Fortunate
Every hair on the back of my neck stood up as I crumpled the fortune and threw it to the center of the table.
Why can't I ever get a good fortune, like I'll win a million dollars?
"You will have a close encounter of a serious kind," it read.
Awesome, I can't wait for that one.
And so it began on our beach vacation last week. I don't believe in fortunes, luck, fate or coincidence, but I do believe God speaks through these events. I knew something was coming and I later found out that my husband knew it too. There was something to be said, for knowing it was coming. I felt God was preparing me, letting me know something would happen but that it would be okay. Peace spread throughout my body, filling every crack and crevice. Wish it could have filled the wrinkles too, but I digress.
Falling into bed exhausted that evening, I awoke to the rustling of something large crawling on the floor. My first thought was a bear, but I hadn't seen too many on the beach earlier that day. Then I knew it was someone's dog. I'm afraid of dogs.
It was actually our 127 pound son, he couldn't walk because of severe abdominal pain. We hauled him up on the bed, fired up the beachy, sketchy Internet, discovered he had Appendicitis and were off to the emergency room.
After pumping him full of Morphine, the ER docs concurred with my diagnosis, but said it was early. Even though Mason was so sick that he asked if he could stay at the hospital (what kid wants that?), they threw us out on our sandy behinds. Wanted to see him the next day. It's 4:00 am I reasoned, isn't it the next day right now?
We brought him back to the ER, they did a CT and said yes, appendicitis, he's going by ambulance to a Children's Hospital 40 minutes away. Two 16 year old paramedics eventually appeared and we were on our way. Those ambulance rides sure aren't what they look like on TV. My neck will never be the same, but nonetheless an uneventful ride.
They kept him overnight, prepped him for surgery and after 27 hours of not eating or drinking anything, decided Mason wasn't sick enough to have surgery. We were free to drive back through the desert to go home the next day.
A close encounter of a serious kind…
"I'm pretty sure no one wants to see me do an emergency Appendectomy in the desert, but whatever," I shrugged.
He made it back fine, still in pain, still has his appendix.
And I still have peace, because no matter what, it will all be okay.
Audra Krell 