#but I just keeping praying and hoping that I don’t have strep

[cupcakes-and-pain]

Hey does anyone think I can stop myself from having strep throat through positive thinking? Because I sure hope so.

(being sarcastic, I know that’s not how disease works)

[prettyinlimegreenboots]

Code Silver - Life in the ER

This is the continuation of my “Life in the ER” series. This takes place two months after the previous installment. As always, you don’t necessarily have to read the previous installments but it may help clarify any questions you have.

Now take note of this MAJOR WARNING - there is an active shooter situation in this chapter. There will be blood, cussing, needles, surgery and death in this chapter. You have been warned.

I do not own Dr. Leighton. His name was originally used in Code Black, which is one of my favorite medical dramas. I do not own that name. And Dr. Weasley is named after the famous red-headed family in Harry Potter - I don’t own that name either.

As always, feedback would be wonderful and much appreciated. Buckle up kids, this is going to be a doozy of a ride.

June 10, 2021 11:00am

He never wished for a normal day while working in the ER but he wished for one today. Wishing for normal days, usually, meant that the hours in the ER were filled with chaos and craziness and somehow even more casualties than an average shift. He sighed as he thought back on the long night he had. Mack had been up most of the night, and usually Race could get her settled down but he was at his wits end. Spot ended up getting up to help him, making the 5am wake up call a struggle.

“Get it gear, Conlon.” Plums teased as she stood at the nurse’s desk giving a look. “Coffee not kicking in?”

Groaning, he looked up from the keyboard he was staring at a little too intently, nodding to the white cup sitting beside his hand. “This is my fifth cup; if it hasn’t kicked in yet then I don’t think there’s hope. Little miss only wanted me last night.”

“Ahhh those days are fun. Addie is in a Jack phase right now and I’m chopped liver.” Plums grinned. “Hopefully that won’t last long?”

Spot shrugged. “It’s been a week already. It doesn’t help when I’m working the early shift. She loves to party between 2 and 4.”

“Ugh do not miss those days. Addie is finally sleeping all the way through the night. She gets up at 5:30, just as I’m walking out the door though.” She smiled as Albert slid into a chair. “You okay, Al?”

He grinned. “Yea, patient in room four needs a checkup at some point. What’d I missed?”

“Noted - thanks. Spot’s kid throwing a rager from 2-4am.” Plums pointed out.

Albert chuckled loudly. “Ahh that sounds like fun.”

“Don’t laugh - this’ll be you this time next year.” Spot pointed his index finger in Albert’s direction. Finch and Albert had announced their little bundles of joy would be arriving around the beginning of December.

The grin slid from his face as Spot’s words made him pause. “Shit. I guess I will be taking notes from you both before that time.”

A call came over the intercom as Plums grabbed a chart before heading down the hallway. “Duty calls. Meet you guys in the cafe around 1 for lunch?”

“See you then.” Spot saluted her as he finished typing up his notes, looking over his shoulder at Albert who was writing in his own chart. “You doing good?”

A smirk crossed Albert’s face. “Doing well. Finch mentioned that we should have you and Race and Jack and Kat over for a cookout.”

“That’ll be fun.” Spot sighed, typing something in the chat he was having with another doctor, groaning as he stood up. “I’ve got to go draw another vial of blood. Don’t miss me too much.”

Albert blew him a kiss as he watched him walk away with a shake of his head. “Don’t worry, pooks, I won’t.”

Spot quickly drew the vial of blood from his patient in bay 12 before walking it upstairs to deliver Elmer. “Got some fresh, still warm blood for you. Orders should be in your inbox.”

“How’s the world of emergency today? Quiet?” Elmer accepted the vial before typing a few keys on his keyboard, giving Spot a quick smile.

Spot sighed, leaning against the wall, trying to stretch his back. “It’s quiet but two ambulances were pulling up just as I escaped up here. Is it 6pm yet?”

“Sorry, you still have 6.5 hours to go.” Elmer was way too cheerful as he delivered that news to Spot, who merely groaned.

The hospital phone that was attached to his hip dinged with a message that made him smile. “Hey if you haven’t eaten by 1, we’re planning on eating in the cafe. Come by.”

“I’ll see if I can get away. These results will be in your patient’s chart by the time you get back downstairs.” Elmer grinned.

Saluting him, Spot grinned. “Thanks, Elm. You’re the best.”

Whistling along to a song that was stuck in his head, he headed back downstairs, via the stairs. He hopped down the stairs as he thought about everything that he needed to do before his shift ended. Just as his foot hit the bottom stair, the intercom blared to life with a “Code Silver” followed by the Emergency Department as the location. Words you never wanted to hear in a hospital. A shiver ran down his back as his brain processed the words. Gripping the handle of the staircase he faltered in his step. Active shooter.

Throwing open the heavy stairwell door, he found himself in a surprisingly empty hallway. His shoes squeaked softly as he made his way to an empty patient room, quickly darting behind the door for protection. Grabbing the blue hospital issued phone, he opened it, silencing the volume. He sent a message both to Plums and Albert asking them where they were.

As he waited, all he could hear was someone yelling and the blood rushing through his ears. The phone vibrated in his hand as he quickly brought it up to eye level. From Plums: Patient’s room, door locked, everyone okay. You?

Ignoring her message for now, he started making his way back towards the center of the Emergency Room. In the back of his mind, he knew he should get out while he could but not while his sister-in-law and best friend were in the middle of danger.

“Where the hell is Nicole Ridder?” A loud voice raged, catching his attention as he slid under a desk. “Where is she?”

A gunshot went off as several more screams pierced the air as a hand slammed on a desk. “Where is she?”

Looking around the corner, Spot’s eyes went wide, as he took in the scene. Albert was under the desk, the very desk the man was loudly banging his fist on. Sadie, a nurse that Spot didn’t know too well, was staring down the man. “Sir, there is no Nicole Ridder here. I just checked our in-patients and there’s no one here by that name.”

“She texted me and said she’s here and now you won’t fucking let me see her.” The man screamed as another gunshot exploded, breaking the silent air. All Spot could do was watch Sadie crumble as the bullet hit her.

The man hit his hand once more before taking several steps, waving the gun in front of several other nurses, the air returning quiet. “Nicole, where are you?”

The man neared Spot’s position, as he tried to make himself smaller. “NICOLE!”

His shouts became more desperate as he started pushing open closed doors. Spot tried to regulate his breath as the man’s footsteps came closer.

He stopped at the desk that Spot was sitting under, his hand pounding the top. His voice was gruff as he cocked the trigger of the gun. “I know there are more people here - just tell me where in the hell Nicole is and I won’t shoot up the place.”

A cry broke the silence, as both Spot and the man looked towards a closed door. Within seconds the man was standing in front of the door, the butt of the gun banging against the solid wood door.

His hand tightened around the door handle, jiggling it to open it but found it locked. “NICOLE, OPEN THIS DOOR! I know you’re in there.”

A noise behind Spot made him look. Albert and a few other nurses made a break for it, running for a door that would lead them outside. Spot felt a rush of air escape his mouth. Albert was safe. But he feared for Plums’ safety.

Plums’ POV

The jiggling of the door handle sent a shiver down her back. She was currently hiding behind the bed, with her patient and her patient’s child, trying to keep them both safe. Putting a finger to her mouth, she locked eyes with the two.

She had been about to discharge Josie, who had strep throat, when the Code Silver had come over the intercom. Immediately she had shut the door, locked it and put the chair under the handle, blocking them in the small room.

“NICOLE, OPEN THIS DOOR! Goddammit I know you’re in there.” The jiggling continued as tears crowded her eyes. She attempted to calm her breathing.

Grabbing the blue phone, she quickly typed something in and sent it to both Albert and Spot, hoping the two of them got out before this madness began.

“NICOLE DAMMIT OPEN THIS DOOR.” The man’s voice pleaded as his fists hit the door, each bang louder than the previous.

She slipped her hand into the little girl’s, giving it a squeeze, as she prayed that the ordeal would end soon.

Spot’s POV

He felt the phone vibrate in his hand as he opened the message.

I’m in the room with her and her daughter.

The gasp escaped his mouth before he could help it but the pounding on the door told him the gunman hadn’t heard. He wished he had his personal cell on him but the hospital frowned upon that. He just wanted to get a message to Race.

His thoughts stopped for a minute. Race. His husband who was out on summer break, at home with their daughter. Or maybe he and Jack took the girls out for lunch and were at least together. Leaning his head back, he stretched his neck muscles, praying that he’d get to see his daughter and husband at least one more time.

Taking a steady breath, Spot’s mind started turning. He needed to get that gunman away from that door if Plums had a chance to get away.

Opening up the phone, he quickly typed out a message to Plums Right outside the door under the desk.

His butt was falling asleep as he sat scrunched up under the desk. He slowly adjusted himself, cussing when his shoe squeaked. Spot cussed under his breath as the pounding on the door came to a standstill. “Who’s there?”

Eyes wide, Spot bit his lip in an attempt to stay quiet. “Show yourself or I will put a bullet through this door. This isn’t a game.”

Another gunshot sounded as screams pierced the air. Several more gunshots were fired in quick succession as the man growled under his breath. “Damnit, Nicole, get your skinny ass out here now. Quit playing these damn games.”

Another several gunshots were fired through the door, wood splintering as the bullet made contact. Several screams pierced the quietness, one of which was most definitely Plums.

Spot could hear the man pacing in front of the door, as his shoes squeaked with each pass. Every few seconds, the butt of the gun would knock against the door. Spot could hear him growl, growing frustrated by the situation at hand. “You leave me no choice, Nicole.”

Before he could take another breath, the gun was fired in quick rounds, several bullets hitting the wooden door as screams erupted from the small room. Spot eased out from his position, looking at the man as he screamed and unloaded his gun into the small room.

He heard the familiar click of the gun, signaling that it was out of ammunition. Spot took that moment to stand and look at the man. He moved stealthily, as he made his way to the man. Before he could think, he punched the man, successfully crumbling him to the ground. The gun went sliding down the hallway as Spot punched the man a few times. “Plums, get them the hell outta here.”

The man attempted to hit Spot back but was unsuccessful and several seconds later, the police came in, slapping handcuffs on the man before helping Spot up.

Spot stood, chest heaving as his brain caught up on what had just happened. He faltered in his step just as a police man caught him. “Sir, you okay?”

“Dizzy.” He mumbled just as he collapsed and fell to the ground.

Plums’ POV

Holding up her hands, she hurled herself over to the police and told them to get the hell in there, that the gunman had been subdued.

Without another word, she watched several police officers make their way into the building as she was led to a makeshift medical area. She was led to a stretcher where her vitals were checked and she was given a check over. She had some cuts from glass and bruises but nothing life threatening. The mental reminders would take some time to overcome. Albert wrapped a warm blanket around her shoulders as she sat on the bed. “It was Spot.”

Albert’s hands stilled as he took her blood pressure. “Spot what?”

“Spot subdued the gunman by hitting him and knocking him out.” Plums whispered as she looked at Albert.

Albert dropped the stethoscope, before pulling her into a hug, as she lost it. The tears, fears, relief all came bubbling to the surface. He hushed her, brushing his hand up and down her back as he attempted to calm her down. “Hey it’ll be okay. Jack, Race, and Finch are all outside and as soon as you’re done, I’ll bring them all back, okay?”

She nodded, her breath coming out in gasps, as he took her blood pressure. He did a few other checks, she figured for bullets or any other damages before jotting down something on the piece of paper at the makeshift table. “Do you want me to stay or go get them?”

“Can you stay and have someone get them? Also, where’s Spot?” She asked, eyes wide with the fear still radiating through her body. She knew the adrenaline would be cursing through her body for some time yet.

Albert nodded, stepping out for a moment before coming back in. “Maddie is going to get Jack, Race, and Finch and she’s checking on Spot.”

“Albie?” She asked, clutching the blanket tighter around her.

“Yea Plums?” He asked, scribbling something on a chart in front of him. He looked up, looking at one of his family members, trying to keep it all together.

She sniffled, looking at the cut on her hand. “Was anyone killed?”

He stilled with the question, dropping the pen before walking over to wrap her in a hug as she broke down crying. “Shhh.” He whispered as he ran a hand up and down her back.

Tears clouded his eyes as he listened to her heartbreaking sobs. Soon they turned to snuffs as she pulled away from him and wiped her eyes. “Sorry.”

“No, Kat, you have nothing to apologize for.” He shook his head. “You’re safe and your body is trying to regulate itself. It’s okay. But to answer your question, I haven’t heard anything about anyone. Once I got out, they checked me out and said they needed help with injuries so I’ve been doing this. I was just relieved to see you run out.”

Looking up, she gasped seeing Jack, Race, and Finch all standing there. Before she could do anything, Jack was pulling her into a hug as she busted into another round of tears. Jack was mumbling stuff in her ear and running his hand through her hair as she immediately felt safe in Jack’s arms. Leaning back, she pressed a kiss to his lips. “Love you too.”

Stepping away from Jack, she pulled Race into her arms as he sniffled. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Where’s Spot?”

