Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.

• Psalm 147:3

As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

• Luke 17:12-19

The last day that I missed posting something was in mid-May 1918.  I admitted myself to the hospital, unable to manage the pain from kidney stones.

I am struggling now thinking that I had two choices for another lithotripsy and I chose 31 March instead of three weeks later.  I managed the pain, but I got headaches, nausea, muscle aches, etc.  Rarely getting the typical kidney stone pain.  My biggest problem was that I was maxed out on Acetaminophen, and I wanted to avoid the Oxycodon, still in the bottle, untouched.

Someone who might be hurting a lot more might need that time slot, but then, the surgery is not emergency surgery due to me being able to control the pain, sort of.

But as this comes out, I am either in surgery or in recovery.  There were only two stones, one two big to move and kidney function was faltering.

I guess, I am feeling some of what my late wife felt for years, that sick feeling because the kidneys cannot rid the body of the toxins.

My mood during writing may not have been productive.  If that is the case, I apologize.  But when I missed writing one day, over 2500 days ago, I try to stay ahead so that I can be sick.  I have missed roughly an entire week this time, from feeling too sick to sit and type or read.

I had four kidney procedures last winter, them having left this small stone that was not obstructing anything.  Since mid-January, today marks my third surgery this year.  The first two surgeries being a two-part procedure on something else.

I have prayed and I got an emphatic answer.  I wondered that with this horrific increase in surgical procedures are my days running short.

Then, the answer came.  No.  I am to keep writing.  I am to keep spreading the word that God is good.  God can save.  God can heal.  And although I have lost a week in my “buffer” that week will be restored with God’s Mercy and Grace.  And I will be stronger in the long run.

So, if you offer a prayer in the comments and I am already awake, I hope I can reply with a good report.  The doctors do a good job, but true healing comes from God.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.