God's Good Gift

For some reason blogger doesn't want me to have paragraphs today and I don't really have time to force the issue :) So pretend there's a paragraph here, k? Rachel's corneal specialist. There really are no words to sum up the man. He is incredibly talented, one of the best in the country. He has never given us a reason to doubt his abilities as a surgeon. But he lacks something when it comes to bedside manner. We have seen him soften over the years, but still, sometimes he can be a little difficult. About a year ago Rachel and I were there for a routine appointment. There was a resident shadowing her main doctor so we got to hear him explain Rachel's situation. He was explaining that despite the fact that her cornea looks clear, it is thick. And that's really bad when it comes to a cornea. But, it's only really bad because of the progression that happens once it gets thick. The cornea gets thick, then it gets cloudy, like trying the see through a dirty window. After that it starts to tear away from the eye, bubbles up and folds over. It also gets a lot of moisture on it. None of those are good things. But, her doctor went on to explain that despite the fact that her cornea is thick, none of those things are happening. Her cornea is functioning like a perfectly healthy cornea. The resident was asking how that was medically possible and her doctor was explaining that there was no answer for that. At this point I was about to jump out of my skin. Normally I wait until the doctors are out of the room before I translate the doctor talk for Rachel, and I am always careful to add that the doctors don't know the Lord and so they don't want to give him credit for anything. But this day. This day I couldn't wait. As they were pondering how it could happen that her cornea could be so thick and still functioning I said, "Because God is awesome and it is His good gift to Rachel to sustain that cornea." Silence. Uncomfortable silence. Followed by ... "I guess that could be it." Ever since then Rachel's doctor has come up with an explanation. A brief look at her medical chart would show that his explanation isn't true at all. But he is sure to mention his theory every time now and say that he does know why it's happening like this. This last week we went again. He said that her cornea is measuring in the 800's (normally a transplant happens when the patient is in the 500's and might I add that the last time she had a transplant she was in the 500's with clouding and blurred vision and the whole list of things mentioned above) and then added, before I could say anything else, that her corneas are just thick, it's just what they do. It's how her body works and so it makes sense that her corneas are thick but seem healthy. I'm not going to fight him on it. He knows his theory doesn't add up. He even said there are no other cases like her's but his going to run with that theory. All this to say, God's good gift to Rachel continues to amaze me! At times I am so discouraged by her vision and want desperately to change it, but then I look at all that God has done. How He alone has sustained her vision. How He keeps her free from most of the side effects of her medication. How she is still mainstreamed with school. How she has a vision for the things of the Lord. And I remember that He has done far more than I could have asked or imagined. And sometimes it's nice just to rest with the list of the things the Lord has done. To remember that He has not forgotten. It's a good place to be.