Final Stretch(es) (11358)

I am literally doing some final stretches prior to surgery...  There is little left to do today so Stacey and I spent the morning sleeping in then watched a movie.  We are just relaxing and trying to enjoy the last day of "normal us time".  We are down to the final few hours before we need to report to the hospital.  By this time tomorrow we should be almost done with surgery.

Once again we are rejoicing in the provision and care that has been shown to us through so many.  Lindsey is coming today to look after Paige and be with Stacey through the whole week.  It is something that has again helped put me at ease knowing that Stacey will have her sister to help and to lean on.  My parents will also be getting in this evening so we will have them here for the surgery and then the next few crucial days as well.  There are a lot of things that we tried to think through in regards to comfort and getting over the first few days... but having your mommy here just makes sense right?  Dad too.  I wouldn't have what little common sense I do have without his phrases running through my head.  So we are just "doing the next right thing" and I have been thinking about how many people have sacrificed for us from parents to siblings and friends.  Dad has often said in regards to money: "It's God's money and He can do with it what He wants." but the point has always been that we are not the masters of our things so it is up to us to trust God with what we are stewards of because in the end it belongs to Him anyhow.  Kind of makes things simple enough for me to get my head around, know what i mean Vern?  We have peace in that all God has given Stacey and I still belongs to Him.  They are His and His alone.  He will do as He sees fit and we have seen His goodness in provision and presence all along the way so far.  He has brought us to a place where we couldn't have imagined being just a few years ago.

Prayers and gifts have come from all over the world--literally.  We have not yet felt like we are doing any part of this in a vacuum or that we have been alone for a second.  That is amazing and amazingly comforting.  Thank you to all those who have prayed for peace and for all of you who have done something to bring peace.

Stacey and I met as teenagers who knew everything some thirteen years ago.  We since learned how little we knew and how selfish we are.  It has been an amazing journey from the girl I knew was special to the woman I know was meant for me.  Life became harder than we ever imagined and I am not sure that when we were googly eyed college students we could have ever guessed the journey we would take together.  Thank goodness for that because she would have likely run and still be on the run today... but that again is the goodness of our Great God.  He brought me to a place where I was unexpectedly enamored with an Indiana girl.  Then through the years of marriage and children and pain and disability He showed Himself to me through her love and devotion and care for me.  I am not an easy person to love--I mean really love.  I pride myself at being palatable in small doses but living with me has certain drawbacks.  She has seen and put up with the worst bits of Michael.  She has hung in there when life was too hard to deal with.  She stayed and did the next right thing and then the next.  In the darkest hours of my pain and frustration and sorrows she has been the tangible chord of love.  She has been the thing I knew I could cling to when the storms came and blocked my view of hope and peace and the good plan of God.  I am not saying she has been the most cheerful companion, because that might have been really hard to deal with, but she has been real and she has been present when I needed her the most.

One of the things that excites me most about tomorrow is the thought that I will begin to regain my husband abilities.  I have been a husband reduced to words more than actions.  It has taught us much and required me to think and speak with more care, but I long for the days when I can again "take care of stuff".  I want to build things, and fix things.  I think there are certain parts of everyone's character that, broken as it is by sin, still holds a little of that original likeness of our creator.  I love fixing things.  A few months ago I was working on something and could not find a pair of channel lock pliers that I knew should be "right there".  They were not right anywhere.  When I finally located the tool--it has been left in a cup of water.  The three dollar pliers were rusted shut and would be useless.  It was one or two in the morning and since I couldn't sleep anyway and the original project was no rush I began to take apart the pliers.  I soaked them, sanded, filed, and worked on the pliers for over an hour.  It was peaceful and cathartic.  It was also a great reminder to me that God fixes broken things.  Not because of how valuable they are but because of how valuable He can make them.  It was about restoration.  I love that concept and as I worked on those pliers with a file and a few other tools I thought of all those who have helped scrape the gunk off of my own life.  I thought of all those who cared enough to be tools to restore me to usefulness.  My back will be worked on a lot tomorrow.  It will be broken and straightened and eventually through some healing restored as useful.  Just another picture of the fact that our God is a God of restoration.  I look forward to being healed enough in the days to come to find more things to fix...

In the meantime we have a ways to go.  Tomorrow we will report to the hospital at 5:30am and start the preparations for surgery, which is scheduled to start at 7:30am.  If all goes well then the surgeon should be done with me by 4-5pm.  That would be a nine hour surgery.  If the doctors take a long lunch or there are any complications then it may be a little later in the evening.  There should be approx. 24 screws and two 1/4" stainless steel rods approx. 20" in length in there by the time they close me up.  The doctors are expecting to use a few units of blood throughout the day to replace the loss expected in such a long and involved procedure.  I will be transferred to the ICU tomorrow evening and then to a regular recovery room the following day if everything is stable.  From there it will be a few weeks before the bones heal together and there is risk of clots and a one and ten chance that the bones will not heal to the hardware.  The days should consist of lots of meds and a little walking to gradually reversing the ratio to a little bit of medicine and a lot of walking.  We expect things to go well and if everything goes as planned then we should be out of the hospital as early as Friday the eighteenth.  We will then stay in Saint Louis for another few days and have a post operative appointment Tuesday so that we can be cleared to go home!

There may be some slight changes on the above itinerary but for now that is what we are looking at.  Stacey will be keeping people up to date on Facebook and I will get back to the keyboard as soon as the doctors allow and Stacey clears me for "appropriateness in spite of drugs"

Thanks again for all of you that care for our family and putting up with my ramblings when you likely just wanted a quick update...

Jon Michael Moorehead