I will Never forget~~~~~

Sept. 10th, 2001

This date doesn't catch a person's attention-but if I were to change it to Sept. 11th, 2001 is grilled into our minds forever.  I don't recall much of that day-except waking up in a hospital room, with a television on and I saw a man jumping out a window.  We all know the darkness of that day-watching two huge landmark buildings crash to the ground, with countless people being killed. A tragedy that changed lives forever, leaving families broken-forever grieving for the lost Father, Brother, Sister, Mother, Child.  

But I will never forget the day before-about three weeks earlier, my team of Doctors had put a device in my Spinal Column-its one goal was to "fool" the Pain signals going to my brain-and it worked like a charm for a while.  Unknown to me, my body was rejecting the device-and a massive Staph Infection was rapidly spreading up my Spinal Column!

I hadn't felt well for about a week-the Pain was getting worse and on Sept. 09th-I woke my husband up from a hard sleep, telling him to get me to a hospital fast!  The Doctor who saw me must have known something was terribly wrong and yet he could not "touch me" because I had been through recent surgery for the device installation.  God was really watching over me because that Doctor gave me a massive shot of Antibiotics-which bought me precious hours as we were now on a race to save my life. 

We saw my Pain Doctor on Sept. 10th-I could barely sit up, normally when I see her, its hard to keep me quiet because I enjoy chatting away with her.  Not this time-I had a very low blood pressure and truly felt like I was down for the final count.  My husband sat nearby and watched as she took a large needle and drew fluid out from the area near the device-I got a quick look at her face, and it said everything!  My husband looked white as a sheet, and my Doctor rushed to phone a specialty Surgeon-I still recall her telling him-"I need you to get here just as fast as you can!"

Everything else is a blur-I do know those Doctors operated on me through the night, and had to take me back into surgery within days as they feared the Infection was trying to spread again.  All the veins in my Body had shut down and a Tube had to be run through a vein going from my arm to my heart so I could be given life-saving Medications.  I spent 8 long days in that hospital, and my life had changed.  Recovery took years, yes Years flew by before I felt like living again.

God had also made sure to surround me with some very special Angels-the nurses who were helping my Doctor that long ago day as they too watched me being rolled into surgery, knowing just how close I was to Death.  Many years later I learned they held hands and formed a Circle of Prayer- asking God to watch over me and help me recover, but secretly thought they had seen the last of me.

So much has happened in my life since that long ago day-I had another serious brush with Death, due to a unknown Infection and that too was a long fight back to me enjoying life again. As I sit here typing my memories out-I am struck with one amazing Fact~~~

A group of Women stood in a Circle of Prayer for Me-my life was spared! 

Now, God has blessed me with some special Prayer Partners~~~

Veronica, Diane, Betty, Lolita-and me

We are five Women who hold hands across the Internet world and formed a special

~~~~~~~ Circle of Love~~~~~~~

So tomorrow I will see my amazing Doctor again-and remind her of that long ago day-I have a gift for her but I realize, there is nothing I could ever give her to truly express how grateful I am for her skilled hands

and loving Heart!

Thank you God-I am happy to be here... Pain or no Pain!!

martha