Surgery is a week away!

Brooke's surgery is a little less than a week away now. Where did the time go? This has snuck up on me so fast that I'm finding myself struggling to get mentally prepared. It takes a lot of mind preperation on our part to see her through surgeries and tests, etc. It's grueling to be quite honest. Listen to me whining about us when Brooke is the one who has to physically endure all the pain. Bless her heart. I've done most of the pre-surgery prep work and I'm just waiting to hear back from Dr. Libby on whether or not insurance will pay for the GCSF shot he plans to give her the day after surgery. I emailed him to let him know we will pay for it if insurance won't...I then added that we could sell the car to cover the cost. Ha. Yep, it's a costly one! I told him it didn't matter and that we'll do whatever it takes to help protect Brooke from infection. Please pray for skilled hands to operate on her. For no complications, no additional bleeding, and most importantly for no infection. I ask God every day to continue to wrap his loving arms around Brooke and to protect her and help keep her safe. I ask that God give us the wisdom and added strength to care for her following surgery and that we find a way to make her comfortable and help ease her pain.

I'm closing with a short story from my friend Randy at SONM:
"I participated in a summer school class at the Albuquerque Academy, where four of our Special Olympics athletes gave short presentations on the word “retarded.” Marla Gavurnik shared these words with the class.“Mental retardation causes me to learn, to communicate, to understand things, and to take care of myself at a slower pace.” When I laid my head down that night, I gave thought to the fullness of the day and what I had learned. Like Marilyn, we won’t get to choose when we leave this earth, but her life was a good reminder that we do have control of what contribution we will make to each day. Our God-given gifts will only make a difference to those around us if like Marilyn did, we share them. And, although I didn’t come into this world diagnosed with mental retardation like Marla, her words spoke to a need that I think many of us have felt lately - the need to roll at a slower pace, so we are able to do a better job of learning, communicating, understanding, and taking care of ourselves."

Amen to that. Brooke has taught us so many valuable lessons such as not taking things for granted and looking at things that other people often don't take the time to see. God is amazing...what a blessing it is to have been chosen to raise this angel.
Love you all.