What does almost two weeks out of surgery look like?

I can't believe that it's been almost two weeks since we got the call. This time has flown by! Did you know that the hospital is a black hole of time? It's unbelievable that when you sit in the hospital, doing nothing but supporting the patient, time will actually zip by before you know it. You'd think it would crawl by sluggishly, but it's actually the opposite.

I am so sorry that I have not posted in so long. I know many people are wondering what's going on with us. Things have been busy, I've been between spending nights at the hospital or catching up on sleep at the apartment, and that does not leave a lot of time to sit quietly. And the real truth is things have been hard. I want to be encouraging, but my Spirit has been weak and I have given in to zoning out, unable and not wanting to focus on anything. No worries, everything is going well and as expected. I know that my Spirit is thirsty for the word of God. I haven't been getting up early and reading, communicating with God. God is awesome and merciful, he understands and loves me. He is not adding up the things I'm doing or not doing and putting them in my permanent record, but the mornings feed me so much and give me strength. They are for me.

picture credit: always-living-in-the-sunshine.tumblr.com/

Watching Chad either be in pain or zoning out because of the meds has been the hard part. It could also be the couple of months that my family has been separated has started to wear on me. This last week of Chad being basically absent because he's fighting his own battle left me feeling quite lonely. But, God is merciful and just when I was feeling low, Chad has started to communicate more and come back into himself.

We have an amazing system of support. I just got back to the apartment from Richmond where, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, I was able to go to a couple of meetings and handle some business. It felt good to be busy doing something and get back into a little normalcy. Little man has enjoyed his time here over the last few weeks with Pop, Mas, and Pas. It has been a blessing that he just goes with the flow.

Chad's recovery is going great. He's up to walking almost a mile everyday. Sometimes I have a difficult time keeping up with him while pushing his IV pole, he's cruising around the corners of the step-down unit so quickly! The chest tubes are coming out almost daily now. He has three left. One thing that we are asking for prayers for is a hardened blood clot that is sitting in his lung. They have put medicine in one of his chest tubes to break it up and the doctors don't seem to be overly concerned about it. I know it will break up easily and be out soon. The only thing keeping him in the hospital are these chest tubes. As soon as he is done draining, they'll be coming out and he'll be heading back to the apartment.

After he gets home (apartment), he will need to complete about another month of rehab, getting those lungs stronger. So, we will be having Christmas down here, but hopefully the baby at home! :) I'm looking forward to some time hanging with the whole family at home, no rushing around to and from hospital, baking, relaxing. I know that's right around the corner.

I'm amazed at God's timing. He continues to hold on to us and walk with us through all of the trials and the celebrations. Nothing has been unbearable. Chad continues to be the warrior through it all. He has faced, and continues to face the biggest challenges. I realized after my last post that Chad means "warrior," something I've always known in the back of my mind but never put it together. The warrior keeps fighting and God continues to provide what we need to support him. We are so very thankful!