www.cancermonster.net

It was a very strange night.  I fell asleep early and the staff tip-toed around me all night.  Pam says I snored rather loudly, but I think she was exaggerating.  (Ok, maybe not.)  When I woke, it was groggily.  And it was almost 7:00am this morning before I woke for good.  I can’t put my finger on what made it a strange night, but it was.  I have the feeling something else was going that I just didn’t catch on to.  Anyway, it’s over.  I am home.

Pam and I had a great talk as we waited for the moment we could leave.  And that took several hours so there were other things going on too.  Specifically, God was busy making a point.  Remember that I told you God revealed to me before I came up here this week that the hospital staff was watching me.  And then I was assigned to the 4th floor instead of the 5th floor and I freaked out.  Right?

When I took my eyes off myself, I saw them watching me.

And I was on the 4th floor with the same nursing Tech most of the week.  “J” is not from this country.  She is from a scary place in the middle of the world where anything can happen to good people.  I don’t know exactly what happened to J back there in her old country, but she left there for Germany and then for the US and has no intention of ever going back.  She was watching me.   And since I was unaccompanied all week,  she made sure that I wanted for nothing.  On Monday, I found myself making a curiously simply yet colorful sign for my room.  The scripture came to me from . . . Gee guess.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

J was reading my sign over my shoulder.   When she got to the word “Christ” she made a soft sound like “ugg.” I wasn’t sure what it meant.  Was she Islamic?  Jewish? Or someone beaten by life, with no faith left?  I was pretty sure she wasn’t a Christian.  And I was pretty sure she would not respond if I tried to convert her!   So I didn’t say anything.  But I was nice to her and she watched me.   I think we became attached to each other.  Yesterday, I told J I was going home “tomorrow”  and she said she was happy for me but sad for herself.  “You are the funnest on the floor.”  Then this morning J came on duty and I must have been her first stop.  She walked in on a conversation Pam and I were having that was very emotional.
“You are crying. Why you cry?”
“It’s a good cry, J. Do you have a sister?”
“Yes, I have sister.”
“You ever have a good cry with your sister?”
“No.  No cry with sister.”
“That’s too bad.  Sometimes a good cry with your sister is just what you need.”

Only it didn’t agree with my blood pressure and every time J tried to take it, it was way higher than we both knew it was.  “You rest.  When you no cry with sister, you reading be better.”  Pam had taken a walk by then and J looked me in the eye and took a chance with her feelings.

“I feel so bad for you children.”
“No, J.  You don’t have to worry about me or my family.”  And I looked her in the eyes to see if I could take my own chance.

“My God takes care of me.”
“I see that.”

She hugged me.

I still felt that I couldn’t come right out to her that My God could be her God too.  So I keep it about me.

“J, we came here to Florida because we were told that on this chemo, I wouldn’t be able to care for my children. OR myself.  This is very nasty stuff.  But you see how I am.  And you see others out there on the floor. My God takes care of me, J.  We need to pray for the others.”

She looked around and then back to me.

“I have my faith, J.  It protects me.”
“You faith . . .must be very strong.”
“It is.”

With that Pam came back in the room and J closed up again and went on to her other charges.  There were visits from a couple of doctors that didn’t want to miss saying goodbye.  Nothing concerned them with my case. There was just that swollen left leg.  Someone mentioned  Lymphoedema.  (That wouldn’t be good.)

Within a few minutes it was time to go.  J was in the hallway to say goodbye and gave me another hug.  Two hugs from one who never cries with her sister. . .

“I’ll be back in three weeks”
She nodded.

With that Pam and I were off and down the hall.  It took some time to get everything loaded in the car and us on the way.  It was quite a while before I could get my mind back to J, my European Friend.

God said they were watching.  God set me up on the 4th floor.  And God made his point.  With me at least.  That he knew what he was doing.

There was many who watched this week.  And one who may have been saved because of the watching.

She was the 4th floor.