Coulda Been Scary But God is Caring For UsToday we began taking steps towards getting Abby ready to go home. I can't wait to be home! Best case scenario, it will take a few more days, but we are seeing the end in sight.
Before Abby can go home she needs to be off of IV pain medicine, her blood counts need to improve a little more and we need to find the best way to treat her skin wounds. The last thing we tried on her skin made it worse. Abby is allergic to many things and has VERY sensitive skin. Poor baby.
Pic: Abby went on a Frito binge last night. It was good to see her with an appetite. Notice her eyes still clearly shows how medicated she is. More "video night" pics next post.
They started lowering Abby's pain medicine and getting her off of IV meds today. So far so good. I was nervous about weaning her, but she is really doing great. We know there will still be a lot of pain before it all heals, and they are switching her over to non-I.V. prescriptions that will help her be comfortable, but also be safe at home.
A Big Mistake Shows God's Caring Hand
Someone made a potentially life-threatening mistake with a medication order for Abby, today.
I really debated about sharing this with you, but I decided it was important for you to know how God was answering your prayers. Everyone makes mistakes. We are not the types, contrary to the current culture, who think everyone should be perfect 100% or face dire consequences. The person who made the mistake really cares about people, they just made a mistake. The nurses and staff at Children's have taken good care of Abby, and we appreciate it. There's a huge difference between negligence, incompetence or apathy as compared to an honest mistake. Our whole country would be alot better off believing that way, but then we wouldn't have any commercials for ambulance chasers airing during Jerry Springer would we?
Instead of ordering an extended release tablet (for pain), they ordered a liquid that is absorbed immedately. If the mistake hadn't been caught, Abby would have recieved 5 times the normal dose of Morphine. Added to that, Abby also has a narcotic pain patch on and has IV morphine infusing. Best case, she would have ended up in ICU; worse case...
I (Michelle) caught the mistake, right before it was administered. We can only give God the credit for leading me to discover it because I am pretty much exhausted, running on autopilot (I'm glad that as Christians our autopilot is the Holy Spirit).
As more evidence that God providentially protected Abby, He knew when Abby was a baby in Guatemala she would have Leukemia. God orchestrated her adoption. God also knew that this moment in time would come today and my nurse's experience and instinct would be the tools He would use to save Abby's life again today.
Incidents like this are nerve-racking and emotionally draining but they are powerful demonstrations of God's ever-watchful eye and His tender loving care. Please take a moment to thank God that He has honored the prayers of tens of thousands of people and plainly shown Himself as the God Who Cares for any who have eyes to see. Thank God for His mercy, and may we as a society be more merciful towards those who make honest mistakes.
How Have You Seen God This Week?
We want to hear how you've clearly seen God at work in your life this week. Or maybe you haven't. We'd like to hear why you think He is silent, or your not seeing.
Leave a comment and let's see how God is working in our lives...
I need to record Landis and let you hear him pray. It is inspiring.On Wednesdays, we do Pray for Me... Pray for Others to help build the sense of community for our readers.
Because we are blessed with a large community of readers, we know you most likely can't pray for every single need or person on this list, especially as it grows. But by looking over this list on Wednesdays... all of us can pray as God leads us and we can believe that each need is being prayed for. This particular feature is near to the heart of my dear wife, so you can know she will be praying for you.
Pray for Me... Pray for Others is pretty simple:
- List a short prayer request for YOU, and a link for more detail if needed.
- Then submit a prayer request for someone else, or some other situation that you know about. Include a link for them if available. Be specific.
For example, I might request that people pray for Abby's healing, and link to our blog. Then I could request prayer for a family that we know who's sister was very seriously injured in a car wreck, and link you over to their blog.
Be specific... provide a link for more information. I'm sure that other people will be VERY blessed to have you request prayer for them, and include a link to their blog so that those praying can visit them.Questions? If you have suggestions or feedback to make this work better, don't hesitate to email me: brent@brentriggs.com
Our Requests:
We ask you to pray for Abby's comfort and healing. We ask you to pray that she will get to come home soon. Please pray for our strength and God's provision financially during this difficult time.
