And Then Life Threw a Curve Ball or Two

Life got wacky in late October and early November as two people I love dearly had medical problems that landed them in the hospital in Kalispell.  One was life threatening and kept us, and all his loved ones, on edge for days, the other was potentially life threatening and both, thankfully, ended OK.
Two years ago we hosted  players for the Glacier Nationals Junior A hockey team for the season. Several players came and went, but Paul Kinder was with us for the whole season.  He has returned to play for the past two seasons, but for one reason or another, he has lived with other billet families.  He has never left our hearts. These pictures are from two years ago.

In October he came down with a fever and a sore throat.  What seemed a no big deal illness developed into a life threatening pneumonia, septic shock, acute respiratory distress syndrome and a host of other scary medical terms.  He spent 17 days in the hospital, 11 of those were in the ICU and for 10 of them he was on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma.  Paul’s billet brother, Chris “Cudi” Cutshall sacked out in Paul’s ICU room.
The three billet brothers,  Paul, Cudi, and Jonas-all of whom are missing a front tooth due to hockey.
When something like this happens, you think of all the opportunities you missed to spend time with this person who has a special place in your heart.  I had seen him in September and we talked about having dinner at our house.  We both let that opportunity pass by. The next time I saw him he was hovering between life and death and for a few days no one knew which might win. Never let the opportunity to see people you care about pass you by because life gets busy. 
I spent many days and nights at the hospital praying and trying to support Paul’s parents and grandpa.  There is an old saying that there are no atheists in foxholes.  There are none in ICU waiting rooms either.  His team mates, coaches, billet family and a ton of people from the hockey community kept vigil and prayed constantly.  In the end, our prayers were answered.  Paul  survived.  I will post on his recovery separately.
On the morning that Paul was transferred out of the ICU I was sleeping at home after working the night shift.  Karl came and woke me with the news that my mom was throwing up blood.  Oh Lord.  He took her to the hospital and once it was determined that she would need surgery and be admitted, I headed over to this place that I had had enough of. 
After surgery, Mom was put in a room literally four doors down from Paul.  So I could make rounds and keep an eye on both my loved ones. 
Mom recovered quickly.  She actually beat Paul out of the hospital by two days and could out walk him at that time.
Both events refreshed my perspective on  what is important in life and how little things that seemed so important quickly become petty nonsense.  Praise God for bringing both Mom and Paul through the storm.  Both have issues to deal with and more hurdles to overcome but are on their way to recovering.  Hopefully it will all seem a bad dream some day.