This was the third Christmas since I lost my Dad. My Dad was the social planner of our family and he made every holiday so special. Christmas hadn't felt right since he left us to go be with Jesus. This year I was looking forward to a bit of Christmas magic. My son is a firefighter and was off this Christmas. He has met a lovely young lady who he will will likely marry soon and my younger daughter had finished her first semester of college successfully. I was happy with the gifts I had carefully selected and was really excited about Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. On Sunday, December 22nd, reality ruined my best laid plans.
Hey friends. For those of you who pray, please add my mom Priscilla to your prayer list. She started feeling very off yesterday and I took her to the ER. Her hemoglobin was 5.5. She received two units of blood and it was slightly higher today. They are doing a procedure on… pic.twitter.com/MQglSRWVdQ
— Just Mindy 🐊 (@just_mindy) December 24, 2024
My mom woke up feeling very weak. She could barely walk to our car. We arrived at the ER to discover her hemoglobin was incredibly low, so low they ran her labs twice. Obviously, she was bleeding internally somewhere. We spent the next few days in the hospital trying to come to terms with various diagnosis.
The highest paid people in this hospital (docs and nurses) all seem miserable with the worst bedside manner but the people making the least, housekeepers and nutrition, are so kind and full of joy. It’s the strangest phenomenon.
— Just Mindy 🐊 (@just_mindy) December 24, 2024
During that time, it was most often the nutritional team and the housekeeping staff who kept our spirits up. They were making the least amount of money, but seemed to understand families in the hospital are just as sad as the people who have to leave their loved ones and come work in the hospital over the holidays. One young man in the hospital cafeteria on Christmas morning boosted my mood for the rest of the day with his kind words and big smile. He wanted to be home with this family, I'm sure, and I wanted my family member home, but he shared humanity with me.
We’ve got the world’s smallest Christmas tree and the stockings are hung by the IV with care… and yes, they were knitted by Miss E. pic.twitter.com/UCtaiDuDdx
— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) December 23, 2024
Miss E went into the hospital three weeks ago today, and is still stubbornly hanging on.
— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) December 27, 2024
Meanwhile, oldest son called me this morning to tell me he hit a deer driving back from the hospital last night. Thankfully he’s okay, but his car is probably totaled.
Haven’t said it for…
Dear friends,
— Andrew Daub (@TheResoluteLife) December 25, 2024
I’ll follow up with a proper Christmas salutation from Iron Will, but in the meantime, I’m humbling requesting your prayers.
As you know, my mother has Alzheimer’s. And has been fighting valiantly for a long while.
But she is nearing her well-earned final rest.… pic.twitter.com/3yAh6bXUuM
Wallowing low in my 'woe is me' over our ruined Christmas, I scanned Twitter. I quickly found we were far from the only family spending a sad Christmas in the hospital and many families wouldn't bring their loved one home as I did. Christmas evening, my Mom was stable enough to come home. We received her biopsy results yesterday and her tumor is not cancerous as Doctors had feared.
Hi friends! Thank you for all
— Just Mindy 🐊 (@just_mindy) December 27, 2024
of your prayers. We received good news today. pic.twitter.com/FNgMUCbfFr
My mom will need an additional surgery, albeit one without incisions, thankfully, but all in all, this was the best news we could receive. Yes, I missed spending the day with my children, but my extended family loved on them well for me.
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my family is sending me pics of my kids so I can kind of share their Christmas and it makes my heart happy pic.twitter.com/4pCZORvnMV
— Just Mindy 🐊 (@just_mindy) December 25, 2024
If this Christmas did not go as planned for you, know you are not alone. Christmas is about a Savior that came to redeem us from all the heartache the world offers us. Thank you to all who prayed for my Mother and know our Risen Savior is closest in our heartache.
