Scary Situation

It’s been a bit of a stressful week. We received a call in the middle of the night this week that my grandpa had been airlifted to Iowa City for emergency surgery, his aneurysm had ruptured. Scary situation for several reasons, many people have too much internal bleeding and do not make it to the hospital and another factor was my grandpa has been on blood thinners for the last 6+ months, which made surgery more risky and would make for much more blood loss. Aaron and I left for Iowa City early, got there right when Grandpa had finished surgery.

About an hour after surgery we were allowed in to ICU to see him. He had a breathing tube down his throat (could not speak) and was sedated. Even thought he was sedated, he was responsive and opened his eyes when we would speak to him. He seemed to be resting at ease and doing well.

A few concerns developed while in recovery thus far, an infection has developed in his lungs. He is on antibiotics for this. Another is just keeping an eye on his blood pressure; they want it to be lower than normal to keep the blood from pumping too quickly thru the area where the aneurysm was. Another concern is that he was relying too much on the ventilator for his oxygen. Good news is he is now off of the ventilator and his lungs are functioning on their own.

When we got back home that night, I decided to do some more research on abdominal aneurysms. I definitely knew when I was at the hospital it was serious but after some research of ruptured aneurysms, I realized even more so that it is a miracle he survived this. No doubt in my mind that God was at work.

I remembered back to a verse I had read before: “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Matthew 21:22. Never underestimate the power of prayer.

Be sincere in prayer. Believe whole-heartedly that God answers prayers. I believe we witnessed a miracle, that my grandpa was safe in the hands of God. My grandfather is doing well in recovery but will be a long recovery as this was massive surgery. Please pray for his recovery. I thank you for each of those prayers.