Surgery update

July 20, 2009

life / pentecostal / charismatic

Recently, I wrote some things about Kiera’s surgery, which at the time was upcoming and happened today. I don’t normally write a lot about these kind of life situations, but this particular one has had some factors that we think might be interesting, especially to those of you who know us.

First of all, we have received an outpouring of love and support. I posted a photo of Kiera’s cast on Twitter and Facebook, and received lots of great messages on both. Please feel free to leave one yourself on one of the sites, if you like.

One of the things that struck both of us the most was a prayer emailed to us just prior to leaving the house this morning:

Kiera’s leg surgery is today – please wrap the “prayer shawl” around her and hold her tightly.

God ahead, God behind.
God be on the path I wind.
God above, God below
God be everywhere I go.

Celtic Prayer

In many ways, for us this was a preview of the day’s events. If you have read the previous post I wrote about this surgery, you know that this one was designed as a bone fusion, with a bone graf (involving three incisions). The surgeon’s X-rays and diagnosis indicated that, although there was no arthritis, the fusion was necessary or would be in the near future. It was designed to require six weeks before weight could be put on it, and would be an incredibly intensive and painful recovery process.

None of this was a surprise to us, and we were as prepared as we could be, though both of us were very nervous. But today, when the surgeon made his incision and was looking around inside the foot, he decided that the fusion was unnecessary and he was able to remove the piece of bone that shouldn’t be there, indicating that either the first surgery she had didn’t remove enough, or that it grew back and will not be able to grow back this time, since she is no longer a teenager.

So, this bone removal is incredibly less invasive, and thus provides her with a smaller recovery time, and much less pain than she would have had to endure. This is still an intense surgery for a foot, and still involves a great deal of pain, but the difference is an order of magnitude, apparently. We had no reason to expect this, and the surgeon was as pleased as we were.

Kiera and I have spent several years having our theology, our lives, and our relationship enriched by supernatural workings of God, many of which we do not at all understand. This whole process has been one of those things, from the straightening of her feet as a child to situations like this. We do not at all want to lessen the knowledge or experience of the surgeon, as he is at one of the top hospitals in the country and we have both experienced too many Christians that see everything as a supernatural working of God, but the surgeon himself has been pleasantly surprised and we find much to be thankful for.