**Originally posted on November 13, 2008**
Stayed Upon Jehovah Hearts Are Fully Blest
So we are now into the second week of November. Every year at this time I am taken back to the beginning of November 1991.
On Tuesday of that week, 20 month old Megan started acting sick. That morning Pete changed Megan's diaper and said it looked funny to him. The
stuff (#2) in there was black. Didn't know what to think. My mom had come for a visit. I remember shopping and Megan throwing-up in the store. She didn't want much for supper that night.
That Wednesday morning I was getting ready for Community Bible Study. I would have stayed home, but I was scheduled to share about what the study had meant to me and what Caleb had gotten out of the children's program. Megan was so lethargic that morning she just wanted to sit in my lap. Not a normal thing for a 20 month old. I called and made an appointment at the pediatrician's for after Bible Study. My mom agreed to stay home with Megan and would meet us at the doctor's office.
So Caleb and I went to Bible study. We met my mom and Megan at the pediatrician's office as planned.
When I described Megan's symptoms, including the funky colored diaper, the doctor quickly ordered a couple of tests, including a blood work-up. That blood work showed that Megan had lost a large amount of blood. She was immediately referred to a Pediatric Gastroenterology specialist at the university hospital. I remember being hesitant to call Pete because he was having a very busy day at work installing a whole new phone system throughout the whole plant. The receptionist just looked at me and sternly told me to call him.
So my mom took Caleb home to feed him lunch and I went to the hospital with Megan and Pete met us there.
The next three days were a blur of tests. Endoscopy, colonoscopy, Mekel's scan and a series of x-rays. All with inconclusive or negative answers. Followed by tears and kicking the wall out of frustration.
I spent the first night in the hospital in the hospital with her. They gave her a couple of units of blood. It was such a blessing to see her pink up and become more alert. The night nurse played peek-a-boo with her and she giggled. What music that was to my ears!
The second night Pete spent with her. When I was home I tried to catch up on laundry. I went into Megan's room to get her dirty clothes and fell apart. I sat in the rocking chair and cried. Caleb (who was 4) came in, crawled into my lap, and starting crying too.
I remember: hearing her cry "get down!" when she was having an IV put in; Megan screaming every time someone new walked in the room; crying as she feel asleep in my arms from the anesthesia given her for one of the tests; clinging to my husband; dear friends coming to see us and them crying as they prayed for Megan; going for a walk with Megan in the halls of the hospital and her getting excited at the babies; God speaking peace to me. (see below)
We were discharged from the hospital that Saturday morning. The doctor thought she had some sort of a massive internal bleed that had originated in the small bowel. The black #2 in her diaper was probably blood. She probably lost about half her blood. Praise God it has never happened again and she is healthy.
Here is a picture of sweet little Megan the day after she came home from the hospital. You can see the mark on her little hand from an IV.
It was an agonizing week. God spoke to me in a couple of really clear ways. One was the first Bible verse that Caleb memorized at age three:
Hebrews 13:6 The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
It was an assurance of God's presence.
Another way God spoke to me was this hymn:
Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.
Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.
Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do;
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.
Every time we sing this song I end in a puddle of tears. Megan even chose it last summer for a worship service that she played the piano for. I was a mess by the end. And every time we hear that song Pete and I are ever thankful for sparing Megan's life and the blessing she is to this family.
Seventeen years later... me and my girl. She's a beauty.
(That picture was taken about four years ago. It's amazing to us that it's been twenty years since this happened.)
**Originally posted on November 13, 2008**
