Hands and house

Hands and house

Monday, September 12, 2011

God is so good...

Your love, oh Lord Reaches to the heavens. Your faithfulness stretches to the sky...
Third Day

I sit here tonight at a loss for words as to how to even begin to describe today. It feels like it must have been years but was only one day. So the bottom line is that Georgia's surgery was successful, she even looks more pink, and God was so very faithful to be right there with us through the roller coaster. My heart is welling up with thankfullness while also feeling battered and bruised by all that happened on this very long day.
Georgia's surgery went as planned and she was stable through all of it. Soon after we got to the recovery waiting room a tech came and asked that one of Georgia's parents come back with him. As I got back there I could see Georgia's beautiful black hair and see her writhing body. A big part of a cath procedure is that the patient HAS to lay flat on their back for at least 4 hours without moving the affected leg. Well, Miss Georgia was terrified, head tossing, eyes wildly searching, screaming, kicking and tossing her body with all of her strength. It was taking three grown adults to even try to hold her down.
I got right up to her head, cheek to cheek and whispered through her tear soaked hair, "Mama's here, it's ok..." She looked wildly for me and focused for a second but was just too out of it to fully understand. Her little voice was hoarse and scratchy and she was coughing like a seal. They fed more pain meds into her IV and within minutes she calmed into a light sleep.
A few minutes later, she screamed out and writhed again and all I could think to do was sing, anything I could think of which happened to mainly be her favorite VBS songs that we listened to over and over on the way in. As I sang, alarms began to go off and I watched the screens as her SATs (oxygen levels) dipped...80...70....60....40. She turned purple and there began to be a ton of people around the bed as they fed even more pain meds into her IV. Ever so slowly she once again clamed and once again her SATs edged upwards.
Again, a few minutes later she awoke and rapidly those SATs dipped. I saw the nurse begin to grab the bags off the wall. If you have been in a hospital room you know the ones I'm talking about, the ones that are only for the really big emergencies. I watched as she opened them and laid them on the bed in quick reach as Georgia's SATs dropped again....50....30.....all the while singing "Jesus loves me" loud and offkey, praying in between verses...as another nurse made a panicked phone call and yet more doctors came and stood around my little girl...SATs at 20%, me signing with my cheek pressed against her purple one begging God to make those numbers go back up.I honestly felt like we were on the verge of losing Georgia. I don't know how long this went on, this dance of meds and nose diving. At one point the nurse argued with the anethesiologist and said she refused to be the one to put more medication into Georgia's little body. I honestly do not know who won that argument, I was too busy holding Georgia down. They dosed her up one more time with anti-anxiety meds and I ran out (while I knew she would be sleeping) to update Doug and have him ask people to pray.
Back in the recovery room the dance continued but they switched to anti-anxiety meds which allow her to rest for a little longer between de-SATs. They said I could go and get Doug so after another big dose of meds I ran out to get him. That is when I updated the blog and facebook asking people to pray. We came back to find her sleeping peacfully. She slept for about 30 minutes then opened her eyes and for the first time looked at me and said, "Mommy." It was night and day, our little girl was there! She began to drink for the first time and to slowly speak a little bit. I do not know what changed except that we had people praying. She slowly progressed from there and before long they were taking her upstairs to her room for a popsicle.
From that point on, it was as if Georgia was blooming back into her beautiful loving self full of cuddles and "I love yous"

I honestly don't know what to make of it all and you know what, I think that is ok. There are a few things that I do know that make figuring it all out pale.

I know that God was so very present in that room. I know that as I held my daughter down, my hand literally over her heart...all that filled my vision was that picture my friend told me about of God's hand covering Georgia's heart. It literally filled everything so that I could not give in to fear. There is a scripture that says perfect love casts out fear and through all of that craziness today I felt that perfect love from God deep in my bones.
I also know that there is power in the name of Jesus. There was a reason that I sang "Jesus loves me" over and over. I tried other songs, some of her favorites like "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "The Wheels on the bus" and it was as if she could not even hear me. But every. single. time I sang Jesus' name she responded, she turned, she calmed a little bit. I am not kidding, it was every single time.
I also know it was not a medication that brought her out of herr nosedive. They medical team was doing the same thing over and over in hopes of pulling her out of it only to watch her dip back in. The only thing that changed was asking people to specifically pray. I swear, it was almost right after we sent out prayer emails,  and on facebook & the blog that she began to turn around.

So tonight, I am exhausted. But more than that...I desire to get down on my knees and worship the One, the ONLY One who got us through today. I am amazed at how closely we have been carried, how deeply the God of the Universe cares for our little girl with the broken heart.

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;

he delivers them from all their troubles.

 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  
Psalm 34:17-18

You are beautiful beyond description


Too marvelous for words

Too wonderful of comprehension

Like nothing ever seen or heard

Who can grasp you infinite wisdom

Who can fathom the depth of your love

You are beautiful beyond description

Majesty enthroned above


And I stand, I stand in awe of you

I stand, I stand in awe of you

Holy God to whom all praise is due

I stand in awe of you
- Hillsong









7 comments:

Jennifer Weis said...

Shannon! Praise the Lord!!! I read your blog through tears and thank you so much for writing about what our great God did for sweet Georgia today. He alone is capable of that kind of miracle!!

Jennifer Weis

Chrissie said...

tears falling fro you tonight - thank you Jesus for your goodness to us, especially to Georgia today. Praying for a quick and full recovery.

3 Little armstrongs said...

Shannon, you amaze me. Your faith and strength through all this is, well beyond words. There is a verse that God gave me during a VERY hard time. I belive this verse was true for Georgia (and you) today. I believe that HE was there in the room with is hand over yours on Georgia's heart. Protecting and keeping safe a life is so very precious. Again, your faith is amazing and you are stronger than you realize.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. psalm 57:1

lots of love and hugs being sent your way!
Shannon

Stephanie said...

Thank God everything is ok! my daughter couldn't sleep last night so i told her about Georgia and she fell asleep praying foe her.

I'm so glad that this is over for all of you!

praying for Georgia;s continued recovery!

Renee said...

Having chills here reading all that went on with Georgia and how the prayers of others brought her out of these episodes. PRAISE GOD!! Your sweet Georgia is back...and it wa successful...

Just a couple of days ago I was struggling personally about prayer and our loving God sent me an article from the Angels on Earth magazine that spoke volumes to me..
The short version: A man almost died from pancreatis and was in and out of consciousness for weeks...he had a vivid dream where there were two mountain ranges and inbetween was a beautiful valley. One range was death and the other was life and they were battling for him. He felt at peace and did not care whether he lived or died but he watched this battle and at the end he knew he would live....then a beautiful fireworks show started with all these lights raining down from the sky like small twirling leaves of light..and he KNEW these were all the prayers that had gone up for him and saved his life!!!!!!!
It has changed how I feel about praying ~ I knew it was powerful but this story spoke to me about how powerful and IMPORTANT prayer is...
Georgia had her own display of firework prayers that the heavens heard!!!! PRAISE GOD!

Cindy said...

HUGS and prayers!

Michelle P. said...

Praise the name of Jesus! That's the song running through my head right now. Though we don't know your family personally, we have been praying for you and rejoice in the mighty way that the Lord has answered.

Michelle Parker

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