February 5, 2008 our faith in trusting The Lord was put to the test. I was at home with a 103 Fo fever feeling horribly sick. The weather that day was warmer than normal for our area of the country. It was actually pretty nice out all day that is until that night. I remember the high winds and dark clouds rolling in. I stepped outside the house and saw what looked like a wall cloud to me. Then all of the sudden, my work pager went off; "We need immediate help, an imminent tornado has been spotted and headed towards Gassville." I ran to the kitchen, swallowed four ibuprophen and rushed out the door.
I was driving my suburban into the town of Gassville, when all of the sudden debris was flying all around me. First it was shingles, then pieces of roof, then power lines, then pieces of house walls, and then a couch and other miscellaneous furniture. I had driven right into the path of the tornado.
The test did not come that night in the midst of the tornado; it came a few days later. Our oldest daughter Kenzie was helping clean up the tornado damage when she accidently stepped on a nail. At first it didn’t seem like a big deal. That night I got a prescription for an antibiotic from one of our ER doctors that was on duty. The following day we took her to get a tetanus shot. To our surprise, her doctor admitted her to the hospital for intravenous antibiotics.
What happened next was very complicated. So I am going to make it as short as I can. Kenzie did not get better. Whatever was going on from the infection caused by the nail in her foot traveled throughout her body. It started in her right foot, then up her leg, right side, right arm, into her head, down the left arm, left side, left leg and finally her right foot. She was developing excruciating pain throughout her body, experiencing uncontrolled muscle contractions, loss of motor function and bizarre rashes. Tetanus is what we thought. However after several doctor visits, tests, exams, and studies at numerous hospitals no one could figure out definitively what was wrong.
Since no tests or studies revealed anything abnormal, we were turned away repeatedly by various doctors. Most had decided that our daughter who was a 4.0+ grade point average high school student was a behavioral problem. We were even told that she was attention seeking and drug seeking. As her parents we knew better and her bizarre symptoms just simply were impossible to self induce. For example, one night she said her legs felt strange. I pulled the covers off to look and one leg was blue and hot to touch, the other was red and cold to touch. Those symptoms lasted about 20-30 minutes and resolved on their own. Frequently, portions of her veins would turn bright red like someone had taken a red marker and traced them. Like her legs, the vein symptoms would last several minutes and then dissipate by themselves as well. There were numerous other bizarre symptoms, but like I said it was very complicated.
We eventually ended up in Saint Louis Missouri at the Children’s Hospital. Finally someone was willing to listen. A neuro specialist told us, "I have no idea what is going on. I believe it is a compilation of a few things, but nothing specific that I can identify and treat specifically." He decided to continue the treatment she was currently on. He was completely opposed to stopping her medications completely like the previous doctor had suggested we do. The plan was to continue treatment as prescribed and hope that she would take a turn for the better or something obvious and more definitive might emerge.
Kenzie's condition had continued to worsen significantly. She missed pretty much the remainder of her school year. We did not know if she was going to become permanently disabled or even die. Being that Carri and I are both medical professionals, we knew something was horribly wrong. Sadly for the most part every doctor and specialist we had seen blamed her condition on psychological issues, except for the one specialist in Saint Louis. By the way, Kenzie graduated high school as the salutatorian of her class and now is a pre-med major in college.
There were so many days and nights that Kenzie would just cry. All she wanted was for someone to believe her and figure out what was wrong. The best we got was in Saint Louis. Even there we had no answers. Kenzie wanted her life back. Carri and I wanted our daughter back. It was so hard not having answers and not being able to help our own child. All we could do was pray and trust the LORD.
I remember telling my daughter on numerous occasions; "God does not need a diagnosis, or even a doctor. He knows what is wrong and He can choose to heal you if He wants to. We just have to trust that He will be glorified through all of it, and He will use this someday."
After several months, Kenzie was completely healed. We never did find out what was causing all her pain, disabilities and bizarre symptoms. We do know this; God did not use one doctor to restore her health. He taught Kenzie some very valuable lessons about depending on Him. I learned that Kenzie really was His, I was not in control.
This was a pretty good test for us. We could have turned away from God for allowing our child to suffer. Instead we trusted in Him growing stronger in our faith and developing an even deeper dependence on Him because of it. Also, I can’t help but realize how much sin is like this bizarre illness. Sin ravages our body and takes control of our lives. The bible even says we are dying in our sin. Nothing in this world can help us and nothing of this world can save us. The only hope we have is Jesus Christ.
The picture is of a house damaged by the tornado in Gassville, Arkansas
2 Corinthians 1:9-10 Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him that he will deliver us yet again,
May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ’s love!
No comments:
Post a Comment