A Fiery Trial
Jul 23, 2023 | by The Fellowship
My son-in-law is an Emergency Room doctor. With his compassion, knowledge and ability to grasp a situation and make fast decisions, he is perfect for the role and loves what he does.
The last few years have been particularly challenging for Emergency Room personnel with so many cases of Covid and other infectious diseases, but he managed to avoid any illnesses. He concentrated on staying healthy by keeping himself in great shape, including running marathons and competing in triathlons. This was in spite of having two discs in bad shape that caused him a lot of pain.
Unfortunately, one weekend several months ago, he became deathly sick. When the illness did not go away after a few days, it became clear that this was no simple virus that needed to run its course. He was admitted to the hospital, and after many tests, it was determined that he had a disease called Discitis. (If you break it down to “Disc-itis,” it makes more sense.) It is an infection in the space around the discs and causes severe back pain. A lack of mobility and other severe consequences can result.
The more we in his family read about this disease, the more frightened we became! Our prayers were storming heaven continuously! Tests showed that our son-in-law had sepsis, meaning his blood was infected -- and of course, blood takes it to every part of the body. As a result, his spine, kidneys, liver, pancreas, lungs, muscles, etc. were also infected.
Almost every part of his body was infected … except for his heart! This was a huge blessing since blood travels to and from the heart on a constant basis. It was a bright light in a very dark situation. Further tests revealed that the infection was MRSA, a contagious, antibiotic-resistant staph infection that is typically very difficult to treat.
My son-in-law continued to remain very, very sick! Not only were there all the ongoing symptoms from the disease, now he had to also contend with numerous side effects from four antibiotics that were constantly being pumped into his body. We were on our knees waging a battle with our prayers in the heavenlies while his doctors fought with all their might on earth.
He had many ups and downs during this time. The doctors said to expect that he would be on all the antibiotics for many weeks. After two weeks, he was discharged from the hospital with eight more weeks of the antibiotics to administer to himself through a pic line in his arm.
These were very hard days for our family. We were so thankful to have hundreds of prayer warriors interceding for our son-in-law, his family, and the doctors and medical personnel at the hospital. It helped to remember our previous Bible Study lessons that taught how God can bring good out of even the worst of situations. That was an awesome thought to hold on to. We knew that if God allowed my son-in-law to return to work as a doctor, he would be much more sympathetic as well as empathic for what others were suffering -- which would make him an even better doctor!
Though he got to go home, the fight was not over. Weekly MRI’s were ordered to make sure the infection had not returned to any part of his body. They resulted in a return trip to the hospital to attack a few new places that had become infected. The doctors also decided to do a spinal fusion to help with the compromised discs.
After the spinal surgery, my son-in-law felt better immediately. Praise the Lord – it looked like he was really on the road to recovery! We rejoiced when he was released from the hospital after just one week this time. But he once again had to start the countdown of self-administering the four antibiotics.
Despite all he had been through, after being discharged from the hospital the second time, our son-in-law was able to return to work in just two weeks! Many doctors from all over who had been monitoring his case were totally amazed at not only his recovery, but how fast it has happened. There are not enough words of gratitude and thankfulness for his miraculous healing! We give all the glory to God! What a beautiful testimony our son-in-law is able to share!
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits –
who forgives all your sins and heals all your disease,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion …
Psalm 103:2-4