8/19/2004

AMBER'S MIRACLE

I received a call today from my best friend, Brett. He was calling from the local hospital. He told me his daughter, Amber, who had surgery to have her adenoids removed last week, had just come through emergency surgery.

Here is how it happened, according to what he and his wife Sherrie told me. Actually, I can fill in some of the stuff before it all happened, because Sherrie called me just prior to it occuring to ask me some questions about truck shopping. I don’t recall exactly what time that was, but I remember the call, and I remember Sherrie telling me she had to go. I wonder if her daughter had discovered her problem at that moment? I’ll have to ask Sherrie about that.

It was a little before 11:30 AM at Sherrie’s house. Brett was at work, and Sherrie was getting ready to go looking for a truck to haul a camper they wanted to buy. Amber, earlier in the day had told her mom she did not want to go along, so she was going to stay home alone. But, at the last minute, she decided to go along anyway, so Sherrie had to wait a little extra while Amber made herself ready.

As Sherrie was waiting, she heard Amber call from their bathroom. Apparently, her mouth was bleeding, probably no big deal, just a result of the recent surgery. However, when Sherrie saw the amount of blood Amber was losing, she called the doctor. He told her to come in immediately. So, they rushed to the hospital, with Amber holding a one gallon bucket to spit the blood into. By the time they reached the hospital, this bucket was over half full. It only takes fifteen minutes to get to their hospital, driving as fast as Sherrie was driving.

Now, I do not know what all happened at the hospital, so the details are going to be brief. The reason Amber was bleeding so profusely was the clot on one of her arteries in her throat had either burst, or been scraped off somehow. Amber was bleeding to death, and didn’t know it.

Well, they performed the surgery, and re-cauterized her artery. Tonight, she is recovering well, but she has lost a lot of blood, and may need a transfusion. She won’t be out of the woods with this for another ten or twelve days, I forget which.

My daughter, Ally, and I visited her tonight. She is in good spirits, considering she nearly lost her life today. Brett and Sherrie are doing well, too, but Amber’s little brother, Brandon (or B-bob, as I call him) isn’t doing so well. He is very scared for his sister, and doesn’t really understand what is all happening.

Why did I tell you this? Because a miracle happened today, right in front of their eyes. You see, Amber is only alive because for some reason she cannot explain, she changed her mind at the last minute, and wanted to go along with her mom. Had she not changed her mind, she would have been home alone, with no way to get to the hospital. It is entirely possible that Sherrie could have returned home to find her daughter in the bathroom, in a pool of blood, lifeless.

We talked a little tonight about this sequence of events. Coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidence. Something happened within Amber’s mind, because she definitely is not the type to want to go around town looking at trucks. That’s something B-bob would want to do, but not Amber. Especially not since she still wasn’t feeling all that well from the recent surgery. I think God changed her mind for her. There just isn’t any other explanation for this one. Not if you know Amber. Brett and Sherrie believe it, too. Do you? Is this possibly something we can give glory to God in? I say, yes it is, and I am glad to be able to tell you that Amber is alive because God stepped in where no one else could.

Imagine if Amber hadn’t changed her mind.


I have asked a special favor of Amber tonight. I asked her if, when she felt better, she would like to write about this event on my web log, and tell us what she remembers, and how she felt as she was going through this. She said she would, so hopefully, we can look forward to a young girl writing to us about how God saved her life today. I am really looking forward to that, because the alternative could have been a funeral two days hence. Amber is one of my daughter’s best friends, and seeing those two hug tonight, well, I have to say, it’s just about the sweetest sight I have ever seen.. I am so thankful that God gave us Amber, and let us keep her for a while longer. Thank you God.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Indeed, I shudder to think what it would be like to find your child like that. I'm glad that it happened the way it did! Thank goodness.

SteveW said...

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow. Good story Tom.

Anonymous said...

Tom
I'll keep Amber in my prayers. Keep us posted please.
Sue

Tom Reindl said...

I talked with Brett this morning, and he told me Amber was getting released from the hospital today. Are kids made out of rubber, or what? Amazing!