“He was the one who subdued the gunman. He’s probably talking to the police.” She mumbled, watching Race’s face crumble.

She watched many emotions cover Race’s face as he faltered. “He did what?”

“I don’t know how but he knocked the gunman out and told me to get out of there.” She looked at him. “He’s a hero, Race.”

Tears clouded Race’s face as she pulled him back into a hug. “He was fine when I was running out of there so I’m sure he’s talking to the police.”

She soothed him, by rubbing a hand up and down his back. She watched Jack talk to Albert and Finch. “Where are our girls?”

“Medda has them.” Race pulled back, wiping his eyes. “Jack and I were hanging out at your house when she stopped by. When this came across the news, Jack said we needed to get down here. We held our breaths every time the door opened. We got here just after Albert came running out.”

Nodding, she sat back on the bed, wrapping the blanket around her. She looked over at Finch, whose fingers were laced with Albert’s. “Hi Finch.”

“Hi Kat. Glad you’re okay.” He smiled, squeezing Albert’s hand.

Nodding, she looked at the men in the room, sighing. “Hey Al, can you go check with Maddie?”

He nodded, leaning over to kiss Finch before escaping out of the medical area.

Sighing, she kicked her legs, antsy with wanting to know what was keeping Spot. She figured the police would want to talk with him but he should be done by now. She felt Jack stand behind her with his hand on her shoulder. She knew it would be a long time before he would be able to have her out of his sight.

Albert’s face was stoic as he returned with a police officer. “Plums, this is Office Ramirez. He’d like to talk to us for a few minutes.”

“Katherine Kelly, sir. This is my husband Jack and our friends, Tony, Albert, and Patrick. Tony is Sean’s husband. Can you tell us what’s going on with Sean Conlon?” Plums sat up straight, trying to look more authoritative than she felt. Her heart plummeted into her stomach as he was introduced. Usually having a police office come talk to them was never a good thing.

Officer Ramirez shifted, pulling his hat off before looking at the same group of friends. “I was first through the doors when I saw Sean on the floor punching the gunman. Several officers took care of the gunman while I went over to Sean. I got him to his feet when he mumbled that he was dizzy and before I knew it, he had fainted.”

“Doctor White was in the vicinity and immediately started checking Sean. In the initial check, he had blood on the left side of his scrubs. Several nurses and Dr White loaded him onto a gurney and rushed him upstairs to surgery.” Officer Ramirez’s face was grime as he relayed the information. Race gasped, processing the information. “If you’d like, I will escort you up to the surgery floor where you can wait?”

Kat sat back as the words hit her. She looked over at Race, who staggered a bit, only for Albert’s arm to wrap around his waist. “That would be great. But I have one other question - was anyone killed today?”

The officer paused. He was conflicted on how much he should actually tell them. “There were two nurses and an orderly that were killed. There were several that were injured by the stray bullets.”

Tears crowded Kat’s eyes as she thought about her coworkers and their families. Hanging her head, she let a sob out as someone put their arms around her. She looked up at Race whose face was tight with a mix of emotions as he hugged her. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked at Officer Ramirez. “I’ll need a few minutes to talk with some of my colleagues but after that, can you escort us upstairs?”

“Absolutely ma’am. There will be a police officer outside the waiting room just for some extra protection. And we will need to speak with you and Mr. DaSilva at some point.” The office said, as Kat nodded.

She pushed the blanket off of her before she looked at Jack. Leaning up, she gave him a quick kiss and hugged Race before walking out into the still mayhem scene.

Maddie came up and gave her a hug. “I’m glad you’re okay. Any word on Spot?”

“He’s in surgery but that’s all I know. We’re going to head up to the surgical waiting room. Can you let the head honchos know?” Plums asked, giving the young nurse a look, as she looked around the mayhem of police officers, nurses, and patients.

Maddie quickly nodded. “I can do that. Do you want me to have food sent up?”

“Thanks, that would be nice since all of us just want a status update.” She smiled at Maddie.

“Consider it done. Just let us know when he’s out and doing okay?” She asked, as Plums quickly agreed before going back to the medical area.

Making sure they had everything, Kat gave Officer Ramirez a look as he led them through the eerie empty halls of the Emergency Room to the elevators. Katherine moved quickly, not wanting to be reminded of what had happened there just a short while ago. The group was silent as they got on the elevators, watching the numbers slowly rise up to level 8, the surgical floor.

Several police officers were already waiting outside of the waiting room as they stepped off the elevator. Kat led the group into the room, where a couple of styrofoam containers were on a table along with two sets of scrubs. “If you need anything, my officers will be outside. When you’re ready to talk to us, just let us know.”

“Thank you for everything. Let us get changed and get some food, then at least I’ll be ready to talk.” Kat told him before she looked at Albert, who nodded.

Officer Ramirez gave her a slight smile before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him.

She watched Albert and Finch walk over to the food as Jack and Race hovered near her. She smiled weakly at them both before picking up a pair of scrubs and walking over to the bathroom to change. Not wanting to see the scrubs she had on ever again, she threw them into the trash before joining the men in the waiting room. As the door closed behind her, she pulled her hair down, wanting her hair to be done, instead of up in a ponytail like it normally was when she was on shift.

Jack and Race had styrofoam containers balanced on their knees as they ate. Finch and Albert were throwing theirs away.

“There’s a sandwich and mac and cheese there for you.” Jack motioned over to the table as he continued to eat.

Nodding, she sat at the table, immediately opening the mac and cheese container and eagerly eating the cheesy goodness. “Any word?”

Shakes of heads were her answer as she sighed and banged her head against the wall. She knew she should go downstairs to get hers and Spot’s stuff but she just didn’t have the energy.

Her eyes darted around the room. Apart from the eerie quietness, the people in the room were okay. She just wished she could find out what was up with Spottie and why it was taking so long. Her brain kicked into medical mode and she wondered how serious Spot’s injuries really were.

“Kat?” Jack broke her train of thoughts by softly calling her name. She raised an eyebrow at him. “The police are ready to talk to you if you are.”

Nodding, she quickly threw away her trash, grabbing a water bottle before she walked out of the room, ready to be done with the day.

Jack looked at Race who was twiddling with his hands, looking absolutely lost. “Race?”

“Yea Jack?” He asked, looking up from playing with his wedding band.

“I know it’s a stupid question but you doing okay? Do you need anything?” He asked.

Race shrugged, sighing. “I just want to lay eyes on him and make sure he’s okay. My mind keeps playing the what if game and it won’t stop until I can see him.”

“Do you want me to have momma bring up the girls?” Jack asked, knowing Kat would want to see Addie sooner rather than later.

Race was torn. On the one hand, it would be good to hold Mack until he knew about Spot; on the other, the little girl would want to explore the unfamiliar place and Race didn’t know if he could be patient with her as his nerves were already frayed. “As much as I would love to say yes, she’s better off with momma at the house.”

Jack nodded. “Do you want to play cards?”

Race loved his brother but he could slug him at the moment. He understood what Jack was trying to do but he just wanted to know how the hell Spot was doing. “No Jack. I’m fine. Just anxious to hear how Spot’s doing.”

Silence fell over the room as Race began to day dream. He thought back to earlier that morning. Did he even say he loved Spot as he said goodbye to him? Did he say have a good day or that he’d text him later? Race let his head fall backwards as it collided with the wall. Tears crowded his eyes at the lack of updates and knowledge of what the hell was going on.

Race wasn’t going to lie. It was painful to see Jack and Kat along with Albert and Finch reunite as he sat there awaiting the news of his husband. Race just prayed to whoever that Spot was okay and he would be back by his side soon.

His eyes met the clock on the wall. 1:35. Just over two hours since he heard the news about an active shooter at the hospital and his heart damn near stopped.

Pulling out his phone, he noticed there was a 40 in the top corner of his messages. People had been contacting him to find out if Spot was working and if he was okay. Race just didn’t have the heart to reply to any of them. The only one he opened was from momma as she had sent a photo of Kenzie sleeping. He smiled slightly before locking his phone and putting it back in his pocket.

The opening of the door caught his attention as a nurse slipped through. “I’m Maeve. Is this the family of Sean Conlon?”

Nodding, Race looked at the young nurse with a pleading look. “I’m his husband. Is he out of surgery?”

“I was in the operating room. The doctor is just finishing up surgery and will be in shortly.” Maeve tight lipped smiled at them.

Race cleared his throat. “Is he okay?”

“I’m sorry but the doctor will be out shortly.” She apologized as she slipped out of the room.

Jack stood, stretching his back. “I’ll go let Kat know. Anyone need anything?”

Everyone shook their heads, watching him leave the room. Race tapped his feet, a renewed energy knowing that soon he’d have some answers and maybe he could see Spot sooner rather than later.

Kat joined Jack as they came back into the room. Before she took a seat, she held something out to Race. “I had the police collect his belongings from downstairs. He has quite a lot of missed calls and texts.”

Race accepted the phone and Spot’s canvas bag with a nod. He didn’t go through it, and merely pocketed the phone. “How was your talk with the police?”

“Okay. They just wanted to make sure they had all their ducks in a row. They’re going to want to talk to Spot and you, Albert.” She directed her last words to him as he nodded, fingers laced with Finch’s.

“It might be a few days before Spot’s up for it.” Race gave his sister-in-law a look.

She quickly nodded, looking at him. “The police are well aware of that fact. His doctors will have to clear it before he is able to do so. Plus he’ll have us by his side when he does talk to them.”

The door opened once more as they all looked up. “Doctor Leighton.”

“Katherine, I’m glad you’re doing okay.” He gave her a side hug as he turned to the other four. “I’m Doctor Leighton, I did Spot’s surgery.”

“This is Tony, Sean’s husband. My husband Jack. You know Albert and his husband Finch.” Kat made the introductions. “How’s Spot?”

Doctor Leighton nodded at all of them before taking a seat. “Spot’s okay. He’s in recovery at the moment. It was tough and go for a while. He had a bullet hit him on his left side. We ended up having to remove his spleen but he lost a lot of blood. We’re currently giving him blood transfusions to try to replenish what was lost.”

“Will he make a full recovery? Can he live without his spleen?” Race asked, looking between Kat and the doctor.

The doctor nodded his head. “Yes, he will make a full recovery and at this point, we don’t see any cause of concern. We’re waiting for him to wake up. And yes, he will be fine to live without his spleen.”

“What are your concerns for him in the next 48 hours?” Kat asked, as Race was glad she asked because he didn’t know what else to ask.

Dr. Leighton sighed. “You know the concerns, Katherine. Since the spleen is so instrumental in fighting infections, I’m a bit more concerned with him catching infections going forward. He will need to make sure he’s up to date on all of his vaccines after he’s discharged.”

“So I should be more concerned when he comes down with a cold?” Race piped up as the doctor nodded.

Kat nodded. “Yes, especially in the next year as his immune system adjusts.”

“When can we see him?” Race asked, his toes tapping anxiously, just wanting to lay eyes on his husband.

Dr. Leighton looked at Race, smiling softly. “Give us about 20 minutes to get him moved to a room then you can see him.”

“Thank you Dr. Leighton.” Kat stood, shaking his hand as the rest of them did the same. He gave them a tight smile before he left them alone.

“Well he was helpful.” Race choked out as Jack Finch, and Albert both snorted.

Kat shook her head. “He’s a brilliant surgeon but he’s got little bedside manner. I’d request him in a heartbeat, a thousand times over some of the surgeons in this hospital.”

Race nodded, trusting her 1000% with anything medical related. Standing up, he started pacing, just wanting the time to go by fast so he could see Spot. “Race?”

He stopped, looking at Kat who softly called his name. “Do you need anything?”

“Just to see my damn husband.” Race sighed. “Sorry but I can’t think of anything else until I lay eyes on him.”

Kat nodded, as she couldn’t imagine if that was Jack in surgery and wanting to see him to make sure he was okay. “You heard Dr. Leighton, Race. He’s okay but I understand your frustration. Do you want us to hang back when you first see him?”

“Do you mind?” Race asked, his voice small, not wanting to give away how scared he truly was.

She stood, pulling him into a hug, running her hand up and down his back. “Of course not. You should be the first to see him. We’ll hang around while you go to visit him. Al still needs to talk to the police so he can do that while you go see him.”

The door opened and the nurse from earlier stood there. “We’ve got him settled into his room. We still have him sedated but you can go ahead and see him.”

Kat nudged Race. “Go see our boy and give him our love. We’ll hang back and see him later, alright?”

Nodding, Race hesitantly stepped forward as he followed the nurse down the hall to a room in the corner. “I’ll be right at the nurse’s desk in case you need anything.”

She propped open the door as he silently walked inside. There were two IVs, one going in each hand, one fluid of clear liquid, the other full of blood. He stood at the foot of the bed, looking at the step up, two chairs, one on each side of the bed, along with a table and two chairs off in the corner. Stepping around the bed, he sat in one of the chairs, and being careful of the IV, lacing his hand with Spot’s.

