God's Provision for my surgery!

This is a really neat story, but it's long. It's starts on Thursday of last week when Kris and I butchered some goats that had been needing to be butchered for weeks. We squeezed the job in that day and got all the meat cut up, ground, and in the freezer so that I could go to Hico on Friday to farm sit. It was an all day job, with the meat grinder acting up, and grinding VERY slowly, but we did finally finish.

Friday morning I spent cooking so that Kris and Mooky would have plenty of food to eat while I was gone. I was planning to leave around 3, but I was going to have to take the "big truck" because Erinn needs to be able to lie down if the trip is more than half an hour. Kris went out to check the water and oil on that truck, and came in and said he was afraid the water pump might be going out, but he wasn't sure. We prayed about it and couldnt come to a clear decision on whether I should take that truck or not. Taking a smaller truck would save lots of gas money, but it could mean 6 hours of misery for Erinn... So, I continued cleaning house, cooking, and getting all the rabbits set up with extra water bowls so they'd only need to be filled once a day. I streamlined everything I could.

I am only milking one goat right now, but she has a small udder and is impossible for Kris to milk since his hands are so big, so I let her HUGE kid out with her and sure enough he started nursing again even though he should have been totally weaned months ago! Yay! Another answer to prayer. Kris wont have to milk, and I wouldnt have to dry the goat up either. The kid could nurse while I was gone, then when I got home, I could lock him away from his mama again and start getting the milk for us.

Then at about 2:30 or so, I got a phone call from Gabe saying that his back was hurting and he felt that if he went out of town with the rest of the family it would incapacitate him, so he was going to stay home and I wouldn't be needed to farm sit after all.

Well... ok... no problem. We have a clean house, and lots of food to eat! LOL

3:30 that afternoon one of the orphans I am raising for a friend just "up and died". Actually, it went through a couple hours of agony where I did everything I could to try to save her and relieve her pain, but she died anyway. I am so glad I was here to deal with that.

Friday evening: Halcy texted me asking if I'd like to have a couple of nieces for a few days. Normally, I would jump at the chance! I hesitated, and since I am not the fastest texter, I didnt explain to her that I had this weird feeling that I should say no. I was a little stressed about losing the one kid, afraid the other orphan might get sick too, so I just told her very briefly that it wouldnt work out this time and I was sorry.

Saturday morning I went out to the barn and found this:

Anyone know what kind of animal digs those kinds of holes? I wasn't SURE what animal did it, but I did know it was not a chicken or a rabbit. I had an idea of what it might be, and was hoping I was wrong...

I looked around and didnt see any strange critters, so I pulled out the nest box, away from the wall. I've found two rattle snakes back there so far, so I was really careful! And look what I found!

...

A skunk!!

Yikes!! At least it was only interested in finding bugs, not eating baby rabbits and chicks... but still! We cant have a skunk living in our barn! So, I went to get the Exterminator, aka Mooky.

We knew from past experience that if you shoot a skunk in the head and kill it instantly, it wont spray. BUT, we also knew from past (bad) experience, that as the body relaxes after death, it releases the smell. So, the plan was for Mooky to shoot it in the head, and then for me to instantly use a rake and scoop it in to an empty feed bag for disposal. The plan worked. Sorta. It released it's stench awful fast, but we got it out of there without anyone throwing up. That's not to say there wasnt some GAGGING going on!!

Allright, so, it's still Saturday, and I had to go in to take a shower after the skunk incident. Even though I did not TOUCH the skunk I had to throw away my clothes. Old t-shirt, no big deal. Black pants, although oldish, still had a year or two of farm work left in them... rats. I dont have a lot of clothes, so I wasnt happy about that.

I cooked a late lunch of skinless grilled Buddy's Natural Chicken. Usually, store bought chicken will cause my gall bladder to act up, but I hadn't yet had any problems with the Buddy's chicken since it is so much healthier than regular store bought chicken.

However, this time it set me off, and I had a dreadful gall bladder attack. It lasted from 3:30 till about midnight. We had just enough pain pills left from Kris' back surgery in 2008 to get me through it. Even with the meds, it was the most pain ever. I have been dealing with this gall bladder for at least a year and a half, so I knew that we were at the point of no return. For awhile there, if I avoided all dairy, eggs, honey, beef, storebought meat, etc, etc, I felt good. But, eventually, I got to the point that any food could set me off. So, I knew I was going to have to have the surgery. We decided that since the pain pills were keeping me alive, we'd wait until morning to go to the hospital since we figured it was unlikely they'd do surgery in the middle of the night. This way, we could prepare in the morning, then go.

So, that's what we did. Mooky cleaned the kitchen really well, and Erinn packed her bags to stay at Granny's house. We dropped Mooky off at church, dropped Erinn off in Kerrville at Kris' mom's house, and then got to the ER around 10. I was very thirsty, but hadnt had anything to eat or drink since 3pm Saturday. I purposely didnt drink anything Sunday because I wasnt sure when the surgery might be. It was a LONG day of WAITING, and tests, and more WAITING, and trouble drawing blood because I was very dehydrated by late afternoon. Finally, the doctor said he was recommending surgery and would send the on call surgeon in to see me.

And in walked the very surgeon who had done several of my father in law's surgery. A fine Christian man! Praise the Lord! And what a relief. :o) He said that since I was so dehydrated and had so much inflammation in my gall bladder, that he wanted me on IV meds overnight and the surgery would be Monday morning. So I finally got some water to drink. Yay!! Even that hospital tap water tasted good.

We brought the laptop with us, and so while I sat in the hospital room Sunday evening, I did my online Bible Study for that day. The lesson was on praising the Lord in the midst of difficult trials and circumstances, and singing praises to Him even before your prayers are answered and before he brings the victory.

The surgery was delayed Monday morning because of an emergency surgery that needed to be done in the very operating room where I was scheduled at nine am. So, I layed there, wide awake, in pre-op from 8:30 until 10:30 singing praise songs to the Lord. I had NONE of the fear and anxiety that plagued me the night before. Whenever it started to creep in on me again, I'd think up another praise song to sing. :o)

The surgery went well, and I was home by 5pm Monday. Praise the Lord for arranging that whole chain of events, starting on Thursday, to prepare the way for us and make the whole experience smooth and without complications.

Mooky took good care of everything at home. Granny took good care of Erinn so I didnt have any worries about her, Kris took good care of me in the hospital, and the Lord took good care of us all!

And that is the end of my long story... whew. :o)

Oh wait! No, it's not. On the way home from the hospital, Kris discovered that it WAS the water pump going out in the truck. But, we made it all the way home safely, and so that is one more answer to prayer. I didnt get stuck on the side of the road somewhere, halfway to Hico with a broken down truck. Yippee!