Glad

My friend Dan is glad to be in the hospital right now. He’s been there for almost one week, and yes, he’s happy that he has had to be in the ICU for the better part of a week.

Last Monday his wife got the call we’ve been waiting for: a liver donor had been found and Dan was going to finally get the liver transplant he’d been hoping for.

Surgery on Tuesday went well and he’s been in recovery since then. On Sunday they moved from from ICU to a regular room. Things are moving forward.

Hat is not to say that it’s all rosy though. While his new liver is doing very well, he is having other issues that make life difficult. He’s had one seizure that is still unexplained. He has difficulty communicating. He breaks down sobbing several times a day. Talking to him is sometimes normal, but sometimes like talking to a small child. The doctors are pleased with his progress and are of the mind that things will continue to improve, but it’s still a struggle.

And we are all glad for where we stand.

Progress and success are not always easily measured. Sometimes we need to zoom out and take that 30,000 ft view rather than the close up in order to see that things really are better than they were. In life and recovery we often have to make an exchange of one problem for another. The choices aren’t always easy, but that’s the way life rolls.

For most of us, the idea of being in a hospital bed for weeks would not be a good thing, but it’s just what Dan needed. Now we watch his body do the things that God made it to do, and soon we will see him…

—Rise Up!!