“Hey Spot.” He whispered, torn between waking him up and letting him sleep. Race had always loved watching his husband sleep, due to the fact when he was awake, he was never still. Spot was always moving around, unable to really settle unless he was sick or sleepy. “I heard through the grapevine that you’re some kind of hero. You saved a lot of people today, Spottie.”

Time, Spot only needed time. Time to heal, time to recover, time to wake up. “I know you want to sleep but I really want to see your pretty brown eyes. It’s been a pretty rough afternoon and I need to tell you I love you, because I’m not sure I actually said it this morning.”

“I’m not leaving, Spot. Wild horses couldn’t pull me away.” Race promised, squeezing his hand. “Kat, Jack, Albert, and Finch are out in the waiting room. Momma is at the house with Mack and Addie. As soon as you wake up, I’ll get her to bring the two of them up to see you.”

He continued to ramble about random things, always being told that patients could hear when they were unconscious. He didn’t want Spot to be alone and promised to fill the quiet room with his cheerful chatter.

Race held his breath, knowing that Spot would wake up with time but he wasn’t the most patient person. Squeezing his hand, he felt himself relaxing in the chair for the first time since arriving at the hospital. Race kicked his feet up onto the bed and let his head fall back to the back of the chair, listening to the constant beeping from the monitor, his eyes closing as he dozed off.

Kat’s POV

She watched Race leave the room, wanting to join him as he saw Spot but knowing Race needed some time to adjust to having Spot in the hospital bed. Standing up, she felt antsy from waiting so she paced the room as she answered texts from family and friends concerned about her.

“Kat?” Looking up from her phone, she looked over at Jack who had concern written all over his face. “You okay?”

She sighed, walking over to him and sitting beside him. “Just antsy. I’m glad Race gets to go see him but I want to check up on him as well.”

Pressing a kiss to her head, Jack nodded. “I know. Despite our rough start, Spot is like a brother to me and it’s hard when we don’t know what the next few days or even weeks will look like. But we have to go along with the doctor who seems optimistic that he’ll be alright in the long run.”

Kat reached over and laced her fingers with Jack’s. “We’ll see him soon. Let’s give Race some time with him.”

She looked at Finch and Albert and smiled sadly at them. “You two doing okay?”

“Just hanging out until we can see him.” Albert looked as worried as she felt. “You two hanging out for the night?”

Jack shrugged, giving them a look. “Depends on what Race wants us to do. We’re kinda letting him dictate what we’re doing. I just checked in with momma and she said the girls are down for their afternoon naps.”

She didn’t get a chance to answer as the door opened slowly as an older man poked his head in. Standing up, she weakly smiled at him as surprise was evident in her voice. “Dr. Weasley.”

“Katherine, they told me you were up here. I just wanted to check in with you, Spot, and Albert to see how you were doing.” He said as she nodded.

Motioning for him to come in, she sighed. “Spot had emergency surgery and he’s in a room down the hall. This is my husband Jack and Albert’s husband, Finch. Guys, this the director of the ER, Dr. Weasley. We’ve just been hanging out here waiting to see Spot after his surgery.”

Dr. Weasley nodded. “I heard that he had to have his spleen removed - he’s a tough nut and will be okay. I’ve come to tell you that you and Albert have the next week off. There will be a check-in before you’re allowed back into the hospital, per guidelines. As for Spot, we’ll take it day by day with him and when he’s cleared to return.”

“Is there anything we need to do in the meantime?” Albert came by Kat’s side as he was curious what the requirement was going to consist of.

Dr. Weasley smiled at them. “You’ll both need to see one of the hospital’s trauma specialists before you’re released to come back. You will also need to take the mandatory 5 days off before you step back in here.”

“How long will the ER be shut down for?” Kat asked, knowing it was only one of three emergency rooms within the city.

Dr. Weasley shook his head. “It’s going to be shut down for tonight but obviously the hospital doesn’t want it down for too long. They’re hoping to have it back up and running tomorrow morning.”

Frowning, Kat shook her head. “It doesn’t seem right. There were people killed in that ER earlier today and tomorrow it’s back to business like their lives don’t even matter.”

“I agree with you Plums but you know how the head honchos are.” Dr. Weasley agreed as he shook his head.

She rolled her eyes with a sigh. “It’s just not right. But I make pennies compared to them and I know nothing.”

“Keep up that attitude Plums and you’ll be alright.” He smiled, looking between her and Albert. “Do either of you need anything?”

Albert shook his head with a smirk. “Million bucks, new scrubs, better hospital food?”

“Noted but not sure what I can pull out of my magic hat.” Dr. Weasley looked between the two of them with a shake of his head. “You have my number if you need anything. I’m glad you two are okay.”

Watching him leave, Kat shook her head as the door shut gently behind him. “That was nice of him to check up on us.”

“You know it was because we’re not down at the ER with the rest of the staff.” Albert told her with sarcasm laced in his voice. “He knew it would’ve gotten around the ER if he didn’t come check up on us and Spot.”

Kat nodded. “True. I’m going to check up on Race. You guys staying here?”

Albert agreed while Finch and Jack stayed behind, letting the two of them go. Her shoes squeaked as she walked down the hallway. Pushing open the door, her shoulders immediately relaxed as she took in Spot’s appearance in the bed. A noise drew her attention away from Spot and to the chair beside him where Race was snoring away.

Stepping up to the bed, she looked Spot over as his quiet breathes matched Race’s deep snores. Albert shook his head as he reached up to wipe his eyes before taking Katherine’s hand and squeezing it. “He looks better than I thought he would.”

“What did you imagine?” Kat asked, looking over at him with a smirk.

Albert shrugged. “Bruises, black eyed, ruggedness. You know, someone who just got into a fight but he actually just looks normal.”

“Excuse you, I’m ruggedly handsome.” A voice drew their attention from each other to the bed. A smirk was on Spot’s face as he looked at two friends.

Kat’s eyes immediately watered with tears as she looked at him. “Spot.”

“I’m sore . . . what happened?” He asked as he tried to move but felt instant pain.

Albert stepped up, giving him a look. “You had surgery. They removed your spleen due to a bullet. You fainted in the ER just after the police came to take the gunman away. Race was really worried about you and had been in here for about 20 minutes before he must’ve fallen asleep.”

“Is that what that train sound is?” Spot asked, craning his head to look over to Race, who quietly snored away.

“Yes. He’s been worried sick about you.” Kat smiled. “Do you want me to wake him up?”

Spot shook his head. “Nah, let him sleep. Who’s got Kenzie?”

“Momma’s got her and Addie. Last we knew, they were taking their afternoon naps. Jack, Race, and Finch have been here most of the afternoon. They watched Albert run out.” Kat explained.

Spot nodded, as he bit his lip as a wave of pain coursed through his side. “Anyone killed?”

“Two nurses and an orderly.” Kat frowned. “But thanks to you, no one else was killed. There’s a few injuries but you saved a lot of people, Spot, including Nicole and her daughter.”

Spot shook his head. “I about died when you texted me that you were in the room with them. I knew I had to draw him away from the door in order for you to escape.”

“I’m thankful that you did but I almost passed out when I saw you slugging him.” Kat shook her head. “You’re an idiot Sean but I do love you.”

“Love you too Kat.” He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Do you want to go get Jack and Finch? I don’t know how much longer I’ll be awake.”

Albert rushed from the room, leaving Kat and Spot alone with the sleeping Race. “He doing okay?”

“Worried about you but he’s been alright.” She smiled. “He has your phone but hasn’t done anything with it. I got your stuff from downstairs.”

Spot nodded. “Thank you, Kat for everything. Any idea how long I’m in here for?”

“Dr. Leighton didn’t say but I’m sure he’ll be around to see you later.” Kat shrugged. “I’m guessing in a few days you'll be released. Albert and I are on mandatory leave for the next week and we have to see one of the trauma specialists before we’re allowed back in the ER.”

Spot didn’t say anything as the door was opened as Jack and Finch stepped into the room with Albert behind them. Kat stepped back, letting the two talk with him. Albert came over and wrapped his arm around her. “Counting your blessings?”

“Something like that.” She smiled, laying her head on his shoulder. “Just really glad my family is okay. Really glad my closest coworkers are alright. Sad that we lost some good people but happy that everyone else is okay.”

Albert shook his head. “Love you Kat.”

“Love you too Albie.” She squeezed his shoulder. “Are you and Finch heading home?”

Nodding, Albert sighed. “I just want to go home and put today out of my mind. I have a feeling we’re in for a few rough days.”

“Agreed. We’ll be around if you need someone to talk to.” She smiled. “I’m only a phone call away, okay?”

He nodded, a ragged sigh left his mouth. He watched Jack and Finch joke with Spot as he started to doze off. Once he was asleep, Finch and Albert made their way out, leaving Kat and Jack with Race and Spot.

“What do you want to do? I’m sure you could use a shower and some Addie cuddles.” Jack suggested as he looked between the two sleeping men in the room.

Kat stretched, a groan escaping her mouth. “You’re probably right but I just don’t feel right just walking away after everything we’ve been through this afternoon.”

“Kat, you’re not walking away.” Jack gave her a look. “How about I take you home, you can shower, cuddle Addie, then we can come back up here and bring them food? Does that sound like a plan?”

Nodding, she pushed off the way, pressing a kiss to both Spot and Race’s foreheads before walking out of the room, hand laced with Jack’s.

An Hour Later

The rustling of bedsheets was the sound he heard as he slowly woke up. Cracking open his eyes, it took a minute to figure out where he was. The hospital, active shooter, Spot surgery all came rushing back to him.

Sitting up in the uncomfortable chair, he cracked his back as he looked at the bed. The most beautiful sight he had seen was staring back at him. Spot, with a smirk on his face, and eyes opened as he stared at Race. “Hi.”

“After all this time and scaring the literal shit out of me, all you can say is hi.” Race was out of the chair and sitting on the side of the bed smirking. “Hi yourself. How are you feeling?”

Spot grimaced. “Sore, really sore. But other than that, okay. Kat and Albie filled me in on everything that had happened when they were here earlier.”

“You were awake and they didn’t wake me up?” Race frowned, giving Spot a look.

Squeezing their linked hands, Spot looked Race in the eyes. “I asked them not to as you were in a deep sleep. I’m sorry I didn’t wake you but I needed to know what had happened.”

“You doing okay, Spottie?” Race asked, worry in his voice.

Spot sighed loudly. “To be honest, I don’t know how I feel. I’m angry that someone interrupted the safe space the ER was. I’m upset that I lost coworkers. But I think I’m mostly grateful that Albie and Kat are both okay and safe.”

Leaning forward, Race captured Spot’s lips in a kiss. “I love you and it’s completely okay that you’re not okay. There were a lot of emotions involved in today but I’ll be here for you as we go through the next couple of days, weeks, and months. Kat and Al aren’t going anywhere and they’ll be here for you, when I can’t.”

“Love you, Racer.” Spot smiled slightly. “Also, you did tell me that earlier this morning before I left the house.”

A light blush raised on Race’s cheeks. “You heard me?”

“Yeah . . . but it was a big foggy so I couldn’t actually tell if you said that or if it was my mind playing tricks on me.” Squeezing his hand, Spot sighed. “I kept kicking myself that I didn’t have my phone on me. I only wanted to get you a message that I was okay and that I loved you. I’m just glad I have the opportunity to tell you that now.”

“Love you Spottie.”

“Love you too Racer.”

Later that Evening

He found himself sitting up in bed, a course of antibiotics and pain medication surging through his body. He was happily slurping on a strawberry milkshake while Race was cracking jokes with Jack. Kat was watching her husband and Race with an amused smile on her face. A few of their coworkers had stopped by to check up on them both, not staying long but to say their thanks to Spot for being a hero.

“You okay, Plums?” He asked over the crackle of Race’s laughter at something Jack had just told him.

Looking up from her fast food chicken nuggets, she smiled. “I’m fine. I got to cuddle Addie and Kenzie, take a shower, and pet Basil for a little bit. I had a good cry in the shower.”

“Promise me, you’ll text if you need anything?” Spot gave her a look, knowing full well that she was just as likely as him to keep things bottled up.

Nodding, she smiled. “Of course. I’ve been made to promise by Jack, Albert, Race, and now you. I scheduled my appointment for the trauma specialist for next week.”

“Good. I’m proud of you for scheduling it out already.” Spot said, giving her a look that he knew what she was thinking.

She couldn’t say another word as there was a knock on the door. Kat raised an eyebrow to Spot, silently asking if he knew who it could be. He shook his head, as she got up and answered the door. She smiled at the guests as she reached out and grabbed Addie. She pushed open the door as Momma walked in, Kenzie in her arms.

“Momma!” Spot sat up and grinned despite the pain on his side. Race stood, taking Kenzie from her arms before kissing her cheek loudly. “What are you doing here?”

“Thought it might be a good idea for you two to see your daughter. Addie is just along for the ride, though I thought her parents could see her too.” Medda grinned, watching Jack take Addie from Kat’s arms. “Besides, I wanted to check up on you to make sure you were okay.”

Spot grinned at the woman who had been the replacement momma in his life. Ever since he and Race started dating, Medda had taken him in as one of her own. “Doing alright momma. Will be laid up for a little bit as I recover but I’ll be just fine in the long run.”

