God's Powerful Touch

We have had quite an interesting week in the Willis house! All is well now, but we had a couple of scary days. But God is good and we are aware and in awe of His hand in all of it.

Let me start at the beginning...

Last Sunday, I got back home from a weekend trip to Birmingham where I had joined my little sis Cynthia for a college campus visit. When I left Memphis on Friday, Lance was suffering from a bad cold/cough. He had actually missed work on Thursday because of it... but was feeling a bit better. When I arrived home on Sunday afternoon, he looked (for lack of a better word) awful. He said he had basically been in bed all weekend, trying to recover from whatever he had. We both knew that there was no way the meds they had given him at the minor med clinic on Thursday were working - so I told Lance he needed to go back and see what else they could give him. Thankfully the clinic was open late on Sundays... so Lance went, hoping for some more medicine for his sore throat.

As we know now... this was God's way of getting Lance to see a doctor. I received a call from him saying that the doctor needed me to come pick him up immediately and get him to an ER. His blood pressure was extremely high - dangerously high - and the doctors were very concerned that he could have a stroke. I got there as fast as I could, and we made it to the ER in record time.

Thankfully, there was only one other person in the waiting room - and we were able to be seen very quickly. Lance was immediately put on an intraveous medicine to get his blood pressure down. The nurse quickly guesstimated that the reason his blood pressure had gotten so dangerously high was because he had been taking over-the-counter decongestant. He said for someone who already has high blood pressure (which Lance had been told before; he had just never seen a doctor for treatment) that kind of medicine could literally kill you. He said that Lance can never take it again. It was obvious how serious the nurse was... and I think Lance was surprised because obviously he had never been told of the potential combination before. The doctors also told Lance that he had pneumonia, on top of everything else. They poked and prodded him, took lots of blood, and got him chock full of meds.

Lance was treated and given several prescriptions - and we were released in about 5 hours. The doctor told us in no uncertain terms, before letting him go home, that if his blood pressure went above 160/100 we were to come back immediately to the ER. I dropped Lance off at home, went to Walgreens to get his meds, then came home to get some rest. We both rested the next day, and made an appointment with a doctor to get some long-term treatment for his blood pressure. Lance felt good.

We had been told to keep monitoring Lance's blood pressure ourselves, so about 2:30 that afternoon, we went up to a local grocery store's pharmacy to have it taken. We were both completely shocked that the number was almost where it had been at the clinic the day before. We immediately ran home to pack a bag (I was convinced they would keep him overnight this time) and were back in the ER again. This time, we had to wait about 30 minutes before being taken back. They "upgraded" him to a Major ER bed, where the most serious cases are seen. He was plugged up to lots of machines and they drew more blood (poor guy... he has bruises up his arms and in his hands from all the bloodwork this week!). The doctor who came to see us said that he thought it would be best to keep Lance overnight so they could continue to give him meds... but when we told him that we already had an appointment set up for the next morning with a doctor who would be giving him long-term treatment, he called her and they agreed to let him go with the explicit instructions to report to her first thing in the morning. So once again, we found ourselves leaving the ER (after about 4.5 hours) and heading home.

We went to the doctor Tuesday morning - where they did an EKG, took more blood, did a urine test, etc. The doctor is doing a full work-up to monitor his health for any other problems. She adjusted his ER meds a bit, and added one more blood pressure pill to his regimen. She also gave us a recommendation for a blood pressure cuff that we could keep at home, and gave him instructions to keep a record of his blood pressure every couple of hours - at least for the time being.

This wonderful doctor is intent on closely monitoring him and keeping him as healthy as possible. We have faith that all is well now... luckily (as all of his doctors said) he is an otherwise very healthy, young guy - and with lifestyle and dietary changes, it's possible that someday he could be off blood pressure meds entirely.

He has already completely changed his eating habits - I think we've eaten more fruit this past week than either one of us had eaten in a couple of months! I'm so proud of him for taking this seriously and keeping an eye on things.

This was certainly a wake-up call to both of us... it's amazing how easy it is to take your body for granted and think "Oh, someday I'll get in shape". We've both discovered that now is the time to get started. I think overall, this will be a blessing for us both.

