Another Update at the End of a Crazy, Miraculous Week

In my last blog post I shared that after a five year battle with Crohn's / Ulcerative Colitis, I was scheduled to undergo surgery to have at least a portion of my colon removed.  That surgery was scheduled for this past Tuesday.  As things would turn out, God had a bit of a different plan.

I didn't preach on Easter Sunday simply because I was too sick to pull it off. I was planning on spending Monday hanging out with my parents and family and mentally and spiritually prepping for surgery the next day.  Sunday evening I went out to put the lock on our church trailer.  When I got there, I got out of the car and collapsed with an intense pain in my lower right gut, right groin and leg.  I had been experiencing a similar pain for several days and had even had it shooting into my leg.  The previous pains had subsided after an hour or so.  I assumed, and had even been told by one of the residents in my surgeons office, that the pain was my swollen colon pressing on a nerve running into my leg.  So, I caught my breath, got back in the car, drove home and went to bed, expecting the pain to go away.

After tossing and turning most of the night, I finally decided to wake up around 9:30 on Monday morning.  As I lay there, I realized that something definitely did not feel right with my leg.  I pulled the covers back and my leg was swelling and looked slightly purple.  I tried to stand and couldn't.  I called Jamie who rushed home and got me down the stairs and into the 4Runner.  When I got to the ER, they rushed me right in.  My heart was running between 140 and 150 BPM, my right leg was 3 times the size of the left (not hard since I have bird legs) and turning blue and I was hurting.  At some point they took an ultrasound of my leg and CT of my lungs.  The ultrasound showed a DVT, a clot of the main vein in the leg, running from my ankle to somewhere up in my abdomen.  The CT scan showed what they termed as "multiple bilateral pulmonary embolisms" - basically blood clots in the arteries in both lungs. 

The doctors were pretty amazed that I was breathing as well as I was.  After starting me on a blood thinner drip they were able to get an arterial pulse in my foot.  They then moved me to ICU for the night.  After spending about 24 hours in the ICU, I was moved to a regular room. 

On Wednesday I underwent another colonoscopy.  Our hope and the hope of my GI team was that the situation in my colon had changed for the better.  Unfortunately, the colonoscopy showed that I was still pretty jacked up.  In fact, the ulcerative colitis and its side effects are probably the underlying reason behind this weeks blood clot problems.  The GI team initially wanted to hold me in the hospital and push ahead with surgery as soon as possible.  My surgeon, however, felt it would be best to go home and try and give my leg time to heal and let the clots dissipate.  So, on Thursday evening I was discharged.  It felt great to sleep in my own bed:-)

I'm spending the next few days focusing completely on resting and healing.  I've got meetings with doctors on Tuesday and Thursday and a consultation with my surgeon on Friday. 

Reflecting on this week there are a couple of things I want to share with my friends and church family.

God's Word is a Firm Foundation

3 years ago I was hospitalized with an Ulcerative Colitis flare.  On my 4th night in the hospital, lying in my bed with my Bible, I felt that God gave me a promise from Psalm 27 about my sickness.  The 13th verse of the psalm says this, "I am still confident of this:  I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."  I sensed that God was reassuring me that this sickness would not kill me.  All day Monday that verse kept echoing in my heart, bringing me strength.

 
Jesus Commands My Destiny

On Easter Sunday we sang this verse, " No guilt in life no fear in death, This is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny"    

Those words are completely true.  As I lay in the back of the car on the way to the hospital, as the doctors and nurses scrambled around me in the ER, I have to say I felt a level of peace that I've rarely if ever known.   Had I gone into surgery on Tuesday with the blood clots that were already forming in my leg, I very well could have died.  Jesus was and is in total control. 

As we meet with my doctors over the next few days, I'm honestly not sure what they will say or what decisions we will make.  I do know this - God has been and is continuing to work in my body and my life for my good and for His glory.  

To Our Friends and Church Family

To all my many friends who have reached out to Jamie and me over the last few days with kind words and especially with prayer, thank you.  We still need you, especially your prayer.  If you are part of our LifeGate family, our leadership team will be sharing on Sunday some specific ways you can help us.

If you reach out and I don't respond, just know that on the advice of my overseers and concerned family, I'll be resting, reading and playing video games for the next few days.

We love and appreciate you!

AW

 

An Update on My Health

This past Sunday I shared some important information about my health with our church. I wanted to take a moment and share some of my thoughts in writing with you as well.

(If you'd like to listen to the podcast of my announcement, it's at #8 on our podcast list and lasts about 12 mins - I ramble a little:-)

For approximately the last five years I've dealt with a condition known as Ulcerative Colitis. (You can read more about it here)  Basically, it means that my guts don't really work the way they should.  I've been under the care of several doctors and have been on numerous medications to try and control the condition.  Unfortunately, most of those medicines have failed to control my symptoms.

Over the last few weeks I've been in a full blown "flare-up" which has been very debilitating.  Last Friday, Jamie and I went to see my doctor.  He examined me and reviewed our previous courses of treatment.  His conclusion is that the only remaining effective course of treatment for me is to surgically remove my colon.

So, we met with the surgeon earlier this week and I am scheduled for surgery this Tuesday afternoon for what will be the first of eventually two operations.  Surgery will require a hospital stay of several days followed by at home recovery of about a month.

Obviously, this is a pretty intimidating moment, one which I had fought really hard to try and avoid.  The good news is that this surgery offers the potential to finally give a functional cure to what I've been battling for the last 5 years.  UC is extremely draining on my energy levels.  When the doctor first spoke about surgery he said "We want to give you your life back."

As my friends and church family, I'd like to ask you to do a couple of things for me and my family over the next few days and weeks.

1 - Pray - Pray for God's wisdom for my doctors and for supernatural miraculous intervention in my body.  Pray that we can get a resolution to this disease and that I can move forward in full strength.

2 - Show Up - If you call LifeGate home, I need you to physically be there on Sunday mornings for the next few weeks.  We'll have members of our oversight team as well as Pastor Michael and some others who will be sharing the teaching duties. 

Jesus said, on the night before he was crucified, "Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter."  I know that one of the devil's goals is to strike me and scatter you.  I need you to help me not let that happen over the next few weeks. 

3 - Continue to Invest and Invite - We frequently encourage you guys to invest at LifeGate with time and talent and treasure and to invite your unchurched friends and family to come experience what Jesus is doing at our church.  Keep doing that over the next few weeks.  This time between Easter and the end of the school year is a great season to see people come to Christ.  We're going to have some great speakers in our pulpit and God is going to do some great things.  Make sure that you bring other people along to experience it with you.

4 - Practical Stuff - There may be some practical ways that you can help out at church or even in encouraging our family for the next few weeks.  Check in with our leadership team (Michael, Kelsey and Greg, Tina) or even with Jamie and see if there is anything you can do.  We will need some help on Friday nights at 6:00 with setup for church, especially if you have a vehicle that can pull our church trailer.

I'm really hopeful that God is going to use this situation to work for our good.  I believe that I'll get a final resolution to these health problems that have been holding me back for so long.  And when I'm recovered in a few weeks I'm looking forward to moving full steam ahead with all that God wants to do at LifeGate!