Back in the hospital again...

A shorter stay this time, and far less productive, I suppose.

Eight weeks ago, my gall bladder was taken out as quickly as reasonable after it misbehaved. Friday, I started having significant pain near that surgical site, so I went to my regular doctor. He decided he didn't know what caused it, so he sent me to the x-ray folks (where I got a scrubs top for my trouble) and the blood draw folks (always a joy because I'm a "hard stick", as phlebotomists say - thick skin and deep veins that roll and move), waited at my girlfriend's home to wait for results.

Nothing. So he sent me to the imaging center for a deep contrast catscan (where I got the matching trunks to go with the scrub top). Within the hour he calls back: Head straight to the hospital. They're expecting you. (Unusual - most of the time it's the person arriving AT the hospital who's expecting!)

There was an abscess near the former gall bladder site which was filled with something, and it needed to be drained or removed. So after a day of fasting (literally a full day while they bickered from the executive wing down about when to see me in radiology - long story filled with pettiness, not worth a Christian recounting), they put me in a different CT scanner - one where they used it to guide the precision surgery. (SO COOL!) What's more, thanks to my massive pain medicine regimen, they couldn't give me enough Versed or Fenatyl to make me dizzy, much less slow my brain down, which means I got to stay alert for the entire procedure and quiz them along the way!

Turns out it wasn't even liquid. It was dried blood. No infection (after testing it), so rather than remove it surgically, they sent me home today with meds and a follow up in a week.

But it really shot a hole in my weekend!

So, what is God doing? I spent three days essentially doing and learning nothing - there was this minor issue of annoyance from the gall surgery in July, but I have no new diagnosis, nothing particularly new to do or take or feel, and nothing really came of this that I can determine except that my girlfriend's really tired from sleeping in my hospital room both nights, and I missed two days with my kids.

Was there a Point, Lord?

I don't yet know. Maybe I'll find out soon, maybe I won't. But to everything there IS a reason. And maybe THAT is my lesson. I've been doing a ton of questioning as to why my late wife died. Maybe God's using this to tell me Isaiah 55:8-9... "My ways are higher than your ways." Stop worrying about the WHY and just OBEY Me.

If so, that's a pretty useful lesson. Thanks, Lord.