The Power Of Prayer

The phone rang Friday mornng at 6:38am and woke me from a deep state of slumber. I though twice about answering it because I was still in such a sleep haze and then my brain cleared and I realized that in order for anyone to be calling that early there was probably an emergency. It was my sister in law and she was calling to tell us that my husband's father had been seriously injured after he fell and hit his head on a slab of concrete. He was sedated and on a ventilator and had been air lifted to a hospital in Baton Rouge. It was serious and I was filled with panic. How was I going to tell my husband that the father that raised him after his biological father died when he was 2 years old, was now fighting for his life because some punk decided to put his hands on another human being. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I don't wish it on my worst enemy.

We immediately made arrangements for the kids to stay here with my mom and we threw some clothes in a duffle bag and started the six hour drive to be by his side. The drive seemed to take double the time it actually did and I was scared shitless of what I would see once we got there. Ray's mom never panics. Ever. And I knew that for her to call us and have us take off of work and drop everything to drive there, well, she just wouldn't do that unless the possibilities were as grim as possibiites can get.

We arrived at the hospital around 3pm and we were able to see him for the first time at 5pm. I can honestly say that aside from seeing my newborn son in a similar state, it was one of the most difficult things I have ever encountered. He was so still, so lifeless, so broken. This is a 60 year old man that is so full of life. A retired farmer who can't sit still now that he doesn't have crops to tend to and so he runs around the small town of Jeanerette, La all day every day visiting with old friends and food shopping for his next big meal to cook. I could barely breathe.

I knew it was worse than we could have guessed and I was scared. Scared shitless.

For the next 3 days there was no real change except for they were able to take the ventilator out. But, he still wasn't responding. He has a skull fracture, a sub dural hematoma and a frontal lobe contusion. In other words, he is seriously injured and the future is far more uncertain than we had hoped for.

Ray and I and most of the other siblings left on Sunday because there was nothing that we could do for him and we needed to get home and get the kids. This way, if something changes drastically we can drive back and be there.

Right before we left, the neurologist had come to talk to everyone for the first time and the prognosis wasn't near as positive as we had hoped for. The bleed was quite large, the swelling significant and he wasn't responding at all. They couldn't rule out surgery and surgery meant removing part of the brain which completely devastated us all. We left the hospital feeling so defeated and at least for me, so confused. How did this happen? How could this happen? He was fine just 3 days ago. He didn't DO anything to deserve this! Why? And more importantly how would we go on if God forbid this turned out for the worst? So we did the only thing we could...we prayed.

We got the first bit of positive news last night when Ray's mom called and said that the nurse asked him his name and he replied with his name. She also asked him where he was and he said that he was in the hospital but he didn't know why. This was huge. More than huge, this was amazing. Baby steps...that's all we can hope for. He was even more responsive this morning proving that he knew a few more tidbits of general information. He didn't know how old he was or what year it was, but the doctor said that with the amount of swelling, that is to be expected. So, we hope that the swelling will subside on its own and the blood will be absorbed without him having to have surgery but we won't know for sure for about 7 days.

The point of all of this is that prayer really does work. I've seen it first hand more than once and in more than one crisis. While he is not out of the woods by any mean, I have to believe that his recent positive progress is just the beginning and he will continute to improve hour by hour and day by day. I have to. That's the only way this can play out. We're not ready to lose him yet. We're just not. And so I pray...

Until next time...CNS