December 2025

I’m back!!! And of course, things DID NOT go according to MY plans! But in the end, the result is a healing healthy hip! As you all probably heard, I had a hematoma after my surgery that resulted in an overnight hospital stay. The surgery took place at Northpointe and when the hematoma happened, I was taken by ambulance to Beloit Memorial Hospital and taken into the emergency room. I had lost a great deal of blood and my blood pressure plummeted. This was a small risk that I was warned about, and I was one of the few percent that it happened to. I guess I should feel special! The result was that I was going to be admitted and I was going to end up having two blood transfusions. 

I am going to be honest with you, as I usually am! I did not react well when they said I was going to be admitted to the hospital. In fact, I flat out refused to be admitted. I told them that I was not staying, and I was going home. 

Now, before you think that I am totally unreasonable, let me explain. Prior to the surgery, I had made all the preparations to go home and begin recovery. We had the walker, the cane, and the commode. The house was ready and we were ready. So, my initial reaction was that I could rest at home better than I could at the hospital and everything was ready!

Second, and most importantly, all day long I heard repeatedly, “This happens and it isn’t a big deal. You will go home by the end of the day.” The nurses said it. The anesthetist who was in surgery came by and said the same thing. And then the ER doctor said it to me at least three times as he attended to me during the day!! You will go home by the end of the day. So, do you know what I thought was going to happen? I was going to go home by the end of the day!

I was very angry at 6:00 pm when they said that I would need to be admitted and receive blood. I was rude and caustic to the attending Orthopedic doctor, whom I had never met before. And she received the brunt of my anger and defiance. I told her flat out that I was not going to be admitted and I was going home. I was refusing their medical care. 

It was Hank, of course, who asked everyone to leave the room so he could talk to me. He calmed me down and spoke the truth in love. If we went home and I bled out, he could not help me. I saw the mixture of fear and love and pleading in his eyes and I snapped out of my anger and my defiance and came back into the moment. This was serious and I needed to stay.

Surrendering control is the most difficult part of life. I had made my plans. And when they changed, I was assured it would only be a blip. And when it was bigger than a blip, I flipped. The following morning, after a long, long night, the orthopedic doctor that I had argued with in the emergency room came to check on me. Hank was there and my nurse, a young man named Connor. 

She started to ask me how I was. But I interrupted her. I told her that I needed to apologize for my behavior in the emergency room. My anger at the situation was taken out on her and it wasn’t kind and it wasn’t right. I apologized sincerely for how I treated her. 

She said, “It’s ok.” And of course, I said it wasn’t. Then my nurse Connor spoke up. He said people yell at her every day. But nobody ever apologizes. So that’s really nice.

I said, “Nobody EVER apologizes?” And the doctor said, “No, they don’t. So, thank you for apologizing. I guess it does mean a lot.”

If I could have gotten up and walked over to her, I would have hugged her. But I couldn’t. But I do think the experience touched us both in a way we won’t soon forget. 

Last month in my newsletter article, I quoted Jeremiah 29:11 that says,

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 

Why is it so difficult to believe that in the heat of the moment? Why is it so hard to remember that promise when our plans go awry? My plans surely would harm me, but the Lord’s plan promises no harm and a future. So, in whom should I place my trust? 

Once I surrendered my plans my healing really began. 

The rest of the scripture I used last month says,

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord.”

What a promise! What peace when we rest in His grace. Amen.