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Wanting to help a friend long-distance is a challenge that we all know better after almost two years of social distancing, but even though the technology makes it easier to keep in touch, it doesn't solve the awkwardness that comes with not knowing how much to gently push for more information when you know that your friend is likely being bombarded with inquiries and suspect that the weariness is setting in.
So, this evening, I've been casually interrogating Missy via text in the hopes that I could write a second post for her and update everyone on what's been going on in the last couple of days.Physically, Liberty has become extremely dehydrated. The symptoms of dehydration and the need for round-the-clock IV have added to her emotional distress.
The emotional distress seems to be a combination of two factors: loneliness and worry. According to Missy, Liberty "absolutely does NOT want to do this procedure on Monday." Despite the support of chaplains, psychologists and nurses who have all taken the time to talk things over with her, that doesn't change the reality that "This is horrible and hard."
Added to this is the isolation of being away from nearly everyone she loves:
"[Jeremy] left yesterday [Friday] morning. He and sisters and grandparents went Christmas tree hunting with aunt, uncle, and cousins. Liberty was extremely sad to miss that. Jeremy returned at noon today with Mercy and VeeVee and grandparents. They stayed outside the hospital doors, while Liberty is on the third floor, and that made Liberty more sad. Now they are all driving to our house, sleeping there, going to church . . . in the morning, and then returning to Ohio for drop off. Liberty is terribly sad. She misses her friends, her church, her sisters, her grandparents." And Daddy left.
The silver lining is that grandma left them well stocked up with food, so Liberty still has a supply of nutritious, yummy food prepared with love.
"[Jeremy] left yesterday [Friday] morning. He and sisters and grandparents went Christmas tree hunting with aunt, uncle, and cousins. Liberty was extremely sad to miss that. Jeremy returned at noon today with Mercy and VeeVee and grandparents. They stayed outside the hospital doors, while Liberty is on the third floor, and that made Liberty more sad. Now they are all driving to our house, sleeping there, going to church . . . in the morning, and then returning to Ohio for drop off. Liberty is terribly sad. She misses her friends, her church, her sisters, her grandparents." And Daddy left.
The silver lining is that grandma left them well stocked up with food, so Liberty still has a supply of nutritious, yummy food prepared with love.
I leave you with a song... well, actually two, but they're together in one YouTube video. When the Lord laid the song "The Warrior is a Child" on my heart a few days ago, I was thinking of Liberty, but now I think that this song, so dear to many of us from our teen years, is a picture of Missy, standing bravely in the midst of this battle and perhaps yearning for a moment of peace to look heavenward for a smile from our Father.
The second song is, "Do I Trust You?" It includes this line: "I will trust you, Lord, when I'm blind with pain." I don't think many of us who have not been there with Liberty can truly appreciate the amount of physical pain that she has endured, and yet, Missy assures me that, through it all, she has never let go of God.
Dear Missy and Liberty, I'm praying these songs for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pzu-jWpcdw
The second song is, "Do I Trust You?" It includes this line: "I will trust you, Lord, when I'm blind with pain." I don't think many of us who have not been there with Liberty can truly appreciate the amount of physical pain that she has endured, and yet, Missy assures me that, through it all, she has never let go of God.
Dear Missy and Liberty, I'm praying these songs for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pzu-jWpcdw
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