Yesterday (Wednesday) proved to be another good day, despite a lesson in patience. They had planned on pulling my mom's epidural in the morning...which she mentally prepared herself for. About mid morning, she learned that plans had changed and that they wanted her to try more oral pain medication before the epidurals removal. Waiting for the epidural to be removed was hard, simply because of the uncertainty tied to not having the epidural any more.


I spoke with my dad just before bed and they had just removed the epidural. He said she was more uncomfortable then when the epidural was in place but was able to 'cope' with the pain more than she had initially thought...praise God!


As of the epidurals removal, she is almost tube/cord free! This will make getting out of bed to walk less cumbersome and hopefully more walking will mean her digestive track's re-boot will happen sooner rather than later!


She is continuing to 'enjoy' food outside of her initial liquid diet and is hopeful that this will continue.


Aside from the physical details of how things are going, God is working in incredible ways. My mom has been able to have several conversations with her nursing staff about who she has her Hope placed in. She has learned even learned that one of her nurses grew up in a missionary home over seas and been able to learn about life in Africa! 


On one of Dr. V's visits, he asked my mom about the book she had on the bedside table (her copy of Jesus Calling by, Sarah Young). My mom was able to tell him about it and how the scripture references in the book have spoken directly to her heart as she has walked through this journey. Dr. V then said "I should find myself a copy of that book, I think I would enjoy it"!  My mom and dad don't know where Dr. V stands spiritually...to hear him say this brought incredible joy to yesterday as it was a small glimpse of God's receiving glory through this challenging time.


Thank you for your continued prayers as today seems to begin a new chapter in regard to pain management and mobility.


Today's praises:
-The epidural removal
-Eating more solid foods
-For more and more mobility
-For God's hands at work
-For the spiritual conversations with doctors and nurses


Today's prayers:
-That pain would be managed well with oral medication
-That she would be able to walk often today
-That her digestive system would finally figure things out!
-That she and my dad would be able to have more intentional conversations with doctors and nurses
-That God would continue to receive the Glory


Thank you for your continued prayers.


Also, in effort to keep your email accounts un-infected,  we won't be using Sara's prior email (sarae_______@yahoo.com) account to send emails from any longer.  We hope to be able to continue sending update emails, they will now come from thefamily___________@gmail.com (the underlined portion is the same word that is missing in the old address.  If you would like to send Annie an email of encouragement, please use the gmail address or if you get an email from this new address...it is simply us touching base.


Enjoy a blessed day!