Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Tuesday July 12, 2005 Today started out a little rough for me. Rushing here in the rain with traffic build up had me worried I wasn’t going to get to see Zack before they started rounds at 7:00 AM. As I was rushing to get stuff out of my car I dropped my keys down the sewer grate. Now I would have to wait until 8:30 to get into the ICU. It was worth the wait to see Zack doing so well. His ICP was 4 and I even saw it drop to 3 and 2. His white blood count has dropped to 7 so still no infection. He is breathing over the ventilator a lot when people talk to him and his blood pressure goes up which indicates he is aware of things going on around him. When he is accessed he opens his eyes and quickly moves his arms to wear they pinch him. At times I am wiping tears away. He is doing very surprising good (well surprising for the doctors but we know that God has been in control of this from the beginning). At 6:30 PM my whole world changed. I was taking Andy Raines and Ann Swope up to see Zack when I saw the lights on in his room. There was a lot of excitement and his nurse Tom called me into the room to tell me he was giving the thumbs up. Before long the room was full with the entire nursing staff and Zack gave us quite a show. His eyes were open; he would show us his thumb, wiggle his toes and stick out his tongue all on command. It was the most exile rating moment and lots of tears. Scott had to run from the room he was so overwhelmed. Rita and other visitors were running in and the staff was gracious to allow many people to share our experience. We wore Zack out. Some prayers have been answered quietly and others God throws at us like thunder! Needless to say my emotional state was entirely different than when I arrived at the hospital early this morning. I was practically running down the halls when we left him. None of this would be possible without the prayers of so many people. The doctors here have been great but God has been in control of this from day one. I have never asked why this happened. I know why it happened…it was an answered prayer. For the last several years every morning in my prayers for my children I ask that they be caught in their disobedience so bad behavior can be corrected. I didn’t expect the discipline to be quite so harsh but only God knows how to get Zack’s attention. And he got not only Zack’s attention but also the attention of all his friends and the many other teenagers who have heard what happened. That is my new prayer. So watch out kids because GOD ANSWERS PRAYER!