Thursday, February 27, 2014

Words can't really describe it


He came to us 3 years ago as an 11 yo kid, in pain, his knees and ankles swollen, tender and warm to touch.  He was admitted for an infection of his joints and given antibiotics.  Part of the healing process required frequent drainings of the pus in his joints.  These were often met with tears, with yells of pain as the syringe went in and the pus flowed out.  We attempted to put in a small plastic tube in his knee to allow pus to drain out without repeated needle insertions, but they didn't work.  We talked about the possibility of him needing surgery to drain the pus, but it seemed like it was everywhere, and had extended to his bones as well.  So we kept him on antibiotics and every 2 days we took the fluid out of his joints.  
He stayed with us for about 2 months, his family, devotedly at his bedside.  For most of that time, he was sick and at times seemed like he was depressed.  He had been an active kid and now was confined to a bed, with pain going through him with every movement of his legs.  He couldn't walk, couldn't go outside by himself, he was dependent on his family for everything, and he was struggling.  He was in over Christmas in 2011 and Jeff Myers spent time praying for him during our gift giving time to the patients, encouraging him in his faith.   
He was finally able to go home with crutches, but I wasn't convinced that he would ever walk again, on his own.  I expected him to have significant damage to the bones of his legs, especially to his knee joints themselves, after all the pus we drained out.  He continued on antibiotics for a few weeks after his admission, but then he just quit coming to his followups.  At times Bill or I would ask if either of us had seen him, but we hadn't, so after a while, we quit asking, but we never forgot him and always wondered what had happened to him and how he was.
A few weeks ago, I saw a man in my room for a cough.  As I was talking to him, he mentioned that he was Boboro's father.  I looked at his book, and the name came back to me, and so I asked how he was doing.  He assured me that he was doing fine, walking, running, going to school without any difficulty or pain of his legs.  I couldn't believe it and so I asked him, to bring him along when he came back for his review in 2 wks.  
2 wks came and I kept looking for his dad to see if he had brought him.  His dad was waiting for an Xray and when I walked out to go to the ER, I saw him and he pointed down the hallway.  There he was standing against the wall of the ER, looking like any normal teenager.  Bill and I went to talk to him and he assured us he was fine, but we were in disbelief.  Here was a kid whose legs, knees, ankles were so full of pus when he was in the hospital, that he shouldn't be standing on his own 2 feet, he shouldn't be able to walk without pain in each step, he shouldn't be able to run - but he was able to.  Bill challenged him to a race to the main gate and back, and he reluctantly obliged, not because he couldn't do it, but because he could without much effort at all, and he held back to just stay with Bill, but not wanting to beat him.  
It was great to see him and to Praise God for his healing.