*Miracles*

There have been a few things that have seriously amazed me about this process. I know I have had dozens of people reaching out to me and telling me they’ve been praying for me. That is not lost on me. My faith is an integral part of who I am. I believe in the power of prayer and I have seen evidence of it surrounding my surgery and recovery. I just wanted to list a few of the little miracles to share with you as well. I hope this edifies your faith as well, but of course, if you’d rather poo-poo it as coincidence that’s your freedom.

• Leading up to surgery, both my dentist partners were sick–hacking sick. My dental assistant was sick on and off. And my daughter was sick. I knew that getting a bad cold, or Covid, would easily derail the surgery which would’ve been a nightmare seeing that I was traveling from Wisconsin to Florida for the surgery. I was careful–but not crazy careful, I lived pretty normally. I didn’t get sick…not at all. Not even a tickle in the throat.
• Hurricane Ian was heading right toward the Tampa Bay Area. If it had, it would’ve been catastrophic. It turned just enough to spare the area and there was virtually no damage to the area. The timing was perfect. I had just been there 2 weeks prior for my pre-op appointment. And I wasn’t scheduled to be done there again until 2 weeks or so after it passed. Had I been down there when it was hitting, I don’t know what we’d have done.
• My original rental house was bigger than we needed and had a pool because we thought we’d possibly have the girls come with us part of the time. Because of the Hurricane, there was some damage to the property, so the owner gave me a full refund. I was able to find and rent a smaller, more practical property that was extremely close to the clinic and was over $1000 less!
• The night before surgery, I had probably the best sleep I’d had in weeks. I woke up refreshed, at peace, and ready for the day.
• During surgery, everything went absolutely perfect. Normally, they plan to place drains to allow excess fluids release–they didn’t have to for me. Anyone how knows me, knows I bruise extremely easily and “bleed like a stuck hog”. I did stop taking NSAIDs 10 days prior to surgery as recommended by my surgery, but I was still surprised when he told me I only lost 315 ml of blood, and they expected to lose almost 5 times that amount!
• At the end of surgery, the surgeon told me that he had to argue with the anesthesiologist about removing the breathing tube (the anesthesiologist thought it was too late in the night to do so in case there was an emergency). I do have some vague recollection of this interaction–they asked me a series of questions and I could answer every one and perform every task perfectly. He asked if I was in any pain, and somehow I answered “Nope”, just like that, “nope.” So Dr. Shah won the argument and they extubated me.
• Every check up with the surgeon, there was astonishment over how well I was doing and how well I was looking. I take very, very little credit for this. I am not some body-builder or yoga instructor that had an immaculate diet going into surgery. In fact, I probably had eaten about the worst I have in a long time since I wanted to get a good “last hurrah” in before I couldn’t chew for a while! And I’m not physically in-shape either. I haven’t been regularly exercising for over a year. I don’t take any magic vitamins or potions. I eat gluten. It’s just a miracle.
• My airway–the biggest reason for the surgery–is already at least 3 times wider than before!
• I’ve slowed down and reconnected with my husband. I’ve been able to spend time with him in a whole different way. I’ve received gentle (!!) care from him. I can see and feel his love for me in such a sacrificial way. We’ve been asked a lot if we’re bored. But honestly, it’s been nice slowing down together.