The Day of the Surgery...finally!

The day of my shoulder surgery has finally arrived! (I'm obviously writing this about a week after the surgery, as I'm just now above consciousness)

Big thanks to my Mom for coming up last night to watch the kids. We had to leave the house at 5:00am to be at the hospital for check-in at 5:30. After kissing the kids good-bye while they were sleeping, we left the friendly confines of our home behind.

Got to the hospital and Pastor Ron stopped by to see how we were doing and to pray with us before the surgery. I was a little apprehensive about the surgery regarding my lung condition, so they opted to have the procedure done at Carle Hospital instead of at the Surgicenter (outpatient). Dr Robert Gurtler, my orthopedic surgeon said that he would probably keep me overnight just to make sure my lungs were stable before sending me home (little did we know how much the Lord was intervening there). On a side note, Dr Gurtler is the team physician/surgeon for all of the major University of Illinois sports teams, so he has every imaginable signature hanging on his wall.

So, they wheeled me into the surgical unit and started prepping. They gave me some oxygen and the next thing I know, the nurse is in my face telling me the surgery went well and I did great. Ugh. How do we say "woozy" in post-op? There was some major confusion in post-op regarding my room assignment, and Carle doesn't allow family in post-op, so Jenn sat in the waiting room from 7:30am till 4:15 pm. She finally left to relieve my mom who was watching the kids and had to drive up to Wisconsin for a family death that night, and of course my hospital room became available at 4:30pm.

I don't remember much the first couple of days. I literally didn't move at all for the first 48 hours. Dr Gurtler said my shoulder was horrible and questioned how I was functioning. Brett Pearman, his PA, said it was the worst Bankart lesion surgery he'd ever seen and he's been with Gurtler for 4 years. Here's how they explained it: If you are looking at a clock, the capsule (labrum) around the shoulder should cover the shoulder from 12:00 all the way around to 12:00 again. Mine was torn (in the front - anterior shoulder) from 12:00 (counter-clockwise) to 5:00. More than half way. They pulled it tight, and used 7 molly bone anchors to secure it. The posterior tear in the labrum they cinched up as well, but didn't surgically repair it. They also noticed a Hills-Sachs lesion (bone dent) in my socket, which occurred when my shoulder has dislocated. They drilled out a hole and caused the bone to bleed to produce scar tissue. If that dent doesn't fill in (they don't expect it completely will), arthritis will set in for the rest of my life. No wonder my shoulder ached when I went outside in the cool weather. I ended up staying in the hospital from Wednesday thru Sunday because when I used the morphine pain pump, it lowered my O2 sats down to 85%, well below normal for me. So I was on oxygen the whole time, and until the pain could be tolerated on oral pain meds (quadruple the amount I was on right after the accident), I couldn't go home. By Sunday, I forced myself off of the morphine pump and set it was time to go home. Sore, but ready to get out of there.

I'm now in a brace for the next 6 weeks. It's definitely a fancy brace, but huge and quite cumbersome. I'll be in physical therapy after the brace comes off for about 6 months. It will be a long, arduous process, but "no pain, no gain."

Thanks to everyone for the awesome letters, emails, meals, texts and phone calls. Jenn and I were quite overwhelmed by the support from friends and family.

[ fusion ] college ministry

Jenn and I are the facilitators of  [ fusion ] college ministries at Meadowbrook Community Church (www.meadow.org/ministries/fusion). We have weekly meetings  on Tuesday nights where we preach the messages, meet with students over coffee throughout the week and coach them through some of life's biggest decisions (where to work, whom to marry and where to live). I've been involved in ministry really since I was a freshman in college at EIU in '95. In the summer of '99 I applied, was accepted and transferred to ISU (Illinois State University) where I eventually graduated from in '01. I started an RSO called Campus Bible Club as a student there and was President during my 2 year tenure. During those 6 years, I was directly involved in college ministry leadership on 3 different campus (also add in Lakeland College in Mattoon). Ministering to college students has always been in my heart. 

After I graduated from ISU, I continued to serve as Director for Campus Bible Club, an inter-denominational Bible study for students, until 2002. When I moved to Champaign that year I left the ministry behind that I started from scratch and joined forces with the CBC at the University of Illinois where I served as Co-Director from 2002-3003. I took a break in 2004 from college ministry to get married, and then in 2005, Jenn and I started Fusion at our our current church. It's definitely evolved over the years, and just this past year, we moved into our brand-new state-of-the-art facility, the Orange Bowl, located in the church.

The decision to leave the States and possibly move to Africa has been weighing heavy on my heart. I know that this is God's ministry, and I'm just a simple servant, but its been my baby from the beginning. I've poured blood, sweat and tears into the ministry and to just walk away is not in my nature. We know that God's timing is perfect and that He provides and that he doesn't need me. But, none the less, I've been asking the Lord what to do.

Along came October 14th. I'm on the prayer team at Meadowbrook and so we go forth after each Sunday message and allow the congregants to come forward for prayer. A dear sister came forward  and she's had 3 of her kids come through our ministry. She came forward not to be prayed for, but to pray for me. This was a turn of events. Kinda cool.

Laurie told me that "She is allowing me to let Fusion go. To not worry about it." She was giving me permission to let something go that she knew was very close to my heart. I couldn't believe my ears! This has been on my heart and the prayer I've been praying for several weeks. She literally was the voice of God. I was so relieved, convicted and in awe of my God all at once. The flood gates were opened yet again.

She prayed with me, for me and for Fusion as a whole and returned to her seat. I couldn't wait to tell Jenn about this one. We are still looking for somone to take over Fusion, preferably a strong, young couple with a vision for college ministry. It's definitely a hands-on, get dirty ministry. We know that the students that we love won't be left alone. There will be an awesome couple who will rise up to stand in the gap. Knowing that people are praying for us in this way is a huge relief.

Injury Update After My Accident

Please continue to pray for us. I had an MRI done on my left shoulder and I have 2 tears in the labrum and the end of the cap of the humerus bone is broken off and just dangling. I will have surgery on Wednesday, October 17th to repair the tears and remove the piece of bone. I endured about 4 weeks of PT (physical therapy) on my shoulder before they stopped the PT so my shoulder could heal up (they don't want it to be in serious pain before the surgery, it will be very tight and sore). The PT on the shoulder after the surgery could take anywhere from 6-9 months to obtain full mobilization and range of motion. Not looking forward to that. Everyone has said it's a painful recovery. I say, "bring on the pain meds!"

I had an appointment at the Carle Pain Clinic today. Since the MRI on my back didn't show any structural damage (praise God!), I was released from my neurosurgeon,  Dr Olivero. So, I'm now a patient of Dr Jung at the Pain Clinic. He said that I have ligament damage in my lower back. This is what is causing the significant lower back pain every day and is keeping me from driving (I've been off work since the accident because of the issues with driving and back pain). After 4 weeks of chiropractic treatments and 6 weeks of PT on my lower back with little benefit or improvement, I was advised to seek advice at the Pain Clinic. I'll follow up with him after the surgery for possible steroid injections in my back.

On an interesting note, Dr Jung is a Christian and told me he goes to the same Korean church here in town as Dr Chung, my chiropractor. He said he would be praying for us. This was yet again another confirmation of God orchestrating our lives.

After my surgery, PT and recovery and healing of my lower back (and we raise the full financial support needed), we believe the Lord is leading us to move to South Africa. Pray for God's perfect timing. It may be Jan 1, 2014 before we are ready to go, but we are hoping it's before then.