hospital day

Just like I have a funeral file started with my pastor, I am starting to compile my incapacitated / terminal file. Today, I learned that the best care a person can receive in Dallas is at Children's Medical Center (specifically the ICU area). Holy. Cow. What. A. Place.

As a side note, I'll just warn you now that if I ever go seriously terminal, I am going to buy a carton of Marlboro Reds, and until they are all smoked down, you won't hear two words from me that are not completely enveloped in sweetly scented clouds of Marlboro glory. But that, ladies and gents is another story, and hardly the actual point of this post.

Today I had the privilege of hanging out with some dear friends at Children's. It started out scary - their little girl, baby Rachel, a barely one year old Down Syndrome child was in for the second major surgery (the first being open heart surgery) of her young life. This kid is one of the sweetest and cutest little things you ever did see. It broke all of our hearts to think that she would have to endure this operation. It's very complicated, but the bottom line is that her "airway was compromised." Supposedly this was a birth defect, and the surgery included a graft of cartilage from one of her ribs in to her trachea. Mind you, this is a baby we are talking about.

When I got to the hospital, I encountered baby Rachel's parents nervously awaiting the moment when Rachel would be taken from them and into surgery. When the nurse came, we still had enough time to hold hands and pray. For some reason, I was able to completely connect with the fear and anxiety in the room. How completely difficult it would be for Lee Ann (Rachel's mom) to once again surrender her child to others who could hopefully do something good for her in the operating room. It was overwhelming.

Good news came an hour later. The graft would not be necessary, at least not now. A cyst had developed that needed to be removed. Once that was gone, Rachel would have a really good chance of basically growing out of this. No defect. No further surgery. A hope for a somewhat normal breathing life. What a relief.

Rachel will need to stay in ICU for a night just to be sure, but it seems that she is going to be OK. I can only barely imagine the relief that Jim and Lee Ann must be feeling tonight. I'm so thankful for a chance to hold the hands of dear friends when the control is clearly gone and the comfort we can give to each other has to be enough for now.

I guess that's just one more reminder of how fragile it all really is, and how important we can and should be to one another.

Have a terrific weekend.