Day 566 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends,

Today was a day for us to be grateful for pain.

Brant's debilitating pain on Friday morning could not be ignored. Because of the pain he was forced to take action. The two narrowed areas of his left main artery were discovered and opened with a single stent. Because he took action, Brant averted what inevitably would have been a more devastating outcome.

It was painful for Brant to wake up to pain. It was painful for me to watch my sweet husband brought low by his pain. It was painful to wait for the results of each test. It was painful to try to sleep last night still not knowing the cause. And I will thank God for the rest of my life for that pain.

Without the pain, he would not have been forced to take action. Without the pain of the uncertainty, we would not have recognized our gratitude for diagnostic tests and intervention medicine. If the pain had been mild or merely uncomfortable, it would have been easy to delay action, ignore the pain or rationalize the cause as from some other source. Waiting would have allowed everything to get worse.

I suppose it is that way with many things in life – not just physical pain. If something is uncomfortable or painful, we are faced with a decision. We can ignore it, try to avoid it and resent its intrusion. Or we can dig for the cause, take corrective action, and then make better decisions in the future.

Brant comes home tomorrow after only 2 ½ days in the hospital with better blood flow to his heart muscle. We both come home with hearts filled with gratitude for a weekend filled with pain and cancelled plans.

As for Grayson, he spent the day with Austin and Xixi – wandering around the mall, going to the library, eating Thai food and playing Kinect games. Here is a picture of the brothers in the middle of a Double Jump.

Thank you, Lord for pain.

Regina