora's surgery and feeling a bit anxious about it. Logically we understood that this is a good thing and will ultimately help her make a large step forward in her development and growth. Emotionally, it is hard to swallow and we were working through that as we drove into the hospital.

I'm thrilled to say that the day went nothing like how we had pictured it in our minds. We walked into Elora's room and the nurse had a special gift for us...a big poopy diaper! We couldn't believe it. The day she was to have surgery to address a digestive system that wasn't working is the same day she has not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 full diapers by the time her surgery was scheduled to begin at 1:30. The doctor came in shortly after we arrived and was obviously very pleased with the turn of events. He said that they would continue to monitor her but that things seemed to suddenly be moving and if it continued they would look to start feeding her towards the end of this week. Needless to say, the surgery was cancelled. Some of you reading this may think that this is just a funny coincidence. I may be tempted to think that as well, but today's good news doesn't stop there.

About an hour after getting our first present, we got another. The doctor came back in to the room to give us the results of Elora's most recent brain scan. Ever since Elora had a bleed in her brain in week 1, the ventricals had filled with blood and had enlarged in a way that exerted some pressure on her developing brain. We learned today that the blood has continued to drain away from this space in her brain and that the ventricals are shrinking. They are still larger than normal, but moving in the right direction. Even more exciting, we learned that a cyst (caused by the bleeding) that had been visible in previous brain scans was basically "imperceptible" in today's scan. This news was followed up with the comment that neither the doctor nor the radiologists could explain why that would be as cysts don't really just go away in these situations. Once there, they usually stay there.

As you can imagine we are thrilled, grateful and humbled to think that God, in His infinite mercy and grace, saw fit to restore that which had been broken in our daughter's little body. Mending a broken world has been His story throughout human history, but it is amazing to be the recipient of that in such a real and tangible way. I don't know what tomorrow will bring. There could be future surgeries for issues we don't know anything about today. All I do know is that Sarah and I, along with so many of you, have been praying for specific healing for Elora, and today I am so happy to tell you that God heard those prayers and acted in a mighty way. Like I said, call it coincidence if you'd like. I can't. I have to call it the love of God.