Merry Christmas from my hospital room

My heart grows tender with treasured childhood memories and love of family when the Christmas season comes. I believe we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. It is an exciting moment for me.

Everything was planned at the last minute. My daughter, M based in Australia called me December 10 that she was spending Christmas in Singapore. I entertained the thought of spending it with her too. It was all set. Butch, Lauren and I were booked to leave December 23. I was looking forward for family bonding moments. Things didn’t quite happen the way I envisioned it. On December 22, while on my way to the bank to prepare our dollars for the trip, I felt this excruciating pain in my middle abdomen. To make the long story short, I had an operation on December 23 at 3 PM. I had bilary colic. I knew I had some gallstones in my gallbladder but they were small , and didn’t need immediate surgery. Two small stones lodged in the common bile duct causing my bilirubin, amylase, liver enzymes to skyrocket and the terrible pain. Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy was not possible because the surgeon wanted to run a dye in the biliary tract to trace the stones. The surgery took 3 hours and I was told it was a complicated surgery.

I am thankful that I pulled through the surgery. I woke up while they were sewing me up and another one and a half hours in recovery room. Flowers from Lauren added color to my room. Pain from the surgery was not that bad. I suffered itchiness due to the morphine used to sedate me at the operating table. My eyesight suffered for some reason that I could not read text messages or twitter for more than a minute. My husband is such a wonderful nurse, always ready to help me. Most of all, he holds my hand or my feet to assure me it is alright. I feel a bit sad that our plans didn’t push through. We hope to travel to Australia instead.

That didn’t stop me from celebrating Christmas in my hospital room. With a little Christmas tree decor, gifts on my table and determination that the spirit of Christmas continues to live in our hearts, Butch and I spent Christmas eve together. L and M called via skype shorty before midnight and we opened our gifts together. It was very special that even if were not physically together, the spirit of Christmas is still there. It is our first Christmas not being together yet It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.

Everything is going to be fine. We can still celebrate family moments at a better time.

This little inconvenience in my life made me realize that the Spirit of Christmas and the spirit of Christ lives in me and all those that believe in it. Stuart Briscoe states it well by saying The spirit of Christmas needs to superseded by the Spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ is a divine person. That makes all the difference in the world.

May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through!