Feeling The Love and Making Laps....

   It is the third day since our adventure began. It is two days since surgery. We continue to be amazed, inspired and so blessed. We are sitting here together, me, Kirk and the girls, and our conversation is alive with feelings of gratitude for our blessings and friends.

Mitch, therapist, Kevin Kemp, amazing Friend/Fire Brother/Life Flight Paramedic, Kirk "Superfly" Bertelsen, Mitch, Therapist.,

   Kirk has had a great day today. After he was fitted for his support brace and walked ten steps outside of his room yesterday, we all had great expectations for today. Kirk, on the other hand, was the one in pain and totally exhausted from yesterday's excursion. When Adam, the trauma room PA, stopped in to check on Kirk this morning, Kirk asked if he could request to not get up and walk again until his chest tube was removed. Adam said, "You can request that all you want but you WILL be getting up today." I don't know that I have ever heard Kirk be so compliant as when he said, "Okay."
   Kirk continues to impress everyone caring for him as well as those who love him so much. Today he made three laps around the nurses desk with his therapists. He ate well today and spent the evening having his nurse rotate him from side to side for 20 minutes each time trying to drain the fluid from his lungs in an effort to prevent pneumonia. She is so diligent with him and we are so grateful.
   I was speaking with a very dear friend today, Tim Anderson, a physical therapist who found himself in a similar situation about three years ago when he crashed his four wheeler. His body sustained a lot of damage and Tim spent months healing and learning basic things such as how to walk again. Oh, how we take these things for granted. I told Tim we could feel the prayers of all of our friends. He said he never understood that phrase until he experienced prayers from his family and friends through his Journey of healing. Your prayers have have sustained us. They have brought peace in a very unsettling situation. I'm a little bit of a control freak and this adventure does not make allowances for personality flaws such as mine. Feeling the prayers has helped me keep my hands inside until the ride comes to a complete stop. I've turned the steering over to those who know the way. Such a hard thing to do.
   I've been reading your comments to Kirk every night. We have laughed at some of our incredibly clever friends and held on tight to the well wishes. Kirk asked me to make sure that tonight's post thanked all of you. So...THANK YOU a million times! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Thank you for the phone calls, texts and comments on the blog and the Facebook updates. Thank you for the visits and even for being okay with not visiting so he can get enough rest to push himself during therapy. You have no idea how grateful we are.
    Kirk and I talked about how much we love Dr. Gardner. He is fun to visit with when he stops in but most of all, the man knows what he is doing. We have no idea how we got so blessed to have him as our surgeon. Kirk said, "I know he gets paid a lot but how do we ever repay him." The only answer I could come up with is that we are now indebted to him. We are okay with this.
   We went  one step further....Heavenly Father has given us so much, so much that we take for granted. Walking, eating unassisted, being able to move your body to make it comfortable without fear, even being able to go to work each day. All of these blessing that we are so freely given. How do we pay him back?
    I am certain our adventure will have its ups and downs, highs and lows and everything in between. I am so glad to have you along for the ride.