"Why me Mom?" This is a question I heard several times this week. The healthiest of my children, who has never had to visit the ER, woke up in pain Sunday am and by the end of the day she had been operated on to remove her appendix. Jessica was in shock to find that her very first visit to the ER included surgery and a three day hospital stay. This was a great learning time for Jessica and our family
We were exhausted from an 11 hour day sitting in the ER waiting for tests, results, and for the surgeon to finally take Jessica for the appendectomy. But those long hours taught us some valuable lessons. My son, Justin, learned to be more patient and that he CAN survive without the internet, Nintendo, or PSP to entertain him. It was a good lesson for him to learn and I pray he will continue to learn it as time goes on. Marissa, my oldest, learned that she doesn't like to see her sister in pain and that she is pretty sure she does NOT want to be in the medical field when she grows up. :-) So, I guess her chosen path of culinary school was reaffirmed this weekend. Mark and I learned not to assume that our children are exaggerating their pain level! We thought she just had a stomach ache and if she had not insisted that her Daddy understand how bad she was hurting, life could have been much worse. We learned that Jessica had a deeper faith in God than we thought. And Jessica learned the most lessons.
She learned that even when you pray and you expect God to answer a certain way (in this case no surgery, no appendicitis) and he answers differently, it is still under His control and His ways are best even when it doesn't make sense. Jessi also learned that she truly is loved by many people. See, like all young people (ok, make that MOST people) she though she was not really cared for by anyone outside of her immediate family. She was shown differently. We received so many calls and texts from our church family as the day progressed and people heard about her situation. Then she received several visitors who brought her favorite things; Dr. Pepper, Oreos, and BK Chicken Sandwich. She got flowers from our church and pastor. In fact, she was blessed to have him come and pray for her, not just once, but twice while she was in the hospital. She learned that she is tough and can survive unknown situations with a wonderful prayerful attitude. She learned that although her brother and sister can bug her to death sometimes, they were shook up by her pain and suffering and truly do love her.
We are finally home and able to rest more comfortably. And we are still learning lessons each day. This has definitely brought Jessi and I closer than we were. Constant attendance to her every ache, pain, and needs helped Jessica to know I truly do love her and that she is more important to me than (and please do not misunderstand this statement) church, the music department, and busy schedules. Those are all great things but Jessica and our family is more important. I was able to ensure they all knew that this week. ILC had had a choir clinic this last weekend and the choir was singing both services Sunday. When Jessi had to go to ER, I dropped everything, arranged for someone else to take care of the altar call and evening service, and ran to her side. I learned that lesson too. I am a true mom who will do whatever needs to be done to make sure her babies are taken good care of.
Appendectomies are scary events, but with God on our side, we endured, learned, and won the prize: a closer relationship with each other and God!
