This is the original post. Check out the comment from Jay (Kaelyn's Daddy) for the update.
Original post date 1-30-05
I spent the afternoon at UCSF children’s hospital today.
My friends Jay and Amy have a precious daughter named Kaelyn. She was born with several heart defects. The doctors said that the opportune time to perform the procedure to correct these deficiencies was when Kaelyn reached six months of age. Kaelyn got to six months last week. On Monday she had pre-op, on Tuesday they opened her tiny little chest and performed a four and a half hour open heart surgery. She has had a slight complication meaning that she needs to stay there for another week. All things considered she is doing well.
It was weird walking through the halls of the hospital and seeing all the tiny babies that were so fragile and needed such close attention just to keep them alive. The baby in the bed next to Kaelyn couldn’t have weighed more than five or six pounds. I asked about him. “Oh he’s three months old. He’s doing really well. They think he might get to go home tomorrow.” That’s amazing to me. This kid was barely past half the size of either of my kid’s birth weight and he was three months old!!!
I heard lots of stories of other kids that were receiving critical care. There was one baby that had been delivered a few days ago with only half of a heart. Jay and Amy said all the doctors went crazy and ran to the operating room. We don’t know how it turned out.
Stuff like that freaks out a father. Makes me sad, makes me wish there was something I could do to help. All I can do is pray I guess.
“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so complex! Your workmanship is marvelous, and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!”
Psalms 139.13-18
God was there when Kaelyn was knit together in her mother’s womb. He didn’t just miss that one valve, or overlook that hole in her heart did he? He knew what was going on right?
Why does stuff like this happen?
7 comments:
I've been listening to Jay's CD all week and every time I hear it, I pray for Kaelyn. Thanks, Jimmy, for this post. I love to be a part of other people's inner monologues. It's comforting to know that my friends have similar feelings and questions about life that I do.
Scary and sad story. I don't think we understand why God does these things until many months or years later. I do believe He has a reason for everything, beyond our comprehension. I hope this 6 month old and her parents will be okay!!!
I remember standing in the PC ICU with Kaelyn at the end of the day after her surgery.
She cried uncontrollably for two and half hours, having been given the max amount of morphine among other pain killers...It just wasn't working. It was enough to stress out the nurses that had been working in cardio medicine for fifteen yrs. I'd been praying for about half hour, and I finally just started crying out to God for His mercy on my daughter.
Ten minutes later I left the room, Kaleyn asleep and with I'm certain several angels commissioned by the Father Himself surrounding her and all eight special units in that wing as quite as the holy of holy's. I've never felt the presence of the Father like I did in that room.
Moments like this stick with you for the rest of your life. I'll never forget my weakness and His strength in my helplessness.
Some babies at UCSF never get to go home other than to see the Heavenly Father. Kaleyn is recovering very well and may never have to go back under the surgeon’s knife.
Praise God, for his faithfulness and thanks to the countless prayers and gracious support from our friends and family.
i work in a hospital & there aren't many shifts that go by that i don't ask myself this same question...why?
we attended the funeral of a friend's baby that was basically delivered dead...
all i can remember from that grave side service was wondering what kind of world do we live in that even has to make coffins that damn small?
all i know is that He gives & He takes away...because He can, it's all His in the 1st place...
my only hope is that consolation can be found somewhere in there...
there are no easy answers...
My mother almost died of a brain anuerysm on Aug.6th, 2003. She was in a coma for 14 days and then in rehab for months. She will never be the same and neither will I. I can't begin to fathom why this has happened but I have learned more about life, death ,faith, fairness, and God than I ever thought I could comprehend. I know that there will be a time, probably only when I'm with Jesus that I will know fully what God is up to. I don't feel that God is casual in his approach to our lives and I don't want to be casual in my approach to him.
Tonight my heart and prayers are with your friends. All I know is that when we are insufficient and weak, thankfully God and his mercy is not.
"This is as bad as it gets!" Those words still take my breath away. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that it would be said about my son.
Our son was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease over two years ago. Since then he has improved much but is still at great risk of an untimely death(is there ever a "timely" death?).
Many times over the last two years I have been asked, "Why did this happen to Nick?". I know illness is not of God. I know healing IS of God. I know that devine healing includes Nick going home to be with God.
So why doesn't He heal him now? Why did He allow him to get sick anyway? The best answer I have ever heard is simple... I don't know! I do know that God heals people every day ~ even today!
Why when Jesus walked into the pool at Bethsaida did only the one man get healed? I dunno. All I know is that God loves me, and God loves my son. I can live with that.
For more on Russ' son Nick read this:
http://culturedrivenlife.blogspot.com/2005/04/donate-life.html
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