He's Still Working on Me

   Today was the day that I have kept in the back of my mind for almost a year now. Last year we had our first Pediatric Cardiology appointment with Dr. Colvin from Birmingham. We were so impressed with the way Dr. Colvin explained in a very calm way that Sam had three holes in his heart that would eventually need fixing through surgery. We had all the questions last year such as; could the holes still close up, will this cause any additional problems, what types of restrictions will this lead to, are there any signs or symptoms that we needed to watch for in the next year to know if something serious is happening? I'm sure there were more but those are the questions I can remember asking not really wanting to hear the answers. We had been through a good bit with this little guy. Did we really have to add ASD (that's what his heart issues are called). So after the Dr. told us that the holes would not heal on thier own because of where they were located and that Sam was already past the "given age" of the holes healing with growing up some. We were reassured that this condition had absolutely nothing to do with Sam being premature. We took all this in pretty well I thought. I knew it was just one more thing for me to try not to worry about. I decided that I was not going to dwell on this and that the same poweful God that brought Sam and me through a very rough time a couple of years ago was going to carry us completely through what ever we would face with these heart conditions.
With all of that being said, I am so thankful for my family, friends, and church family that have persistently lifted Sam and these "holes" in his heart to the Lord and prayed for healing.  It is so encouraging to know that you are surrounded with prayer warriors in your life that will daily pray for your little boy. Anyway, will all of that said, back to the appointment today.
Remembering that we were there almost 4 hours last year being moved from room to room to wait for the doctor, I packed a bag full of things. Sam didn't care about much of anything that his mama had packed to keep him content. He wanted to climb up and dowh the chairs and bed. He said hey and bye to anyone that passed. He did dig a ball out of his bag and set up his own game of catch and throw with one of the ladies working in the waiting room. That was oh so entertaining!  We still had to wait a couple of hours to see the Dr. (of course they did little things here and there with Sam to get ready for the dr).
So finally the dr came in and asked how Sam had been doing.  We didn't have any complaints except for the ear infections that we are battling but that is a whole different story.  The dr did a couple of things and listened to his heart a minute or two. He said that it sounded pretty good. He explained that we would attempt to take a closer look with the ultrasound machine, and what he would be able to see would depend on Sam's reaction to the ultrasound experience. That was Sam's least favorite but he hung in there for about 10 minutes while Dr. Colvin searched over his heart. Sam could see the screen and would say.."what's dat?"  It seemed like forever before the Dr. said anything. He even changed wands to get a closer look at everything. Sam was a little scared but was trying his best to be a big boy. Finally, Dr. Colvin stopped moving the wand and pulled it away from Sam and told him that he did a good job. I was waiting for him to say something, anything about what he saw this year. 
So calmly, just as a year before he looked at us and said, "I didn't see anything, no holes, he looks great and I won't be doing any kind of heart surgery on this guy."  I wanted to scream, cry, jump up and down, give high fives, and rejoice. Instead of all of these I looked at the dr with a little bit of a laugh and told him that was great news and that was exactly what we had been praying for since this time last year. I didn't get a response from him with that but it didn't matter to me. God is still in the healing business my friends. I thought of the song He's Still Working on Me. I know that it has a deeper meaning than that of He is still closing up holes that "could not be closed because of Sam's age and placement without surgery." There was some surgery, just not by any human hands. We will have to go back when Sam is around 4 just to check again. That's ok.
The other reason I thought about that song that we've all sang a billion times is that He is still working on ME.  God continues to show His powerful, faithfulness, and love for His children.
I want to say a HUGE thank you to all you prayer warriors our there that have been praying for us over the past couple of years. I know that we have a many of years ahead of us and will have our share of scares and worries. I do know that God will hold our hand through those times too.