We ask you to pray for a young lady in New Orleans who emailed me today TO ASK HOW SHE COULD BE A BLESSING TO US AND HELP US!!! She has a tumor and was told she has a year to live. We ask you to pray for her sister who is pregnant, that the stress of her sister's diagnosis will not effect the pregnancy. We ask you to pray for this dear sister's parents who are no doubt heart broken over this news. We ask you to pray for her healing. We ask you to pray that no matter the result, she will be a LIGHT to others.
Pray for Me... Pray for Others - Instructions:- Use the form below to enter your prayer requests. You must enter an "identity", and put something in at least one of the "pray for me" or "pray for others" in order to be included (links to blogs are not required).
- If you link to YOUR blog, please include the following HTML in a post on your blog so that we can create a linked network of prayers (your link will allow others to find us, and be able to participate; make sure you are in HTML mode when pasting this code).
- Put out an email or post on your blog and encourage everyone you know to come and join us in prayer.
- Look over the list and pray as God leads. Come back and visit the list two or three times today as it will grow all day long.
Remember... if you don't take the time to pray for others, then on what basis can you really expect God to lead others to pray for you? I created this with "community" in mind - pray for you, pray for me, pray for others - so that we are both giving and receiving as a community which is far more spiritually productive than simply wanting everyone to pray on our behalf.
Truth is, many people do not have a community they can ask for prayer. We hope to become that community for them.
Let me know if you have suggestions or questions about Pray for Me... Pray for Others. If this is a blessing to you, please leave a comment and let us all know.
15 comments:
I had a similar experience with medication when my daughter was three. She was hospitalized for a blood disorder and was running a fever. The nurse came in with a medicine dispenser cup FULL of liquid ibuprofen. I took one look at the cup and told her it was too much for a three year old. She smiled and said that was what the doctor had written, but she'd go check again. She came back with the same amount and told me that was right. I said it was too much and she was not going to give it to her. I know my doctor's handwriting is even worse than a serial killer's, so I knew something could have been misread. The third time she came in with the same cup containing maybe a third of the original amount. She apologized and said she didn't see the decimel. I accepted that and didn't complain, but I wonder what happens when the parents are too tired to notice, or just assume the hospital staff doesn't err. You're right--- it was an honest mistake, but parents, like your wife, need to be diligent. God is watching over Abby. Just like He watched over mine. (and still does)
*raises hand* Me too, me too! When my daughter was an infant, the pharmacy made a mistake on the dosage and the amount could have been fatal. If the pediatrician hadn't literally shown me how much it was going to be, I wouldn't have caught the mistake. I have three older kids now and I don't recall any other time I was shown the dosage by the pediatrician. HAD TO be God's protection of this child. Thanks for the reminder. She is now battling Lyme disease which went 8 months undiagnosed and untreated. I KNOW He is trustworthy.
~Lori in VA~
Thank you Father for watching over Abby and protecting her from this potentially fatal mistake. God you are truly at work in her life, and we give you ALL the glory!
After years of not going to church with me, my husband told me this past weekend that he would like to find a church near our home that we can go to together. He is a Christian-but had a very different spiritual example in his family growing up, than I did. I currently go to a church with my mom that has an older congregation, and he doesn't feel a connection there. I am honoring this because I see it as a door that is being opened by God. I have prayed our entire marriage (17 years) that God would allow us to worship together. I truly see this as a God-thing-and am excited about our future together!
And I am praying for you all still~
Rhonda
Brent and Michelle - Praising God for how He spoke so deeply to you through the exhaustion to protect Abby once again!
Praying for your requests and trusting God to work through all of them perfectly!
I'm sorry to hear about the young lady in New Orleans - I will pray for her and her family!
Please continue to pray for baby Lila - she is about 5 weeks away from her birth day and still has many challenges to face - but we know the LORD is bigger than these challenges. Please pray for a sweet teen that attends my monthly bible study - she is taking a huge leap of faith and going alone with a missionary team to Africa this summer. This is all of God - she has blessed me by her actions and going through with this! I'm very proud of her!
