The road ahead...

**** I started this post days ago, and will update again soon, but to catch y'all up :)

It has been 8 days since Jerry went in for Surgery.  It feels like much longer, already.  The day of surgery could not have came any later.  He used a walker with a seat, struggling to go each step. We made it to the check-in and waited to be called back.  His body was so weak that last day.  For so long , I have watched him struggle to do simple tasks that had become so difficult.  It was like so much of him was shutting down.  When we learned of the damage to his spinal cord, just 2 weeks before, so many things began to make sense.    This surgery was the key to regaining his life again.  This surgery was necessary to prevent paralysis.  We looked forward to May 8th as the beginning of something new.  We looked back on all the ways the Lord had protected him from something much more serious. We have been beyond thankful.

We went in to surgery knowing what the surgeon told us about the outcome.  We went forward knowing that God is not surprised by anything that happens and if our faith is in him, we must trust what lays ahead.  We went in to surgery with such hopes of things changing and improving quickly.  HOPE is all you have.  There are never guarantees.  Except the guarantee of eternal life IF you put your trust in the Lord completely, if you surrender it all to him.   Beyond that great and beautiful knowledge , we can only Hope for the outcome of everything else.  But hope is a gift.  A precious gift.  The surgeon told us that many times, his patients wake up in recovery with more movement than they have had before surgery.  He told us that sometimes, within a few days, the movements become improved.  He told us that sometimes, after surgery things are still the same, but that the damage has been stopped and that is a good thing.  He told us that sometimes, things get worse and hopefully they will improve.  Sometimes they get worse and it takes a lot of work to return function  , if at all.

Jerry is right there in the midst of this.  He awoke with very little sensation in his extremities.  He was fearful in those first hours. My heart sank.  Deep in the back of my mind I remembered all the Dr had spoke to us the week earlier.  I still longed for that quick, healing.  As the days have gone on, it has been one moment at  time.  Managing pain was so difficult the first few days. Then it has been regaining sensation in some areas and yet others still come and go. The first 5 days I could not leave his side.  It is still hard to leave, but I am learning that my sleep is necessary to help him through each day.  Each day is a little better than the last. He has now got to the point of taking  about 6-8 shuffled steps with a walker to get from the bed to a chair.  It is only about 2 ft but to us it seems like a mile.We  are trusting a complete recovery.  Accepting that the road ahead is going to be long and the days are not going to be easy.  You can not go on a journey without at least,an idea of whats ahead. No hope in seeing anything, sounds like a disappointment from the get go. We anticipate change and look forward to seeing it come to fruition.  This journey has a long road before us, I can honestly say my heart hurts at once ahead but I can also see how the Lord continues to pave the way.

Sunday we had visitors, friends, family and two of our kiddos.  Jerry was able to get in a wheel chair and we took over the family room and had a bit of family style dinner thanks to the Colonel-KFC.  It was just fun to have a bit of something normal.  and just to spend time with the kids was so heart filling for both of us.