Sacramento Patients

Summertime. Have you ever spent six weeks of your summer in a hospital at the side of your child, a five hour drive away from the rest of your family? That's the summer my niece Jewel is having. Her six-year-old daughter Heidi, who has had long-term ongoing issues with her colon and digestive system, went to the hospital with salmonella poisoning in June 13. After enduring much pain and many complications, she was finally released on July 15, just in time for the entire family to enjoy a great day together in Sacramento at the State Fair before her 12-year-old brother Victor was admitted to the hospital for a scheduled surgery to reverse a colostomy the next day. 

During this time, as I read Jewel's Care Pages and Facebook updates, I wanted so badly to go to Sacramento and spend some time with them. To know Heidi is to love her. In spite of all she has suffered, she is a high-spirited, energetic, loving little girl. Her parents are pretty amazing too! Here's a couple updates from Jewel's FB and Carepages while Heidi was in the hospital:

"Music Therapy came again...Heidi wanted to sing "Hakuna matata"...loudly and over and over and over again! "It means no worries...for the rest of your days!" :)

"Heidi said this morning, "I have some worries, mom. What if I miss my first day of second grade?"

"I have been listening a lot to Nick Vujicic lately. He has such a good perspective on life. He says, "We are blessed when we are in a circumstance where God has our attention." I've been thinking about that one. There's nothing like trouble and pain to keep us constantly looking to God...so it turns out that God uses for our good what the world would call evil. So we really are blessed."

I mentioned my desire to visit my dear niece and her family to Will, thinking a vacation to a hospital might not be at the top of his list, but he immediately got on board. We decided to spend one less week at the Metolius on our upcoming vacation and take a trip to California instead, visiting the hospital, taking a slight detour to Lake Tahoe on our way north to visit Canby, CA where Jewel and her sister Faith's families live, and then an overnight stop at Crater Lake. 

So last Friday, we showed up at the hospital there, a day after Victor's surgery. Our arrival coincided with his first attempt to get out of bed into a chair, and it was a heartbreaking thing to witness. The day after your stomach has been cut open and you have tubes connected to you all over the place...getting out of bed hurts, to put it mildly. He wasn't the only one shedding some quiet tears. Here's my brother John holding his hand after he's back in bed. 

Victor needed rest, so his dad Steven and grandpa John stayed with him. Heidi was more than willing to stay with Great-Uncle Will while we ladies went birthday shopping for Jewel's oldest daughter's upcoming 14th birthday. As we left the living room of the Sharing House where they stay, Heidi leaped off the couch to Will's chair and said, "Tell me a story about Zeek!" I took this picture when we came back.

While we were out, they made some paper airplanes, which did not meet Will's expectations. We did some shopping before we came back the next day and he made a few purchases. When we sat down with Heidi later, she was puzzled about the bamboo skewers. "What are these?"

"Toothpicks, of course," was trustworthy Uncle Will's reply.

 "Really?! I don't ever have anything that big in my teeth!"

 The scissors were too small for Will, so he assigned Heidi to cut some paper strips. When he asked her to guess what they would be used for, she brightened. "Are we making halos? I really like halos!"  They were actually for a special airplane, but she got her halo anyway!

She also got a crown!

 Jewel stayed pretty close to Victor's side in the hospital, but Grandma Betsy stayed with him one evening while we went out to dinner. When Heidi got the crayons from the waitress, she immediately had to move over beside Uncle Will, because she just knew he would want to color with her. "Which page shall we color? Which color do you want?"

 John and Steven drove up to Canby on Saturday, and it was decided that Heidi's 8-year-old sister Emme would return with John on Sunday. Heidi was so excited! Here she is as they are pulling in the parking lot.

 She ran to the car and they hugged...

 and hugged some more...

Then they danced...

 and danced some more....

 and talked....

 and hugged some more...

 and danced some more! This was less than a week after they had last seen each other!

It was truly beautiful to see these little girls reunited.

Victor was sleeping when it was time for us to go, but here we are.

Victor is a trooper, and puts up with so much. He really hates the NG tube which goes in his nose and down his throat and thought it would be out by now.

His grandma Betsy posted this picture with the following update yesterday:

"Two strong soldiers, because of an inner Man that keeps them going beyond their own strength. No the NG tube did not get removed. Things are not moving through the body, so we keep praying for a miracle"

.

So how much more of this summer will Jewel spend in the hospital by her children's side, feeling their pain, advocating for them, praying.....(and Facebooking!) while they sleep? Though Heidi is not a patient, she needs to stay with Jewel because of the level of care that she needs. John and Betsy have returned home. Steven comes as often as he can, and her sister Faith plans to spend time with her next week also. There is so much love in that hospital room and so much faith and confidence in the goodness of God. It is just an amazing thing to witness the grace of God in the people who trust Him.

Please pray with us for healing for Victor, that the NG tube can come out soon and that the reversal will be a success, and for healing for Heidi as well. Pray for Jewel and Steven, amazing parents of five beautiful children. And remember the rest of the children, Emme, April, and Betsy, who have been home without their mother these past six weeks. 

And another quote from Jewel's FB: "Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow..."

Many years ago, I went through bouts of being upset with God for taking my mother when I was in 8th grade and asking "Why?" At one point, I felt Him asking me, "Do you trust me?" Well, yes, I trust God. "If you really trust me, then you don't need to know why. Just trust." I think of that again as I wonder why these sweet children and this entire family have suffer so much. And I trust that the God who gave life to them, who put them on this earth to be a blessing to others, is fulfilling his purpose. I am once again thankful that this life is temporary and that we are living with eternity in mind..