A Year Ago Today
This was written by Jay a year ago today.
tear. sigh. arg. sob. arg again. more tears...
Why this, Lord? Of every 6 little inches of my entire body, why my face? Why?
By looking at that 1st picture (which is actually a really good shot of me a few weeks after the muscle was implanted into my face), you can see that I've been through the ringer. That surgery was tough. I can honestly say that the weeks after that were some of the more painful weeks of my life. My thigh hurt so intensely and my neck felt like 100 bees stung me at once and then it throbbed every moment I was awake. No painkiller could totally numb the horrid ache. As my stitches melted away and I began the healing process, the itching and new pain of scarring began. Over the next few months, the swelling went down little by little, though to this day, the leg muscle that currently lives in my right cheek protrudes quite noticeably. There may be a future surgery, which is typically the 3rd and final phase to this process, to shave down the thickness of the muscle a bit. Not really looking forward to that one, but I've got enough worries for today, I don't think I will dwell on that one right now--I'll save it for tomorrow!
As I shared here, the recent appointment with the facial doctor was positive (especially for him). I know that I have to get to the place where I'm OK with the fact that my face may never look like it did before my stroke. I'm headed there, but I'm not there yet. It's hard. (and sad.) Pray for me.
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On a side note, Jay and I have been so blessed to partake in the rich community of our Young Marrieds and Growing Family groups at Bel Air Pres over our past 6 1/2 years of marriage. Thankfully, even after my stroke, we have been able to step back into a leadership role (currently leading the New Parents segment of these groups), and tomorrow morning, we will be celebrating the linking of these two big groups--Young Marrieds and Growing Families--under one big roof, the Marriage and Family Community. We are so excited about this change and the way in which this broadening of our welcome mat will further the mission of our groups and our church, which is to make LA the greatest city for Christ. If you're in LA tomorrow and you are married, with kids, without kids, a single parent, really young or middle-aged, come on! We'll be enjoying a potluck brunch (a tradition we started many years ago) for our fall kick-off, from 10:15 - 11:30 am in the Discipleship center.