Sunday, July 31, 2011

He may not be there when you want him, but he is always right on time

I went to John Hopkins Hospital earlier this week and God had his hand all in it from the beginning to the end. First of all, we could not afford to go, the plane tickets were so expensive, but I was told by many doctors that John Hopkins was the best place to go for rare cancers so I knew that I needed to go...if not for me, for my kids. I want to be the one to raise them with my husband so i need to do whatever it takes to make that happen.

Back to the story...The Lord stepped in and made it possible for us to afford the tickets to get to Boston. It just so happened that my hubbie had enough frequent flyer points to pay for one ticket, so we only had to pay for one ticket..can I stop here and give God praise?? Hallelulah.

We arrived at the airport on time but for some reason Keith was hurrying and walking real fast. I was having a hard time catching up to him. Well, when we finally got to the gate, I expected to sit down and take a breather because the plane was not scheduled to take off for at least another twenty five minutes. To our surprise, the plane was almost completely boarded when we arrived at the gate. We were some of the final people to board the plane. Again, I can only thank the Lord for guiding us to walk so fast to the gate and not take our time and walk leisurely. Had we done that, we would have missed the plane because the plane was filled to capacity and there were people hoping there were "late people" because they were on standby.

We arrived in Baltimore, Maryland ahead of time by about twenty minutes so thank you to the pilot. He deserved all the credit. Those biscuit cookies they served hit the spot too. When we arrived, we rented a car, because the hospital was thirty minutes away from the airport. We did not know if we were going to have enough or be in a bind for the car, but we stepped out on faith.

Here is the best part, the hotel room we stayed in was one of the best hotels in the city. We had a one bedroom suite with a flat screen tv in the living room and in the bedroom. The shower got as hot as you wanted it to, no matter how many other people in the hotel had taken or were taking showers when you were. Wait,that's not the best part. We did not have to pay not one red cent for the hotel stay! We were there from Sunday to Thursday night and did not have to pay and were treated with royalty. You see, during my gynecology appointment a couple of months ago, my usual doctor was not there so the doctor who owned the practice had to give me my yearly exam. She was reading my chart and noticed that I had a rare cancer. She wanted to know more about it, which is usual because a lot of doctors have never heard of it, so I explained all the details that I knew about it. I also mentioned that I had been fighting it for two years now and had been to another cancer treatment center in Tampa, Florida on and off for a year and a half and they were unable to resolve the cancer. I explained that the doctors were now suggesting I go to John Hopkins Cancer Center in Baltimore and she gasped. It turned out that her sister had a son with a rare cancer and since they spent so much time at the hospital seeing him, they had actually purchased the suite at the hotel that they were staying at...near John Hopkins Cancer Center. She said that sadly, the son died, but that her sister would be so glad to let someone else with cancer have use of the suite. She contacted her by phone right then and there and gave her the dates and I was all set. We were in a plush, nice, comfortable, one bedroom suite and did not have to pay anything! I need to take another moment now to say "Halleluah". Unbelieveable!

Everything just seemed to fall in place, but then the devil tried to step in. When we arrived at the hospital for my scans, tests, bloodworks, etc. at 7:30 in the morning, the staff indicated that they did not have authorization from my insurance company to see me and that unless I paid out of pocket I would not be seen by the doctors. Can you believe that?? I took out my tablet that I right down all my phone calls, names, dates, and times in when speaking with people on the phone and showed them who I spoke to, when, and that they assured me last week several times that everything was all set. We stood there arguing back and forth because the scheduler said her notes said something different! I almost fell out crying. They did not care that I came all the way from Georgia. I begged them to please call Blue Cross and get another copy of the authorization (because I knew they had received one last week) and they said they kept trying but couldn't get through. They suggested I stay another week or two to wait on the authorization and have the tests done, but I could not do that. I have small children at home I told them, but they seemed content to just let me walk out of there. Even if I wanted to stay an extra day I would not have because my children were having an end of summer camp program that all three of them were participating in and I refused to miss it. I miss so much of their things by being sick and this is one time I would not miss it! I think I cried and cried, but not out of sadness, out of anger!

We went and ate lunch and went back to the hotel room. I spent the day in bed sulking and Keith spent the entire day in the living room working. It just so happened that I did not schedule the trip for the one or two days the test would take. That day I missed my kids so much and I swore that if this was a bust I was done with all of these hospitals. I would just live the best I could and leave it all in God's hands. I pouted and stayed in bed that entire day.

However, The test was scheduled for Tuesday, which as you know did not happen. I had scheduled our departure for Thursday night...something just led me to do that.

The next day, Wednesday, something in me told me to call up to the hospital and speak to Virginia as she was the only one that was really sympathetic. I called her and she said that they had been trying to reach us. That not even thirty minutes after we left Blue Cross called them and gave them full authorization to do everything they needed to do. (I guess the paperwork from last week got misplaced}. I was esctatic. I asked if it was too late to come in that day and she said yes, but that I could come in and have them all done that following morning. I needed to be there at 7:30 a.m. My husband and I could not believe it. The Lord works in mysterious ways. You see, had I had the tests done on Tuesday as planned, I was not symptamatic, meaning I wasn't sick, it was a good day symptom wise. You cannot get a true reading unless the patient is acually going through "an episode". My episodes usually last three or four days, sometimes longer. In between those times I have a few good days here and there.

Thursday morning we arrived at the hospital, had all the tests and bloodwork done and went back to the hotel to nap. Had I not scheduled our departure for Thursday instead of Wednesday like anyone else would have, like I started to, the whole trip would have been a bust. But God stepped in and beat that devil at his own game! We arrived at the airport on time, boarded the plane, and had a smooth ride home. I will say this one last time, because I am in awe of His power when you turn your life over to him. You see, because I had become closer to the Lord, and ask him and pray to him to use me to do His will and help me and my family in protection and everything else, I have learned how to tell when He is guiding me in a certain way or trying to tell me something. It is hard to explain, but I did not get it before. I did not understand having such a relationship with him before. I love him and all that he has done. But His Hand Was All In This Entire Trip. I Owe It All To Him and the People he put in my path, like the nice sister of the doctor who allowed us to stay in her room. She says we can stay there as much as we like, just contact her and let her know so that she can make the arrangements.

So, that is the end of this very long story. I hope that you can understand why I am still in awe of everything that happened. I Love the Lord. God is good..All the time!

P.S. Yes, we did make it to the kids program and they were so surprised to see me, especially my son. He screamed "Mommy", "Mommy" and I was so happy to be there. Details are in my next blog (smile).

No comments:

Adsense Search

Custom Search