Life is Precious and God is Good!!

I can't believe that it's almost been a week since I've posted on my Blog. It has been an extremely busy week and I have lived in the fast lane of life, it seems. The only problem is that I'm being passed by everyone! (grin)


Eddie, my husband, has been suffering with his left shoulder for years. The pain has seem to intensified the last several months so he got an appointment with a Sports Medicine doctor in Birmingham. Within a month of seeing the doctor that had Eddie scheduled for surgery, which happened yesterday.


The day before surgery, Eddie got to thinking about the surgery and the risks that go along with any surgery that requires one being put under. He thought that if Thursday could be his last day on earth, he didn't want to spend it at work but rather, he wanted to spend it with his family. He called me and said that he'd be home at 9 a.m. so I quickly canceled some piano lessons and we took out for the day, as a family.


Our first stop was at Ryan's to eat a delicious buffet! (Eddie's favorite) From there we drove up to Noccolula Falls, Alabama. It is such a beautiful, natural wonder and we enjoyed climbing over the rock, enjoying the water falls and blooming trees. From there we went to the mall, the girl's favorite place to spend time and then for a drive down back roads, through the beautiful Alabama countryside.


Our last stop was at the cemetery to visit the grave of our dear friend, Meg. Meg's burial had been for the family only so we had not visited it since her death last year. While we were there, the prettiest young, red dog came up to visit with us. Rachel had an extra tater-tot and made a friend for life with the dog. Meg loved dogs and had 6-7 of them when she died. She would have been thrilled to know that a dog had been to visit her. The cemetery is such a pretty, peaceful place. Yesterday, we got up at 3:30 a.m. after having had around 4 hours of restless sleep, and drove to Birmingham's St. Vincent Hospital for surgery. Someone had told me that it would be a long day but I didn't believe them! (grin)


Eddie was admitted at 6:15 a.m., and taken to a room. A nurse came and asked many questions, follow by inserting the IV and running an EKG on him. They came to take him for surgery around 7:00 a.m. and didn't do the surgery until 10:30 a.m. In the meantime I had to waiting in the surgery waiting room. (That is an experience in itself.)


I'd taken my laptop with hopes of being able to access the hospital's internet but had no such luck. I ended up listening to MP3's of Focus on the Family programs and editing photos. That was fun but I'm not accustomed to sitting that long. I found the hospital cafeteria and that was a blessing since I'd been up since 3:30 a.m. without having had anything to eat.


Would you believe that the hospital has a Starbuck's Coffee shop in it? It does and I broke down, Monty, and had some type of Cinnamon Dolce Latte. It was sugar free, delicious and more expensive than my taste! I felt that I deserved the treat.


The surgeon came out to speak to me around 12:30 p.m. and said that Eddie's surgery was a little more intense than they'd anticipated. In addition to the spurs and torn cartilage, they found that Eddie's Rotator Cuff was also torn. They did all the repairs and the surgeon thought that Eddie's should would be good as new when he healed. They kept Eddie in recovering for about an hour and then took him to a room. He was quite groggy when I was allowed to see him but they soon had him up and dressed, ready to head home.


We got home around 3:30 p.m., just in time to see our oldest daughter, Anna, leave for CAP field training at Maxwell Air Force Base. I got Eddie into the bed and ran down to the drug store to fill his prescriptions.

The nerve block wore off around midnight so we had a rough night but Eddie woke up feeling much better and has done some of his exercises. We're trusting that he will do well and that therapy will be quick.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. They are appreciated.

Beth