A Christmas To Forget

It was about 45 years ago.  I had been having bad hip and back problems for quite some time and nothing seemed to help.  Some mornings it was all that I could do to get out of bed.  I finally went to see a neurologist who ordered some tests.  Because I didn't want to use my sick days at school, we decided to have two of the tests, a spinal tap and a myelogram, done the day before Christmas when I didn't have school.  Nobody warned me how difficult these tests would be.  Thirty years later I had another myelogram done and, with all the advances made in medicine, that one was a snap.  But the first one certainly wasn't.  I had to wear one of those gowns that didn't cover very much and I was placed on a cart with a sheet over me.  My first trying experience came when I found out that the assisting nurse had been a student of mine in high school just a few years earlier.  The embarrassment of being practically nude during the tests soon gave way to the pain of the spinal taps.  Later I was taken to a hospital room to recover and wait for the doctor to release me.  Our plans were, upon my release, to head for Sunbury to spend Christmas with my wife's family.  Well the hours went by and the doctor did not appear.  Late in the afternoon, fearing that he may have forgotten me and left for vacation, we called his office.  Finally he arrived to tell me that the tests just showed some arthritis and I was free to go home.  Nobody warned me about the possible side effects of the tests and, to be fair, we didn't tell them about our planned trip that night.  Incidentally, it was years later that another doctor diagnosed my problem as ankylosing spondilitis, a condition that I have learned to live with since that time.  Anyway, we packed up our two small boys, our luggage and our presents, and headed north on Christmas Eve. Our boys were very excited about going to see Gramps and Muz for Christmas.  Dianne drove so that I could rest.  But soon it began to snow and she had much mountain and country driving to do for the next two hours.  Then I began to get sick - terrible headaches, stomach problems, and I needed a restroom.  But since it was Christmas Eve, nothing was open.  We finally found a small dirty bathroom at a gas station in a small town.  It was a long hard trip.  Fortunately we arrived safely.  I spent much of the next few days on my back to relieve the terrible headaches.  Then when it was time to head back home we were hit with a major snowstorm which delayed our departure.  I still wasn't able to drive so my wife had to drive once again.  Her sister and brother-in-law decided to follow us home in their car to make sure that we wouldn't get stuck or have any  trouble.  At the other end, my father and brother came to shovel our driveway and even part of the road so that we could reach our house.  I felt helpless, and sick, and without the help of all of these family members, I'm not sure how we would have made it.  But we did.  And now that Christmas is just a memory and I hope that we never have any more like that it.  But as I look back over my life I see so many situations, like this one, where God has intervened and taken care of me in difficult situations.  Always He provides the strength needed for the day, just as He has promised, and with that knowledge we can face tomorrow.