The Circuit Ridin’ Preacher

I stayed with Harriet after her surgery last night.  She had a restless night and then had dialysis at the hospital today..  After the dialysis treatment, she was brought back to the room in chills,  nausea and lots of pain.  Shortly she began to have convulsions and vomiting.  Her nephrologist was still at the hospital and he came in and immediately ordered her to the ICU.  He was most cautious that there had been no damage to her heart and asked her a couple of times if she had any chest pains.

When we got to the ICU, they drew blood and did a whole series of test which came back showing a good report.  The doctor took her off the strong pain medications which (I think) he suspected may have caused her adverse reaction this afternoon.  And without these Harriet was still in a lot of pain in the leg where the surgery was done. They were finally able to get her some sleep aid and pain relief so she was settling down and assured me that she was going to sleep. 

I REALLY hated to leave her but there was no way they would allow me to remain in the ICU with her so I came on home and will return early tomorrow. 

The surgeon and the nephrologist were both pleased with the surgery itself.  He was able to strip a vein out of the top of her right leg and implant it beside the artery.  This took an incision from her groin to the inside of her knee.  Using her own vein means there is less risk of infection and rejection.  It will still be 5-6 weeks before this fistula heals, ‘matures’ and they can determine that will be usable.  Don’t think I need to emphasize our need for your prayers.

I had just passed my 18th birthday, had my high school diploma and only two stripes on the left arm of my clean, new Navy white uniform.  But I was working hard toward my next stripe on a cruise aboard the USS Bowers out of Charleston Navy base. 

The uniform was clean and neat but I was green as a gourd.  Wouldn’t have admitted it at the time but I feel secure in that admission now.

But not even 53 years can mellow an old sailor enough to dim the memories nor shrink the tingle of excitement that tickled my spine.  My duty station in the pilot house when I first heard the order announced from the bridge: “Now Single Up All Lines”.  It is always the final command given in preparation to make passage to some exotic port over what poets call the ‘bounding main”.

Now.  That’s the word. “Now” the entire mighty vessel stood poised and ready to “Throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor” as Mark Twain put it.

And that’s what it looks like around our house as Franz, Kristie, Jennifer, Jacob and Matthew enter the last week before leaving for Papua New Guinea.  They have packed, re-packed and repeated the cycle too many times to count already.  And I predict that this process will continue until next Tuesday (August31) when they board the plane in Pensacola.  “Catch the trade winds in their sails..” to paraphrase old man Twain, and resume their missionary ministry on that beautiful island nation in the South Pacific.

They are young and excited and ready to go!  “Explore. Dream. Discover”, Twain challenged.

But, there are a couple of old folks who must stay behind this time.  I know for a fact that they need your empathizing prayer as much as the young’uns.

We have had a busy couple of weeks.  Franz and Kristie came in on Wednesday and have been getting set up for their last 3 weeks stateside. They are waiting for visas to be approved and then they can buy their tickets.  They’d like to fly out of here on Sept 3.

They do need more support but are confident that they have "knocked on every door" they know to and have enough promises of "we’ll support you when you go".  Unfortunately, that is the way it is for “faith missionaries” trying to raise their support. 

Check out their blog and please pray intelligently with them and for them.   Franz and Kristie Martens’ blog  And a couple of picture of our GRANDkids and our house.

Check back here later for an update on Harriet’s appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday.

Pastor Steve Sanders said something that I wrote in my Bible so I would not forget it.  He said that sending your children to the mission field is not giving them up.  It is giving them over to the care and keeping of our Lord!

I’ve had to remind myself of that more than ever these days as we get ready to see Franz and Kristie leave for Papua New Guinea.  And no matter how sweet the song may sing, it would not be worth at all if they were going to the uttermost part of the earth in the care and keeping of a loving Father.  And were they not going to serve our Lord.

They are coming to our house to stay until their visas are granted by the PNG government.  They hope to be flying out on or about September 2.

They still need some regular monthly financial support and some funds for their initial setup when they arrive.

Check out their blog or their Facebook page:

http://www.ntm.org/wp/franz_martens/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Martens-on-Mission/235561707339?ref=ts

The nurse was able to get an IV into the vein on the back of Harriet’s hand with no pain and do it on the first try!  If you knew what a history Harriet has of problems with these procedures, you would KNOW that God was answering prayer.  It was the first of the good news we had had in this latest round of challenges that Harriet has faced.

Though they could not give her as much anesthetic as before, the entire procedure was pain free for which we really thank the Great Physician.  She did have a good sedative which really helped. 

The doctor said that he was as aggressive as he could be without risking injury.  He was able to get to the blockage in her chest but was unable to get a wire thru it.  He had hoped to be able to do angioplasty there and then insert a stent.  He explained that the body will sometimes compensate for a blockage like this by forming collateral veins to route the blood back to the heart.  This is apparently what is happening in Harriet.

When she asked him how long this will last, he said that in some cases it will last for years.  “It could last you the rest of your life”, he said.

Harriet said “You know, we are just trusting the Lord for whatever He wants”.  To which he replied, “yes, and He knows what is best and He always does what is best.”

God answers prayers and we thank the many, many people who have prayed and are praying.  And thanks for the encouraging calls, emails and Facebook notes!

The surgical procedure that they had scheduled to open the blockage in Harriet’s arteries tomorrow has been rescheduled for next week, Tuesday, July 6.  The doctor who is to do it is on vacation this week and we felt it was worth waiting on him.  He is the only doctor on the team who really feels that it can be done, the one who operated last week. 

Harriet has been doing OK this week.  We have daughter Kristie and her family here this week –at least the boys.  Jennifer is at Camp Victory this week for her fifth year.  GRANDdaughter Jessica is there for her fist time at camp.  Please pray that our Lord will make it a rich and exciting week with eternal results.