Tuesday, February 24, 2015

He's always been faithful to me..

 Three years ago today,  our son, Clayton was being wheeled into surgery.  We had just learned days before that he had cancer.  We were at Texas Children's Hospital and were spending each day doing tests and procedures trying to determine how invasive this cancer was, where it was and what was going to be our plan of action. We were all emotionally DONE.  Through all the testing, we learned that Clayton had Hydronephrosis.  This has nothing to do with cancer. He was born with a kidney that just doesn't function as it should.  Most people never know they have this because we work just fine with one kidney, but because Clayton was soon going to endure months and months of chemotherapy, we had to make sure this kidney and it's inability to filter the medicine to come, would not cause life threatening problems as it was.
      After a day of pediatric urology appointments, an intern waltzed into Clayton's hospital room and told us that they would be removing his kidney the following day. I honestly never thought they would even consider removing his kidney! I remember just falling back into the chair behind me, asking the intern to please send the "real doctor" in, and trying to gather in my head what else this little boy could possibly have to go through.  Later that day, the head Pediatric Urologist came in, showed us scans that proved that Clayton's kidney was too weak, worthless and was not going to be okay to endure the medicine.  WE WERE DEVASTATED!  That blow was just one that I will never forget.  We called all of our family, most of which came down to be with us the next day, and we prayed and prepared our son for another invasive surgery and tried to explain what was happening to him next.
   The surgery was scheduled for 12:30 pm.  We were awakened at 6:00 am with a nurse saying, " The surgery has been moved up.  We're taking Clayton down in 15 minutes".  Wow!  Off they went with Clayton, and us following behind, to the surgery where they were removing his kidney.  I remember crying and just feeling devastated and asking God, What in the world?  Why in the world?  What more, God! After about an hour, we were waiting in the waiting room, crying, pacing, greeting our family, when another intern walked out in full surgical scrubs and said, "Castle Family".  Chad and I approached with fear, but ready to hear that it was over and Clayton was ok.  In a strange tone of voice, this doctor said,  "Mr and Mrs Castle,  We can't explain it, but the scans were incorrect.  Dr. Roth got to Clayton's kidney and all that is required to make it viable, is a small repair.  It is functioning and will absolutely not have to be removed,"  We looked at each other.  I remember falling into Chad's arms and saying, " Did I just understand him to say that Clayton is keeping both of his kidneys?"  You betcha he did! In a moment that I can't explain, that will never make sense to me and that I will never ever forget, I witnessed and lived a miracle.  A full blown miracle.  You see, we saw the scans with our own eyes, we understood them, we viewed them.  It was a true miracle and a presence that only God will be able to explain.
    With that little story, I say.. HE IS FAITHFUL to meet our every need.  Tomorrow Clayton has his scans to tell us that he remains cancer free.  I know HE IS FAITHFUL.. He goes before us.. He is holding us even still.  Please pray for us as we go tomorrow.  Pray for Christ to show Himself again and to remind us that He is who He says He is!  Whatever you are facing today, HE IS FAITHFUL.  We are living proof!