Thanking God Through the Trials

As some of you know, Mike has had a rough time over the last couple of days. We found ourselves at the emergency room on Thursday with Mike in terrible pain from a kidney stone. They gave him lots of drugs and we went home early Friday morning. With a prescription for Vicodin (sp?) he had been doing pretty well. He even stayed late Friday night for the rush of customers we had.

But yesterday the pain came back with a vengeance. We didn't really want to go back to the emergency room, and Mike was definitely not looking forward to having another IV placed (he HATES needles!), but the pain was getting really bad and he had pretty much maxed out on the drugs he could take at home. So again last night we traveled to the ER. We were prepared this time and brought along a pillow, the bible, and a magazine since we figured we'd be there awhile. We were fortunate this time to get an actual room (on Thursday they were so busy that the put him on a bed out in the hallway).

Again they gave Mike some drugs and he pretty much slept through the next four and a half hours that we were there. They did a sonogram of Mike's kidneys to see if they were inflamed, and sure enough the right side one was. It was really funny because Mike was so groggy and out of it, but when they came in to do the sonogram, Mike asked the doctor if this was when we got to find out if it was a boy or a girl :) Since I am weird and love the hospital and all things medical, I thought it was so cool to watch them do the sonogram. The staff doctor was teaching the resident doctor, so I was paying attention to what he was teaching him. It was really cool!

Then they gave mike a CT scan to check if he for sure had a stone and where it was. The news came back that he had a 4mm stone that was lodged in the ureter between the kidney and the bladder. The doctor expected him to be able to pass it, but told Mike he was surprised he wasn't in more pain, or at least that he wasn't complaining more!

This has been quite the ordeal, and it's been hard to go through at this time with the store being newly opened, but God has been with us and there are so many things we are thankful for. When we were driving to the ER last night, Mike decided that we should try to say all the things we were thankful for to keep his mind from focusing on the pain. Here's a short list of some of the things we came up with:

-We are thankful for our family. We have great family on both sides and everyone has been so supportive during this and so willing to step in to help out however they can.
- We are thankful for our church family. We love Mars Hill, and we love that this community really is our "family" in Iowa City. We have experienced the love of God through them.
-We are thankful for the employees at Capanna. It is such a blessing to know that even when Mike can't be there, the store is in great hands. They are also very willing to step in and work and help out whenever.
- We are thankful that God has provided for us and that we know he will continue to provide no matter what happens. When we meet adversity and pain, God is there on our side, walking us through.
-We are thankful for friendly nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals. We had such great treatment, it was definitely a blessing.
-We are thankful for drugs that can help when we are in pain!!!

Last but not least:
-I am very thankful for my husband, who has taught me a lot about thanking God and trusting him through the hard times. I can't imagine the amount of pain he was in last night and yet he was praising God for it. He's such a wonderful man! :)