Survival by Prayer

Let me explain: I have started a prayer roll for friends and family who feel the need for extra prayers. I'm doing this because I believe that prayer makes a huge difference in our lives and I wish to be more practiced at it. To this end, I am sharing stories from my own life about how prayer made a big difference. Some are short. This one is long. And I'd LOVE to hear yours in the comments. Prayer matters.

Part 1 - Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him. (Alma 34:19)

I was approaching my 4lst birthday, and things weren't looking good AT ALL. A little less than one year earlier, I'd had my gall bladder removed. For some folks, that's a fairly easy peasy event, as far as surgery goes. But the fact that I had been cut wide open earlier (that tale begins here) meant the simpler surgery was impossible with all of the scar tissue in the way. So this became a several nights' stay in the hospital.

As I was being wheeled out of the recovery room, I said to my husband, "That pain in my back is still there!" The doctor believed it was a gall stone, but they had checked during the surgery and none was found outside of my gallbladder. Turns out it was a pinched nerve that had nothing whatsoever to do with my gallbladder.

Let's get something straight right off the bat here: I am NOT a fan of surgery, AT ALL.

I've watched my father have adverse reactions, including a staph infection, a poorly healed bowel resection  that later resulted in a colostomy, other infections, and the inability to "go" when nature called. He has been miserable every time. I seemed to have inherited that from him. I love my dad, but this he could have kept to himself. :-)

I was trying to do everything I should to heal from that surgery, but something wasn't right. I told one doctor, I told another doctor, and yet another. All would concur that nothing could be seen or felt and that everything was fine. But, it was not fine.

Not only did something feel really strange inside my belly, but my body was now so out of balance (maybe because I'm "allergic" to surgery?) that my long ago troubles with endometriosis kicked back in. Only this time, it was also in the nerve shaft. OUCH! I was struggling big time. I'm not a pill popper, but I was taking every pain med a doctor would toss my way. Eventually none of those pills would help enough for me to be functional. I was in serious pain and spending most of my days in bed.

My explorations of natural medicine were in the fetal stages. I knew very little, although I was very interested. I just didn't know anyone to get help from. I grew up in an "even chiropractors are quacks" environment, and I was on my own to figure it all out. I saw one holistic-minded doctor that agreed with the mainstream docs that a hysterectomy was probably the best thing for me to do. I had been resisting that, believing in some small way that there could be other methods for healing my particular troubles, but with her recommendation, I thought that must be my only way out of this. (I have since learned otherwise.)

In April of 2001, I had a gynecology surgical specialist remove my uterus, ovaries, appendix, and make the discovery that my transverse colon had flipped over and adhered by scar tissue to my stomach. Yep, that "odd" feeling that I described was actually real, I wasn't making things up.

For a week following the surgery, I didn't have any of the endometriosis pain. Hurray! But I wasn't recovering very well, I had thrush in my mouth, I wasn't able to eat much and I wasn't regaining my strength very quickly. The doc had prescribed estrogen patches, and it was those that eventually caused the return of the pain in my nerve shafts. All of this horror for nothing?

to be continued . . .  Mainline feeding tube, prayer, forgotten covenants, off to Mayo

Chaplain School or Hamster Wheel - What's the Difference?

Lest you think becoming a chaplain is just "a walk in the hospital corridor," I'm here to tell you it's not! I told my husband last night that I felt like a hamster, stuck on the wheel, wondering when I'd be able to step off.

Here's a shot he took of me just last night!

I wouldn't be lying if I said that you're already behind on the first night you show up for class! How can that be? Did I miss an assignment that was to be completed prior to arriving? No. Was I to have read one of the assigned books before showing up? No. The 50 page syllabus? Yes! (and I did that). But it wasn't until the day after the first class that we received an email explaining that our hours for the week actually began four days prior to class (Wed.) The meter began ticking on Sunday! 

We are required to put in 400 clinical hours a quarter, which averages about 34 hrs. each week (breakdown is below) for the 12 week term.  Lucky for me, I serve in the homeless branch in Salt Lake City, and every Sunday is filled with ministry time. These folks' lives are, for the most part, in shambles and they need a listening ear and a boost of confidence. We certainly cannot solve all of their problems for them, but we can allow them to come as they are and we welcome them with open arms and hearts. I am incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to serve this population.

On the Tuesday evening prior to the first class on Wed., it so happened that that was the Relief Society's monthly scheduled time to visit the homeless shelter with our husbands, who go weekly. We dress up in Sunday clothes (and TOTALLY stick out like sore thumbs!) and walk from the parking lot down the street and into the shelter doors. People are gathered on the sidewalks on either side of the street, many right in the street itself. (A SLC police officer once told my husband and me that that block was by far the most dangerous spot in all of Utah.) It can be a wee bit daunting, but so far we have been treated well, with lots of "hello's" and excited waving. For some reason, folks seem to be more respectful when we are there than when our husbands go without us. I'll take it!

 The Road Home in Salt Lake City

We visit with whomever decides to come join us in the family area. There are single folks, married couples, and entire families there. Seeing the young children and even newborn babies can be quite heartbreaking. (They are exposed to drinking, drug use, foul language, violence, smoking, etc. It's pretty awful.) Some have just arrived and need someone to listen to the tale that landed them in these unfortunate circumstances, others want to talk about where to go to church services, receive Priesthood blessings, and some are looking for Church assistance. And then there are those who are simply there just to be belligerent. Lucky for me, I haven't had to deal with them like my husband has. But it is understood by all of us that mental illness is the most common theme among the population. 

This would NOT be the shirt my husband wears there! :-)

At any rate, with those hours already in place, and the reading and writing I started to do, I managed to get 33.5 hours for my first week. Not too shabby! This past week, though (my week ending last Sat.), I had put in 43.5 hours. There is so much to do! Here's a breakdown:

15 hours of ministry time (visits with patients and other folks who have something bothering or upsetting them that they need to talk about. We then practice the skills we're learning.)

The remainder of the approximately 19 hours is made up of the following:

Reading - We have 5 assigned books and need a total of about 700 pages each quarter; can include scriptures, lesson materials studied for Church, etc.

Writing - Book reports, weekly case studies (those are LONG!), weekly responses (11 questions), journal writing (or this blog!), and due next week is a 38 question "Religious History Inventory" that explores your beliefs and practices, beginning from your childhood.

Supervisory Sessions - Meeting every other week or so (six required) with one of the supervisors, one on one for an hour. I had my first one yesterday. I loved it!

Class Time - 4 hours a week. and it's packed full of good stuff. Rumor has it that it can be quite intense at times. You simply will not escape the deep look into your own self and where you need to change. You can quit, but that would be your only way out. EEEEEEEK!! 

Seminars, Trainings, etc. - This should be great! The Parliament of the World's Religions is coming to Salt Lake (mid-October) as is the World Congress on Families (end of Oct.). Both of those are a BIG deal and I'm so fortunate they will be right in my city, just down the street. WAHOO!!! I also have trainings to attend with the hospice companies I'm volunteering with.

So you want to be a chaplain? Go for it! But it ain't just a walk in the assisted living center. It's work. It's time consuming. And in the end, it is purported to be life changing. I'll let you know . . .