a day of rejoicing

Three years ago today Jason was discharged from North Memorial Hospital.  After 22 days and 5 surgeries he was finally cleared from his wound care nurses, urologist, colon rectal specialist, hospitalist, infectious disease specialist, internal medicine, nutrition monitoring, and physical therapy. Only by the grace of God was he able to leave that hospital!  Coming in with a white blood count in the 30's and leaving with it at 13 was miraculous.  Time and again I was told by surgeons that Jason's chances for survival were slim.  He had massive surgical wounds that required 5 more months of dressing and packing (by me, the new nurse!) several times a day as well as 2 more surgeries and many many doctor visits. Those months were so special.  There was a peace and stillness and emotional bonding and a joyful praising and a re-living of God's goodness and a fresh perspective and most of all an acute eternal focus.  We haven't shared a lot of details about the recovery process (and it was a long and painful process) and that's because the big picture is far more important! Each day we are thankful for God's gift of life. There have been and continue to be complications, challenges, discomfort, and inconveniences, but these are minor in light of Christ's work on our behalf and we are thankful for the testing of our faith. February 2, 2010 was a day of rejoicing in our home and we will always remember it as one of the gracious works of God in our family.