Washington DC and Amy's last month part 2

Some friends of our invited us to visit Washington DC with them last weekend. We had a wonderful time, although it was very cold! We parked outside the city and took the Metro in.  I haven't ridden on a subway for 30 years and it was exciting but not the kind of daily life I would like to live. It was also very sad as we saw many people begging and so many homeless people in the city. They were wrapped up in  whatever they owned with a tarp or piece of plastic around them. I think it got in the 20's the night we were there and it was so very windy. I will have to pray for God to give me a way to help some of them.

We walked a lot, visited some museums and ate at The Cheescake Factory. That evening we went to see "A Christmas Carol" in Fords Theater.    (That was the theater where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.)  The production really touched my heart. It was a musical and all of the songs they sang were traditional Christmas Carols.  The songs pointed to Christ many times as our hope and I realized that I have been looking at the commercial side of Christmas and not the real meaning of Christmas. Even with the story line of Tiny Tim, I didn't feel sad, but only joy. I was inspired to at least recognize Christmas this year by hanging wreaths on our doors and making some cookies to share. I will try my best to think of others this season and remember how happy Amy is sharing this Christmas with her Savior Jesus.

  
We stayed in a historic hotel and even though it was too cold to visit the zoo the next day, 
we had a wonderful time with some great friends.


 

 

Amy's last month-Part two.

My husband and I took Amy to the ER around 8:00 Thursday morning, February 28. They took a chest x-ray, blood work, and started an IV. The ER doctor was very kind and actually talked to Amy. (Some doctors act like she can't hear, or understand, or that she isn't even there.) As she was having so much distress in her breathing, he wanted to put in a breathing tube, intubate her. He also wanted to transfer Amy to a bigger hospital that was better equipped to take care of her and the tube would be easier for her to travel.  He took us to another room to talk about it. The doctor assured us that this is done quite often and in a day or two the tube could be removed. But he also gave us no guaranties. Amy was quite frail (only about 65 lbs) but he knew how well she did last year with pneumonia, so he gave us a few minutes to make a decision. 

My husband and I had decided previously to not do anything like this to keep Amy alive. We felt that when the Lord called her home, it was her time to go. But it was not like in the movies. She wasn't in a coma, she was wide awake and in distress, pain and scared, because she couldn't breathe.We decided to let them intubate her.

I didn't know it then, but it was the beginning of the end. 

Would we had made the same decision had we know there would be almost 5 weeks of time spent in the hospital? That Amy would have more procedures and more pain? That she wouldn't live through all this? Of course we wouldn't have. We would have taken her home right then and committed her life to God.  

But that was not what God wanted for her life or for ours. He wanted us to go through those five weeks. He wanted Amy to touch many, many lives in the hospital. He wanted her to share her story with others............... I will continue in the next post.

I have been studying Romans these past few weeks. These verses in Chapter 8 are very special to me.

 

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

  ²⁸ And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

³⁷ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.