Old Stories = Comfort for Today {Years Ago}

Apparently, we didn't keep our No Drama Llama close enough at hand last week. Lauren started showing some signs of being sick Tuesday night and ended up in the hospital by Wednesday evening. All through this week, I was reminded of how much my old stories mean to Lauren.

Picture taken Sunday evening -- she looks much better than she did a few days ago

On Wednesday, Lauren's pediatrician arranged for her to see a Children's Hospital cardiologist in Colorado Springs so that I wouldn't have to take her to Denver over roads that still hadn't been completely cleared from our big snow storm.


While she was getting an echocardiogram, she asked me about what I used to do when she was little and had to get echos. I told her how sometimes I would sing hundreds of verses of The Wheels on the Bus and This Little Light of Mine so that she's lie still and quiet long enough for them to finish.


A few minutes later, a nurse came in to do an EKG. Lauren wanted me to tell the nurse about how she used to play with all the EKG stickers. When she was a toddler, we would leave all fifteen of the EKG stickers on her chest afterwards. While I was talked to the cardiologists, Lauren would be happily occupied with getting all the stickers off her chest. Those stickers are super sticky and would then get stuck to her fingers. It could easily entertain her for an hour or more.


The cardiologist decided that it would be safest for Lauren to go to Children's Hospital in Denver by ambulance. As we were leaving, Lauren asked if she could ride in the ambulance by herself. She told me to tell the ambulance team about how she rode in the ambulance all by herself when she went to the hospital in Arizona last summer.

Our ambulance ride actually ended at a local ER so that she could start some IV medicines before the trip to Denver. As the afternoon wore on, the transplant team decided that flying to Denver was a better idea than going by ambulance. While Lauren was getting ready to leave, she asked me to tell her about her first helicopter ride. (H is for Helicopter Ride)

Lauren's nurse brought her warm blankets after Lauren got a sponge bath one morning. Lauren was still weak and was starting to get a bit upset about all the fussing. I remembered a funny warm blanket story from our days at CHoP seven years ago. It was just enough entertainment and distraction to let her nurse change the sheets and then get all the monitors hooked back up.

These are just a few of the many stories I've told Lauren over the past few days. I'm beginning to realize that these stories do much more than just pass the time while we're hanging out in the hospital. These old stories show how God has been with us so many times over the years -- Through the Calm and Through the Storm, so to speak.


Lauren continues to improve -- making steady progress even if it's a bit slow at times. We would certainly appreciate your prayers as she continues to get stronger and as her transplant team figures out the best way to treat this episode of rejection.

What's a hospital stay without bacon? I've told the Bacon story many times this week too.

This week is the fifteenth week in our Blogging Through the Alphabet challenge -- letter O. Click the button below for this week's linky.

©2009-2016 Through the Calm and Through the Storm. All rights reserved. Photos and content may not be reproduced. http://throughthecalmandthroughthestorm.blogspot.com