Thank you, Lord. As of yesterday I was discharged from the Manukau Surgical Centre, held together with a combination of self-dissolving stitches, a large thin titanium-based mesh reinforcing me inside like some kind of internal body armor and fifty-one tiny staples holding my skin together until it heals. I have had something akin to the equivalent of a free makeover $100,000 Hollywood tummy-tuck to the envy here of my dear sister Lovonny. I was released Monday afternoon, infection-free, blood clots never developing, with a clean bill of health to finally return in a mere ten-minute trip to our little home.Although we have been in phone contact with our dear son William and our friends Jim and Dee in Texas to let them know I was alright and the surgery was wonderfully successful, our hospital was not net-wired and I was unable to send this to post earlier. It was gently raining as Fae drove me carefully home, with the sky an odd New Zealand island mixture of grey and blue loaded with dark and white clouds. I felt a little like Noah about to embark again from the Ark that had carried him and his family safely through the raging storm that had killed a world. The rain washed gently down the windows, helping again to make all things new and I looked out in great thankfulness to Him Who does all things well. Exit was almost the diametric opposite of the original overseas situation we found ourselves in. We had been fully filled in as to what we would need to do in recovery, the exit papers were already signed for us, and we walked out at our leisure when we were packed without desk queues, payment lines or legal drama on our own. This for me is the final surgical chapter in a six-month long odyssey that you have so graciously tracked and shared with us since mid-March of this year. To all of those friends who have faithfully prayed for us, shared with us, encouraged us and invested in this recovery, our very deepest gratitude. You have been so wonderful. MSC is the newest, most beautiful hospital in our area and also the closest to us. James, a NZ civic engineer who is also one of Williams friends who has been with us in Texas and visited here was the one who drew up some of the plans for the adjoining Super-Clinic. It feels so unlike a hospital, with an atmosphere of light, life and help and I understand the conceptual founding of it involved also the work of a Christian.Surgery began Tuesday morning shortly after 8:30 a.m. Our “God’s choice” surgeon, Dr. Andrew Hill had put us on his priority list, something in itself special as there have been some in our region who have had to wait more than a year for necessary operations. Andrew himself has been such a blessing to us with his down-to-earth wisdom and self-effacing humor, the very opposite of what often has come to be the mark of a genuinely distinguished and gifted surgeon, the aloof and impersonal professional like a House on steroids. During my six-day stay in recovery, I met a cheery male nurse called Paul who was currently carrying two twenty-hour a week shifts at two different hospitals. I said to him on learning of his long load “You could be a doctor in a couple of years.” He said “I wanted to be a doctor, but I passed the personality test and they wouldn’t let me.” The one area in my operation that was a particular concern to me was this relatively rare phenomenon of ossification I mentioned in a previous blog – where stray bone cells attach to the edges of the cut tissue and begin turning that strong flexible fascia muscle into bone. It is as if the body was so keen to get healed it begins to build its own bridge across the gap. There is apparently not a large body of material on removing this. In our initial consultations, surgeons said that it would have to be looked at when the operation site was open, and decisions made then about the feasibility of its removal. Normally with unusual situations like this, you consult books about what has been done before, but what if there are no books? It was the thought behind the prayer I prayed for Andrew and his surgical team on the 7:00 am short trip from our home to the hospital; “Lord, if there is anything needing to be done outside the experience of the surgeon, give him wisdom.” I was asked also what was for me an odd question from one of the attendants just before the surgery: “Is there any tissue from the operation you would like to save?” (Apparently a religious preference for some patients.) I said “Well yes. If they are able to remove the bone I’d like to see that.” We now have in our freezer something much bigger than I imagined that looks something like a large chicken bone and rattles solidly with thuds in the jar they delivered to us.I noticed in the surgeons report under the procedure he had put “Creative Surgery.” The operation took three hours, as expected despite the “creative” expedition needed. I was delivered to a nice private room with its own shower and toilet, an unexpected side-benefit for having been previously in an overseas hospital with a mandatory need for isolation procedures. I was able to keep my own odd hours without disturbing any other recovering patients and with total freedom to lay any reading and writing stuff without concern for space or security. Our marathon overseas struggle was occasion for witness once more to visiting nurses and doctors who had to review patient logs, and the quiet room became a daily procession of friends, relatives and ministries who came to see what the Lord had done for us. What would normally be an expensive or unavailable option was not only free, but necessary. Good are the strange preparatory paths of God.Ahead now for us is a follow-up consultation tomorrow with Andrew, and then six weeks of nothing but rest to give time for the tissues to heal and join well – no weight-lifting, gymnastics, tri-athlete iron man marathons or workouts on the ab machine. (I never did these anyway.) Christmas coming then has already brought to us our greatest gift other than His Son. I have my life back, and my temple back in order, ready to recover over the next six months for the new beginnings He has for me. Thanks again all you who have loved us and thought about us over this long journey. You are special to us in His eyes. Love in Him Who loves us utterly and amazingly –Winkie and Fae

Posted by Israel Anderson