Friday, November 5, 2010

You can't go to Mayo without taking the Mustard

Okay, okay, ENOUGH RIGHT!!?!? I'm going to Mayo Clinic! WE GET IT!! I feel you. I'm almost self-annoyed at myself. But here are my many layers of thought. My onion if you will. That doesn't sound right.

Thoughts on Coldness:
I don't know how to pack for this inevitable coldness. You would think I'm traveling to the arctic with a team of scientists studying the tundra terrain judging from my suitcase's contents. I'm a native Houstonian. We get basically 3 weeks of winter. I'm freezing today with the weather being in the 50's. I think it's kind of asinine to hear people go on and on about stuff like this- but I DON'T DO COLD. I respect people that do though, you are better than I.

Thoughts on Leaving my Leelah:
How long are we going to be there? Well, it started as a 3 hr tour (I had to, my name is Gilli(g)an) or as just a weeklong visit. But with this new leg situation- it looks as though we will be there longer. John and I are betting each other. I say 10 days. He says 5. He is wrong. Oh wait- sorry- LOVE AND RESPECT. He is not wrong. He is just different. Anyway, we are going to miss our little dearest. My wonderful mentor group friends suggested we get her a lovey and spray perfume on it along with a recordable card. We get home with this new unicorn and before I could say "Cabotine" my child had secretly taken my signature fragrance and doused the creature. We all got fragrant induced asthma and had to wash it. Round 2 has been successful. I also printed out a pic of J and me and affixed it with ribbon. I thought this was a GREAT idea- thanks Lucy, Lindsey and Candy! THanks to the sweet caregivers who are going to love on our princess.

Thoughts on the Plane ride and on traveling:
We will have to take Eejay with us- the wheelchair. One bag simply for my medical records and MRI's. My eye chart alone fills up an entire file folder box. FILE. FOLDER. BOX. Jealous? I thought I'd give some of the smartest minds a little help by making an "Eye Surgery Timeline" for them. We will see what they think... But the plane. THe plane. I'm more nervous about the pain! The pain has escalated. It knows, John says. 'It' being my body. It hurts, I say!

Thoughts on Books:
I love to read! Books I'm going to soak up: either Laugh Again by Charles Swindoll or Bonhoffer biography- haven't decided and for the novel, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I am trudging through chapter one. I don't like it. But I've been told by many to hang on.

Thoughts on Thoughts:

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
-Matthew 17:20

This is the 'mustard' that I am referring to. You can't go to Mayo Clinic without taking the mustard seed of faith.

Prayer Pager# is 713/200-0069.
Our church has a wonderful ministry of prayer pagers. The Lord has blessed me with a prayer pager. As you may know, prayer pagers and I go waaaay back. My father accepted Jesus into his heart one month before he graduated to heaven and his prayer pager from church was a HUGE part of that testimony. The pagers are such a powerful way for people to actually see their peeps that are praying for them.
Just in case you are interested- no pressure of course- here's the prayer request list I have:
-Foremost***For God's will to be done in our lives.
-That the Lord would use this condition/situation for HIS glory and that we can be good witnesses through this!
-That if it is in His plan, we get clear answers as to what my condition is, for the connective tissue disorder and for the new found edema in the hip bone marrow.
-That whatever info is found, we can translate that back home to Houston.
-That the Lord would provide a team of docs at home that can carry out our findings.
-That Leelah would not fret about us being gone for so long, but that she would have fun on her sleepovers and enjoy herself!
- a minor note: that the plane rides wouldn't be too painful as my pain has increased a lot and it hurts to sit for long
-And all the praise to Him for the way He has paved the path thus far, for the opportunity to be able to go to Mayo, for all the people that continue to be the hands and feet of Christ for our family!
-Praise for his future provision in all things.
Thanks for all of those who are praying and thanks for the pages already. Good stuff indeed.
We are going to post a video "doctormentary" of each day on here beginning Monday. Stay tuned!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Praying for you! I wanted to ask why you were in the wheelchair but didn't know if that was appropriate ... but now I'm all caught up "ergo and concordingly". HAHA.

I'm so sorry you have been in such pain and grateful you are going to Mayo ... with your mustard seed of faith (what a great analogy!).

And ... on a side note ... I didn't like "Redeeming Love" either. I did stick with it and it ends beautifully and I think I cried but, especially having daughters, it was very difficult for me to get through. The friend that gave it to me said I needed to pray before I started it and I must not have done that very well ... or at all ... because she fussed at me when I finished and told her how hard it was for me.

Anyway ... "Laugh again" is on my current list.

Safe travels! My husband is from Minneapolis ... it's COLD there. :)

Julie said...

I really hope you're sticking it out with Redeeming Love! I adored that book. I thought it was an incredible story of love and redemption that's totally worth reading and sharing...but I have been known to cling with squealing-girly-squishiness to books that the average reader won't enjoy.

In the book's defense (and to a lesser extent my own defense), I was directed to read it by several women in my office. I'd have avoided it anyhow since it didn't seem to fit my usual interests, but I noticed a co-worker who hates reading devouring it on her lunch break. :)

I hope this note finds you well and not turning into a Gillian-sicle up there in the Hinterlands! I love you all!