Hannah Update

It's Tuesday again. A week ago Hannah finished her first surgery, miraculously coming through with flying colors. This morning she is scheduled for her second surgery. She will have part of her left temporal lobe in her brain removed, the part, we hope, that is responsible for her seizures. If everything goes well, she will be seizure-free for the rest of her life.

I spent last night with her at the hospital. Mom and I have been taking turns, essentially each rotating through every other night, sleeping in those notoriously uncomfortable hospital chairs and subsisting on hospital food, trying to be there for her while balancing time with the boys at home. This is a dance we have done before. I recall the time Hannah was hospitalized for three months in 2004 also because of her epilepsy.

As I write this from that plastic-covered chair Hannah sleeps, any apprehension she might have about this second procedure hidden in the bliss of unconsciousness. IV tubes and heart-monitoring wires snake their way away from her body to machines on the wall reducing her life-signs to bouncing colored lines and persistent electric blips. Her head is still wrapped lightly in gauze to cover the wires from the internal monitoring strips coming out of her brain. These will be removed today in the course of the surgery.

It's interesting to me how self-absorbed health issues can make us. During the past week that Hannah has been here I have focused heavily on her and our family. I have done no synagogue work whatsoever. Thank God for our assistant rabbi who has kept the congregation running during my physical and emotional absence. He's a good man. Meanwhile my immediate family has contracted, if you will. We have moved closer to each other to offer support during this time of need. Even Hannah's little brothers, usually a source of constant irritation to her, have offered their stuffed animals to their big sister. Their sudden kindness and concern for Hannah was a bit unexpected but certainly welcome.

Our larger family, the local Body of Messiah, has also moved toward us with support, meals, and prayers. We are daily humbled by the kindness, shown in so many practical ways, from dear brothers and sisters in the faith. I wish I could somehow repay each person for their generosity but I know that will be impossible.

Most of all God Himself has been good to us during this time. He has so obviously been with us during Hannah's previous procedure, during the ensuing week-long hospital stay, and I know He is present even as I type this, preparing us for today's rigors. I am also reminded that He loves my daughter more than I. He doesn't guarantee that everything will turn out as we hope, but He does promise to be with us through it all.

I'll update you later today after her surgery.