Update:
Most of Tuesday morning I rested giving my eye more time to recover
after surgery. About 3 p.m. I finally
took the eye patch off and began using both eyes. There was still slight pain in my eye but it
felt good enough to begin using it. As I
said before, there is no apparent vision loss at this time thankfully. I had a slight case of double vision which I
had been told to expect.
I have been searching on-line for a bar stool with back and arms to
purchase. I know that I won’t be strong
enough to stand for my Sunday sermon for some time to come—and I want to focus
my attention and energy on preaching and not standing. I decided to head to Eau Claire and go to HOM
Furniture store to try out whatever they had in stock. Looking at a picture on-line only goes so far
with me, I need to see it and touch it and sit on it in person. It turns out that HOM Furniture had the very
first stool that I considered in their show room. Their website said that the Eau Claire store
didn’t have any in stock. I found out
that this was a discontinued chair and all they had left was the floor model. I tried it and a number of other chairs and
was very satisfied with it, so I purchased it.
I got $100 off because it was the floor model. The handrail for going up the stairs onto the
platform at church should be installed this week, so I should be preaching from
my stool on Sunday.
I left the furniture store and headed to the hospital to visit one of
my parishioners who had surgery that day.
The info desk wasn’t manned so I dialed the operator for assistance in finding
the room number. They couldn’t find who
I was looking for and I kept getting cut off.
As I sat in my wheelchair wondering what I should do and uttering a
silent prayer of wisdom, I heard my name called and looked up to see the
daughter of the person I was looking for.
Her mother’s surgery had taken longer than expected but it went
well. Her mom was still in post-op recovery. I was very glad that God had led her to the
elevators near the info desk right when I was there. It sounded like mom wouldn’t be up for any
visitors so I left planning to return in a few days.
I headed over to Altoona Fire Department to spend the evening with the
firefighters that I knew would be there—it’s Tuesday night—where else would
they be? I enjoyed the camaraderie and
getting to talk with them for a while.
After the meeting was over, I slipped into the Police Department and met
the new part-time officer. I spent a few
minutes talking with him and his training officer and then I headed home.
As I came into Fall Creek, I decided to see if I could catch the FC
police officers at the office. I got to talk
with the officer on duty and the new part-time officer being trained there as
well.
I ended up back home at about 10:45 p.m. and made it safely inside to
get ready for bed. Except for the
hospital which has a long walk from the parking garage into the building where
I used my wheelchair, the rest of the time I used my walker. Not having to load the wheelchair in and out
of the truck felt so good. The walking
also is good exercise and practice for me.
Even with how little I’ve been out with my walker, I’ve really come to
dislike the door mats and entryway rugs—nothing but a tripping hazard for me to
navigate around. I am also putting less
and less weight on the walker as I use it.
I hope to soon walk well enough to graduate to a cane.
Overall I had a busy afternoon and night and I thoroughly enjoyed every
moment of it. I was happy to find that I
had enough energy for everything—it felt like old times to me; although on
Wednesday I did sleep a little more to catch my energy back up.
Thought for the Day:
As I tell people about the eye injections and laser eye surgeries that
I’ve had; I get a common reaction. Usually
the person shivers and starts shaking their head and says something like, “I
could never go through that!” I just
kind of laugh and tell them that “You never know” because prior to the last few
months, I had trouble even putting eye drops in by myself. I tried contacts once a few years back and
quickly gave up because of the trauma of me trying to get them in. I even remember my dad telling me about an
eye surgery he had and my question was, “They did that to you while you were AWAKE?!??!!!”
My response to the latest person who shivered was, “You never know what
you can go through until you have to.”
Today in my devotional time, I was reading in the Gospel of Luke
22:31-34. Jesus foretells that Peter
will deny Him three times. Peter insists
that “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death” (v.33). Peter was convinced that he would stand right
next to Jesus and never waiver in his support of Him, no matter what would
come. But Jesus was right. Peter caved rather quickly. Not just once but three times in quick
succession!!
In life we don’t know what we will face with bravery and what will have
us shaking with fear until we are actually confronted with it. I work with Firefighters and Police Officers
who often have to swallow their fear and go into places that others are wisely
fleeing from. Where does that kind of
courage come from?
We may think that “I could never do that!” and yet when faced with the
challenge, we do. Or we may think that “I
will face that without a problem” and then be frozen with fear when the time
comes.
Like I said, when it comes to my eyes, I am the world’s biggest chicken;
but although the procedures are not comfortable—they are not the worst thing to
have happen to you. However, I’ve got to
say that I spend a whole lot more time praying asking for God’s peace and that
I could put away anxious fears for these eye appointments than for any other
thing that I have faced; but I know that “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13 NIV)
There may be a day that I will face an event and say, “Absolutely NO
WAY!” But each day until I am confronted
with that unconquerable fear, I am going to choose to believe and speak like
Peter did, “I can do this!” and all the while pray for the strength that I need
to stand firm and be an overcomer.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God
our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and
good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and
word.
No comments:
Post a Comment