The Power of God's Grace

I am currently sitting in a hospital room with my mother, Cheryl (Treasures From a Shoebox)

The whole family was at one of mom's relative's house on Saturday, helping them take down a couple of trees and clean up the brush. Dad had gone to pick up a few items from the store, and mom and a couple of us girls had walked up the street to visit another family member. While there, mom pulled me to the side and told me that she was only seeing pieces of things. She called it pixelating.

Four years ago, my mom had a TIA (mini stroke) and she did the exact same thing. I knew, and so did the other older girls what her symptoms had been.

I kept calm, and looped my arm with hers while we were there.
On the way back to the first house mom told me that she was beginning to see wavy lines. I kept my arm in hers until we got her inside the house and into a chair.

It was downhill from there.

Most of the kids were still outside helping with brush cleanup and playing while we waited for dad to return. She started to feel tired and cold. I had two essential oils with me, wintergreen and lavender. I did the only thing I knew to do, rub them on her temples. She complained of a headache.
At this point, my older sister Emily and I weren't sure what exactly was going on.
I called a family friend and asked her for advice. We were on the phone for about forty-five minutes discussing whether or not it could be a lack of protein or if it was really a stroke.
While on the phone, I kept going into the room where mom was at in a chair, and checked on her, letting the lady on the phone know what was going on.

About this time, dad was home and not really apprised of the situation because he had been outside the entire time. We decided it was best if he came in and assessed the situation and determine what he thought was the wisest course of action.

He came in and after looking at her and talking with her he said that we were taking her to the hospital.
My mom is very stubborn. And people who are having a stroke tend to be even more stubborn. She fought us tooth and nail all the way to the hospital.

We had all of the kids with us, so, in our work clothes and all, we took mom to the ER.
She was still slurring her speech, had a headache, was extremely confused, and the right side of her face was numb.
They admitted her and took a couple of tests.

I am normally the one who is in the bed getting all of the blood work done and stuff; not the one in the chair explaining to the doctor and the nurses what was going on. I was sent back because I had been there from the very beginning.

After all of the tests for a stroke came back negative, they were going to release her. They had started the releasing process when a neurologist stepped in and said that based on her past record they needed to keep her and run some more tests on her to determine what the cause was.

Mom had been given pain medicine, but it did not take the headache away and the right side of her face was still numb and felt weird.

Dad, Emily, and I went home for the night and came back this morning.
She will be having an MRI and a test on her carotid artery tomorrow.

Normally, in situations like this, I'm panicking, worried sick to my stomach, can't eat, and full of anxiety. I can handle health problems happening to me, but when it comes to other people that I love, no, I can't do it.
But I don't have any of that this time. I'm calm. I have never been this calm through a crisis in my life.

There is one explanation for this; the grace of God. I know that the Lord is with us. There is not a doubt in my mind that He is with us even now. There are so many people lifting us up in prayer that I can almost feel Him holding us in His hands. It's totally surreal. Totally and completely. The peace and grace the Lord is pouring out on this whole situation is overwhelming.
The Lord is trustworthy. He truly is. I have not a doubt in my mind that the Lord is in control of this entire situation.

The power of God's grace is more than enough to calm a normally quaking heart;
He can do the same for you. Just trust in Him.

Blessings,
Haley

Where My Life Is: Part 2

To pick up where I left off in part one…

At the doctor’s appointment on Wednesday Nov. 13, we discussed with the doctor our suspicions about me having Lyme’s disease. She agreed to give me the test along with a bunch of other blood tests. Such as my vitamin D levels, a thyroid check, things like that. The next day, she called saying that she had gotten one of the test results back. Mom and I were on our way into town so we couldn’t call her back.
  Whenever I get test results I’m always nervous. No matter what kind of test it was, it makes me nervous. When we got to a friend’s house mom called the doctor. A few minutes later she announced that my vitamin D level was critically low. It was a level nine. I was immediately put on 50,000 IUs of vitamin D per week. I’ve been on that for about five weeks now.

