Monday, June 05, 2006

No more staples or bandages!



Another note to your memory dear Jan,

This afternoon the nurse came to take out the last staples. No more bandages, no more swabs or any problems with the left side of the head. You were relieved that this is another symbolic step towards the quiet healing happening in your brain.

Earlier we called the office of the school and spoke with the principal. She was ecstatic after a few minutes on the phone with you. She invited you to visit on Thursday, I am sure there will be other teachers eager to greet you. What a warm return to your place of work! How much love has come your way from colleagues that seemed disaffected in everyday life. Suffering and pain have a strange effect on people: it brings the best in each of us to try to ease the suffering. We are wired to do so, whether it is a Tsunami or a colleague with a SAH. One day you will see how many people were touched in a personal way by what happened in the privacy of your skull.

This week will be four months since you were rushed into the hospital with a SAH-R-NCA (an aneurysm in the left part of your brain). We are so thankful that you have beaten so many odds; we know you are more than a statistic, you are a precious daughter of the Most High. We know you have the determination to get well. Today you surprised me by climbing the stairs on your own -with close supervison-; you also helped preparing meatballs with both of your hands! I can see that you will continue 'waking up" that right hand. In all this, you mentioned that you felt fragile and over-sensitive -part of the process, you said-.

I can only imagine what it is to carry yourself though this ordeal with constant pain in your right side, with an uneven head for many weeks, with the dizzines and weakness after such operation, with a daring hairdo, with a new image of yourself; and yet, I have seen the grace with which you have accepted all this and kept it "skin deep". Yes, none of it even touched your self-esteem or your psyche let alone your heart or soul. You know deeply who you are and who is in charge. May you always love God this much with your heart, mind and soul. Without even intending it, you have already loved many a neighbour as yourself.

This is the time to help you with all we can to go the whole distance. It is time to be there for you, as you have been there for many.

-Fede

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