Day 28: A scar you have and it's story

I am determined to get this 30 day challenge finished. ;) I don't think I have ever seen someone let a 30 day challenge last longer than 8 months,  but I have, and I apologize. . . 

I found todays challenge to be a little tricky because I have plenty scars on this earthly body of mine. :( from cuts and burns to chicken pox scars and all of those every day sort of accident scars. I think of it like, "hey, there's a story that goes with each scar we have. Good or bad" ( mostly bad haha ) but there is definitely one story that pops in my head most when I think of any scars I have. So below I will obey this challenge's commands and give a story about my the scars that left a mark on me and my memory. 

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It was a normal Thursday in March of 2010.. I had gone to work ( at a restaurant I worked at then ) for my typical evening shift. I was feeling well all day, nothing stopping me from doing everything that I usually did on a daily basis. About an hour after I clocked in at work, I had the slightest pain in my stomach. I really didn't think anything about it because I had always suffered with stomach problems even as a young child. . As the evening grew older and older, my stomach pains were getting worse and worse. I was thinking in the back of my mind what this pain might be from. I even thought maybe it was the catfish I ate for dinner but my pain started hours before that. By the time I got home (around 11:00 p.m.-ish)  I cried myself to my parent's bedside asking my mom what this pain might be. I had never felt it before. I felt bad because I knew they really couldn't do anything to help my pain go away and probably felt helpless because of that. I told my parents that I would try to go to sleep and see if I would feel better in the morning. I was trying to toughen up because I knew that I would have to go through more pain in my life than just a "bad stomach ache". I walked up to my room, hunched over, holding my side, because that was the only way I could walk. Usually if I don't feel well, after a long night's sleep I would feel really refreshed, but that night I couldn't go to sleep from this excruciating pain that kept on. I remember just crying out to the Lord all night long as I kept moving side to side because no position I could get in would be comfortable. That was one of the longest nights I had been through..sleepless, in the worse pain I had ever felt. I didn't want to wake my parents because they were both sleeping and had a busy day. Finally around six in the morning, I got out of my bed because I couldn't handle the pain any longer, walked to where we keep our books and picked up one about the human body. I started reading what organs were where and so on... I took the book to my mom and asked her to look at it as I showed her where my pain was. I remember her saying "Rachel, we are bringing you to the hospital as soon as you can get your things together. I think where you're pointing is your appendix but I want to be sure" The thought of going to the emergence room gave me a quiver but I new that that would be best because I could barely handle the pain any longer. . 

In the car, every bump on the road felt like it was meant to hurt me. That 25 minute drive felt like hours. We finally got to the ER, they took all my basic info and asked ordinary questions, finally put me in a room, got into a hospital gown and waited for the doctor to see me. After the Doc. saw me, he wanted a CT Scan done because he had a really good idea what was wrong with me. I had to wait about almost two hours for the CT Scan. Once they took the scan, the Doctor came in and confirmed that I had Appendicitis and that they were going to need to do an emergence surgery. In 2009 I had the stomach virus and the pain from that was quite similar but not the least intense as it was right there. So yes, I was in fear. I know the doctors do surgery every day to people but them doing it on me was a just scary thought. I kept praying and praying that God would put his hand over my body. I remember right before going into surgery, they had started pumping me up with all sorts of medicine. A scary thought was that they said they gave me something that they give pregnant women for pain because the morphine wouldn't help in the least bit. I literally felt like I was levitating and spinning around. the most peaceful part was when they rolled me into the room where they would do surgery and the anesthesiologist spoke softly to me until I had dosed off.  I remember dreaming while in surgery. I was walking in field with really tall grass and feeling the most pretty breeze and sunshine. just feeling the warmth of the earth on my bare feet. It was really neat.

Waking from surgery broke that nice dream with pain worse than when I went in. They couldn't give me any medicine for pain until I woke. I can't actually remember getting rolled into my room or the rest of the day really. it was all a blur. But I do remember that I felt as if I were a patient in one of those doctor movies. It was so weird because the hospital was rarely seen by my family or me. After the surgery, the doctor said that after they took the CT scan, my appendix had gotten even worse where it almost burst. It sounds all icky and nasty but once it does that, it can lead to infection in the whole body and then worse. They didn't plan on it getting as bad as it did, so the surgery lasted even loner than expected. I am just thankful I was asleep for all of this. . .

I also remember being put on a clear liquid diet for four days. The thought of living off of apple juice and chicken broth was bad enough but then when my parents and siblings brought poboys, salads, and other foods that smelt so good into the room for dinner, I was being tortured! haha they had to eat too ;) The day after my surgery, my doctor came and checked me but saw that I wasn't healing like I should be, so I had to stay at the hospital another day and a half. 

It took me over a week of bed rest to heal. I had to fight the "getting off the pain medicine" and making sure I didn't catch pneumonia. Walking straight again was tough, but each day I pushed myself. I hadn't yet seen what the surgery left on me. I was wrapped in bandage and had to be careful it didn't come off. A week after surgery I had to go see my doctor for the last time to get my stitches out. One word explains it. P.a.i.n.f.u.l.! He didn't even tell me he was pulling them out. You can probably guess I wasn't happy in the least bit. I finally got to see the scars that were left on my tummy. Three of them. not big ( two are like, 1/2 inch and one is an inch ) but they'll always remind me of that time in my life. 

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The one think I'm most grateful for is that God was protecting me through everything. He didn't let the surgery go wrong, He didn't let me get pneumonia, He healed me, and I now have those scars to remind me of that. His healing hand that touches us all the time. We will have to suffer from pain while living in this world. Many painful things will happen to us, wether that be physical or emotional, or in most cases, both... But as Christians, we have this huge advantage that makes me smile at the thought of it. This verse explains it so perfectly ‘'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ( Revelation 21:4 )  Won't that be amazing. The thought of no more death, pain, or crying because all of that will be gone when He takes us up with Him to live with Him forever. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes!! He is so awesome and worthy to be praised. . .