Limbo

If you've seen the movie, Inception, then you know that Limbo is when a person is trapped inside of a dream and they can't get out. This is what happened to the Thomas family on October 19, 2001. But it wasn't just a dream - it was more of a nightmare. In my last post, I left off with Wes and I trying to get some sleep in the hospital room with Daniel. As you can imagine, sleep did not come easy. Our neighbors, who we had broken the news to earlier that evening, drove up in the middle of the night to see us. They were not able to sleep, either. This marked the beginning of an incredible outpouring of support - by family, church family, friends, and even people we'd never met.

Daniel was released from the hospital the next day. A surgery was scheduled for Wednesday, October 24th (the day after Wes's birthday). Sometime that day we gave Daniel an explanation of his condition and told him he would be having a surgery. As you would expect of a 6 year old, he was fairly oblivious. But we told him these words which became almost a mantra of ours over the next several months: "Daniel, we are trusting in God to watch over and take care of you. He loves you even more than we do, and we love you so very much. We, and lots of people, are going to be praying, and Jesus will be there holding you and carrying you the whole time. You can fully trust your life to Him, because He is always in control." Daniel showed a great deal of trust at this point, and that trust never wavered, even once. God, by His grace, filled him with a peace that can not be humanly explained.

We spent that Saturday in Vancouver with Wes's family. We took pictures of Daniel with all his cousins. On Sunday, we went to church. The pastor made the announcement of Daniel's illness and upcoming surgery. Some people in the congregation already knew -but most did not, since the diagnosis came only 2 days before. Our pastor, Ron Smith, had a hard time getting the words out. I've seen him cry only a few times in 18 years of knowing him, and this was one of them. Our church family was obviously very shaken. My parents were at church with us. Of course, they already knew. From this point on, both Wes's family and my family became the rocks that we would lean on for strength, support, wisdom, advice and most of all, prayer. I think in SOME ways, Daniel's illness was harder on them than it was on us - being in a position where they had to just watch us go through it. But as they ALL believed in the power of prayer to touch and heal Daniel, prayer became their tireless mission.

On Monday, we called Daniel's neurosurgeon, because he was having such a difficult time with pain. She decided to admit Daniel into the hospital that day so he could be watched and monitored before the surgery. While in the hospital, Daniel (and Wes and I) received an incredible number of visitors. His room was a constant buzz of people coming and going. We were also visited by many different doctors. Doctors bring with them such an air of confidence and authority - but none of them seemed to be able to give us any kind of useful information. As I look back, I now realize that they were almost as in the dark as we were.

Wes spent his birthday in the hospital. Our 2 other children, who were staying with relatives, came often to visit. Wes and I spent our few quiet moments praying, talking through the difficult issues together, trying to make sense of what we'd already been told by the doctors, and devouring God's Word.