A Time of Miracles and Tender Mercies (Part 1)

I do believe in miracles, not just luck or coincidences.

I do believe that at given times we are shown

“tender mercies”

that let us know that God is aware of us

and what we are experiencing in our lives.

I know life is full of these these wonders

and I love to hear of them from the

people who experience them.

A beautiful talk on this very subject can be read here:

LDS.org - Ensign Article - The Tender Mercies of the Lord

The story I want to share is long,

so I'll divide it into several entries.

Most people reading this blog already know the story

because they lived it with me.

But I want to record the facts and the feelings of wonder

I still feel whenever I think of it.

I don't ever want it lost to my grandchildren.

It is a story of a mother’s love and determination,

of a Heavenly Father who is aware of us,

and of miracles and blessings.

Fourteen years ago, in April of 1995, there was a lot going on in our family. I guess I should start with the year before, beginning in September of 1994. It had been a year since Dad had passed away and Mom was starting to experience health problems. In September she had emergency surgery for and was hospitalized with a blood clot in her leg. At the same time, Gary was laid off from Word Perfect and we were unemployed for 3 months. Misty announced that she was getting married (not a problem, because we loved Dan, it was the timing that made it a bit stressful). Natalie was hospitalized for a week with a bad infection. Gary’s mom fell and dislocated her shoulder. Our bunny disappeared for two weeks (and finding him was a tender mercy in itself). I think you get the drift. It felt like life was falling apart.

By the time the first of April came, Gary was once again employed, the wedding plans for April 29 were coming along fine, and Mom seemed to be doing well. On the Saturday night before General conference we went to a bridal shower for Misty at my sister’s house in Salt Lake. The next day we had lunch here at the house with Mom and Gary’s Mom and sat down to watch General Conference. Mom was sitting by me as I was folding wedding invitations. She made the comment that “she would help, but that her hands didn’t work like they used to.” A moment later I looked at Mom and her head was on her chest. I think my heart stopped for a moment as I said, “Mom, Mom.” No response. By that time we were all up and trying to get her to respond. I called 911 and they instructed us to start CPR. So while I relayed their instructions, Gary and Dan lowered her to the floor and began CPR. They were still trying to revive her when the paramedics came and used the defibrillator on her. After several tries, she started breathing again. In the emergency room she had several seizures and was in intensive care for three days. We didn’t know if she would come out of it, or if she did what her condition would be.

We were so relieved as she slowly came to, with just short term memory loss. Even that went away within a week. I clearly remember one day in the hospital when she was still having a little memory loss. My brothers were in the room with us and she was asking what she had she missed when she had her memory loss. They were teasing her about it. I can still picture her laughing when they told her that, “She had actually been in a coma for a year and that during that time Annette had stolen all her money.” If I remember right, they even got out a checkbook to show her. It makes me laugh even now as I picture that scene in my mind.

Mom remained in the hospital for two weeks, which put the wedding now just two weeks away. It was during that time that they took her in to do an angiogram. As we waited, the Dr. came back into the waiting room after a very short time. He had started the angiogram and just stopped. The first thing he said to us when he came out was, “I can’t believe this woman is alive, let alone sitting up eating breakfast just a short while ago.” He said something to the effect that "her arteries were 99% blocked, her heart 99% gone, that this would surely happen again, and soon, and that when it did we shouldn’t resuscitate because it would put her through too much and she would never survive." These were not the words we expected or wanted to hear.

But we knew at that point that the miracles had already begun. First of all, Mom lived alone and, other than when someone was visiting with her, was by herself every night and most of every day. The fact that she was at our home, sitting with all of us, was amazing in itself. That she survived at all was miraculous.

But the wonders don't stop there.

(to be continued tomorrow -- this is taking me a long time to write!)