Blessings and love,
Jill
How God has answered prayers this week/last. See my blog post about it.
http://simplehomemaker.blogspot.com/2009/02/god-is-so-good.html
Oh, thank the LORD you found the mistake! I am praising God with you! I do pray you both will be home very soon. We have fallen in love with sweet Abby -- amazing over the air waves, I know. We are lifting you up in our household. My daughter even prayed for Abby while asking the blessing last night.
Love,
Beth
Praise The Lord for guiding you to check the medication they were going to give that Precious Little Girl.. I am so happy that you were guided to do that Michelle.. I know you have to be totally drained from everything that has been going on.. Just remember we are not only praying for Abby we are praying for you, Brent and your other children to get thru this rough time.. Give alot of hugs and kisses to Abby from my family and there are six in this family so that is a ton of kisses..
Brent and Michelle,
[*Okay, it's fairly obvious to me that Satan doesn't want me to ask you this question. After writing it out twice, my computer has suddenly crashed TWICE, and here I sit a third time, frantically attempting to type it out once again. Hopefully I can squeak in a "send" before the lovely dark screen of cyber-death appears again. ...And I decided to "brave it" and post this question on your blog, not just in a personal email to you guys. Eeeek!]
First of all, PRAISE GOD that Michelle caught the morphine mistake and Abby's life was saved! I totally agree with you, Michelle, when you said, "God knew this day would come" and that He providentially protected her from harm yesterday.
This morning when I was praying for Abby, a question came to mind. I hesitated to ask you about it because, one, you have so much on your plate right now. Most mostly I think my hesitation comes from embarrassment. My question will, I'm quite sure, highlight my spiritual immaturity. But I feel it's probably a question many people have. Certainly non-believers...but possibly a few believers as well.
Would you have had the same loving, gracious, Christ-like response to the situation, had the result been different -- had the result been the "..." that wasn't a stay in the ICU?
I agree we are human, and that mistakes come with the job title. In no way do I think that the nurse's actions were negligent, incompetent, or a result of apathy. You guys are the ones in the room with the hospital staff constantly, so I believe you when you say it was an honest mistake. An accident. And I TOTALLY agree with you about our society's litigiousness. Our quick-to-sue attitude is just GROSS. (Your Jerry Springer comment sent me into a fit of giggles.)
I ask this question because it is what I struggle with the MOST in my daily walk with the Lord. When life is rosy, when skies are blue, I am able to count-it-all-joy. Easily. I feel, then, I am a positive witness for Christ. Obviously, it's not too hard to praise and serve Him when you're skipping through the tulips. My struggle comes when (if you saw my comment on your last post about losing our son, Seth) life is in the crapper. When the ultimate "bad things" occur, and when it's so hard to see God's hand in things. I guess what I'm saying is (head hung low), I'm a fair-weather Christian.
And I ask because I feel like you guys are in such a unique position, through your response to Abby's trial, to minister to and disciple SO many people. To put it bluntly, I yearn to know the CORRECT way to respond to trial. Actually, not just the correct way to respond to it, but the correct way to genuinely SEE GOD and His hand in EVERY happening in our life.
Obviously HAD the worst happened yesterday with Abby, it would have been God's will. But how, HOW could you have counted it all joy?
I know Christians are not exempt from grief. You would have grieved - cried, wept, fallen broken at the feet of Christ at the loss of your precious little girl. But how would you have escaped bitterness? Especially knowing ALL you have gone through with Abby, all the strides she has made along the way - knowing all that had been obliterated due to one single blink-of-an-eye mistake. How could you seen God in that circumstance?
And, more importantly, not just how would you see Him, how would you protect your heart from anger and resentment in the aftermath? ...Maybe down the road, when the shock of the event had transpired and reality had set in, and your support system had returned to normalcy in their lives. How would you have found the blessing in what happened?
