Allow me to rewind a bit. We were told in January that Caleb's left ear (the ear that has ALREADY had surgery) would need an invasive procedure to reconstruct his auditory canal after clearing out the unhealthy tissue known as cholesteatoma. This procedure (mastoidectomy) was supposed to be scheduled as soon as possible, but first the surgeon wanted to see Caleb's original CT scans from before his initial surgery last fall. No problem, right? Wrong.
There are many things that have progressed in the modern age; however, the way that medical scans are transmitted from one office to another apparently is not one of them. Caleb's scans had to be put on a disk and physically mailed from Fort Wayne to Indianapolis. No problem, right? Wrong.
After a few weeks, I called to see if the disk had arrived. When the surgeon's secretary said it had not, she contacted the office in Fort Wayne again to have the disk re-sent. A week later, I called her back. The disk still hadn't arrived. Weird. So with a smile on my face and my efficiency alarms ringing, I got the phone number for the office that sent the scans and began the process of "helping things along."
If you fast-forward 2 months, you would see that I am now on a first name basis with both the sweet gal sending the disks and the secretary for the surgeon. Week after week, try after try, we couldn't get the disk to arrive. I was just about to physically escort a disk to Riley when I got a call that they found a PILE of mail in the mailroom that just hadn't been delivered. In that pile were three copies of my child's CT scans. Yay! Problem solved, right? Wrong.
Having now seen the scans, the surgeon wanted NEW scans taken at one of his offices. So 2 weeks ago (yes, 3 months after Caleb's initial appointment) we traveled to Indy to have pictures taken of Caleb's ear canals. And having done that, a week and a half later, surgery scheduling called to put Caleb's procedure on the books.
While all the confusion and delay has been time-consuming and frustrating, it's also been peaceful. Yep. I said it. Peaceful. With the timing completely out of our control, we have had total confidence that the Lord was ordaining the days and masterfully planning the order in which He wanted Caleb's surgery to occur. Not too soon. Not too late. His timing. No amount of "helping things along" would budge it. And in the meantime, our family has walked through multiple complicated and difficult situations that would have been even more challenging had Caleb been recovering from a major procedure. God has been so faithful and kind!
So we're prepping for May 28, the day after Memorial Day if that helps you to remember to pray. This procedure will be the first of two surgeries to improve Caleb's hearing in his left ear. It's a 3-hour surgery at Riley Hospital, and by God's abundant grace, a friend who is very familiar with Riley is planning to accompany me. Would you pray for healing, for a successful procedure, and for courage for my son? Having walked through a painful recovery last fall without successful results to show for it, my justice-minded son is struggling with why this needs to be a part of his story. That Tuesday is also the first day of his summer vacation so having a week-long recovery of no activity or baseball games also wasn't in Caleb's plans. And if you think to, pray for David and me? We are truly resting in the sovereignty of God, but there are still moments when the delicate reality of what the surgeon will be doing makes my head spin.
You are a blessing to us. Thanks for stopping to ask me how he's doing, what's going on, where we're at. I can't imagine raising my family without this mighty community both locally and through the interwebs. You love us well.
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