The Grace of YES Day

Today we are trying to have the internet explode with our YES!  Lisa Hendey of CatholicMom wrote The Grace of Yes:  Eight Virtues for Generous Living and today is your day to tell your story of Yes. So please join us by sharing your Yes on your blog, Facebook, twitter or Instagram!

My YES Story

Summer ended three months ago, but over here at our house we are still feeling the effects of what I have dubbed, The Best and Worst summer ever.  We can start with why it was the best.  To celebrate our thirty years of marriage we said yes to a three week trip to Italy.  We visited Rome, Florence, Assisi, Verona, Lago di Garda, and spent time with my family in Laurignano, (near Cosenza) a small town in Calabria.  It was a wonderful trip filled with beautiful Churches, great food and wine, and an appreciation for trains and the ability to speak Italian.  And then we came home and the best summer became the worst summer ever.

My husband had to go into the hospital for a very badly infected toe which set off a chain of events, test, procedures and life changes that we are still dealing with today.  And probably will be for a very long time.  There are many, many medical details which I can’t spell or explain properly, so I’m not even going to try.  Every day over the summer was a new chance to say yes to a change, to a test, to a procedure, to being patient, to staying calm, to overcoming fear, to trusting in God’s providence.  I did not think I was a stranger to difficult situations, but this was different.  It was my husband.  And I wanted him to recover and then get back to normal. 

At one point in the hospital, my husband didn't want to say yes to a test and procedure which might happen based on the test result.  I needed him to say yes and was having a hard time convincing him to do it.  I remember the nurse looking at us in disbelief and me following her out to ask for more time before she called the doctor.  In the span of minutes, during which I prayed with all I had, my husband changed his mind.  Thank God.  That test and the procedure were necessary and life-saving.  The yes led us to hoping back to normal would come quickly.

But before we could get to normal, there were a few medical things to deal with such as changing his toe dressing and hooking up his IV antibiotic infusion.  I am not a nurse; I don’t like feet; but I love my husband so I said yes.  None of it was as bad as I thought it would be.  The toe was like a very bad cut, once I got past the pins sticking out.  The IV, well, it was like programming a phone, as long as I concentrated, I was fine.  To help the healing, John went for hyperbaric treatments for a month.  Monday-Friday he spent two hours a day breathing pure oxygen and healing from the inside out. 

Recovery is a process and we waited for each new YES from the doctors that told us John was getting better.  Yes to driving, yes to going back to work, yes to removing the IV, yes to taking the pins out, yes to wearing shoes again.  We are still waiting for more yes-es and each day we hope and pray for continued healing.  When I am asked how John is feeling, I say “ok”.  He certainly is not back to normal.

One day, while we were still changing toe dressings and connecting IVs my sister asked how things were going.  I sent her a picture of John with the message, “I just finished changing his toe dressing and re-connecting the IV and now I’m going to cook dinner”.  I’m not sure if she even read the message or just took one look at my poor husband and sent back, “Wow, you really meant it when you said in sickness and in health.”  Yes, I did.