AFTER Denise's Birth, Part 2

Now, my doctor had been out of town on vacation when all that happened.  Soon after I had given birth, he had gone on vacation.  Even that had been a blessing from God, because I hadn't been able to go see him since he was gone.  Soon after this though, his office called and said they had gotten the test results back from that 24 hour urine sample that I had done, and that there were some abnormalities with some of the numbers.  They said I needed to go see a kidney specialist, and they gave me the number of one that my doctor recommended.

I did not mention all that I had been through the past three weeks, and I don't remember if I even thought it was related.  I don't think I did.  I had never had any kidney problems, except for passing a kidney stone.  I just called the doctor and made an appointment.  It takes a while to get into a kidney specialist like that, or so I found out, so my appointment was a while away.  I think about a couple of months.  I can't quite remember.  I really wasn't thinking that much about it.  I felt completely and totally fine, so I was just busy taking care of my family and doing my usual things.

So a couple of months later I went to see the kidney specialist.  I walked into the exam room and sat down in the chair.  He came in and looked at me.  I soon learned that he was a very blunt doctor.  He looked me up and down, and then he looked at the 24 hour urine test results that my doctor had sent over to him.  And, then he said, much to my surprise, "What the h*** is going on with these test results?"

I was so shocked by that.  I didn't know how to respond, so I said, "I don't know."  I thought he was going to tell me.  I thought that last part, I didn't say it out loud.

Then he said, "These test results are bogus!"

He looked at me again and said, almost angrily, "Have you been on dialysis?"  I told him I had never been on dialysis. 

Then he asked me, "Did you walk in here today?"

I told him that I had.

"Do you have any pain?"

I told him that I did not.

Then he leaned forward in his chair, looked straight at me and said, "These test results cannot be correct, because if they were and you weren't on dialysis, you would be dead."  He further explained, "According to these test results your kidneys are functioning at 11%, and if that is the case and you aren't on dialysis, you would be dead."

I just sat there, stunned.

He then said that he was going to have me do another 24 hour urine sample test and we were going to get to the bottom of this.  I left his office with instructions on how to do this and where to go to drop off my sample.  He was very particular about everything, very detailed, and he said he was positive they had messed up on my test results from that July 27th test.

I walked out of his office, went down to my car, got into it and just sat there, dumb founded.  I was very shaken up by what the doctor had just told me.  I did not think the test results were wrong.  Those three weeks that I had been sick, I thought that I had bladder, bowel and kidney infections, but in reality those had just been the symptoms of what had really been happening.  My kidneys hadn't been functioning.  And, according to those test results, I should have died.   I remembered back to how I had told Jeremy that very first day that I felt like I was dying, the pain was so bad.

Well, I drove home and told Jeremy what the doctor said.  He was so excited, and kept saying, "Praise the Lord!"  I mean, he was excited!  Interestingly enough, I was the opposite of him.  I mean, I was thankful, but I was also very somber about what I had just heard.  I could hardly believe it.  I tried to explain it to Jeremy.  I told him it may seem strange, but now that I knew I hadn't been sick with just infections, but actual kidney failure, or so it seemed, I felt kind of scared.

Isn't God just so good?  I mean, if my doctor had been in town for those first two weeks when those test results originally came back, I probably would have found out what was really going on in my body.  If it hadn't happened on a Saturday, I would have gone to my regular doctor's office and seen a different doctor, but nonetheless they still would have had those results in their hands.  At the emergency room, they did not, so they just chalked it up to several infections and put me on antibiotics.

God is God!  He can heal kidneys, or give you brand new ones (like the eagle from Psalm 103) just as easily as He can heal infections.  That is so true!  But, in my mind, it would have seemed bigger and harder.  In my mind, I would have been scared!  How do I know this?  I know this because even though I had been feeling completely fine for a couple of months before I had that doctor appointment with the kidney specialist, it still scared me when he just told me what those test results meant!  You see what I mean?  Glory to God!  He protected me from even knowing what was really going on!

Several months later I talked to a friend of mine.  She went to our church, and her husband had been on a waiting list for a kidney transplant for a long time.  She called me one day for something else, but since my ordeal, I felt so much compassion for all that they were dealing with.  So, I asked how he was doing, and I began sharing some of my story, and she began sharing theirs.  She told me, "I've never been nervous about him dying though."  She went on to explain, "With kidney failure, right before the end, right before you die, everything begins to taste like metal.  And, that has never happened to him."

Once again I was stunned.  I didn't say anything to her, but of course I immediately remembered how I hadn't even been able to drink water, my usual drink, because everything tasted like metal those couple of weeks when I was so sick!  Wow!

For several years after that ordeal, if I ever shared this account with anyone, I would jokingly say, "If Jeremy had gone back to work one week earlier, I would have been healed one week earlier!"  I truly believed that, because when he went back to work, I had to take care of Denise.  However, one day the Lord spoke to my heart and said, "That's not true, Nikki."

"What?" I questioned Him.

"That's not true.  You weren't just laying in bed sick all that time.  You were listening and meditating on my Word and on healing scriptures.  You heard my Words on healing over and over again."

I thought about that, and I thought about how the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing (etc) the Word of God!  I had never thought about that before, but if Jeremy had gone back to work one week earlier, I might not have stood up that day and boldly proclaimed that I was healed, regardless of how I felt.  No, according to what the Lord was speaking to me, I probably would have called him and told him he needed to come back home because I was in so much pain!

God is so good!  And, I am so thankful.  When I remember this story, it almost doesn't seem real.  I have been in church services where the person ministering has said, "If you wouldn't be alive today without God's supernatural healing touch, raise your hand."  I raise my hand, but it still amazes me to this day that I really was that sick.

Oh, and you may be wondering how that second urine test came back.  Well, it came back that my kidneys were operating at 65%.  Not perfect, but a whole lot better!  Jeremy and I weren't satisfied with those results though.  Jeremy said, "No, we won't be happy until your kidneys are functioning at 100%!  God will do better than that!"

Three months later that kidney specialist had me do another 24 hour urine test.  This time it came back that my kidneys were operating at 97%!  That sounds good, but when he told me that my heart sank a bit, because I knew it wasn't what Jeremy and I had asked God for.  But, then the doctor looked at me and said, "For someone your height and weight, that is 100%!"  I haven't been back to a kidney specialist since that day!  Glory to God!  He's so good, and I give Him all the glory and all the praise!

There is a song that I really like called "Our God is Greater."  I am not sure who wrote it, but I like the version that Chris Tomlin sings.  Anyway, the words seem really fitting to me in this situation:  "Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God, You are higher than any other.  Our God is healer, awesome in power, our God, our God!"  Yep, that's our God!  Greater.  Stronger.  Higher.  Healer.  No matter what you may be going through today, just remember this, HE'S GREATER!!!