Good in So Many Ways

Time for an update on Amanda. It's almost all good news.

She still is having a lot of pain and they can't quite figure out why. She suspected for a while that it was a result of the pain killers in suppository form, but now has ruled that out. There are a number of different things going on with her that are difficult to identify.

On the upside, however, she finally received a visit from the pelvic surgical specialist, Dr. Rosenblum. He told her and her mother that he's been monitoring her case and that he's pleased with the position in which her pelvis has begun to heal AND that he's ready to remove the Fixator, the tinker-toy contraption that has been moving her pelvis, pulling it slowly back together. He has her scheduled for surgery tomorrow or, if she's bumped because of a trauma, for Thursday to remove the pins, the fixator, and get a good look inside her. Once the fixator is removed, she can begin heavy therapy in preparation for moving to a Rehab facility. He also told her that he believes any rehab hospital will take her once the fixator's off.

Everytime, through this whole ordeal, when we've felt that we've reached the end of the rope, the Lord has thrown out a new lifeline. EVERY TIME, without fail! It's just unbelievable to go back and track the various situations and see God's hand guiding, providing, protecting. He must have a plan for Amanda. He's spent a considerable amount of time dealing with her health.

We've been talking recently about why the initial pelvic surgery never happened. It's become obvious to me that the Lord blocked it. We don't know why, but it could have been something like that Amanda would not have survived the surgery or that the Lord knew it wouldn't be necessary. In any case, we're now very thankful that surgery was never done.

We still have a roller-coaster ride on our hands. We never move consistently forward without getting knocked back, but we were warned about that from the very beginning. And Amanda really IS doing much better.

We need to keep praying for God's intervention and protection and for the perfect place and situation for Amanda. He's done so much work now, I'm convinced he will continue to answer our prayers.

It's a little overwhelming to think about the whole situation and how close we came to losing her. On Easter, her trauma doctor came to see her and told her that they had gotten another patient in with similar pelvic injuries to Amanda's, but without the abdominal involvement. He lived only 2 hours. The doctor stressed that patients with Amanda's injuries don't survive. But there she is - sitting up in bed, using the straight iron on her hair to get it looking pretty before Alex gets to the hospital to visit, fussing at me to move out of the way of her mirror. OUR Amanda. The same girl we loved before that Friday night accident that nearly claimed her.

God is good. He is merciful. And He has a plan for our precious girl.

Thank you, Lord.