The next week all of my test results came back negative. No Lyme, which I am grateful, deeply grateful for, and my Thyroid was fine. They did find that at one point I had had Mono. I find that funny and horrible at the same time. I never knew I had it. Hopefully I didn’t give it to anyone else.
So…back to square one. By this time I was getting progressively worse. Even more worse than before. I had passed out on the tenth of November after performing dinner music with my sisters. Thankfully I was home when it happened.
My episodes seemed to be getting closer together. More frequent. And we had no clue what was going on. Talk about scary! The week of the Long Sister’s Student’s Recital I taught piano lessons while relaxed on a couch. I teach at my student’s home so that was awesome how the Lord provided a way for me to comfortably teach. But I was only allowed to sit. I could walk, but only when necessary. The only thing that the girls would let me carry was my bag. I admit I got irritated with this over protection. It was needed, but I felt…restricted. 

At each of my student’s lessons I told them that this might be the last lesson for a while. We might have to stop after the recital and pick up in January. I felt like breaking down. OK, I did on Sunday night when my mom told me that I needed to tell my students that. I’ve come to love all of my students. They are like, I don’t know, best friends. The more you invest in someone’s life the more you grow to love them.
Friday rolled around, and I actually felt really good. I had taken my second vitamin D pill the day before and I felt almost somewhat normal. I taught four of my students in the morning, then came home and readied myself for the night.
While trying to seat my students I kept getting their names mixed up on the paper. Whenever I get close to passing out my vision feels funny. I had already begun to feel nauseous, yet another symptom of passing out. Flustered, I handed the paper to my older sister, Emily, and explained to her what was going on. The recital began, and so did my shaking. I continued to shake throughout the whole thing. Nobody except Emily knew because I did my best to hide it. Emily sat beside me, with her arm around me just in case I did pass out. She didn’t want me falling on the floor. Halfway through she whispered to me and said, “You are not getting up to give your speech.” I nodded and told her it was best if I didn’t get up. I didn’t have notes so I gave her a brief run down on what I had planned to say.
After the recital, and during the reception I continued to stay seated. I knew that if I got up I would more than likely pass out. One of my student’s came up to me and asked if we were still on for lessons the next week. Ever the stubborn one, I pluckily replied, “Of course we are! I plan on being there Tuesday!”
A little bit afterward I went to the restroom with the aid of Emily. When I returned to my seat, I laid my head on her shoulder, and went limp. I didn’t completely pass out, but I had no strength left whatsoever. I kept my eyes closed throughout this time. It’s too much of an effort to lift them, that and talking. I heard them get a wheelchair, and then my older brother Josh, and possibly someone else put me in it. During the process I kept slipping in and out of consciousness. Movement seriously aggravates it. Don’t ask me why. It’s the weirdest feeling though. At the time I wasn’t sure what they were trying to get on the wheelchair. Turns out it was a leg rest or something. Mrs. Beck, the lady who had helped us organize our recital, and one of the mothers of four of my students, ended up wheeling me out. She used to be a nurse, so that was a great asset. I remember hearing her take my pulse saying it was at 120. I left the recital in quite the melodramatic way. Not the way I would have preferred in a million years, but did I really have a choice? I was put in the front seat of my dad’s car by dad and Josh. I’m not quite sure what they were doing, but Josh was in the car talking to me. That really helped me calm down. 

 A lot. I won’t go into all of the details of what happened in the ER. It would bore you, but they did not find anything new. They told us that it was pointless to keep bringing me back in there because they would do the same thing over and over: Suck my blood, do an EKG, and hook me up to a heart monitor.
That was one of my worst episodes ever. On the car ride home mom informed me that I was going to cancel life for a week, and do nothing but lay on the couch. And she meant that to the ‘T’.

Where  My Life Is Part 1
Where My Life Is Part 3