March’s Miracles

It’s April now, but I would be remiss not to recount all the little miracles God did on our behalf in March. 

As you know, my father, who is 88, underwent a quad bypass and a valve replacement on March 16. He also ended up having a pacemaker put in on March 18. It was rough. On Friday, after the initial surgery on Monday, he was out of it, not doing well at all. And they were talking about sending him home, not even to rehab! Let me tell you—we all panicked! But we prayed, and we all agreed to push back and at least get them to keep him in the hospital until Monday! 

Saturday, he seemed perkier. He walked more. Talked more. Even watched a little bit of college basketball. 

Then guess what? When my sister arrived early that Sunday morning, he was waiting for her, telling her he was ready to go home. He was clear-headed and moving pretty well—enough for him to have figured out that if he couldn’t find the call button, he could just try to get out of bed, thus setting off an alarm and bringing a nurse running! Yep, he’s like that! Anyway, he begged, the doctor said he didn’t have any reason to keep him. He cried when he found out he could leave the hospital. But suddenly, we were scrambling to get everything ready at home. Thankfully, my youngest sister was able to change her plane ticket and stay two extra days. So that was our first miracle—the turnaround and homecoming.

Dad’s doctor did spring new info on us that Friday before he went home. He said someone would need to be with him 24/7 for 2 weeks because they’d found the fall risk was high in that time period. We panicked, trying to find some in-home care for him before our sister left. We all knew my mom wouldn’t be able to do it. And we couldn’t handle 24/7 care, either. One agency never called us back after we left a message. A couple of others, we had reservations about. Then I thought of my neighborhood Facebook group. We have a very close-knit neighborhood, and I knew I would trust their recommendations. But the Lord had something in store we never imagined—one of our neighbors owns a home care company! Not only that, it is one with a faith component. Through my neighbor, we were able to get nighttime care set up for the day my sister went back home! It was absolutely the Holy Spirit that led me to post our need to our neighbors.

Meanwhile, some long-time friends of ours told us their daughter and son-in-law were also starting a home care business–New Leaf Home Care. In fact, their company launched the Monday after Dad came home! A former army medic and new dad, Todd immediately bonded with my dad. Not only did Todd help with Dad’s care during the day, but he also helped my mom, who is dealing with back and ankle issues, by doing laundry, doing the dishes, and doing household chores they can’t do well or easily. Bonus? He lives around the corner from them! That kind of perfect timing and location can only be a gift from the Lord—both for Todd and his wife and for us! We will continue having him help them out a bit here and there with household chores now that Dad doesn’t need a personal caregiver anymore. 

Which brings me to the final miracle—and best of all. Y’all—we thought we’d need to keep night care in place for at least two weeks after coming home from the hospital. But Monday, when we had to take him to the doctor for a follow-up, he was walking through the house without a walker! So we canceled the night people. Todd will remain in a scaled-back capacity because he is such a help with things that my sister and I don’t have time to go over and do as often as needed. 

So Dad is on his way to running circles around all of us, only two weeks out from open-heart surgery! 

So many, many things have happened during this entire journey that only God could orchestrate, and each situation has reminded us that no matter what, we are always in His hands. 

How have you seen the hand of God in your life lately?