“Good.” She patted his foot. “You make sure that son of mine takes care of you, waits on you hand and foot.”

Race, cuddling Kenzie, looked up at his mother with an insulted look. “Hey! As if I wouldn’t wait on him hand and foot! I take offense to that.”

Laughter sounded around the room as Medda shook her head. “I’m just thankful you, Spot, and Katherine are okay. I checked in with Albert and Finch earlier and they’re doing as well as could be expected. I’m just glad all my babies are okay and here with us tonight.”

Kat looked around the room, locking eyes with each of the people in it, giving them a smile. “I’m glad today is almost done and tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow we start to move on from today and though we'll never forget, we will start to move on.”

Kat and Spot locked eyes. Though they had always been close since college, it seemed their bond had dug a little deeper. And she smiled, there was no one she’d rather have in her corner than Spot Conlon, as he would always have her back, just like she always would have his.

Feedback would be wonderful and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[bffsoobin]

01|02

↳ when your beloved throwing team finds itself lacking on equipment within a school that claims to value athletics, you take it upon yourself to find the right person to remedy your problems. little did you know, the right person would be perpetually busy and you would be stuck trying to barter with one of his friends. how long will it take for you to convince Beomgyu that your team is just as important as his? 

➤ highschool!au, thrower!reader x volleyball player!beomgyu, rich kid!beomgyu, fluff, very light angst, mentions of other members and members of BTS (go read @btxtreads sister series Perfectly Perfect!!!)

Word Count:1,777

A/N: I am so sorry this took so long! I hope you all enjoy it even though it’s been a hot minute since part one!

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:••:•.•

You were staring daggers into the back of Beomgyu’s head. It was the end of a very long school day, and the sound of him complaining about how sore his arms felt from the game the night before lit hatred in your chest. You were still close to boiling over the blatant ignorance he had displayed toward you last night on the court. If you owned a burn book, Choi Beomgyu’s name would be at the top of every page. 

All day, you had tried your best to forget his arrogance, but the fact that you spent so many hours of your school day sharing a classroom with him only made your annoyance tick upwards. The longer he spoke, the clearer it became that your emotions were seconds away from eruption. In the middle of an intense staredown with your history textbook, you heard your name. 

“Right, Y/N?” Beomgyu was leaning toward you but not lifting himself out of his seat so that his ring of adoring classmates wouldn’t be in between the two of you. 

“Huh?” Although you had missed what he said, you could only imagine what kind of annoyingly arrogant comment he was in the middle of making. 

“I was just saying that even you came to support us last night. That was sweet of you!” 

Your blood was boiling just under the surface of your skin, and the devil on your shoulder told you to let all of your anger loose on the boy right now; but the fact that so many of your peers were also listening in had you thinking twice. 

“Oh, yeah, I was there. It was a good win, but too bad Yeonjun couldn’t keep himself together and had to sit out at the end. I’m sure your coach wasn’t too happy with all of that...” you watched the way his eyes had narrowed slightly, “trouble.” If there was anything you knew for sure about the men’s volleyball team, it was the fact that they held their teammates very close to their hearts. And after yesterday, you wanted to hit Beomgyu as close to the heart as you could. 

Now, as you saw the subtle way his jaw shifted, you felt a tinge of regret. Maybe you’d gone too far, insulting one of his best friends. Just as you opened your mouth to apologize, the bell rang and a bustle of students began their exit from the school. Within the bustle, you made your way over to where Beomgyu was shoving notebooks into his bookbag. 

“Hey. I’m sorry,” though his back was to you, you could sense his hesitance to accept your apology. “I didn’t think about how mean that would be. I really did enjoy watching the game though, even if we got into a sort of fight afterwards.” 

You rocked back and forth on your feet as you waited for him to turn around. Once he did, there was no way to miss how intimidating his tall stature made him. 

“Thanks for the apology,” you let out a sigh of relief at his acceptance but it stilled in your throat when you caught his blank expression. “Although I definitely wouldn’t call our talk a fight,” he began to walk out of the classroom and some magnetic force had you following him in lockstep. You hated the way you hung around and waited for the next words to fall from his lips. He was too captivating for his own good.

He slammed his locker shut. “After all, we have to be civil at our meeting tonight.” He leveled his gaze with you as he leaned casually against the metal and crossed his arms. Feeling like a deer caught in headlights, you knit your eyebrows together in confusion.

“A meeting? About what?” Much to your own annoyance, your voice gave away your utter confusion. Beomgyu smirked at your response and you knew he had secured some type of upper hand.

“Me, you and our coaches are meeting tonight. To talk about that funding you need?”

“What? Really?” The excitement of possibly getting funding won out over your need to convince Beomgyu he didn’t hold as much influence over you as he thought. As you celebrated, you thought you caught a glimpse of his mouth quirked upwards before he backed away to head toward the exit.

“Coach Jungkook’s office, 4 pm!”

——

Around 3:55 pm, you found yourself hovering outside of Coach Jungkook’s office. A small voice in the back of your mind had convinced you that you couldn’t walk in any earlier than 4 o’clock, so you settled for leaning against the wall and running through your mental list of needs for the team. You were so caught up in your thoughts that you didn’t even register the sound of the door creaking open. 

“Y/N,” your neck whipped around quickly to see Beomgyu holding the door open, staring down at you expectantly. “Were you...waiting out here this whole time?” You could hear the start of a laugh at the back of his words that made heat rush from your neck up to your hairline. 

“Shut up, Choi,” you pushed past him, keeping your gaze on the carpeted floor until you saw the coaches come into view. 

“Ah, there you are!” Jimin called out to you in lieu of an actual greeting. You wondered briefly if all three of the men were waiting for your arrival as you simply stood in the hall; but you cleared your throat and attempted to focus back on the task at hand. Jungkook’s office was extremely spacious and well decorated. The walls were plastered with photos of his beloved volleyball team from every year since he began coaching here. You even spotted some older pictures and trophies from the man’s own days on the team.

There were oddly comfortable looking armchairs located in front of his desk, one of which was already occupied by Beomgyu, who was spread out comfortably as if he owned the place. And truthfully, he probably did. Jungkook gave you an easy smile as you stood idle in the space between the empty chair and his desk before gesturing loosely. 

“Go ahead, sit down!” His sunny disposition always threw you slightly off guard, especially after knowing the way he acts on the court. Nevertheless, you sank down into the inviting chair and tried your best to return his grin. 

“So,” he continued, “Jimin told me you guys need a little funding help?” You felt three pairs of eyes drift to you, and suddenly the importance of helping your team began to outweigh your nerves as you began to explain your situation. 

“And given the...extra boost the men’s volleyball team gets from Beomgyu’s family,” you scratched the back of your head gingerly as you glanced at the boy in question. “Coach and I thought you would be willing to help our team out.” Your heart was beating erratically in your chest as you waited for Jungkook to say anything. 

“Well, I certainly think I can help you guys out. If you’re on the way to big competitions, I want you to have the best chance possible,” he slides open a drawer with ease and you can see Jimin’s eyes light up with excitement. Jungkook drops a sleek black checkbook onto the desk in front of him and nods Beomgyu’s way. 

“Why don’t you take Y/N and show her around the trophy room while Jimin and I talk numbers?” The idea of being shown around the volleyball team’s trophy room would normally make you gag, but right now you’d do just about anything for Coach Jungkook. Beomgyu agreed easily and got up to leave so quickly that you had to sputter a poor “thank you” to the man saving your team’s skin before practically running out the door. 

While the trophy room was located behind a normal door, the inside was excessively intricate. A fancy thermometer was set to an exact temperature to keep the expensive wooden shelves from warping under the weight of their wins. Beomgyu took an easy lap around the room before stopping in front of a ceiling tall glass case boasting an insanely tall golden trophy. 

“This was from our nationals win last year. The winning game was so close that we played for what felt like three hours. Soobin played with an injured wrist and Taehyun had strep throat but we still managed to pull it off.” You wandered closer, genuinely interested in seeing such an expensive trophy up close. Once you stood in front of the case, you could really admire the careful engraving that shone underneath the small led lights that were embedded around the case. For some reason, you found yourself holding you breath, whether to avoid fogging up the glass or just from the proximity to Beomgyu, you weren’t sure. He was standing so close next to you that a single twitch of your wrist would have you grazing fingers. 

“You guys are really good,” you didn’t turn your head to look toward him, but you caught part of his smiling reflection in the glass. “I mean it. As much as I shit on you guys, you’re really good at this.” You glanced sideways to see a genuine smile on his face that kicked your heart rate up. 

“Thank you. We work hard. I think sometimes people forget that,” you swallowed hard, unable to avoid the thought that the statement included you. 

“But I think we also forget that other people work hard for their sport.” A warmth spread through your body at his confession and you noticed the way the lights from the trophy case accentuated the sharpest features of his face. He licked his lips and your eyes tracked the movement eagerly. His cool eyes met yours just seconds after, and you prayed that you hadn’t been caught in the act of staring. 

“That’s why I’m happy to be helping you out, Y/N. My team and I can be...closed off. Because we know we’re good and nobody bothers to humble us.” He hummed in thought for a second before laughing out loud. You raised an eyebrow in silent question of what was so funny. “Actually, I think you’re the first person who’s dared to try and humble me since I joined the team,” he had begun walking toward the door of the trophy room and you once again found yourself following without question. 

He paused by the door, swinging it open and gesturing you to exit before him. “And honestly,” he shut the door with a resounding click. “I think it’s really cute.” 

[rorywinslowpatch]

My Story of COVID-19

We all have difficult days, weeks, months, even years. Keeping it simple, I can say my family and I had our fair share of hardships in 2019. My husband and I went into 2020 with hope that it could only go up from here. January and February were off to a good start. I was happy with my job and all the opportunities it was presenting to me. Life was finally going our way.

In early March, I was invited to attend a client event in Vail, Colorado. During this time, COVID-19 was a concern but there had only been a handful of cases confirmed in the United States. I had just returned from a conference in Miami, shaking hands with people from all around the world and thought, “If I didn’t get it there, I should feel safe going on this trip”. So, I went. I met some of the most genuine and intelligent people I’ve ever come across. Walking away from that event I knew I had friends I could call when I visited Philadelphia, DC, California, Florida, New York, even Brazil. It was truly the trip of a lifetime and I’ll always be thankful for such an incredible opportunity.

The week of March 9th. I had returned from Vail that Sunday and was back in the office on Monday. I was still exhausted from the amazing long weekend, sharing stories with my manager who had also attended the trip. It was about 4:00pm when I felt ‘off’. I remember explaining to my manager that I felt weird and my throat was sore when I had woken up and continued throughout the day. I asked if she minded if I left early to get some rest and come back ready to tackle it on Tuesday. Tuesday morning came and I still had this strange sore throat, it’s hard to explain, but I didn’t recognize this pain. I started to self-diagnose myself thinking…maybe its strep, allergies, weather change? I looked in my throat and saw some white spots so figured it was some sort of infection. I took a sick day and went over to Urgent Care. Reminder, COVID-19 had not hit the United States as hard as it had internationally. I walked in and felt immediately uncomfortable. It was packed and every single person was wearing a mask. I walked up to sign in and immediately took note to everything I touched – the counter, the pen, the paper work. After I was signed in the nurse let me know it would be about 2 hours, she wasn’t wrong. I struggled to find a spot to sit while keeping a fair distance from the other coughing patients. As I sat there I remember listing out the COVID-19 symptoms in my head to make myself feel safe – fever (nope), cough (not really), shortness of breath (nope), nausea (maybe it was a very long hangover from the trip?). I even got joking texts from my coworkers – “make sure you don’t have the rona”. As my mind spun out of control, I finally heard my name called. We do a strep test, negative. We then do a strep culture (I guess it’s more accurate), negative. The doctor said I definitely have Tonsilitis which is an infection in your throat from a virus, can be any virus. I asked the doctor if he thinks it could be the COVID-19 virus. His response, “No, because you haven’t left the United States”. Feww, I felt a sense of relief. He prescribed some antibiotics and I was on my way. On Wednesday I woke up with the same sore throat with an additional symptom, fatigue. I slept from 9pm on Tuesday to 10pm on Wednesday and then 11pm on Wednesday to 7am on Thursday. In the last two days I had slept 33 hours with brief moments to go to the bathroom and drink water. When I woke up on Thursday, I felt rested and my sore throat had gone away so I figured it was some sort of infection I had fought off and was on the mend. I went to work as we had our CRO in town and wanted to at least show my face. We had a happy hour after work for a colleagues work anniversary. As I walked into the bar I was told someone from the Vail trip had tested positive for COVID-19. I remember the gut wrenching feeling and the amount of exhaustion that suddenly flooded my body. I immediately panicked and called my sister in-law crying on the curb outside. She was trying to calm me down and said to just call the Urgent Care back that I had visited a couple days earlier and see if they knew where I could get tested. There, began the downward spiral of searching for information – WHERE COULD SOMEONE POSSIBLY GET TESTED. At the time, we didn’t have the testing resources we have now. Every new number I was given gave me another number to call, which resulted in a lot of frustration and worry as my symptoms got worse. I remember crying to my husband with the panic and unknown of COVID-19. I slowly learned no one had access to the test unless you walked into a select few hospitals in Georgia. I called around and found one that did, Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital. On Friday, I walked right up to the front desk and said nervously, “I came in contact with someone that tested positive for COVID-19 and I have some of the symptoms.” She immediately told me to back up 3-steps and to wait for my blue suit. I was then asked to sit on a separate side of the waiting room as they moved others farther away from me. You could tell everyone was thinking the same thing. Maybe 2 minutes later they escorted me to a room by myself where the nurse asked me questions through a window – I verbally had to give my social security, insurance, and physical address. I spent the next 6 hours in the room having various tests done. First, they had to test me for the flu to rule it out (negative). They then performed two tests for COVID-19 - one swab in the nose and one in the throat. They then had to x-ray my chest to make sure I wasn’t developing pneumonia. Each time someone came into the room they had a very thorough process: sanitize their hands, put on a new blue suit, 2 layers of gloves, sanitize again, a medical mask, glasses, the plastic face shield. There were roughly 30 minutes in between each test and during that time many nurses would walk by my room labeled with a big red paper and black X, marking it was for a COVID-19 patient. As if, I didn’t feel like an alien already. I will say the doctors and nurses at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital made me feel as comfortable as they possibly could and were amazing describing each step of the process. As I left the room the doctor goes, “You’ll get a call in about 3-5 days with the results, but I doubt you test positive”. It was 12 days. During those 12 days of waiting, I found myself gaining more symptoms, which then came more anxiety and fear. I wrote down my symptoms each day in case the doctors needed me to recall anything. I kept all of these in my notepad on my phone, but I’ll save everyone some time and skip the details.

