Life and Poker

I am probably not going to have time to proof read this so please forgive any spelling or grammar errors.  My sweet niece, Paige, is sitting with Maggie and I ran down to get a cup of coffee and return some emails.

Now onto the update.

Maggie went back into surgery yesterday for another chest tube and for a heart cath.  While in the cath, they discovered a narrowing over her superior vena cava.  They ballooned it which is a bit of a temporary fix.  They felt this finding was significant but was probably not contributing to her fluid problem.  They also tested her to see how she would respond to Viagra to relax her venous system.  She responded well to this and this is the path we are testing for the next 4-5 days.

She is still pretty weak today from not eating and the anesthesia but was perking up toward the afternoon after they returned her to the fat free diet and the drugs finished wearing off.  Now we just watch and wait, again.

Now onto the Poker illustration.  There is a little irony in this one too like God was getting me in the mindset for this lesson.

We don't know the doctor who performed Maggie's cath as he was kind of thrown onto the case at the last minute.  When he was finished with the procedure, he met me in the conference room and explained all he found with a perfectly straight face.  Now I consider myself to be a pretty good reader of people's thoughts and emotions and I was really struggling to figure this guy out.  I spoke with a friend afterwards and commented on how this doc had the perfect poker face and I had no idea if Maggie looked terminal or if he felt the procedure was a complete waste of time.

I hung up and headed to recovery when I saw him in the hallway and decided to ask him straight out how serious he thought her situation was.  I wish I had recorded his response because it was one of those stop you in your tracks and make you want to grab a pen and paper kind of answers.

He said, "Maggie has been dealt a short hand but your job as her mother is to help her live her life, however long that is, like she has the full deck at her disposal."  

How good is that!  So that, of course, got my wheels turning like crazy.  I bet 95% of people have been dealt a short hand in one way or another, but we all play the life game of poker differently.  Some people give their hand away immediately and don't get very far in the game.  Others, however, play the game (of life) like they have the entire deck at their disposal, like they have the best hand at the table.  

I don't know about you, but I want to be that kind of life poker player and hopefully I will parent well enough that my children will do the same. 

Thanks for praying. 

From our last few days:  

It seems like a different group comes by every day to bless the kids.  One of those groups was from the FBI.  I am pretty sure the hospital has never been as safe as it was in that hour. :)

A non-profit called Dec Your Room came by and blessed Maggie with a Frozen themed hospital room.  She loves it and that's good because I am starting to wonder if we will ever leave.