Memorial Box Monday – Surgery 28 years ago Today

I woke up this morning and this story was on my mind. I knew I was supposed to tell it today. I actually hadn’t thought about it in a really long time.

The year was 1982. In fact, just as I type that, I do believe that today was the day. April 12th! Whooooa. Weird, huh? How randomly bizarre is that?? Actually I just checked and yes, indeed, it was April 12, 1982 that this story took place and it fell on a Monday, just like today. How crazy is that?!

So twenty-eight years ago today I was in a hospital in Williamsville, NY heading to surgery. I was a whopping 22 years old and was having surgery because of infertility. It was to be a simple surgery, just looking around to see if the docs could find anything wrong.

The surgery seemed to go according to plan. I was wheeled to recovery for awhile and eventually wheeled back to my room where Dw was waiting for me with one of our close friends, Lee. I was very groggy and sleepy but had roused enough to talk to Dw and Lee a little bit.

I remember Dw and Lee talking and joking with me. The nurse came in after a few minutes to check my vitals again. I remember her coming in and then I remember hearing Dw say to the nurse, “Why is she all of a sudden turning so white? Is something wrong with her?”

All of a sudden I was no longer able to respond…..I was unconscious or semi-conscious, although I could hear them talking. I heard the nurse send Lee out of the room. I could hear the nurse run down the hall and run back into the room. {She had ran to have another nurse call a surgeon STAT!} She ran back in the room and I could hear her saying, “Linn, stay with me. Breathe, Linn. Come on Linn. Linn are you listening? Stay with me. Come on Linn. Stay with me. Linn, breathe! Stay with me Linn. You have to breathe! You’ve got to stay with me Linn! Come on breathe!”

Dw began to intercede. Something was terribly wrong. Little did Dw know what the problem was, but I was hemorrhaging internally and the nurse was having difficulty finding my pulse or blood pressure. Lee was out in the hall, realizing when she was sent out with such haste, that something must be dreadfully wrong, she began to earnestly pray too. Oh dear sweet bloggy friends! The power of prayer!!

I remember struggling with great intention to take a breath. It was wild – I had complete peace – but I definitely could hear the panic in the urgent pleas of the nurse.

After several minutes the internal bleeding stopped INSTANTLY!! It was only a miracle – and nothing else! This is yet one more reason why we call Him our Miracle-working, Mountain-moving, Awe-inspiring, Gasp-giving God. We stood in awe of God’s instantaneous healing touch at such a crucial moment.

As it turns out there were many complications due to the major internal bleeding. Complications that made my life miserable for months, but, trust me, the complications beat the alternative.

On an interesting note…..about four years later I landed at an infertility specialist’s office. His name was Dr. Severino. He looked at my chart and said that my name looked familiar. He sat staring at my name and then back at me. I could see his wheels turning, but wondered what he was thinking. He said, “Did you have internal bleeding after a surgery you had a few years ago?” I said that I had. He said, “Let me think. I was the resident surgeon that assisted with that surgery. I remember getting called that you were hemorrhaging. I remember exactly where I was standing in my kitchen when the call came. We only lived in that house for three months. Your surgery was either March, April or May of 1982.”

I told Dr. Severino that it had been April of 1982. He said, “We almost lost you.” Dr. Severino was my doctor for many years to follow and he became my favorite doctor of all time. Such a kind-hearted, personable man.

Celebrate with us, 28 years ago today, God moving on our behalf!

I never did put anything in our Memorial Box to remember God’s miraculous intervention that day. Anyone out there have any ideas as to what we could put in? I’m stumped.

And how about you? What has God done for you? How has He met your needs? What miracles has He done for you? Please share your story with all of us!!

So what exactly is a Memorial Box? A Memorial Box is some type of box, shelf or curio cabinet that can be displayed for all to see. It holds little tangible symbols, each symbol representing God’s interaction in our lives, each reminding us of God’s faithfulness. Thousands of years ago the very forgetful {no different than us today} Isrealites were told this by God:

Joshua 4

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.

These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day……….

On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.

He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.

We are loving reading all the Memorial Box Monday stories you all have posted….I encourage you to remember the stories of God’s faithfulness in your lives….and share them with us. Please add your story by linking below and feel free to use the badge on the right sidebar. I can’t wait to read them!!

26 thoughts on “Memorial Box Monday – Surgery 28 years ago Today

  1. what a great story!
    What to put in the box? If you could find a small picture of your doctor, you could put that in, or maybe a bandaid 🙂

  2. you asked what you could put in I immediately thought A BEDPAN! lol sorry sometimes my sense of humor gets the best of me. Im glad you werent lost too.

  3. An idea for your memorial box. How about a red piece of cord tied with a knot (like a tourniquet) to signify the blood stopping. Thank you for your memorial box monday posts.

  4. thanks for sharing the story –

    what to put in the box – why a pix of all of your childrens – God saved you for a very special purpose

  5. Maybe you could put in reminders of the children you were able to conceive as a result of the treatments (photo, etc.). I don't want to imply that your "biological" children are different than any of your other children (after all, they are all yours!), but had you not recovered from your surgery you would never have conceived. Just a thought from a bloggy friend in WV. 🙂

  6. Good afternoon!

    Something that you could probably put in your Memorial Box that shouldn't be too difficult to get is perhaps a syringe. That can represent the medical aspect of the surgery and the blood loss.

    It was just a thought! Thanks so much for sharing!

  7. I usually love your posts Linn and I thought at first it might be for me, but now I am just plain scared… I am nearing 26 and having a laparoscopy this Wednesday morning to have a cyst on my ovary removed that is associated with a condition that will likely lead to fertility problems… so I don't like hearing about a simple procedure gone bad. :o( Prayers appreciated.

  8. I love your memorial box! We have a book we write our family "God moments" in and read at holidays together. Great reminder of HIS faithfulness!
    Did you save your ID bracelet from the hospital that day?

  9. Hi I adore your blog. It brings me such joy.

    I was thinking about what to put in the box for your surgery. How about a band-aid? Only a band-aid and God could stop your hemmorage.

  10. The power of prayer! Every day is an opportunity for a miracle and you certainly were given one that day…amazing!
    Please thank Liberty and you all for the prayers for my healing. Things are going well with my recovery….so very thankful for that!

  11. An amazing story in so many ways–your life spared, the doctor remembering you all those years later, complete healing enabling you to carry three children and adopt many others. God is good.

    Oh, you have lots of good suggestions for what to put in your box. I was thinking you could cut out the April 12 square on a calendar. You could also add 28 tally marks in that box, representing each year since that miracle, adding another one each year.

    On another note, I love the pics of the adventures on the time-out chair. Too cute! They crack me up.

    God Bless,
    Kathie

  12. I just linked up for my first ever Memorial Box Monday post!!! It's actually on Tuesday, but I was thinking of something to do for Monday, and then GOD spoke at 1:30 am early this (Tuesday) morning. Close enough :))
    Oh, and I'm going to type up "You've gotta go" and place it on my Mali bulletin board (my memorial box) :))

  13. I thought of something representing new life (a small picture of a tender shoot, a tiny flower pot of blooms, a figurine of a tiny tree, etc.) Though your life was not new after that healing– God gave you another chance at life, not just healing.

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