As the days went on more people from the trip were getting positive results. I think the actual ratio ended up being 70% of the people on the trip. During those 12 days, every moment was different. One day you feel worse than the day before and then the next you feel like you’re finally making progress. With those new symptoms, came defeat. It wasn’t until day 5 (after being tested) that my deep chest cough developed. I had some ‘dry cough’ on the first couple days, but nothing like this. It took 3 days to finally get a doctor to prescribe an inhaler without seeing me in person. They also sent over what I call ‘the miracle drug’, Tessalon Perles also known as Benzonatate. It was the tiniest pill I had ever seen. I immediately called my mom (which I was doing probably twice a day at this point) to see what it was. She encouraged me to take them as it would help with the coughing fits. IT WORKED, after 2 days of taking it the fits had subsided and I was slowly starting to have ‘proactive coughs’. Over the next few days I took a combination the ‘miracle drug’, mucinex-D, elderberry syrup, and a liter of water. As the coughing subsided, another symptom returned, fatigue. This wasn’t like the tiredness I was feeling before but more exhaustion. The smallest tasks were completely wiping me out – the dishes, vacuuming, folding laundry, etc.

March 18th. I remember this moment as if it was yesterday. If you aren’t someone that is open to faith, stop here.

I was having one of my defeated days and couldn’t see the light at the end. My husband was out on the porch talking to his mom. I felt the need to clear my head but couldn’t walk more than 10 minutes without having to take a break so I decided to drive around instead. I was driving down one of my favorite roads in Atlanta, bopping my head to the music because I didn’t have the lung capacity to sing along. Realizing why I wasn’t singing, I started to cry. I pulled over in one of the neighborhoods and completely let it out. I was crying, snot everywhere, and of course I couldn’t find those stupid napkins you are supposed to leave in your glovebox. I took a moment to settle my breath and started to talk. At the time, I want to think I knew Who I was speaking to. I had just started to go to church about 8 months ago for the first time in my life. To be fair, I was still skeptic but open to the idea of a higher power. I started rambling in my car at the end of some random person’s driveway. I was saying it all – how scared I was, the unknown, the lack of control, frustration of not having my results, worry of job security, everything came out. Then, all of a sudden, I found myself praying for the first time. I prayed for guidance..support…anything that would give me some sort of relief. I looked at the time and realized I had been talking to myself for over an hour. I started up the car and made my way back to our place. I walked in and my husband asked where I had been but only shared that I had taken a drive to clear my head. The next few days I wasn’t feeling any new symptoms just the constant struggle to breathe normally and exhaustion with simple tasks. Tuesday morning I got the call. It rang and I knew what they were about to tell me. At this point, I was out of the woods and whatever the results were, I had overcome the worst of it. It was positive.

Jump to a few weeks later. Georgia slowly started opening up but we still weren’t back in our offices. I had done some research and heard about how intravascular plasma was saving patients that were severely ill with COVID-19. Atlanta Blood Services was a local platelet donation center that opening their seats to recovered COVID-19 patients to donate their plasma. I immediately signed up and they got me in 2 days later. They had a round of questions and tests they needed to do before I could donate. I sat down with the research technician and they walked me through the questions – how did you get it, date of last symptom, etc. They then tested me again for COVID-19 to make sure I wasn’t still contagious, it came back negative. They then took a sample of blood from my left arm to test for the antibodies, which came back positive. They then guided me to the donation chair and I sat there for about 2 hours. I couldn’t help but watch the tubes take the blood out of my arm, recycle it inside this very noisy machine, push this yellow type liquid into these bags hanging above my chair (the plasma), and then the machine pushes the red blood back into my body. It was truly amazing seeing what medicine was doing to defeat this pandemic. I continue to go back every two weeks to donate my plasma.  

Now, fully recovered, I look back and am thankful this happened to me. I am thankful I didn’t develop phenomena. I am thankful of the person I found within myself. I am thankful I found my faith when I needed it the most. The world has a funny way of making you realize your purpose on earth. COVID-19 led me to my faith, which allowed me to see what I want my future to be. I wake up every day with a positive attitude, thankful to see what the future has in store for me, striving to have an open mind and heart. I found myself with the wrong priorities before and made it a goal to push myself to find what I love to do every day – at home and at work. I started this story with the idea that 2020 was worse than 2019. I move forward with 2020 with a new outlook and perspective. I couldn’t be more grateful for where this bumpy road has led me. Thank you, for opening my eyes.

[dailyaudiobible]

03/08/2020 DAB Transcript

Numbers 10:1-11:23, Mark 14:1-21, Psalms 51:1-19, Proverbs 10:31-32

Today is the 8th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you as we collectively, like we do at the beginning of each week, mark the fact that everything is new, everything is out in front of us, we’re walking into this new week and we have the opportunity to walk into this new week with God. So, we step through the threshold together into a brand-new week. We’ll read from the Contemporary English Version this week and continue our journeys through the book of…the book of numbers in the Old Testament the book of Mark, the gospel of Mark in the New Testament. So, today numbers chapters 10 verse 1 through 11 verse 23.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for Your word once again and thank You for bringing us here into this new week. And we offer our gratitude. We are truly humbled and grateful that You've allowed us to be together in community and that we together in community can hear from Your word. We are so grateful because Your word does give us the advice for our next step. Your word does give us a context for how to be in this world and we are so grateful for that and it is changing us and we continue to open ourselves completely to You and invite You to continue to lead us forward on the narrow path that leads to life. And we thank You for this. And may we have eyes to see Your guidance we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, stay tuned and stay connected.

Check out the Community section. That's where the Prayer Wall lives, and the Prayer Wall is such a valuable resource in this community. It’s place that you can go to at any time and can…I mean if you're feeling pretty down and got some stuff facing you nothing can change the atmosphere by turning your focus away from yourself and onto others. And, so, the prayer wall is always…always happening. You can just always go there and find somebody to pray for or maybe you're needing prayer and that is a wonderful place to go and get it. So, check that out.

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And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi DAB family this is Missy from the Midwest I’m calling in response today to Lori’s call. She talked about how she went on the pilgrimage in 2019 and was baptized by Brian, how she overcame addiction through Jesus Christ and she’s now been six years sober. The story she gave was amazing. So, Lori I just wanted to tell you thank you for calling that in. I have someone in my family that is also very bogged down by demonic oppression along with addiction and I was convicted today to really seek God in prayer for that person and hearing your call really confirmed that. Thank you so much. God bless all.

Hi this is Travis I want to thank Grace who showed me this app. It’s been wonderful and I want to ask everybody who’s…who’s listening to pray for my son Brady. He suffers from absolute epilepsy and it’s a bad case. He has many as 20 seizures a day and he…he really suffers with it and at times he’s questioned God’s love for him in this…doesn’t know…doesn’t understand why this is happening to him and as many of you know seizures and when you have multiple of them they do affect your cognitive ability at some point and Brady has suffered with some of that. So, please pray for my son Brady. And also pray for his brother and mother who suffer with him and for me suffers with him. And one specific prayer request for me is that I not allow the stress of…of all this to cloud my vision and to see that God has so richly blessed us even in the midst of this trial and to help me rule my spirit and to control my spirit when anger and things, resentment bubble up and stress. It’s just a prayer request for…for all of us but most particularly for my son Brady. So, thank you all. Thank you for this broadcast it’s so richly blessed me just in a few days I’ve been listening and I’m spreading the word. Thank you all and thank you for your time in prayer for me and my son and my family.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Sierra from Florida I am 24 years old this is like my 18th recording because I keep stumbling over what I’m trying to say. But overall, I just wanted to say how blessed I am, or I feel that I found Daily Audio Bible. I’ve been looking, I been searching for something that I can listen to on the way to work…  have an hour drive to work every day…that goes to the Bible and is engaging and relatable and I just really appreciated Brian’s commentary, but I find especially encouraging the end of each episode when people pray for each other. It makes me cry and I just love it so much. It’s very uplifting and I just wanted to pray blessings for you guys. If I could ask you guys around the community to pray for me. I just became a Christian about a year and half ago maybe. It was October 2018 and God has just been exploding in my life and I feel such a calling. And, so, I felt the call to go into the mission field and I’ve never been out of the country before and in one month I will…I’ve…God pulled through and the funding and everything. In one month, I’ll be going to a missionary school in Mexico and I’ll be three months there through YWAM and three months doing outreach and I have no idea where I’ll be, I’ll be somewhere else in the world, but I’ll be doing missions work for six months. So, I really just wanted some prayer, or I was just wondering if someone would pray for me for just spiritual courage. And I’m just walking totally in faith and I just everyday could use prayer. So, if you guys could pray for me, I would absolutely love that. I would be very blessed. And I just want to bless all of you. Thank you very much for just being there and existing. Have a good day.

Greetings DAB family today is Monday 2 March 2020 this is Daddy’s Dreamer from Tampa or DDFT for short. I’m going through a lot with my preteen children and would appreciate your general prayers regarding me and my kids, but I thought I would give my family greater insight into my callsign. In this season of my life I have taken one Corinthians 2:9 as my life verse – “what no lie is seen no ear has heard and no human heart conceived, God has prepared these things for those who love Him.” I have meditated on this verse and it has brought me such joy. One day we will not have to endure the scientific rules of this world perhaps. As Pink Paint has suggested the Lord may introduce us to new colors, new musical notes and maybe even emotions and a state of mind that would’ve been impossible to experience here on earth. I have a military background and often suggest to my coworkers and compare heaven to possibly be the ultimate mission. It all may sound simple and stupid, but it really does excite me to the core. I love this family and tell everybody that will listen about this community. Keep pressing play new DABbers. This is DDFT. Stay positive and always let His light shine through you. Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tammy in Kentucky and I wanted to call and ask for prayer for everything going on in my life. I have an adopted son from foster care. We’ve ha d him for about 3 ½ years and he’s 17 ½ and this morning we woke up at six something and he had left to go visit his girlfriend who lives an hour and a halfway. I mean, he’s only known her like two weeks. He just constantly finds new girlfriends. And she was diagnosed yesterday with flu and strep. And just…these are the things he does. He’s very impulsive and just never even tells us. Then I get so torn up about because these are not things you should do, and I worry about his actions and what he’s doing. My husband and I stress and fight over this and we have such marital issues. I just don’t know where to turn sometimes and I usually talk to my dad, but my parents died within the past eight months. So, I don’t have that rock to turn to. So, I just feel so alone at times. So, I just need prayer. We need prayer for our adopted son. I want him to follow Jesus and we’ve tried the past three years that he’s been with us but it’s…it’s…I’m hoping we planted a seed for down the road. You know, we want him gone in six months when he turns 18. It’s just not a good situation. So, please pray for us. Thank you. My time is running out.

Good morning DABber family this is Wala the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of our God and King. I just heard a prayer from truly thankful Taylor, and she was praying for stay at home parents. And Taylor as you were praying, my heart is lifted because my mom was a stay-at-home parent and I swear she’s the best mom in the world. And one of the best things in my life was coming home just always knowing that she was always there. And up until now, being a mother myself, my mom is my hero and she is my favorite person in the world. And she passed a couple years ago but she’s still my favorite person in the world. So, I just want to encourage you and let you know that what you’re doing right now, it is a blessing and it is an investment that will not go in vain. And I just want to encourage all to stay at home parents out there, I honestly wish I could afford to stay at home, but I can’t. And, so, I am really like just…kudos to you parents that are stay-at-home and loving your babies and being there for them and offering them what they would not be able…you can’t pay for it…you cannot buy it. Anyway, that’s it. May the Lord bless and keep you. May He cause His face to shine upon you, give you peace. And that prayer is for all my DABber family. Give you peace. May His favor be upon you for a  thousand generations - your children and your children’s children. Love you.

