"But you, O Lord, are a shield around me" Psalm 3:3a

BAHHHH WHERE TO BEGIN?!?!?  Ok.. so yesterday I woke up and was doing my therapy, while texting my boyfriend.  He suggested we read Psalms, and so I got my bible out and read chapters 1 & 2 but decided for some reason I wanted to read 3 too.  Thank you, Jesus.  Psalm 3:3 "But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high."  Ok, let's just stop here for a moment.  One of the concerns for the procedure was that I have brittle bones dues to all the meds I'm on.  In a bronchoscopy (which is what I had) they have to have your head back, as if you were hanging off the side of a bed, and there was concern about my neck bones.  "You are my glory, the one who holds my head high."  How incredbible.  But just like God, He gets even better.  Psalm 3:4-5 "I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain. I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me."  He was reassuring me before I even got in the car.  I LOVE that we can just call his name and He'll be with us!  Which is exactly what I did later on, and His promises (like always) remained true and faithful!  So we got to the hospital, I wasn't feeling nervous or anything, and a family friend's sister had her pastor come pray with us which was really nice.  Then I was off!  They rolled me to the O.R. and got everything set up, and put my IV in, which made me a little nervous.  I'm fine with IVs but I don't like to be laying down when I'm getting one placed, but since this was in the O.R., I was already strapped to the table and everything, but it went really well.  I just asked that they tell me before they start pumping in the stuff to make me pass out.  They did.  And then I started to notice the machines looked a little funny, and my head started stinging, and all I did was call out to Jesus in my head, and I was out. 

Just a little backround -- my last bronch knocked me out of the water.  I couldn't recover well, had to be on oxygen and still wasn't breathing well at all, couldn't quite wake up all the way from the anesthesia,  and spent 2 months on oxygen and out of work afterward.  It was NOT good.  So I specifically asked people to pray, and of course I was praying, for an easy and quick recovery,  and I fully expected that because we are to pray with expectation, however God, once again, completely blew my mind!   Just another reminder, the plan was to have Dr. W go in with a flexible bronch (a flexible tube that can take pics, suck out light mucus but cant move hard things).  He was going to clean up my lungs a little, and then try to see how hard the fungus ball was in preparation for the second doctor, Dr. R to go in with a rigid bronch ( a hard tubing created to put tools down in order to remove objects, including hard things).  They estimated about 2 hours for the procedure, however they made it VERY clear that they weren't sure they would be able to remove the ball at all, and even if they did, it's very likely that it would need to be done in multiple stages.  In other words, they would remove a little piece today, then go back in next week and remove another piece, and the next week, and so forth and so on until they got it all or as much as they could out.  They also made arrangements for me to be into the intensive care unit immediately after the surgery, and that it would be a definite possibility that I would have my breathing tube down my throat when I became conscious again (which I reallyyyyy didn't want.)  So anyway. I passed out and the next thing I know is I'm waking up, feeling ok.  My lungs didnt hurt like last time, and I wasn't coughing out liquid saline or blood or even that much mucus.  In fact, I didn't even realize they had gone into my right lung at all because it felt great.  The anesthesia wore off relatively quickly, and I wasn't on that much oxygen.  Actually, I was holding the oxygen mask on my lap and was doing fine, so they said I could switch to a nasal oxygen.  As I was still a little woozy, I asked how it went and a nurse replied "They got the whole ball out".  But I guess I was too tired to really understand and the more the anesthesia wore off, the more awake I became and couldn't figure out if that had really happened or I was just dreaming it.  So I said, "I'm sorry I know I asked before but you said they got the whole thing?"  And the nurse replied with a big smile "They got the WHOLE thing".  "Praise God!" was all that could come from my lips.  Amazed yet?  Brace yourself.  It only took 45 minutes, and the second doctor didn't even need to go in.  How crazy!  Ok want more?  Because God so abundantly provided and protected me -- it still hasn't entirly hit me yet.  They then told me I was going to go to a normal room because I'm recovering so well.  One nurse even answered the phone and said "This is amazing".  But no, God's not done yet.  The nurse who was taking care of me in recovery while we were waiting for my room, was christian.  I had mentioned how nice God is to me to another nurse, and heard her say "All the time."  And then they asked if I wanted to listen to music, and what my favorite artists were.  I said I don't really have a favorite artist, just type -- and my nurse guessed that it was christian and then says to me, do you like sanctus real?  Ok.. sanctus real isn't exactly the most popular christian band, so if you know them, most likely you listen to them.  But then she says - Oh I'll put my playlist on!  And she had a playlist of all this really good christian music which was such a blessing.  But who knows cause maybe she just made that because of previous christian patients or something, and then she revealed that she was christian and how she'll be praying for us and it was so awesome.  Then we go upstairs to my normal room, and I get weaned off the oxygen!  I didn't even need it after like an hour in my room!  It was incredible.  And then we found out that my night shift nurse was a christian as well, and my therapist is saved too!  How awesome!  Isaiah 49:13 "For the Lord has comforted his people" -- how true!  My throat really hurt, but they gave my numbing stuff for it, and I got to eat fried chicken, mac n cheese, and other stuff!  SO good!  I could even do my therapy!  I felt better after the procedure than when I did when I had walked into the hospital that morning.  It's just so incredible.  My bloodsugars got out of hand, and that was frustrating, but God took care of it and helped me maintain my temper hahah.  It's just been so awesome.  To feel safe in the arms of the Lord is the best feeling ever, and it was just so awesome to think that my hand is in his, he calls me friend and he's standing right by me as my best friend where even my parents aren't allowed to be.  Yet, he's there as my Father, my shield, my glory, holding my head gently in his hands as he guides the surgeons.  Bah.. incredible.. I still feel great today too, and we spoke with a therapist today because of all the damage my lungs have, and she showed us these different therapies we haven't even heard of!  Praise God!  Bah.. He's just soo.. overwhelming.. sweeping me off my feet.. loving. bahhh.

I can't even put into words the miracles that God performed because God is love.

PS I'm kinda tired at the moment, so I'm sure I'm forgetting something and will be back to type more!