Trusting in God's care

About a week or two after the basketball season began last September, I started experiencing back pains. Since I am only 13, the thought of any kind of back problem wasn't even in my mind.

My doctor told me that his wife started having back trouble at a young age, and I was showing the same symptoms as her. He sent me to Albany Medical Center for spinal x-rays and an MRI. The tests showed I had a herniated or bulging disk.

I was referred to a neurosurgeon who hoped that condition could be corrected by phy-sical therapy or, at the worst, microsurgery. After undergoing more x-rays of the spine, it was discovered that I also had a condition called spondylolisthesis. This is a condition where the vertebrae in my back moved the wrong way and cracked, causing my spine to be unstable. A nerve was being pinched, making my legs go numb, sometimes resulting in a fall.

I was very scared of hurting myself, but also mad because I couldn't do all the things I liked to do. I even had to stop playing basketball in the middle of the season.

I started physical therapy and also had a steroid injection in my spine. Nothing seemed to help, and the pain got worse. I went to see an orthopedic surgeon, who suggested that I have surgery to correct the problem.

In August, I had a spinal fusion; my spine was fused, using bone-grafting material, and a metal cage was place to keep my spine stable. I never realized how scary it could be waiting for the day of the surgery.

When I was in the pre-operating room, I thought to myself about how, in a few minutes, the medicine they were giving me would start to work, and how I would be unconscious for the next few hours while they did the surgery.

Since the doctors had to go in through my abdomen, there was a risk of me losing a lot of blood. There was nothing I could do. I was just waiting for it to be over. It made me realize that what happened to me now was in God's hands.

When I woke up, I was told that the surgery had gone well and that I hardly lost any blood. I was so thankful. Later that night, I was thanking God for helping me through the surgery.

I was put in the ICU the night of my surgery, where the nurses took very good care of me. I never want to go back there again. Some of the patients in ICU were so sick that, even if they survived, their lives would never be the same. Many people had such serious injuries that they would probably have to spend their life in a wheelchair, depending on someone else to care for them.

I felt a sudden anger. I was thanking God for helping me, but how could He let these poor people go through all that? One young man had been injured in a car accident. He broke his neck, back, arms, legs, wrists, angles and bones in his face. I felt angry until I saw how happy his mother was when she saw that her son was still alive and how happy he was that she was there.

I realized that everything happens for a reason. These people's appreciation for life was strengthened, and so was their faith. Seeing all this around me made me feel like God was watching over us all that night. Also, it made me feel like He had given the doctors a great gift: They were able to help the sick.

Everyone has a gift from God, whether it is the ability to help others or simply having someone who loves you.

(11/11/04)