Thoughts on the Failure

I've been wondering whether to post this for the past week.
It concerns a faithful Christian brother of ours (40ish) who has been struggling with kidney disease and would eventually need a kidney transplant for as long as I've known him.
This is a working faith, a faith through time of trouble.

Rob

Thoughts on the Failure ​

Let me begin by recapping the last week of my life:
Tuesday, April 20th – My brother gives me a long waited for kidney and the surgery goes perfectly. In fact, it could not have gone better.

Wednesday, April 21st – The day after surgery, I walk further than any other transplant patient at Jefferson and the staff is impressed with how well I heal and maneuver through pain. (I really wanted to visit my brother’s room!)

Thursday, April 22nd – I am ahead of schedule in my recovery and doing well. The doctors report that my “new” kidney is amazing. They want me to void 50-60cc’s an hour, I am am voiding over 200. They are hoping I will have a low creatine level (2.0) the rest of my life and on the second day post surgery, I am already at 1.7. Time will likely take it even lower. The day before the surgery I was at 7.4!

Friday, April 23rd – I am released from the hospital earlier than expected. I climb the stairs at home 12 times partially because I have not been able to do that for 10 years. I have pain, but I get stronger each day.

Saturday, April 24th – I have another great day. Lots of recovery pain, but more walks. I had been watching all signs of rejection, taking my temperature, weight, blood pressure and pulse every evening and morning and recording it all. There are no signs of rejection, just health.

Sunday, April 25th – I sneak in and out of our church service because I enjoy being there. It is a difficult trip physically, but spiritually it is uplifting. Later that evening, I begin vomiting. At first we think nothing of it, but when I throw-up my meds, we call the doctor. They recommend we go to Jefferson’s ER just to be safe. When we get there, they do lots of tests and figure it is probably just a little dehydration, because everything looks good. They do an ultra-sound, just to be safe and discover that there is no blood flow to the kidney.

Monday, April 26th – In the early hours of the morning, they run an MRI (actually MRV and MRA) to look closer at what they suspect. The scan is definitive and they plan an emergency surgery. As soon as they can open a table, they will be going in to try to save the kidney, although, the doctor said straight up, he has little hope because there has been no blood supply to the kidney. After the surgery, we find out that the kidney was in good, pink condition and they tried many methods to save it, but ultimately, there was very rare clotting in the inner membranes and they cannot be cleared. They seal me back up after removing the kidney and declaring it dead.

Things That are Strange

1. The doctors said that it never happens this way. The kidney either rejects in the first 24-48 hours or it lasts a few years and slowly rejects. To have the kidney be so beautifully working for four days, then to have immediate death is unheard of.

2. Jefferson has the highest success rate in the country, well over 99% successful. This one had even more reasons to be successful because it was a living, sibling perfect match, the absolute best conditions.

3. They are still trying to solve why what happened happened. It should not have. This clotting can occur but not in patients with IgA (me).

It seems to me that there is something much more than coincidence and bad luck going on here. If you have been following this site, you will see that tons of people have been praying for God’s handy work to be on display through this operation. Large groups of people have committed to pray for God to be glorified through this. Many of the people are from around the world, and we don’t even know them!

So let’s just make an assumption that there is a God and that when people pray in earnest to Him, He hears their prayers and answers. With that simple assumption, I get excited to see what God is up too. I have been praying specifically that God will gain the most glory for Himself through this transplant. I know many others who have been praying the same. Now, if you over lay that with the extremely successful operation, then the strange turn of events, it is not too hard to see that God is up to something. The story is not over and He is cooking up something really special that will bring Him glory. I am honestly excited to see what that will be!!

Now before we begin our gleeful expectation of a miracle, we need to remember that God gets glory in humility. He gets glory in praise through suffering. He gets glory through latching onto hope and persevering through tough times. He gains glory in miracles too, but that is not the only way.

Would you join me in praying that God will continue to work His glory into this story? Will you commit to praying that we will be accepting of whatever way He decides is best? Man, I can’t wait!!!


Originally posted on April 28th, 2010 at 11:57 pm.

 

Sorry for the criptic opening post.
Even though I waited quite a while wondering whether to post it, once the decision was made I was forced to rush before heading off to an afternoon with the family.

The letter was not about me or my troubles, goodness, of late they are just a minor everyday sort of problems.

I've been following his blog through this process and was so moved by the demonstration of faith that I had to share it with you.

In every church you can find a list of people on the pastors prayer list that they pray for daily.
A common prayer would be for strength to be a witness through the trial and for strength through it.

This brother demonstrates the strength of real faith. He is resting in God's loving hands through times of trouble.

Please pray but even more so be encouraged.

Rob