Helpful Hospital Hints

My friend Ikie had her hip replaced less than a week ago. After having several experiences with hospitals and surgeries in recent months, I thought I would give her sometime to recover and get over all of the pain, drugs, and lack of sleep, so I was quite surprised when she called me today and sounded better than ever. She reported that her recovery had been a breeze and that she had even been “entertaining” friends.

Ikie also informed me that she had learned some things from this experience that I thought were worth passing along. First of all, the people in her church had stepped up to the plate and had showered her with gourmet meals and cards of encouragement. I think the thing that astonished her most was getting meals from people that she hardly knew and cards from people she had never met. The impact that this had made her realize the importance of doing the same for others when they are suffering in some way.

Since Ikie has been such an active and independent person, using the walker as part of the recuperation was challenging. She found that if something dropped it was almost impossible to pick it up and that you cannot carry coffee and use the walker at the same time. My friend revealed that she will never look at people who are using a walker in the same way. God has given her compassion for them and will now seek new opportunities to assist them in anyway possible.

Oh and one more thing—Ikie has decided that someone needs to put together a humorous, but true checklist for people who are having surgery, so there will be no surprises once you get home. It includes things such as: Will your walker go through your bathroom door, if not you may have a puddle? And why let chronic constipation keep you down—after all it was just a cheeseburger? If you think you might need that list just let me know and I’ll send it to you, compliments of Ikie.

Isn’t God good! He uses everything in our lives to teach us and to change us and to make and mold us into His image and allows us to laugh at the same time. What experiences has God used in your life to change you? How will you show love, comfort and compassion to someone this week?

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

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