Prayer for my Father

[Ukulelemike]

My family has all gathered at the hospital here in Reno. My father got a blood clot in his leg, which would have seemed to be easy enough to deal with. However, the bloodthinners didn't do much good, but caused him more bleeding elsewhere, so he lost his leg. Unfortunately, he seems to have grown new clots further up the leg, so they are looking at having to take it off higher,at the hip, which means a colostomy, can't even sit up. They are hoping the clot is in a place they can operate directly on the clot and try to save the rest of the leg. Knowing my father, he won't be happy as it is, (he has been under sedation since before the initial operation). 

Meanwhile my mother has made it clear that she intends to follow him into glory, as quickly as possible. 

SO really I'm not sure what to ask for in prayer, just God's will in all.  Thanks.

[282Mikado]

Praying. I gather he is saved...

[Ronda]

Praying... God's will be done.  I also pray for a quick recovery and comfort for all your family members. And if they get the clots under control, and even if he does lose his leg and has to have a colostomy bag, etc... he can still have a life.  It's NOT going to be the life he once had.  And there is  no doubt he will need some time to adjust to the reality of what life is now.

 I have progressive multiple sclerosis, and I also have a deteriorative spinal cord disease.  Both have changed my life in dramatic fashion... I can no longer do most of the things a normal body can. It took some time to come to grips with. But I realized that God has the master plan... He knows what's best even if it doesn't seem like it to us at the time.  This event may (in the long run) bring your Dad closer to the Lord.  In my circumstances it has made me realize (in a BIG way) how God wants us to depend on Him for our every need. It's a truly humbling thing and I have to admit I would not have likely had such a close relationship with the Lord (like I now have) if my body still worked properly and if these things had never happened in my life, I likely would have gone on as I was. So it may seem to be a curse to some, but for me it ended up being a blessing.  I probably didn't explain that very well...     I'm not saying I enjoy being a "helpless blob", and I don't enjoy being in pain a lot either.  I haven't quite learned to rejoice in my sufferings yet (still working on that). But I am saying that God has a reason and a plan for all things in life whether small or large.   Prayers for your Dad and your entire family sent up.

[Rosie]

 praying for you and for him as well

[John81]

Praying for your dad, mom, yourself, family and this whole situation.

[trapperhoney]

praying!

[Alan]

I will be praying for you, your dad, and your mother today for strength, comfort, and wisdom.

[Jim_Alaska]

Mike,

please know that I am in constant prayer for your father, just as I have been for you since we met.

If you need me for anything at all, just say the word. I'm only two hours away.

[Jeny]

will be praying for your parents brother. God is merciful.

[Rosie]

any news?

[Ukulelemike]

Thanks all for the prayer. Here's the latest:

The doctor removed the higher clot, which was up in his hip, and he is very positive on it. So far the stump has a strong pulse, though the blood is working now to remove toxins built up, so he's running a fairly high temperature, and they are keeping him on ice, as it were, to keep him cool. We won't know how successful it will ultimately be for a couple more days, but everyone seems very optimistic. Even my mother has settled down and allowed herself to go home and get some sleep.

So, still waiting, and of course, he's still heavily sedated, though they have lowered the amount and are working to get him to slowly start breathing for himself fully again. I will update as things happen. Thanks again-I have no doubt it has been effective.

[MountainChristian]

I'll be praying for your parents too.

[Ukulelemike]

Current update. Just heard from my mother, my dad's temperature is down to 100, the sedatives are being slowly lowered and he is mostly breathing on his own. Things seem to be going very well, physically. Now we wait for him to awake and see how is reaction is to all the changes. He can be a very strong guy with an ability to find humor in any situation, but he also can tend toward depression. He says he moved to Reno 30 years ago to die, as he was in very bad health then, (he had a heart condition no doctors could find until later, which gave him great pain), and he says he is still waiting for it to happen. So he could wake up, and decide, Nope. But we have been praying for his mind and spirit, to accept that the leg belonged to God and it was His right to take it and leave him there.

We are considering all buying pirate hats to greet him when he wakes up.

[John81]

Thank you for the updates. I will continue in prayer.

September 19th is talk like a pirate day so pirate hats could get extended use.

[Ukulelemike]

Well, at this point it looks like the surgery failed. The doctor said he should have woken up by now, but he is not. If they take the rest of the leg at the hip he will probably not survive yet another surgery in such a short time. If we put him on comfort care, he will pass on within a few minutes to a couple days, once the ventilator is off. If we did the surgery and he survived, he will be in a bed on a ventilator the rest of his life with a colostomy bag, possibly vegetative.

So, my mother is waiting for me to get there before she makes a decision, but I suspect we will remove the ventilator and let him go. If he starts breathing on his own and awakes, we will let him make the next decision. If not, we will send him off to glory.

So I had to ask myself, at what point are we 'killing' him, or allowing the Lord to choose? Do we keep him alive at all costs and say, "When God wants him, he will take him", or remove the ventilator and say, "If God doesn't want him yet, He will cause him to breathe"? Its a difficult decision. But bless God he is a believer, and in fact, he was my inspiration for wanting to become a preacher myself. It will be tough losing another counselor, as my own pastor, and another close pastor friend have recently passed-its tough losing the wisdom of age and experience. But he is God's, and he will be better off there.