No. 1 Daughter & Pediatric Ward

This morning after having been in the hospital since Tuesday afternoon, Number One Daughter was released. On Tuesday, we rushed her to the hospital with appendicitis. The pain in her right side was so blistering that she couldn't walk. As it happens, she ended up not needing surgery, but was in the hospital for four days.

Her white blood cell count was a toxic 23,000 and this morning it was back in the normal range at 9,500. I have many stories to tell of the stress, panic and not knowing what was wrong. They never did find out what the infection was. Apparently it was viral and not bacterial, but she is lying on my bed in my room eating fruit roll ups. She hadn't eaten for three days. Again, I have many stories to tell, but I am going to tell you two of them now:

On Thursday morning, we were hit with a huge winter storm. We have a ton of snow! We were in the hospital on the second floor in the pediatric wing. We had been in the hospital for two days and I never left from the moment that she was admitted. Number One Daughter's fever was spiking repeatedly until last night at midnight, but yesterday morning, it was 102.9 before they gave her Tylenol.

She was lethargic and was tired of being poked and prodded. Well, the snow was piling up and I pulled the Venetian blinds up and opened the window. Snow was blown into her hospital room by strong gusts. There wasn't a screen on the second floor window, so I turned my back to her and worked quickly. She was laughing because I was freezing and saying, "Oh! Brrrr. Brrrr Brrrr!" Then I turned around and presented her with her very own snowman. I made him out of the snow on the window and positioned him so that he was looking in the window at her. She smiled and we laughed about it for at least an hour and every time we looked at him. It was a blessing from God to hear her laughter again. And we had a little bit of fun in our room.

The snow storm continued barreling through. We had great flashes of lightening and thunder snow, too. It was a huge storm. In fact it was so strong and awful that the Sheriff's Department had to close the interstate for a while.

During the storm, Life Flight was called because a two week old was having trouble breathing. Ideally, the baby would have been transported to Children's Hospital in Milwaukee. The storm prevented the baby from being flown there. So they had to bring him to the hospital where we were.

We heard the helicopter land and they rushed the infant into the room directly across from ours. My parents had sent a teddy bear and multi-colored balloon with the message, "Get Well" on it. Number One Daughter was so moved by the baby's cries and his racking coughs. Our nurse came into our room and Number One Daughter said, "Would you take the Get Well balloon to the baby for me?" The nurse's face just melted as I assure you mine did. I do not know when I have felt such a rush of pride and love. The nurse took the balloon to the baby's room and we prayed for him many times over the course of the day and afternoon.

Today, Number One Daughter was able to see the baby boy very briefly as they rolled him away for tests. I took her over to meet the baby's mommy. She looked at me and I said this is my daughter, she gave you and your baby the balloon. The baby's mommy said, "Can I hug her?" And I said, "Of course!" The baby's mommy cried as she hugged Number One Daughter. I hugged the mommy afterwards and bestowed wishes for God's blessings on her son and her family.

The balloon was placed near the crib and the helium in it made it reach for the sky...A silent but very heartfelt plea and prayer from my six year old daughter to comfort and heal this baby. As we turned to leave their room, I told the mommy that God would be with her and her son. And as we walked out, I knew that God was patting Number One Daughter on the head for her compassion and big heart.

I am so exhausted from the worry, but look how blessed I am: My daughter walks in Jesus' footsteps each day. There is no greater joy.