derekmaul

Perspective – surgery will do that!

“for I am the Lord who heals you.” – Exodus 15:26

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Dr Suh explaining the plan

I understand that everyone is talking about the election today…. But I’m here at Wake Med waiting for Rebekah to get out of surgery. Consequently, we both have a helpful dose of perspective that it turns out may well benefit the rest of the world too.

My post-election comment is this – and it applies to everyone: Whatever you feel about the result, it helps to understand that people we love and respect voted for the president elect.

Whatever you feel about the result, it helps to understand that people we love and respect voted for the president elect.

As to the surgery, we are very thankful it’s happening, because the pain has been beyond overwhelming. Here’s the letter I sent out to a few people yesterday evening. I’ll update here, and on facebook, as soon as we know more.

DETAILS:

img_6114Some of you already know what’s going on (so I’m sorry if this is redundant), but some of you don’t. You can feel free to disseminate prayer requests and info if you would like to. Here are the facts as we have them.
Bottom line, Rebekah’s vertebrae are a mess! The pain has become completely debilitating, and she can hardly move. Therapy made it worse, the cortisone shot was an epic fail, and so surgery is now the only option.
  1. Surgery got under way at 7:30 am. We arrived at 5:30. It should last around three hours.
  2. It’s a fairly complex procedure that involves going in through the front of her neck, removing the problem disks (around C-6&7), freeing up the spinal cord, building a “cage”, replacing the disk with something this surgeon helped invent, attaching some kind of a plate, and doing other technical things I can’t find the words for.
  3. I’ll be at Wake Med most of the day today.
  4. If all goes well we anticipate Rebekah being released Thursday.

So, please pray for the surgeon, Dr. Suh, and pray that this surgery will relieve the intolerable pain. Rebekah wants nothing more than to return to being be fully engaged in ministry, to be completely immersed in the life of our church, to give everything she has to her work here, to enjoy the incredible privilege of beingn the pastor of such a vibrant faith community. We believe Wake Forest Presbyterian Church is not only remarkable, but poised for even more remarkable things, and that a healthy Rebekah is an important element of God’s plan.

Please look for more info in this blog during the day.

Love, peace, promise, and blessings – DEREK

6 comments

  3. Our prayers are with Rebekah, and you. And for the medical professionals who are caring for Rebekah. We know you will be a good caretaker.

    Reply

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