#23 - I was sent to tell you...

Date Sent: Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 11:33 AM

I sent an email on Sunday asking prayer about an infection that was developing very close to the catheter going into my heart. Thank you for all of your prayers! They seem to be getting a "yes / I'll take care of it" answer from God.

On Monday morning when I woke up it looked like the infection was spreading. There were three additional red raised areas under the dressing, and each had yellow centers ("pustules" my mother called them). So, I phoned the cardiologist that treats my PH locally (my "in case of emergency" doctor - since the one in Pittsburgh is the one actually treating my condition), and left a message about what happened over the weekend, and the new developments. His nurse returned the call, and told me that he was on duty at the hospital. He said for me to go there (to a particular office) and have him paged, and he would take a look at it. How ACCOMMODATING! So, I phoned Aaron who was already at work, and he met me there. The doctor listened to our story and then confirmed the need to be proactive about it. He took blood cultures to check if the infection has spread to my blood, and ordered an antibiotic (the ER doctor "didn't want to go to an extreme by prescribing an antibiotic"). We're supposed to change the dressing every day or every other day (it's usually once a week), to help keep the skin disinfected while it's healing. We feel SO MUCH BETTER having an antibiotic and having someone who knows me, and about PH look at it. So, now we're playing the waiting game for the infection to clear (and still praying that it doesn't spread).

I was very nervous about this infection - I REALLY don't want to be hospitalized again. In Pittsburgh we were told that a line infection or blood infection was one of the seriously bad things we needed to watch out for. We have been extremely careful about how we've been keeping the whole area clean over these past six months. But it happened anyway. I had been wondering why.

I thought I had heard God tell me to do something on Sunday, but because of how the day was going, I was questioning if it was God or my own thoughts. (I had been somewhere, but didn't hear His voice until I was about 20 miles away, and to do it would have meant me turning around and I was tired.) The office I was to meet the doctor in yesterday was (I am so bad with distances) maybe 75 feet inside the main entrance of the huge hospital. So, on the way into the hospital I prayed that if it was God's will for me to do that thing, that I would see a particular person while I was there (who I guessed might in the hospital, but I wasn't sure). Well, within three minutes of sitting in the waiting room, God had her walk by the room, look in the window, see us, and come in to say hello. So, God used her and she didn't even know it (and all she had to do to be used by God was walk!). And I obeyed (as soon as the appointment was over). Was this why all of this happened to us - so that I'd do what God wanted me to do? When I was first impressed to do it I was 20 miles away and 24 hours later hadn't taken the initiative to drive there. So, God made sure that I went. Jonah was told to do something by God, and went in the opposite direction (for very different reasons than I did, though). God sent a whale to swallow him until he agreed to do God's will. I'm glad that God sent a friend to me, rather than a whale!

While we were in the waiting room, waiting for the doctor to come, a stranger - young woman (about my age) came in, sat down, and kept glancing over at Aaron and me. A few minutes later she came over and said "I was sent down here to tell you that God says everything is going to be okay." She looked a little nervous (wondering how I was going to react), and had a glow about her. I thanked her and my eyes filled with tears. My fears were gone. Just as God had sent me to that hospital to do something, He sent someone else to let us know that I would be okay (I'm tearing up now as I remember this experience). She asked if we believed in Christ, and I said "yes," and that God has sent me to give people messages before. I thanked her for telling us. She said that when He tells you, you just have to do it. I smiled, knowingly. The girl remained in the waiting room while we saw the doctor (she told us that she'd be praying while we were with him), and then gave us a questioning thumbs up when we finished. We returned the affirming gesture - everything had gone well. As I left the room I turned to wave and whispered a "thank you." It was my turn go do what God had instructed.

~ Julia