[gretaboyd]

“This I Believe”: Written by an 8th Grade Me

I recently stumbled upon an essay I wrote in middle school that was submitted anonymously to our school’s book titled, This I Believe. I read it today proud of the courage it took me to write it at that time and of how far I’ve come since then. Although extremely personal, I’ve decided to share it now, unedited from when I wrote it six years ago. 

I believe throughout struggles that feel as if they may never fade, perseverance and hope for the future can act as the light to lead you out of a dim tunnel. The hardest time in my life started in the Fall of fourth grade. I had been home sick with the flu for four days until my mom decided to take me to the ER. My condition was getting worse every hour. My mouth was chalk dry from dehydration, and all I had left in my stomach was a disturbing shade of yellow that burned my throat as it came up. It was stomach acid. After a day in the ER, I was admitted to Emanuel Children’s Hospital. I stayed helpless in there for five days until being released. At the time, doctors didn’t give us much of an explanation of why the flu had affected me in such an extreme way. I honestly didn’t think much of it, just knew it sucked. I definitely didn’t want to experience something like that again.

I thought it was just a one-time thing, but that Spring, still in fourth grade, I came down with strep throat. I was practically used to strep though; I’d been getting it my whole life, with no unusual problems. It was the same situation as before- I was sick at home for a few days, until my condition got out of hand. I couldn’t eat, drink, or stand up straight without vomiting. I was unconsciously getting rid of all the nutrients in my body, which was making me extremely weak and dehydrated. This time, because of my condition, I was admitted to the hospital right away. The doctors thought if I had the antibiotic for the strep, the IV for the dehydration, and the medication for the vomiting, I’d be feeling better in no time. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I remember feeling so confused and helpless, days passing by in a blur. On the ninth day, with no signs of improvement, and concerns of so many days with no food, the doctors put me on a feeding tube. Miraculously, the next day, I was all better. After ten days, I was free to go. Skinny and weak, but free to go. When I arrived home, I tried on my favorite pair of Aeropostale sweatpants. They slid right off my hips after I pulled them up. It would be a while before these fit again. Weeks later, after undergoing lots of tests, the GI doctor concluded that I had CVS. CVS is Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, it means that when I start throwing up, I can’t stop myself without medical assistance.

Fifth grade went by with no problems, but in sixth grade, my symptoms started to re-occur. Every morning for the first couple weeks of school, I would get nauseous, and sometimes throw up. I hated it. I didn’t want to feel sick every morning or hover over the toilet. I wasn’t sure what was causing this, but I later found out it was my anxiety.

I play competitive basketball. In sixth grade, I played AAU and was on a traveling tournament team. One of our destinations was Reno, Nevada. I was so excited. I got to travel with my friends to such a cool place- to do what I love. The first day before our games was great. Unfortunately, I was not expecting what would wake me up at six in the morning. I bolted out of bed before I even knew what was going on. First destination: the toilet. I was on my knees slumped over for what seemed like days.  Occasionally, I would move to the trash can. I was beyond embarrassed my teammate and her mom had to see me like that. I felt bad for them. It must have been uncomfortable to watch; not to mention how horrible I looked. Despite all of this, I was wanting to play so bad! We had traveled all this way, I wasn’t going to let this sickness get the best of me. I got dressed in my uniform, and into a car, I went with my team. It was all a blur at that point. It was like a dream; I only remember distinct pieces of the story. I was in the very back seat of the team van, throwing up anything left in my system into a Ziploc bag. I hated all the attention. They even started praying for me. At that point, I don’t even know why I thought I could have actually overcome it and play. I hadn’t even made it to the gym before I felt horrible again. As I walked through the doors of the place, I was hunched over, everyone staring. Before I knew it, I was stooped over the public bathroom toilet, the maid talking to me in Spanish. I think she was offering me a paper towel. I had no energy to talk. Instead, I shrugged her off.  After that, I remember sitting outside of the bathroom in the commons on a chair. I could feel the sympathetic stares even though I couldn’t lift my head to see them. It wasn’t long before I was on my coach’s back, getting carried out to a car headed to the hospital. I ended up staying overnight and taking a flight home the next day. I finished the season with minor nausea.

In seventh grade, also the first year of middle school for me, I experienced anxiety every morning the first week. One day, I couldn’t bear it any longer and caved in. I had to go to the ER for three days in a row.  On the fourth day, I was admitted to the hospital for a few days. After visiting many doctors, I was prescribed medication to help stop my anxiety and nausea. This helped tremendously and got me through the rest of the year with no problems. I also started to see a therapist to help sort out my feelings and deal with my symptoms when they start to occur.

I am now currently in eighth grade, doing very well. I am off medication, able to cope with my problems using the techniques I’ve learned. I now know if I didn’t have hope that one day I might overcome my anxiety and CVS, that I would have taken the easy way out: quitting sports to take away the possibility of any repeats of my past. Although my struggle may not be exactly like yours, I feel that by sharing it, we can relate.  No matter how big or small, complicated or not your story may be, we all have them. It’s how we use it that separates us one from another.  Remember to keep your eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel. This I Believe.

[remindersofgrace]

Our Birth Story

Today marks 10 days since our daughter Talitha was born. Our daughter - I’m still getting used to saying that. She came without warning and on her own timing, but I’m beginning to see God’s perfect providence in blessing us with this sweet little girl 5 weeks early. I woke up Saturday morning, September 1st, 2018 at 5:30am without an alarm, unsure of why I felt so wired and unable to fall back asleep (which, if you know me, is a very unusual thing). I was feeling some uncomfortable pressure in my lower abdomen and kept sitting on the toilet for relief, and actually pooped 4 times in 4 hours but had no idea that this could be a sign of early labor. (Is that TMI? Oh well.)

By 10am though, the pain had started moving up my abdomen, and I started to count the contractions. They were sporadic, 30 seconds of pain every 6 min, then 40 second after 4 min, then 3 min, then 8 min - but they were persistent and unlike any Braxton-Hicks contractions I had felt before. I texted Talitha, my friend and doula (we’ll call her Talitha P so you don’t confuse her with our baby), and let her know what was going on, but still didn’t think anything serious was happening until she texted back, “Oh my goodness. Definitely monitor them and keep me posted.” She suggested hopping in the bath to see if that would help the contractions subside - and although it seemed to ease the pain a little, after the bath the contractions started up again every 6 min. We called the triage line at Kaiser and the doctor on the line told me she wasn’t sure it was true labor, but instructed us to come in just to be safe.

We cancelled our lunch plans, haphazardly threw together a hospital bag for me, threw our car seat in the trunk (we still hadn’t figured out how to strap it in yet) and called our mothers during the car ride to let them know that we were headed to the hospital for triage, but that we didn’t think we were going to be there for long. After all, Talitha wasn’t due for another 5 weeks, I had 2 more packed weeks of work to transition out for maternity leave, we had a baby shower scheduled on the 15th, and our house was not close to being habitable for a newborn.

The car ride to the hospital was a bit tougher with some stronger contractions, and we walked into the Kaiser Sunset’s labor and delivery unit to be triaged by a nurse. She strapped the fetal monitors on my abdomen, and sure enough - the contractions were consistently every 6 minutes. The pain was there but manageable, and Talitha’s heart rate was responding well to each contraction. The moment came at around 2:30pm when the doctor came in to check how dilated I was, and our jaws dropped when he told me I was 4 cm dilated, 90% effaced - and I was not going anywhere. Eden and I looked at each other and shared a moment of disappointment that our baby was not going to be born full-term, which we were hoping for since she needed to be big enough and strong enough to have surgery shortly after birth. We called Talitha and let her know that I was being admitted, and this incredible woman did not hesitate to drive 2 hours from Palm Springs on her Labor Day weekend to be there for mine. Best doula ever.

We were transferred into the room that I would deliver in at around 3pm, and I was started on an IV to give me fluids and also to give me a preventative antibiotic since my test for group-B strep had not resulted yet. I was also given a steroid injection to give my premature baby’s lungs a boost, but it would only be effective if I was given a second dose 24 hours later. I was hoping that I would not be laboring for another 24 hours, but wanted to give my baby any fighting chance I could.

Well into labor, I still hadn’t lost my mucous plug or had any bloody show, and my water still hadn’t broken. The toughest part about this labor was that because I was 5 weeks early, my nurse didn’t want me to get out of bed and kept trying to have me delay delivery - she thought it was best that I try to hold off until I could get the second steroid injection in 24 hours, or to even delay delivery 4 more days until our baby was 36 weeks old. I looked at her sideways - I couldn’t imagine going through these contractions for 24 more hours, let alone 4 days, and the thought of it stressed me out! Thankfully by then, Talitha P had arrived at about 5:30pm, and she gave me this reassuring look after the nurse left and said, “Don’t worry, you are having this baby tonight.”

By then, Jabez had dropped off an exercise ball for me (sadly it was not used) and my brother-in-law Ken came to support me and Eden as well. The contractions became stronger and more frequent - every 4 min, every 3 min. I went to the bathroom and sure enough, there was quite a bit of blood in the toilet after I peed, and Talitha P reassured me that it wouldn’t be long before I delivered. She had thankfully met with us just a week before to give us a labor crash course in what to expect with labor and how to breathe through the labor pains. During the pain of contractions, the temptation is to tense up your body but that is the opposite of what your body should do. Instead, what you actually need to do is relax your body as much as possible, and so she instructed me to focus on taking deep breaths and to have my palms face up so that I couldn’t clench down. She also would rub my neck muscles to gently remind me to relax my shoulders when she felt me tensing up. And so I was able to get through my contractions without pain medicine and without any screaming, which is something I always wanted to do but didn’t think that I would be able to do. For me, the pain of my contractions was actually pretty bearable (around 6-7 out of 10) because I knew what to expect and the pain was only really bad for about 30 seconds until I could feel the contraction begin to subside. It could have also just been God’s kindness to me because I have horrible pain tolerance!

At around 7pm, the doctor came in to check my cervix again. He told us he couldn’t feel a cervix, meaning I was fully dilated at 10cm. I had to wait through a few more contractions since the neonatologist team was not quite ready to come in yet, and then it was finally time to start pushing. Talitha P had taught me - deep cleansing breath in and out, then another deep breath, tuck your chin in, grab the bottom of your thighs, and push like you’re pushing out the biggest poop of your life for 10 seconds. Then exhale and repeat until your contraction has finished. For me, I was only able to get 2 rounds of effective pushes each contraction. Though women are usually pretty nervous about the pushing stage, pushing actually felt like a relief because you’re finally getting to do what the contractions are making you want to do. I was told that my pushes were effective, and after about 45 min we started to see her crown. The neonatologist and pediatric surgical team came at the perfect moment when I was pushing out my final pushes. I had a mirror positioned so that I could see her come out.

As her little head finally popped out, it was more painful but not unbearable, and she had not yet made a sound. I remember pleading with God that she would take her first breath even with immature lungs. The doctor delivering Talitha instructed me to pause on pushing so that she could reposition her and ease her out without as much tearing. Once she had her positioned, she instructed me to give some final pushes and I gave it my all, and her little shoulders and the rest of her pudgy body made it through. Then came the glorious cry! They instantly put her on my chest for a brief time of skin to skin. I felt so relieved and couldn’t believe this baby on my breast was Talitha in the flesh, the little being we had waited for so long to meet. Eden cut the cord, and Talitha was whisked over to the exam table to be assessed while I delivered my placenta. She was 6 lbs and 10 oz, which we later found out was due to the amount of fluid trapped in her vagina. They indeed found an imperforate anus (which we had expected) but they also found no vaginal opening. The diagnosis was made that our baby had a cloaca, which was on our doctor’s list of possible diagnoses but not at the top. All babies have a cloaca (a common channel for the urethra, anus, and vagina) in the embryonic stage, but it normally separates into the 3 separate channels during development. Our baby was one out of 25,000 babies to have what is called a persistent cloaca and we would learn in the coming days what that meant for our baby and her life.

Eden and our daughter went to the NICU while I received stitches for a second degree tear (not fun). Meanwhile, the neonatologist was furiously putting in orders and contacting our pediatric team to schedule Talitha to have a colostomy and a vaginostomy for 8am the next morning. I was transferred to the postpartum unit, ate some dinner with Eden, Ken and Talitha P, and we reflected back on the delivery together. Talitha P gave me a tutorial on breast pumping before she headed back for Palm Springs. When it was cleared for us to visit our baby in the NICU, we headed over close to midnight and found our baby. She now was on IV fluids and had a little tube threaded down her throat to suction out any contents in her stomach before surgery. Her nurse was so kind and talked me through a lot of what to expect tomorrow, then gave me ample time to hold her skin to skin and snuggle with her. It was such a precious time that I won’t forget. We finally got to bed that night around 1:40am, and so concluded the day that made Eden and myself parents. As I finally finish typing this, we are a day or two from bringing our baby home. We have seen so much evidence of God’s grace during these past 10 days and are confident that He will continue to care for Talitha and for us. She has had an army of over 100 people praying for her ever since her 13-week ultrasound and I know those prayers are powerful and effective. We had prayed for healing, and although it didn’t come the way we expected, I can see already how God is healing broken areas in Eden and myself, and how He is using Talitha and her sweet little life to proclaim His goodness and faithfulness in the midst of trial and suffering.

