Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A Wild 24 Hours

Tuesday night, we had a nice dinner with our son and daughter-in-law and her mother, prior to going to the hospital to begin her induction for childbirth. They got settled in by 9:30, we took her mother to their apartment, and then we went home.

I was in bed reading when our daughter-in-law called at 11:40 to say that our son had passed out in the birthing room, hit his head on the floor and was in the emergency room. Thirty minutes later, I was sitting in a cold room in ER, listening to my 30-year-old son not make any sense at all. The CT scan showed a small hematoma/clot on the back side of his head. They decided to watch it for the night, and admitted him to a room in ICU. I was back home about 3:30 a.m. and in bed at 4.

At 8:30 Wednesday morning, I was back at the hospital, shuttling between my son on the 4th floor and my daughter-in-law on the 2nd. My wife arrived at 11:30. My son had a CT scan at 1, and then an hour later the doctor was in the room with him and us, telling us the hematoma was getting bigger. Less than an hour later, he was prepared for surgery.

My son will eventually blog this from his perspective, but it's amazing how many wonderful and providential things happened: a long-time neighbor and friend turned out to be the 4th floor concierge at the hospital; a pastor showed up in the middle of the discussion with the doctor, and he stayed until everyone except me and my son had left and then, with my son in his bed, we were on our knees praying; when they wheeled my son in his bed downstairs to the operating rooms, the nurses took a detour -- through the childbirth wing on the second floor so he and my daughter-in-law could have a few moments together; a pastor from our church spent an hour and a half with us during my son's surgery, talking and praying and reading from Psalms.

And people all over been praying for my son and daughter-in-law. And I mean all over. I've received more direct messages on Twitter, more emails, more phone calls than I ever could have imagined -- I was overwhelmed with God's love, and so was my family. I can't ever express the depth of my thanks.

Here at the hospital (it's 9:10 p.m. as I write this), my son and daughter-in-law are celebrities. As the night nurse just told my son, "You guys make a great story." And they do.

But I'd prefer a little less drama the next time.

Update: And checking my RSS feed tonight, I find this by my friend Maureen Doallas: Love Builds Up: Poem for Glynn.

12 comments:

Dan King said...

Wow dude... CRAZY!!! But God is good, and I will definitely keep praying! Thanks for the updates!

Corinne Cunningham said...

Glynn - I've been thinking of you all since your first post earlier. What a story!
Still praying...

Anonymous said...

Glynn, I've been praying for your son, but had no idea the details. You aren't kidding about drama! Hope the baby, and the parents, are recovering well!

Marni said...

Glynn, I've been praying for your son, daughter-in-law and grandbaby since I heard about this earlier today. Thank you for the update!

Maureen said...

"You guys make a great story." What a twist for a dad in journalism all his life!

Thank you for keeping all of us up to date. I'm not sure we would have had such presence of mind to be on Twitter or blogging.

How wonderful that your son and his wife could have a few moments before the surgery.

Continuing to join the circle of prayers and blessings for you and yours. May peace be with you, dear friend.

Jennifer @ JenniferDukesLee.com said...

Oh ... my.

I'm praying too. Wow, a drama indeed. Praying for a LESS-than-Oscar-winning finish to this drama!!!

S. Etole said...

glad to hear your son is doing better .... waiting to hear on the little baby!

Anonymous said...

you all have been on my mind and heart today. thank you for your updates. continued prayer for your grandchild's birth.

Laura said...

Oh, my goodness, Glynn. How stressful. I will pray. That baby will have several pages in the baby book describing the birth story!

Missy K said...

Continuing to pray for God's care and peace-- and now sustaining energy for you all.

Cassandra Frear said...

Hope all will be well.

Linda said...

I always seem to be away from my computer when the really important things happen. I am so thankful, with you, that it all worked out so well. God is so good.
You will have a great story to tell that little one when he is a little older. He will love it!