Thank God for Rest for the Weary

Matthew 11:28
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Amen!

After an extremely long NYE night, Bethany had a very long day, too. She was in a lot of pain--headaches, back aches, nausea, etc. We did the best we could to comfort her, warm and cold compresses, pain medications, massages, etc, but they provided little relief. Around 3pm, I took a break and left Joe with Bethany for a couple hours while Chris and I went home and did some laundry and watched a movie together. We also ate lunch in the cafeteria and did some catching up. That was extremely refreshing and yet sad when Chris had to leave to go work a 24 hour shift. sigh

When we returned to the hospital, I leaned over to kiss Bethany and she whispered that there were too many people in the room. So....I had to be a meanie and ask most everyone to leave. They were so sweet and had totally been whispering, but sometimes it can just be hard to have some visitors when you want to sleep and even whispering is painful for her. I can't even read a book because the turning of the pages is too loud. And....flushing the toilet, well, that's totally out of the question. ha.

After everyone left, we got a new nurse--Michelle. Wow, was she ever a God-send. She told me that she has only been a nurse for less than a year (even though she's in her 50's), and that she was still learning. She was very sweet and helpful. She was practically the only nurse to whisper entirely while in Bethany's room, although our morning nurse, Bridget, does too, and is just as sweet and helpful. She said that she had noticed that a sleeping aid had been ordered for her, however, she also said she noticed that none had ever been offered to Bethany.

Wow! Both of us jumped at that, and she immediately gave one to Bethany, along with a morphine shot. I mentioned that some nursing friends of mine had posted on FB that 12 mg of morphine is a huge amount and that they wouldn't even give that to a horse; I had also wondered that if that was true, then why wasn't Bethany on any monitors? She said that she wondered the same thing so she hooked her up to monitors (much to Bethany's dismay). Then, she returned about 30 minutes later to say that she was doing some research and realized that Bethany's morphine dosage is normal for someone her size, age and surgical wounds. Bethany gets 10 mg IM (meaning intra muscular), and that makes all the difference.

Anyway, Bethany was able to sleep peacefully practically all night. She awoke for meds and such, but still was very sleepy. Thank God! And....when Bethany sleeps, I sleep. Also, because her body was so relaxed, her spinal fluid leaked a minimal 100 ml. That's so awesome that the dr. decided to clamp her drain this morning for hour hours. He recently removed the drain entirely.

Bethany has been having an excellent, quiet morning, has eaten a little bit and is feeling much better. She is still in a lot of pain, but a different kind of pain. Her head is still pounding, and the dr would like to see if she can get up today. She is currently waiting for some pain medication, and then the plan is to wait about 30 minutes and then sit up for a bit. If all goes well, then maybe eat a bit while she gets washed up and sheets changed, etc. Bethany is understandably nervous about doing all this, because once she gets a headache, it takes a long time for it to pass.

Thanks for all of your prayers of support and encouragement, strength and healing. We totally appreciate it, and the Lord has definitely been constant and active in Bethany's surgery and recovery.

On another note, please pray for my mom; I was just notified this morning, that she was taken to the ER at Detroit's Beaumont Hospital for pleurisy. As it turns out, she doesn't have pleurisy, but rather a rapid, irregular heartbeat. She has been admitted. I have spoken with her, and she sounds well, however, she has yet to see a doctor, and the hospital staff is puzzled as to why she is experiencing this.

Thanks so much, Love, Shari and Bethany Rose