If you haven’t already, please read my hubby’s post-birth story and also our specific prayer requests for these upcoming months. Thanks to all who reached out and supported us, I wish I could individually thank you all. God is so good to us through you all!

[barelynakedthoughts]

So our induction date is set for next Tuesday, May 11th. Who knows if they'll have bed space at that time, but they'll call us when they're ready for us to head on down. They have our time set for 9pm-12am, but the doctors have been telling us that they can call anywhere from 8pm on May 11th to as late as the next day, May 12th. One doctor even said, "don't be surprised if you have to wait even longer since we've been busier than usual." Either way, my last day of work is May 10th because I'm going to need to rest before the induction process.

On Monday, we had a regular appointment and it went okay. The test didn't go as planned because the baby wasn't moving as much at that time. They really should have let me start 7am when I got there because they were cruising into sides of my stomach at that point! Baby started moving soon after when I got some apple juice and water in my system. After the test was announced reactive, I had to get the Group B Strep swab and also have my cervix checked. My cervix is soft right now so hopefully I'll start dilating sooner rather than later. I'm honestly hoping we don't get induced and actually get to go into labor naturally.

My blood pressure was reading 140/80 at the doctor's office and most of the day Monday. They had me redo the pre-eclampsia bloodwork afterward and thankfully everything came back normal. On Sunday, I actually fought a headache for most of the day, but it went away after a nice warm shower. It felt like a pressure headache and it wasn't very intrusive. Super mild, but definitely consistent. The headache continued until this morning - so what three days of on and off headaches where I would take Tylenol, it would go away and then return two hours before I could take more Tylenol? It was odd and worrying. Temperature was fine. No complaints there.

Then overnight, I woke up at 1am with pain across my upper stomach. I didn't know what it was and it didn't really go away for almost two hours. The intensity faded on and off. I even called the doctor on call who said I should go in. I probably should have listened, but we went downstairs to get ready and the pain went away. So I fell back asleep as if to take a break because I was so tired. I had only slept for an hour prior.

The feeling was unreal. It wasn't super painful, but my whole stomach tightened. I could feel the divide between my uterus and my stomach. I could also feel the baby's backside as clear as if I were holding them. My blood pressure shot up to 160/90 at the end of it, too. Not until later that day did I piece it together that I experienced Braxton Hicks.

It was a really neat moment (well two hours of moments) and it made me feel like we might not make it to the induction date. Scared the living daylights out of me, though. We're at 36 weeks right now, so we're not exactly ready. If the little one can hold out until Monday or Tuesday next week, that'd be great because my husband needs to muddle through the second covid shot. It would be nice to not have to be induced.

Also, I did call the doctor in the morning just to make sure everything was alright. They said to keep an eye on the headache, watch for a 160/90 blood pressure reading and to make sure the baby was moving regularly. I was scared over the phone on both calls. For the first one, I was even a little out of breath. For the second one, I cried because the baby started moving weirdly this week. I can feel them breathing now. They place their back on my stomach and I can see and feel the back and forth movements. The nurse was very nice as I tried to hold it together.

I had to call off work because of exhaustion, too. So I slept, took it easy and just experienced mild muscular cramps for the rest of the day. Sometimes my back would hurt so I thought real contractions were going to start. They never did and it's still the only residual pain that I have going on the next day. All of that exhaustion thankfully translated into decent sleep last night so today has been a lot easier on my body and mind.

Tomorrow we have another NST appointment and then on May 11th, we have our last regular appointment in the morning. We'll see how everything goes! Who knows, we may have a baby by the end of the week!

-----

I just pray we all walk out of that hospital alive and healthy. As one small little growing family. I rest in Him and I give praise to Him alone. What a mighty God we serve!

[bldgrelationshipwgod]

RE: God's Covenant with David [2 Samuel 7:4–17]

The most practical truths any Christian can know are that God is all-powerful, all-wise, and all for you. Nothing will have a more important practical impact on the way you use your money, spend your leisure, pursue your vocation, rear children, deal with conflict, or handle anxiety.

Heartfelt confidence that the sovereign God is working everything together for your good out of sheer grace affects every area of your life.

The deep emotional assurance that, even though you are a sinner, God's attention is focused on you with omnipotent mercy is the day-to-day power:

to give you deep peace even though you can't go home for Christmas,

genuine joy even though you can't afford to buy her that special gift, &

loving warmth even though you don't hear from the friend you counted on.

When you rest in the fact that God's job description includes the responsibility of seeing that everything in your life turns out for your good, then your heart will not yield to covetousness or stealing or returning ridicule for ridicule; & you won't hold back from telling your colleagues this week what Christmas really means to you.

God's Covenants: His Self-Written Job Descriptions

The reason we study the covenants is because in them we see the biblical proof that God's job description does indeed include the responsibility to withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly, & to work for those who wait for Him, & to turn every strep throat & stripped clutch & stinging put-down for our eternal good.

That's what I would offer as the definition of God's covenants: when God makes a covenant He reveals His own job description & signs it.

In almost every case He comes to the covenant partner, lays His job description out & says, "This is how I will work for you with all My heart & with all My soul & with all My strength if you will love Me as I am, cleave to Me, & trust Me to keep My Word."

The reason I say this is the condition in almost every case is there is at least one covenant which has no condition at all, the one with Noah.

The job description God writes for Himself is never again to wipe out the world by a flood but to preserve the course of nature until the very end.

The reason we know this covenant has no condition attached to it is that God made it with the animals as well as man: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me & you & every living creature that is with you" (Genesis 9:12).

You can't require faith from a frog. All you can do is say, "Frog, here is what I plan to do for you."

But in every other covenant which God makes He presents His job description & tells His covenant partner that He only works for clients who trust Him & who do the sorts of things you do when you trust somebody to take care of you.

Today we look at God's covenant with David.

First, we will try to understand 2 Samuel 7:12–17.

Then, we will see how the covenant promise is fulfilled.

Finally, we will apply all this to our lives today.

God's Covenant with David

2 Samuel 7:12–17 does what a lot of prophetic passages do: it takes an extended telescope of events & collapses it down so that the near & distant events are viewed together.

For example, in these six verses God promises on the one hand that Solomon, David's son, will reign in David's place & will build a house for God. This is why verse 14 can say, "When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but I will not take My steadfast love from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you."

1.] An Everlasting Throne & Kingdom

   But the promise goes far beyond Solomon & his imperfection.

Verse 13 says, "He shall build a house for my name, & I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever."

2 Samuel 7:16 says, "And your house & your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before Me; your throne shall be established for ever." Three times the words "for ever" appear. No wonder this covenant was central to Israel's hope: when God promises to do something for ever, all of eternity is being shaped.

We know from verse 12 that God intends for David to die. Yet verse 16 says: "Your kingdom shall be made sure forever before Me; your throne shall be established for ever."

This must mean that the kingdom of David would be established & secured by a descendant.

But Solomon is depicted as a sinner who has to be chastened.

The kingdom can never be secure in the hands of a sinner. Look at what God does in 1 Kings 11:11–13 after Solomon marries foreign women & worships their gods: "The Lord said to Solomon, 'Since this has been your mind & you have not kept My covenant & My statutes which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you & give it to your servant.

Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David My servant & for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.'

This shows that the promise to establish David's kingdom cannot happen as long as the descendants of David are rebellious & disobedient.

2.] The Hope for David's Righteous Son

   The condition of this covenant is repeated constantly in Kings & Chronicles.    For example, in 1 Kings 2:4 David tells Solomon that God said,       "If your sons take heed to their ways, to walk before Me in faithfulness with        all their heart & with all their soul, there shall not fail you a man on the        throne of Israel."

   This means as long as David's sons are disobedient the kingdom cannot    be made secure for ever.

   Then look at 1 Kings 8:25 where Solomon prays, "Now, Lord God of Israel,    keep with Thy servant David my father what Thou hast promised him, saying,    'There shall never fail you a man before Me to sit upon the throne of Israel    if only your sons take heed to their way to walk before Me as you have    walked before Me.'" (1 Kings 6:11,12; 9:4–9; 1 Chronicles 22:8-13; 28:1-10)

   Israel learned over the centuries following David &    Solomon that disobedience in her king always    brought the nation to ruin.

But the godly among them knew one thing for sure: God had promised that the throne of David would be established forever (2 Samuel 7:4).

   So they came to see that a son of David must be coming    who would fulfill the conditions of the covenant, sit    on David's throne, & rule forever.

   A succession of imperfect kings could never fulfill the promise.

If God were true to His word, if He stuck by His job description in 2 Samuel 7, He would have to raise up a righteous, obedient son of David to take the throne (Psalm 89:29–37).

3.] God's Own Intervention

   This is just what Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Ezekiel promised He would do.

   Ezekiel looks to the future salvation of God's people & speaks God's word    (in 37:23f.): "I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have    sinned, & will cleanse them & they shall be My people & I will be their God.

   My servant David shall be king over them; & they shall have one shepherd"    (see 34:23).

Jeremiah stresses the coming king will fulfill the condition of righteousness (in Jeremiah 23:5-6): "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, & He shall reign as king & deal wisely & shall execute justice & righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved & Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which He will be called: 'The Lord is our righteousness'" (33:21, 25-26).

But it was Isaiah who saw the glory of the Son of David more clearly than anyone & virtually identified Him as God (in 9:6–7):

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, & his name will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.'

Of the increase of his government & of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David & over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore."

So the surety of the covenant with David lies ultimately in the fact that God Himself will come as king & sit upon the throne.

When a covenant is conditional & yet is also certain, you can be sure God Himself will intervene to fulfill the conditions.                ____________________________________________

The Promises to David Fulfilled

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in Luke 1:31–33, he said, "Behold, you will conceive in your womb & bear a son & you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great & will be called the Son of the Most High; & the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, & He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, & of His kingdom there will be no end."

Therefore, beyond any shadow of a doubt the Bible teaches that the promise to David that his descendant would rule forever is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

As the Son of David (Romans 1:3) &

the Lord of David (Matthew 22:45; Psalm 110:1) Jesus now reigns as king in heaven (1 Corinthians 15:25) over the true house of Israel.

Do Gentiles Benefit from the Davidic Covenant?

But the question we must raise is: what does all that have to do with us Gentiles? Isn't the covenant with David only relevant for the nation of Israel? Isn't the fulfillment of that promise simply Christ's millennial reign over the redeemed nation of Israel?

The answer of the Old Testament and New Testament is a resounding NO! The reign of Jesus as Davidic king has a direct relevance for us Gentiles today.

1.] The Decision of the Jerusalem Council

   Consider Acts 15:14–18. You recall that at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15    the issue was whether Gentiles had to be circumcised in order to be saved.

   The apostles saw themselves as heirs of the OT promise to Israel:    the Messiah, Son of David, had come; He had died for Israel's sin & had    been raised from the dead; He ruled in heaven & was coming again to judge &    reign on earth. The big question was: could Gentiles benefit from all this    without becoming Jews through circumcision?

At the Jerusalem Council Peter told how the Gentiles received the Spirit just like the Jews had (15:8).

Paul & Barnabas told of their success among the Gentiles.

Then James dealt the final blow to Jewish exclusivism in 15:14–18 with a reference to the Davidic covenant & its relation to Gentiles: "Simeon [Peter] has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written [quoting Amos 9:11], 'After this I will return & I will build the dwelling of David which is fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, & I will set it up, that the rest of men may seek the Lord, & all the Gentiles who are called by My Name.'"

2.] David's Worldwide Kingdom

   This means when God said to David in 2 Samuel 7:16, "Your house & your    kingdom shall be made sure before Me forever,"

   >> He had in view a house & a kingdom much greater than Israel.

   The reason the Davidic covenant is relevant for 20th century Gentiles is    because God's job description which He revealed to David included not just    the responsibility to establish a righteous ruler in Israel forever, but also    to put that ruler over the church & then over all the world.

   Isaiah said, "Of the increase of His government & peace there will be no end."

   It will be worldwide. And the angel says in Revelation 11:15,

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord & of His Christ, & He shall reign for ever & ever."

When God has completed all the responsibilities in His job description, the house of David will be planet earth. And the subjects of the king will not just be Jews but people from every tongue & tribe & nation (Revelation 7:9).

3.] The Church's Mission Today

The mission of the church today is to submit ourselves to the Son of David who right now rules invisibly from heaven until he puts every enemy under his feet.

