Giving Thanks

11/22/2007 12:00 AM

This Thanksgiving I sit and look back over the highs and lows of the past year. There have been many things to take place and many tears shed; both of joy and sadness. Overall, though, I must say that this year has been good to my family.

I received a phone call only a few hours ago from our vet. He was letting me know that one of my babies, Ivory (our newest ferret), did not survive her illness and that she has passed on. Though it pains me to lose one of our pets, I am very thankful for all the things that our family has been fortunate to be blessed with.

Early in 2004 my father was on life support and then later on sent home to die. The dr. had informed us that he would be dead in six months. That was then and now, although my father is no older than sixteen mentally, he is alive and happier than he was before he became ill. The anger, hatred, rage, and sorrow has become a glimpse of the past that he no longer knows, nor does he remember.

Three weeks ago he fell ill once again. This time he collapsed on me twice in a matter of five minutes. My mother, who normal takes control and remains calm, panicked for the first time that I can remember. I was left to take charge and run the show while waiting for EMSA to arrive and escort my father to the hospital.

Things appeared grim and I immediately sent emails to everyone including my church asking that my father be held up in prayers once again. We had no answers to the many questions that baffled not only us, but also the doctors in the E.R. None the less, they admitted my father to the critical care unit for low blood pressure due to dehydration.

The nurse who was on duty that night was awesome. He was the first step to the answers of our prayers. Daddy has spiked a fever of 104.5 as soon as he was transferred to his room. His nurse that night, who was also the charge nurse, went into swift action and called a different doctor in.

By the time the sun rose my dad now had two doctors working on his case not including the E.R. doctor who had been discharged from dads care due to her negligence. These teams of doctors are known as the gold team, the top of the top in the hospital. However, they were confused as well about the blood work and symptoms. They came to us and informed us that they had no idea what was going on with my father and that they had contacted a new doctor from the infectious disease control (IDC) to join in the team and take charge of my father’s care.

Within twenty four hours of constant prayers from all over the state going up answers and help started coming in. The IDC doctor walked in and talked to us for about thirty minutes and we spitted out all the information that we could think of. We also informed him, as well as everyone else, that my father is a living survivor of a rare disease called Warnekies Korsakoff (forgive the spelling). This disease is rare and typically diagnosed by an autopsy since the victims die. The symptoms are very sudden and short… they are an unexplained sudden coma followed by death. As you can see for my father to survive this alone is a miracle.
Three years later we have taken residence up in the hospital once more so someone is there around the clock with my dad to catch his doctors, who also took turns coming in throughout the day, since my father would not remember seeing any of them.

Two days after my father was admitted we found out that he had contacted another rare disease related to tick fever. Now my dad never had any ticks prior to this, but he contracted the disease by simply burying a litter of wild kittens that had died when the mother cat abandoned them.

Dad passing out on us was simply due to low blood pressure and dehydration, neither had anything to due with Ehrliciosis, also known as Ehrlicia chaffeensis, but instead with dad refusing to drink fluids because he just did not feel “well” and wanted to sleep. All the symptoms that he exhibited here at home pointed to the flu and if we would have taken him into his primary care physician then this disease would not have been caught in time to prevent life long damage or even death.

Once the symptoms appear then you have up to 72 hours to seek proper medical attention and receive the correct treatment for a positive outlook in the future. We were blessed, and honestly, I believe that God put each of us in the right place at the right time to prevent this emergency from becoming a disaster.

Also, two day ago my daughter was at a friend’s house jumping on a trampoline. She fell and landed on the trampoline tarp, but still managed to break the growth plate in her right ankle. With her being only nine years old and still facing many years of growing this double break could have been disastrous in itself requiring surgery, which is still a slight possibility, or even deformity in her legs, foot, and growth.

I praise God and thank him that the way she broke her growth plate the outlook is very positive and the chances of any long term damage is less than a single person winning the lottery more than once. I believe, as well as our congregation, that she will have a speedy recovery and will be healed with no lifetime effects.

As Thanksgiving approaches us I find that I am most thankful for God and HIS mercy. HIS love and forgiveness as well as HIS comfort has carried our family through many trials and always proved to be victorious.

I am thankful that even though we have had our trials with illness and near death experiences, as well as pain, that God has proven over and over again that it is HE who is in charged and that it is HIM whom we can turn to and seek not only refuge, but also comfort.

Thank you, Father, for healing not only our ill and broken bodies, but also for your love and mercy. Thank you for loving and accepting us for who we are and for giving us the strength each day to bless others with the blessings that you have showered upon us. Thanks you, God, for healing our spirits and our souls when they are wounded. But most of all, thank you, Father, for giving us your son to bear our cross.

~~Sherry Lynn Hull Richardson