Debbie's Health Part 2; Lessons learned in England

The following is an entry from Debbie's journal about her feelings, thoughts and spiritual growth while in the hospital in England::

"The first thing that I learned is that sometimes we ask for a blessing the Lord does not want to give us.  Tom and I both offered many prayers that my pain would go away.  The Lord knew that wasn't the blessing that I needed.  I can't even imagine what could have happened if my pain had gone away, I would probably have gone into kidney failure.  I needed the pain to force me to the hospital where I could get the blessing the Lord wanted to give me.

The phrase "Thy will be done"  has greater meaning for me know.  From now on I will always pray for the will of God to be done.

The timing of everything that happened was a miracle.  The first miracle is that we were in a country where we understood the language.  The second miracle is that we were staying with a missionary couple who were able to get us to the hospital and serve us in so many ways.  The third miracle, even though the National Health Care in England is questionable, they were willing to provide the services I needed without any red tape.  They were willing to work with us on the financial part.

Doctor Ryser, the Area doctor, was able to make an appointment for us to see an urologist on Tuesday afternoon, the day after returning from England, amazing!  Try doing that in the States.  It was a miracle that through this whole experience, I felt peace and a calm assurance that everything would be okay.  When Tom wasn't able to be with me, I was not alone.  I felt the loving arms of my Savior around me.  I don't know what the future holds for me and my health.  I know whatever it is, I will be able to get through it.  Evidently this bladder problem has been going on for a long, long time.  We don't know what damage there is to my kidneys.  Things may go back to "normal".  We don't know why my bladder doesn't empty the way it should.  Hopefully we can find some answers.  Although my future is uncertain, I know that my redeemer lives.  "He lives to comfort me when faint. He lives to hear my soul's complaint.  He lives to silence all my fears.  He lives to wipe away my tears.  He lives to calm my troubled heart. He lives all blessings to impart."

Once we got back to Frankfurt, we made arrangements to visit the urologist.  Dr. Reyser went with us to show us how to get there on a train.  It was really quite simple.  The urologist has his office right in the touristic downtown of Frankfurt.  The following photos show Debbie and Dr. Reyser on our first trip and Debbie riding the train.

In the first visit (on Tuesday), the urologist did a blood test and an ultrasound and scheduled for us to return on Thursday morning to remove the catheter and then return later that day for him to examine the bladder and urethra with urine in it.  This time we made the trip alone, just the three of us, Tom, Debbie and Bagley.

After removing the catheter, Debbie was unable to urinate for the next four hours.  When the doctor examined Debbie, he found no problems or obstructions in the urethra, but the bladder was still not emptying.  So Bagley was put back on and the three of us returned back by train.  Dr. Reyser set us an appointment with a trusted urologist in Utah for October 30, soon after we return next week.  So we will wait until then to find out how to solve the mystery of the dysfunctional bladder.

The good news is that we now know how to go downtown on the train where there are many beautiful and historic buildings.  At a future time, when the weather is better and we are in better physical condition, we will return and enjoy the sights.

We had previously planned on traveling to Finland on Thursday night and to Italy on Saturday.  I (Tom) made the short trip to Finland on Thursday night and Debbie stayed home.  I was able to visit the Helsinki, Finland temple on Friday morning and participate with our Self-Reliance manager in the training of members of two different stake committees on Friday afternoon and evening.  Although short, it was a very worthwhile trip.  Saturday morning early, I was able to return to Frankfurt and be with Debbie again.

We have delayed our trip to Italy for now, making sure we are getting adjusted to the new reality before we make any more trips.  This will give us more time to work with our new manager this week, as he is returning from training in SLC.

Self-Reliance in England

Let me take a step back and tell what we were doing in England before Debbie got sick.  It might be easiest to follow the numbers on the following map of England.

We flew into Manchester (1), England on Monday, October 5 and had a wonderful dinner with Elder and Sister Curtis, our SRS missionary couple there and spent the night in a local hotel.   The next day we went with our SRS Manager, Les, to Hull (2), England to visit a Healthy Living Self-Reliance Group.  It was our first experience to see senior citizens that don't have a temporal self-reliance need participating in a Self-Reliance group that is interesting to them, but still including the My Foundations course.

We also stopped by to get to know Les's wife and family on the way back to Birmingham (3), England at the end of the day.  We ended up spending about 10 hours in a car that day with Les, which gave us a wonderful time to talk about the Self-Reliance initiative in his region, which is United Kingdom, North.  The next day in Birmingham, we spent time visiting with another Self-Reliance missionary couple, Elder and Sister Michaelis and our SRS manager, Martin, who is responsible for the United Kingdom South.  We then spent the afternoon with meetings with the two managers and our Area Self-Reliance Manager, Thomas King, who joined us.  That evening we went to participate in a Stake self-reliance committee meeting and then continued on with a training of members of four stake self-reliance committees for another hour and a half.  I had the privilege to share insights of the Self-Reliance initiative worldwide, focusing on the doctrine and principles of Self-Reliance.  The entire session was interactive and we were able to answer questions from each of them.  The spirit was very strong in this meeting and we felt that all were spiritually fed and ready to take additional steps in their callings related to Self-Reliance.

The next morning we were picked up at our hotel by Martin, who took us to London (4), England , a drive of another 2 and a half hours.  There we spent the next two days in the historic  Hyde Park Chapel, participating with the two managers, their three Self-Reliance missionary couples, Thomas King, Debbie and I.  This included Elder and Sister Baxter who are serving as Self-Reliance missionaries in London.  The following photos are of the Hyde Park chapel and the Self-Reliance seminar:

At the end of the two day seminar, on Friday night, we were able to go as a group to the London, Temple to enjoy a temple session together.  What a wonderful way to finish this special time together.

After the temple session is when Debbie's pain became extra intense.  She was without pain during the entire temple session, which was a tender mercy from the Lord.  I have told that story in an earlier blog.  We did spend the remainder of our time in London with Elder and Sister Baxter, except for Debbie who was in the hospital.   However, why we were still trying to understand the issue, I was able to participate with a Starting and Growing My Business group in London on Saturday morning.  The girl on the right in the photo is a non member from China who is receiving lessons from the missionaries and is building relationships with members in the class.

Sunday night, while Debbie was in the hospital, I left for a few hours to participate in a training session for members of nine different stake self-reliance committees in the greater London area.  Our experience was similar to that in Birmingham, earlier in the week.  The spirit was strong, the leaders were dedicated and it was felt that this was a positive step forward for all involved.

Finally on Monday morning, we were able to get Debbie discharged from the hospital.   We went straight from the hospital to the airport in London. We missed our original flight, but were able to get booked on a later flight without the normal charges due to Debbie's medical situation.  Photos below show the front of the hospital where Debbie spent two nights.  The other is of Debbie in the airport in a wheelchair, which facilitated her experience in the airport and got us to the front of several lines.