31 Days of Hope - October 28

This was a hard day so I'm going to deviate a little on this post from what I've been doing. It's still going to be about HOPE because even in the hard things, there's HOPE.

I went to my pain management doctor today and the nurse practitioner I've been seeing since 2008 is no longer there. They just sprung it on me and to say I was shocked and sad is a huge understatement. Lisa has seen me through my three herniated discs and then the knee replacement when my artery got cut. She called me in the hospital I was flown to to check on me. She's the one that first realized I had an infection and sent me straight to the hospital. I thought of her as not only my NP, but my friend. I'm devastated that she's gone and evidently moving out of state. I would have liked to have hugged her neck and said goodbye. 

The new NP was nice, but he's a young man and time will tell how we relate. The unfortunate thing is I had to wait 45 minutes to see him, then we went over everything, which took time, and then he left the room to see another patient before coming back to finish with me. I was there over two hours, sitting in a chair with my legs down, and of course, they ballooned up. I came home and did my vasopneumatic machine right away, but it was not very helpful. I then decided to go in and lie down with my legs on pillows and hoped that would help, but the pain just got worse and worse and I was crying from the pain. I can take a lot of pain so for me to cry, it's bad. My sweet hubby came in and rubbed my legs which helped, but as I was lying there, it was 10:15pm and I was wishing that it wasn't so late so I could text someone to ask for prayer. Then it happened...a God thing!

My dear friend texted me to see how my doctor appointment went! I couldn't believe it! Such a blessing from God! I told her as much! I think I scared her, though, because she texted back but I was getting ready for bed and didn't get back to my phone for a few minutes. I'm sure she thought something horrible was going on! I won't do that again. The phone will go with me where I go! Anyway, she prayed for me, texted sweet words of comfort and Scripture. By the time we got done, I was feeling so much better! You have to understand how really special this is. My friend just had surgery and infections herself and here she was pouring herself onto me! I am in tears just thinking about this. It makes me think of this amazing song I love by Needtobreath called "Brother". It's about Jesus being our shelter, but to me it's also about those sisters in Christ that stand with us when we need them. There a line that says, "I can be the one you call, when you're low", and I think of this friend who pours the love of Jesus into me. I am so thankful for the gift of her friendship! I'm thankful that she gives me HOPE!

Here is the song I'm talking about. Please listen as I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do. Knowing God is always near is so amazing and gives me so much HOPE!

Blessings - Julie