Meanwhile, people were praying for Mom to be able to get a call to Dad. A dear man from Mom and Dad’s church even offered the use of a tablet that he had set up to be controlled remotely so that the nurses could control it outside of Dad’s room. Of course, the problem was being able to get it into Dad’s room with everything locked down! I joked that we should have drones that could fly the tablet to the beds of the sedated COVID patients. At that point, it certainly seemed like the best solution!
By Wednesday, I had a speech prepared. “Dad is agitated, sedated, restrained, and he hasn’t heard from his family in six days! Is this how you would expect your loved one to be treated at a rehab facility!?” Fortunately, I didn’t say it.
Then God worked! My brother was able to get in touch with a lady at the nurses’ station who we later realized didn’t typically answer the phones. But she wanted to help! So she got the tablet, figured it out, and even called me on it so we could work out the bugs. Then she gave it to the night nurse, a wonderful man I’ll call Sam. That night, at 8:15, Sam was able to call Mom and let her speak to Dad! It was the sixth day since Dad had heard from her!
The other good news was that Dad was able to start being weaned off the ventilator. We thought that it had started already, but apparently they needed to wait until he was strong enough. In spite of the frustration with getting phone calls to Dad, we were deeply grateful that Dad was in a skilled facility that specializes in ventilator weaning, especially when we found out that there was now a long waiting list to get into it. What a miracle that God opened the door for Dad to get in so quickly!
I wrote in my e-mail:
There is so much I could write tonight. The last four days have been miserable and filled with a lot of frustration and questions for God. But this morning God gave me a message through a sweet friend that really touched my heart, reminding me that He's still there and He's still taking care of me. Then I found myself going back to a fundamental truth of the Gospel--God's love is not determined by our circumstances, it was settled once and for all on the cross. God brought I John 4:10 to mind. "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." Jesus is the greatest proof of God's amazing love for us. "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32) Dad himself would be the first to remind me of that!
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