And our mission is to announce the good news to people in every neighborhood & every nation that they can be happy subjects of Christ's kingdom forever if they transfer their allegiance from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of Christ.

To put it another way, personal holiness means learning the attitudes & customs of a new kingdom—the kingdom of Christ.

And personal evangelism means telling people the rightful King of the world against Whom they have rebelled is willing to grant amnesty to all who return and live under His rule.

Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the eternal King of the world will come from heaven & establish a reign of joy & righteousness & peace over all His loyal subjects forever & ever.

And until He comes, the worldwide mission of the church is to extend complete, free, universal amnesty to people from every nation.

I close with an invitation for you to make God's covenant with David a covenant with you. It's not just my invitation. It's God's.

Turn to Isaiah 55:1–3. The point of this invitation is that the very sovereignty & wisdom & love of God which assured David of an eternal kingdom can also assure you of God's eternal kindness as a part of that kingdom.

Listen: "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; & he who has no money, come, buy & eat! Come buy wine & milk without money & without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread & your labor for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me & eat what is good, & delight yourselves in fatness.

Incline your ear & come to Me; hear that your soul may live; & I will make with you an everlasting covenant, My steadfast sure love for David."

The very mercy & faithfulness that guarantees David an eternal kingdom can guarantee you all the joy & righteousness & peace of that kingdom.

God is saying to you this morning:

if you will come to Me empty-handed & hungry, willing to receive what I give, then I will write for Myself in your presence a job description & bind Myself with an oath to treat you forever with the same mercy & faithfulness that I have demonstrated in My covenant with David.

And listen to the entreaty of the Lord Jesus Himself in the last chapter of the Bible (Revelation 22:16f):

"I am the root & the offspring of David, the bright & morning star . . . let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price."

Come to the Son of David, come to the King of kings, & He will sign with His own blood your personal copy of the job description He has written for Himself—to be God to you. And He will give it to you as an eternal covenant, never to turn away from doing you good.

[kansascityhappenings]

Boy whose dad has been deployed 10 times has message to other military kids

https://newsource-embed-prd.ns.cnn.com/videos/newsource-video-embed.js

Davidson is only 9 years old, yet he’s been the man of the house eight times while his dad serves his country.

His father, Dave, is a Green Beret on his 10th deployment. The family lives in northern Virginia while Dave is stationed somewhere overseas. Davidson is used to not having his dad around, but he never forgets him.

“Sometimes it’s fine because we actually do a lot of fun things while he’s away, but it’s also sad because he’s just not here,” Davidson told CNN. “My mom sometimes breaks down and cries a lot because she misses him. And it’s not really hard for her because I help her, but it’s just she misses him.”

From 2001 to 2015, 2.77 million service members have been deployed overseas, many of them mothers and fathers leaving families behind.

Davidson sees the world matter-of-factly, approaching his dad’s deployments with the strength that many military families display.

“I don’t even know where he is, but I think he’s fine because he’s a good, strong guy,” he said.

Each family deals with the hardship in their own way. This is how Davidson’s family does it. They asked that CNN not use their last name for security reasons.

‘My mom cried and I was pretty scared that my dad was going to die’

Davidson helps his mom, Elizabeth, whether it’s holding his youngest sister or reading bedtime stories to his three younger siblings.

But Davidson does more than read books. When he was 6, he wrote a book about about what a military parent’s absence means to a child.

Davidson’s book is finally coming out just in time for this Veterans Day. It’s called “Brave for my Family” and was published under a pen name, Davidson Whetstone. His father illustrated the book.

When Davidson was 3, his dad was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan days before Christmas in 2013.

“My Mom cried and I was pretty scared that my Dad was going to die,” Davidson wrote in the book. “We got on an airplane to Washington, DC.”

Dave was flown to Germany and then to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he underwent several surgeries. Shrapnel hit him in the face and down his right side, missing his carotid artery by millimeters. He lost peripheral vision in his right eye and shrapnel remains in his body today.

Davidson said he doesn’t remember how he felt when he learned about what happened to his dad. He just remembers being grateful to see and hug him.

“I wanted to write the book because I wanted to show other kids that they won’t have to be scared when their dads are deployed to countries that war is going on and scary things,” Davidson said.

Seeing the illustration of Dave in the hospital brings back the emotions of what happened.

“When you look at it in the book, it just looks so real,” Elizabeth said in between tears. “It brings me back to that day where I walked in and I saw him hugging Davidson and all his shrapnel wounds.”

She remembers thinking, “OK, Jesus, you’re still here and we’ll get through this.”

As Dave recovered in the hospital, a visitor showed up Christmas 2013 and promised Dave they’d do lunch sometime. In 2014, the visitor came through. The whole family went to Vice President Joe Biden’s house and broke bread.

Together they wrote a book

A few years later, the father and son decided they wanted to share their story. Dave suggested the idea of a book.

Dave was home between deployments, so he and Davidson would sit together after church on Sundays and work on the book. Davidson would write and his dad would draw. It was their time together.

Drawing had always been a passion and a way for Dave to organize his thoughts when he was young.

“After losing half the vision and near sight in my dominant eye, it became much more difficult to draw,” Dave wrote in an email from overseas.

“But, illustrating Davidson’s story gave me a strong motivation to create a meaningful representation of our family’s sacrifice and courage. It also allowed me to spend time recalling and appreciating the details of our family’s experience, and to come to terms with some things,” he wrote.

Dave said he feels grateful to have his family in his life, especially his wife, who raises their four children while he’s away.

“I can’t express how proud I am of my whole family, and how immeasurably blessed I am to have each of them in my life. I am so proud of Davidson for writing this book, but if I’m being honest, this is only a snapshot of his talents and passion as a good young man.”

‘They know that we talk openly about why he does what he does’

Dave and Elizabeth knew each other in college, but they didn’t date until later. They had a whirlwind romance, getting married in 2008. Dave went to Special Forces training. Military life is the only life Elizabeth has known from the time they met.

Several months after Davidson was born in 2010, Dave went on his third deployment. Dave has been gone for some part of almost every year of their marriage, ranging from three months to a year for training or deployment, Elizabeth said.

“I have four kids and it’s busy at home,” Elizabeth said. “When I stop and someone really wants to know about our life, it’s kind of the reality of yeah, it is sad. I do miss him, and it is hard, but I’ve done things that I never thought I could have done by myself with four kids.”

Elizabeth cares for her children and homeschools them. The family talks about why Daddy is gone so often. The older children seem to understand why.

“This is all I’ve known, that their daddy goes away because it’s for us, for our country and to keep us safe,” she said. “They know that we talk openly about why he does what he does.”

Having a partner deployed can be a challenge, especially for a family with small children.

When she had strep throat earlier this year, Elizabeth had to take all four children with to the emergency room. Their homeschool co-op set up a meal train for Elizabeth, and others in her circle sent encouraging texts.

Families find ways to stay connected

“Deployment can be a profound experience for families and most families come through it fine,” said Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, director of the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University. “Military families are known for being resilient. But it also can expose families to a wide variety of challenges, and particularly if somebody’s injured.”

MacDermid Wadsworth is a professor who has studied military families for 20 years. In that time, research has shown that service members, their spouses and their families have exhibited higher rates of mental health symptoms tied to a deployment, she said. If a service member is exposed to trauma or is injured, the risk goes up.

“There’s a lot of concern about deployments that happen early in children’s lives because it’s coming at a time where kids are learning how to relate to others,” MacDermid Wadsworth said. “How kids do is very much a function of how parents do.”

Keeping in touch with the deployed family member is a big part of staying close as a family.

“There’s been enormous creativity over the last few years in helping folks to stay connected during deployment,” she said. “There are lots of examples of clever care packages and storybooks that are really well suited for kids and parents who are separated.”

The toughest sacrifices are the ones his family makes

Dave calls his family when he can, but he also sends audio recordings or videos for Elizabeth to play for the children. He has one of him reading daughter Lily James’ favorite book.

“It’s changed a little with every child I have had,” Elizabeth said. “When I just had Davidson, I had all these books that Dave would read, and we would videotape him, and I would play it for him.”

Each time Dave goes out on a mission, Elizabeth and her children pray for his safe return. He recorded himself praying, and the kids pray along with the recording when he’s not at home.

While Americans are grateful for the sacrifices that service members make for our country, it’s the sacrifices that they don’t see that are the hardest, Dave said.

“I have been wounded in combat, and I have lost close friends,” Dave wrote. “But, for me some of the toughest pills to swallow are not being there for first words, first steps, first Christmases, first birthdays, and all the moments that you’ll never have again. The hardest thing is watching my kids grow up in pictures.”

So is waving goodbye as he heads on another deployment.

“We know what It’s like to have a spouse deployed. He’s on his 10th deployment,” Elizabeth said. “We hope this book will be an encouragement to other military kids and families.”

Proceeds from the book will go toward organizations like Green Beret Foundation that support military families and wounded warriors.

People sometimes ask how they can help military families. Elizabeth says the little gestures go a long way.

“We are so strong and I feel like we’ll get it done no matter what,” she said, “but it’s so sweet when someone does the littlest act of kindness to our family because it helps so much.”

Texts of encouragement, like “I’m praying for you” or “I’m thinking about you” have comforted the military mom. And, she said, people should befriend military kids. They have to move around a lot. Davidson has moved nine times in his 9 years of life.

For other military children, Davidson has a message.

“I want people to feel brave, not afraid and happy because your dad’s going to be OK,” he said.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/11/10/boy-whose-dad-has-been-deployed-10-times-has-message-to-other-military-kids/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/11/10/boy-whose-dad-has-been-deployed-10-times-has-message-to-other-military-kids/

[kawasakimom-blog]

The Question of Causes

Do you know how long a trip to the ER is in Mommy time? For-ev-er. It was bad enough Thursday night when we drove to LRMC which is only 20 minutes away. St. Pete being over an hour away meant I had to keep my mind busy. Holding the stuffed turtle his sister bought him when he first got sick, the little boy we call Shaemus was looking more like a feeble feverish infant that I just wanted to hold instead of strap him down in that car-seat. So I did what I knew would keep me most occupied, prayed and researched. 

What exactly is Kawasaki’s? At this point I know that it is rare, only 19 in 100,000 children, and that it is not contagious (so my other children and everyone around us are safe), but what caused this, and what was treatment going to look like for him? We may never know the answer to that first question. “The cause of Kawasaki disease isn't known. The body's response to a virus or infection combined with genetic factors may cause the disease. However, no specific virus or infection has been found, and the role of genetics isn't known.” https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/kawasaki-disease                      So technically, the ER doctor looking at his blood work was not wrong, but he sent us home for it to run it’s course, hoping that the antibiotic would help. What he didn’t know was that the inside of Shamie’s body was so inflamed that fluid was developing around his gal bladder, his liver was enlarging, and that damage to his heart was a probability. He’s body was turning on him...but why?

Stephen sent me an article that I read and posted that talks about the correlation that Kawasaki’s has in Japan with the shifting of the winds from China, possibly the burning of sunflowers (I just planted sunflower seeds, could that be it?) Even though it’s much more common in Japan, “Kawasaki disease affects children of all races and ages and both genders. It occurs most often in children of Asian and Pacific Island descent.The disease is more likely to affect boys than girls. Most cases occur in children younger than 5 years old. Kawasaki disease is rare in children older than 8.” -NHLBi website Well, he’s a boy, in that age group, but I doubt we have any Asian descent. The age group alone makes me lean toward a virus that is not easily destroyed by a young immune system. 

We were also told at the hospital that these cases come in groups, so they should see more coming in after Shaemie. Maybe the lymphatic system (which helps get rid of toxins and fight infections) over compensates and causes the massive inflammation in the body that can cause heart damage. I don’t know that we will ever know, but I do think that it’s more common than we think, but just misdiagnosed as a bad cause of Strep or Scarlet fever.

Kawasaki’s disease was first identified by Dr. Kawasaki in Japan in the 1960′s, so those children are just now reaching the age where they encounter heart problems. My mom’s neighbor discovered he had Kawasaki’s as a kid in his late 50′s because of aneurysms they found during his heart surgery. How many more of these cases are just now being studied of people who suffered through two weeks of that miserable disease without treatment? It’s just to soon to tell. The cause interests me. It can’t be so mysterious that modern science and technology can’t figure it out, maybe there just isn’t enough awareness of this disease. I sure didn’t hear about it until last week. I grasp at everything to explain why he was so sick: urban legends surrounding Lake Ariana and a foreign (maybe Japanese?) algae bloom... after effects of the atomic bomb? (Haha, that’s  just my conspiracy theory social studies background, but what if? What if the reason it is so prevalent in Japan is because of the dropping of “Little boy” and “Fat Man” on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? It’s also seen a lot in California and Hawaii. Of course there are a lot of people with Asian-Pacific descent there, but they also tested the A-bomb in the Pacific.) I know, I know, I sound crazy, but don’t Scientist have to consider all the possibilities? It’s fascinating to me anyway.

We may never know why Famous Shaemus became a Kawasaki Kid, but we would soon find out the answer to the second question. What will treatment of Kawasaki’s look like?