I will Recount all Your Wonders
God is always in control. He always loves us and always works everything together for good in the end. My husband is doing very well, by the way; thank you for your prayers.
I wrote the following during my husband's 9-hour lung surgery, on my caringbridge journal for Terry, 6/29/2020:
The Bible says when we're feeling faint of heart, we are to cry out to the Lord, pouring our distresses out and casting our cares on Him, and we are to recount all the times He's delivered us in the past:
Terry's dealt with these blood clots for many, many years. Looking back, we remember him having chest pains when our kids were small, and there were times that the clots were diagnosed as pneumonia (it's actually common that they don't get diagnosed for years). I've even read that a spleenectomy can cause the clots to form and build up. He had his spleen out when he was in 8th grade and wrecked his bike. They don't know the exact cause of his disease- why he gets blood clots- but it makes you wonder.
Drs diagnosed Terry with deep vein thrombosis and a pulmonary embolism in 2017, and two weeks after a PA took him off blood thinners (against his wishes), he called from the end of a night shift and told me I'd probably have to drive him to the ER when he got home from work (work is about 45 minutes from home; home is 30 minutes from the hospital). I immediately prayed that God would make it very clear whether Terry should go to the hospital then, or drive home. It was not long after- maybe 5 or 10 minutes- that his supervisor called and told me Terry'd passed out at work. He was going to the ER in an ambulance.
What if he'd tried to drive home like that? He and his carpool friend could have been killed, along with others. God was in the situation then and now.
Here's another story of God's presence in this situation. Terry was in ICU for days for the incident above in Dec 2017- Jan 2018, and after his release, we met with a cardiologist who told him his scan looked good; he had blood clots and PH, but would heal eventually. Terry was supposed to see a pulmonologist in Billings, but a local GP told him he didn't need to see one, so we cancelled the appt. in Billings. A year passed, with Terry complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath (he'd breath hard climbing the three steps to our back door) and a different GP saying, "Ya gotta give PH time." Finally, in 2019 Terry demanded a referral to a pulmonologist, and was sent to Billings Clinic, where a new pulmonologist had arrived. Dr. LoVerde is a Godsend. He took a look at that same scan from 2017 and diagnosed Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension, and immediately worked to get him on specialty drugs that opened and relaxed his remaining blood vessels. He knows about this disease and had connections to get Terry treated here in San Diego. Terry wasn't healthy enough for surgery until he'd been on the meds for a year.
Dr. LoVerde saved Terry's life. I believe that had we seen the pulmonologist a year earlier, it may have been that that dr. would have seen what Sheridan drs saw. He may have said, "Give it time." Terry would not be alive. God put Dr. LoVerde in our lives at the perfect time to save Terry. And guess what, this gifted pulmonologist is transferring to a university hospital in the Southeast this summer. Talk about timing. So even when it seems like some drs dropped the ball, the Lord has a plan through all of it, and will work it all- even the really rotten stuff- together for good in the end.
Pardon my rambling. It's good to share these stories of His love. Thank you for your prayers.
Terry's dealt with these blood clots for many, many years. Looking back, we remember him having chest pains when our kids were small, and there were times that the clots were diagnosed as pneumonia (it's actually common that they don't get diagnosed for years). I've even read that a spleenectomy can cause the clots to form and build up. He had his spleen out when he was in 8th grade and wrecked his bike. They don't know the exact cause of his disease- why he gets blood clots- but it makes you wonder.
Drs diagnosed Terry with deep vein thrombosis and a pulmonary embolism in 2017, and two weeks after a PA took him off blood thinners (against his wishes), he called from the end of a night shift and told me I'd probably have to drive him to the ER when he got home from work (work is about 45 minutes from home; home is 30 minutes from the hospital). I immediately prayed that God would make it very clear whether Terry should go to the hospital then, or drive home. It was not long after- maybe 5 or 10 minutes- that his supervisor called and told me Terry'd passed out at work. He was going to the ER in an ambulance.
What if he'd tried to drive home like that? He and his carpool friend could have been killed, along with others. God was in the situation then and now.
Here's another story of God's presence in this situation. Terry was in ICU for days for the incident above in Dec 2017- Jan 2018, and after his release, we met with a cardiologist who told him his scan looked good; he had blood clots and PH, but would heal eventually. Terry was supposed to see a pulmonologist in Billings, but a local GP told him he didn't need to see one, so we cancelled the appt. in Billings. A year passed, with Terry complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath (he'd breath hard climbing the three steps to our back door) and a different GP saying, "Ya gotta give PH time." Finally, in 2019 Terry demanded a referral to a pulmonologist, and was sent to Billings Clinic, where a new pulmonologist had arrived. Dr. LoVerde is a Godsend. He took a look at that same scan from 2017 and diagnosed Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension, and immediately worked to get him on specialty drugs that opened and relaxed his remaining blood vessels. He knows about this disease and had connections to get Terry treated here in San Diego. Terry wasn't healthy enough for surgery until he'd been on the meds for a year.
Dr. LoVerde saved Terry's life. I believe that had we seen the pulmonologist a year earlier, it may have been that that dr. would have seen what Sheridan drs saw. He may have said, "Give it time." Terry would not be alive. God put Dr. LoVerde in our lives at the perfect time to save Terry. And guess what, this gifted pulmonologist is transferring to a university hospital in the Southeast this summer. Talk about timing. So even when it seems like some drs dropped the ball, the Lord has a plan through all of it, and will work it all- even the really rotten stuff- together for good in the end.
Pardon my rambling. It's good to share these stories of His love. Thank you for your prayers.