We realize how scary this could have been... without God's powerful touch, this could have turned out very differently. God is faithful to those who are faithful to Him... and we give thanks to Him for our blessings!

And this experience has also made us realize how many amazing people we have in our lives. We received countless emails and phonecalls from friends and family, telling us of prayers they had lifted up in Lance's name. Every single prayer was felt - and we are so thankful for each and every one of them.

-JessWill

Pointless But Fun

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
books, manilla folders, Bible, gloves

2. When was the last time you threw up?
a few months ago

3. What's your favorite word or phrase?
I love you

4. Name 3 people who made you smile today?
Lance, Mary and Amy

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
working... been at work for 30 min already

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
procrastinating

8. Have you ever been to a strip club?
nope

9. What is the last thing you said aloud?
"Great, thanks Gary. Talk to you soon." (a client)

10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
Sheridan's wedding cake concrete, yummy

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
water

12. What are you wearing right now?
jeans, black shirt and pink jacket

13. What was the last thing you ate?
we went for Mexican today (although what passes for Mexican in TN is not quite the real thing...)

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
nope

15. When was the last time you ran?
me? run? haha

16. What's the last sporting event you watched?
watched Memphis kick butt on Sunday! wahoo!!

17. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
back to Bali, Indonesia - most peaceful and gorgeous place I've ever been

18. Who is the last person you sent a comment/message on myspace or your email?
just emailed the girls - the Today Show will be here on Friday and I'm gathering a crew to come Downtown with me :)

19. Ever go camping?
once, a long time ago

20. Do you have a tan?
yeah right

21. Have you ever lost anything down a toilet?
I'm sure I have

22. What is your guilty pleasure?
People Magazine

23. Do you use smiley faces on the computer a lot?
sure :)


24. Do you drink your soda from a straw?
nope, don't drink soda

25. What did your last text message say?
I actually just erased 'em all cuz my Inbox was full... so I couldn't say

26. Are you someone's best friend?
yep

27. What are you doing tomorrow?
nothing exciting - working, then probably home to cook dinner and start a new book

28. Where is your mom right now?
Texas

29. Look to your left, what do you see?
a bulletin board covered with pics of people I love

30. What color is your watch?
don't wear one - and as obsessed as I am with time, you'd think that would be a problem for me

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia?
boomerangs and kangaroos

32. Ever ridden on a roller coaster?
love em! although not as much as I did when I was young

33. Birthstone?
emerald

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
drive thru

35. Do you have any friends in your address book that you actually hate?
probably some from back in the day, ha!


36. Do you have a dog?
nope

37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
see number 9

38. Have you met anyone famous?
I've seen George W. Bush and the president of China from afar (they were at the Civil Rights Museum, right behind our building, and we stalked them from the balcony, ha!)


39. Any plans today?
going to see miss Mary Sofia, Carrie and Billy tonight for dinner... then playing with MS til she drops!

40. Who'd you get this from?
Amy

41. Are you happy?
definitely

42. Where are you right now?
at work

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
trying to lose this weight... it never happens fast enough!

44. Last song listened to?
Britney Spears is on now, yuck

45. Last movie you saw?..
we watched "The Lives of Others" this weekend - was pretty good

46. Are you allergic to anything?
apparently I'm allergic to almost everything... my allergist said I tested positive to all but one thing... but luckily I don't have any symptoms - wahoo!

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?..
my Wallabies

48. Are you jealous of anyone?
nah

49. Who makes you feel like everything will be okay when you think it's not?
Lance, always

50. Is anyone jealous of you?
probably not


51. What time is it?
3:43

52. Do any of your friends have children?
yes

53. Do you eat healthy?
I'm trying to do better!

54. What do you usually do during the day?
work during the week... we always have something going on on the weekends

55. Hate anyone right now?
nope

56. Do you say hello daily?
sure

58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
29... so close to the big 3-0!

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
yep - love it

60. How did you get one of your scars?
had a disastrous rollerblading crash in downtown Mineral Wells with David Burch... why did I think it would be a good idea to go down that hill????

-JessWill