I pray I don't sound flippant or "Oh, yeah, how would YOU handle this one!" with my questions. It's hard to convey tone in an email, and I certainly don't want to sound cynical or belligerent. I just genuinely want to know, I want a template for how to live my life as a believer facing hardships.
Thank you for taking the time to read my question. Please don't feel like you have to respond to it personally. Perhaps it's something that be addressed in one of Brent's posts in the upcoming days.
Have a good day!
~Kristy
I am so happy that Michelle caught that mistake, praise the Lord. Isn't he wonderful?? I have had such a wonderful experience in the last 2 weeks where my faith has been tested and made even stronger, the Lord is so amazing I just can not believe it. We have had a situation come up in our lives to foster a distant family member with the hope to adopt. I prayed for peace with this decision, it was granted, I prayed for guidance, it was granted. Then we were asked to take in this little boy with no assistance, no help, no money, etc. I only questioned it a bit because we live pay check to pay check with our family now. On that day I read Brent's post about WWJD. I asked myself that very question and I knew what we would do, exactly what Jesus would do. Well yesterday I received a call, asking if we would take him on Friday, sooner then we thought and we said yes, the next question amazed me. "Would we be willing to be licensed quickly?" We said yes of course, they decided that the route the county was taking wasn't good, we would need to be licensed and well licensing means assistance in many ways. I got off of the phone and praised God. I felt like we have been truely tested with these hard decisions and God has said, you have passed my test and he has shown me not to worry that he will provide for us. Wow my eyes are misty just writing this in amazement to God, he is working in my life and I have always had a relationship with him but this is the first time that I have felt that he is with me and guiding me! Here is to a new start to life in praising the Lord.
Thank you for all of your guidance.
On Monday, I was scheduled to be the "Lawyer-of-the-day" at the local county jail. Basically, I just tell those arrested in the last few days what their rights are, etc, and then we go before a judge for the arraingment. Because there were so many prisoners we had two lawyers on Monday. It turned out that the other lawywer was my former boss and she absolutely despises me. (I must admit, I don't go out of my way to chat with her.) Anyway, this lawyer is really rotten to me--even calling me at home to say really nasty things. Our relationship reached a pinnacle last summer when she called me at home and accused me of talking about her behind her back. She didn't have the facts correct, but wouldn't listen to the truth either, so I let her vent and hung up the phone.
On Monday when I saw her walk into the jail's conference room, I quickly prayed that God would open a door to at least give me an opportunity to be nice to her. It worked! She "had" to speak to me and we talked for several minutes about our firms. I was so happy to be able to speak to her. We didn't discuss any old feelings, but left it professional. I praised God for answering that small prayer. Every little bit helps.
And I will continue to praise Him for the work He is doing in and through Abby's life. She is reaching so many and showing the world what God can do.
We did see God this week! He is always watching out for us. I had a ton of errands to run and needed some help. I asked my 18 year old daughter if she would do some of them for me. I decided to send her to Kinkos and a few other places in that same area. Right after she walked out the door and drove off my husband called and said to be sure and watch the weather, tornados were forming in the area. I hung the phone up and had my daughter head back home. About 20 minutes later the tornado touched down in the Kinkos parking lot. Cars were thrown around, roofs ripped off buildings. That is about the exact time she would have arrived and being 18 she probably wouldn't have even noticed the weather. I am so thankful that God gave my husband the word to call me. Who knows what might have happened.
We had a couple similar scares when my son Grady was in the hospital with med mix ups and it was God who protected him!
Praying for Abby!!
I am so thankful that you caught that mistake!! It is so easy not to. Today I had my embassy appointment to bring my daughter home. when asked when I first met her, I said March 2006, well my NEW passport only had this trip stamped in it. No proof I had been to see her before, which had everything to do with the type of visa we were getting. Thank the Lord, that I had heard Him tell me even back when I got my new passport that I would need to bring my old one just for that reason. I just had to run back to the hotel today to get it. AHHH!! It could've been bad, but God is so good!! :)
I'm praying constantly for Abby.
Praising God that you caught the possible med mistake! Also praying that Abby is home soon!
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