Originally Posted on | October 20, 2008
I was talking to some friends at church Sunday. Among the topics of conversation was rest: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” – Genesis 2:1-3
As God rested after His work of creation, He gives rest to His people in His creation. One way He does this is through the body of Christ: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ. Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” – 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
Amidst our weariness, the Peacock family is being blessed with much rest in the body of Christ these days.
Kelly went on bed rest on August 27, almost eight weeks ago. Since that time, people have been showing up on our doorstep three times a week with meals, taking turns throughout each week helping us care for William, picking up the load for me at work, visiting with us, calling us, and emailing us with words of friendship and encouragement. When we see folks, they want to know what is going on with us and what they can do for us. And, of course, we are on so many prayer lists that we can’t even keep count. In general, people have been picking up the load for us in every aspect of our lives.
We thank God for each of you and your love for our family.
It was a busy week last week, and this week is likely to be busier. John will likely be transferred to Dell Children’s Hospital sometime this week. He is going to undergo a balloon aortoplasty (if anyone can find a link to a simple explanation of this procedure, please let me know) next Monday, which has to be done at Dell. John’s bicuspid aortic valve has not been functioning as well as hoped, and this is designed to help its functioning. It is a short-term solution, but should get us through the immediate future.
Last week, John had a 36 hour pulmonary cardiogram, and 24 EEG, and an examination by a ear, nose, and throat specialist. We are still sifting through all the information, but the big picture is that John’s is still having seizures (they introduce another medicine for this today—Topamax, in addition to the Keppra he is already taking), still having breathing challenges (desaturations or loss of oxygen is the blood stream)–though his breathing problems are probably not caused by apnea or reflux (though there is some reflux—he is now getting some medicine for that), and that he has a condition in his throat–laryngeal malasia—that could be involved in his desaturation episodes.
One good thing about moving to Dell is that it will be much better to coordinate the specialists who are treating John, of which there have been at least six. They are all based over at Dell, since it is set up to handle the more complicated cases (we were told by one of the doctors with a smile on her face that John meets this criteria). So it will be much easier to see them and talk with them, and get them together over there. Since there is so much going on with John, that will be a great help. It has been frustrating at times not getting to ask all the questions we have—though often when we ask the questions, they don’t really have answers. But at least when we know the doctors don’t have answers, we know we can ask Someone who does have them. Of course, that brings up the point that perhaps we should be asking God first even before the doctors.
Though we will greatly miss the staff at Seton. They have been a great blessing to us along with everyone else. Particularly the nurses. Don’t get me wrong, the doctors and other staff have been great. But it is the nurses that we have the most contact with and are the ones who are taking care of John around the clock. We greatly appreciate their love for our little boy and family. Our bigger boy is quite taken with the nurses. Many times a day, we have to recite to William the names of the nurses who are taking care of John.
Please keep praying for John. I trust the information above is enough to guide your prayers. And please pray for us as well. We are discouraged by the lack of knowledge about and progress with John’s challenges, and also scared about what the uncertain future might bring. Perhaps the best way to put it is that we anxiously await more information about John, then are often discouraged when we finally get what we were waiting for. Please let it be that we are satisfied in the provision of our Lord.
We’ll send more details about the surgery when we know them.