Several people said my last story left off with a cliff hanger. They wondered if David ever got to leave the hospital. Yes, he did, but he still has some recovering to do at home.

I was just thinking about how sometimes we receive a miracle, without realizing the blessing. I expect most of us have seen, or been a part of, many miracles during our lives. As we look back over our lives, my husband David and I recognize we have received many, some that we didn't realize at the time. As we talked, we related stories from all the way back into our youth. So many stories but the more up-to-date ones are heavy on our minds concerning David's health issues.

We remember back years ago, when David developed a pancreas problem. After being in Boone Hospital a week, they decided there was no more they could do for him there. So, they sent him to Barnes in St Louis. He was there for three weeks.

Our youngest son, Eric, drove me there every day. One day David said we should take a day off. I was selling a lot of orders on eBay at night and was having a hard time keeping up. Our other two sons, Daniel and Camilla from Tennessee and Randy and Christine, were coming to stay with him, along with my brother Steve and his wife Linda, from Kansas City, so he wouldn't be alone.

The next day as I was hurrying around getting things done here, I got a call from David. The doctor had come in and told him the bad news. He told me not to get upset, but they had just told him he wasn't going to make it. I told him I would not accept that. I got on the phone immediately and called church people to pray and tell others as well.

Someone from our church came an anointed him with oil and the prayer chain was working fast.

David said he would never forget the look on Linda, our sister in law's face, as she held his hand and the doctor spoke. Brother Steve was on his laptop taking notes and getting out the word. Our two sons and wives arrived to hear the sad news. And then he said he would never forget the look on Linda's face when she realized she had witnessed a miracle.

She will always have a special place in our hearts, and when we have health issues, we like her there. Only maybe an hour later, another doctor came in and told him he would be OK. They had studied the scans again and the first diagnosis was incorrect! Another miracle in our lives.

I can't think about the one time a few years ago when I rode in the ambulance with him without getting choked up. I had to call an ambulance when David was having chest pain. They came fast and after checking him out, they asked me if I wanted to ride along. I got in the front passenger seat while they worked on David in the back.

After the driver was up the road a couple miles, he and the other ambulance medic were talking back and forth about David's condition. Then the driver asked me if I had ever ridden in an ambulance before. I told him I had. He said he just didn't want to scare me, but we must speed up. I said fine.

But then as he turned the siren on and kicked it into high gear, I almost lost it. I got hold though and I thought, now I just told the man I would be OK., so I held it in and stared ahead, praying. But just knowing they felt the need to speed up scared me. I believe this time he got his 14th stent. Again, the hospital told us we were fortunate we got here in time.

In April this year, we went riding looking for mushrooms and we were finding some. Then as we ventured back home, probably 20 minutes from Fulton, David said his left hand went numb. We just kept heading this way while he was driving and working with his hand, trying to get feeling back. When we got to Fulton, he asked me if I thought we should head to Columbia. I said yes. Him even asking made me know it was bad. So, we headed for the emergency room at Boone Hospital.

When we got there and walked through the door, we told them he was having stroke symptoms. The nurses went to work on him immediately!

Then, our son Eric and Brandon Flowers arrived. Brandon anointed him with oil and prayed for God's intervention, as God's word instructs.

He started feeling better and the testing began. I never knew there even WAS so many tests! ALL day for the next few days, there was someone in the room to do a test of some kind on him. Eric took off work was there with us.

There was one test right after the other and they confirmed he did have a stroke. They were sure he did but was looking for the cause. They decided it was caused by AFIB. The neurologist, Dr. Gobel, said it was fortunate and a blessing that he didn't get slurred speech, or other permanent disabilities, or worse. This was a small warning stroke. He showed us the places he found on the MRI. It was an intense three days, but we did get to leave, feeling blessed, on our oldest son Daniel's birthday.

Another miracle that could have gone unnoticed. David's eye doctor, Dr. Vann in Fulton, has been watching one of his eyes for years. It had bleeding slowly creeping across his eye which would result in blindness if it got to a certain point. It was too serious to get involved in unless there was a real emergency happening. Well, we hadn't been to check it since the pandemic. A couple months ago when we had a doctor's appointment and he checked David's eyes, he said David would need to have his lens from his cataract surgery cleaned. I kept wondering about the bleeding. Finally, he said, "The bleeding is gone!" It took until we got home to realize. WOW!

Well, my last newspaper story I wrote while in the hospital in Kansas City, Kansas. So, you know that story. A stent from years ago had slipped and he needed a procedure that they would even have to make a new stent for. It was so involved to repair the leakage he was having, that there wasn't even a piece like it, they would have to make it.

He was air lifted from Boone to KU. The couple that took him by helicopter were so nice and yet professional. As Eric and I left I told Eric I was sad because his dad was wanting to see the Super Moon tonight. Well, the helicopter pilot asked David if he was interested in seeing the moon tonight. David said he was. The pilot then turned the helicopter at an angle that David could see better than he would have otherwise.

There are only two hospitals in the country that have the knowledge to do this kind of surgery. He had another nine stents put in making his total now at 23 stents. We spent almost three weeks there and got home a week ago. Once again, our sons, Brandon, and my brother Steve and sister-in-law Linda, were there.

So many people were praying for a miracle and we received it and are humbled by the love we have received. There have been so many examples I could tell you about but don't have space here. Don't forget to watch for your miracles and give thanks when you receive it.

Print Headline: Watch for the miracles and blessings

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