Suffice to say last week did not go according to my plan.

Not that I had anything special planned, merely that the week unraveled rather quickly and unexpectedly, knocking the sense of peace that comes with routine.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’d hoped to have a normal, boring Saturday. Julie had a few small house tasks to do as we slowly prepare to transform a room at the house into a “big girl” bedroom for daughter Anna so her yet-to-be-born brother can have her nursery.

If time allows, I thought, maybe I can spend a little time tinkering on my car restoration project.

That was my loose plan, anyway, before things went awry.

Saturday morning came with an alarm, which is unusual because the family normally all sleeps a bit later on Saturdays. This alarm however wasn’t from an alarm clock or phone app. Instead it came from the lower left of my own abdomen. It was screaming, “Wake up!”

The pain along with a fever told me something was wrong, and it wasn’t going to be a good day.

As the day lingered on and I showed no improvement, I ended up reaching out to my doctor for help.

As luck would have it he was out of town, but said he could see me the next day if I hadn’t improved.

By noon the next day, he’d seen me, and I had two different antibiotics coursing through my veins.

Dr. Ken Stubbs told me he wanted to see me again Monday morning to see if I was improving.

While I was showing signs of improvement, Stubbs suggested we needed to know the exact cause to confirm his diagnosis of diverticulitis and determine the extent of it.

He ordered a CT scan for the next morning. That wasn’t on my plan either, but it seemed a minor inconvenience.

A text I sent to Julie confirms I walked out of Merit Health Natchez at 9:47 a.m., happy to be going back to my normal life, the scan behind me.

Exactly 61 minutes later my phone rang. It was Dr. Stubbs.

“That was quick,” I thought. The notion that such a rapid call wasn’t going to be good news never crossed my mind.

Dr. Stubbs quickly delivered the news — you have diverticulitis with an abscess and perforation.

I think I muttered something like, “That doesn’t sound good.”

He replied something to the effect of, “No, it isn’t.”

Dr. Stubbs said he was about to call longtime Natchez radiologist Dr. Fred Emrick, who read the CT scan, to get more details and said he would then seek to reach one of the local surgeons to offer consultation as well, in case the problem had to be dealt with surgically.

I nearly dropped the phone.

Emergency surgery was definitely not on my plan for the week.

“Could this really be happening?” I thought to myself.

Two hours later I’m a semi-permanent resident of room 403 at Merit Health Natchez. This was not on my plan.

After two days of IV antibiotics, and under the watchful eyes of Stubbs, local surgeon Dr. Christopher Martin and the gaggle of nurses, techs, custodians and others who keep a hospital running, I emerged Thursday a pain-free man, thankful that we have such smart, caring and capable medical professionals.

More tests are in my future and possibly surgery as well, but for now I’m on the mend and appreciative of the prayers of family and friends.

Lots of folks poke fun at local hospitals — it’s a pastime perhaps as far-reaching as poking fun at the local newspaper — but from my vantage, the staff was courteous, professional and polite. It’s almost as if they all knew — this wasn’t part of my plan.

Lying in bed Tuesday night with the occasional drone of the IV pump keeping regular time, I realized an important lesson in the day’s unexpected events.

We don’t operate on our own plans and our own schedules. God controls all. I forget that — a lot.

Last week was a not-so gentle reminder of how we all need to realize our plans are not nearly as important as His plans.

What does He have in store for you this week? If you’re not sure, a little time alone in hospital room 403 or another quiet place, may help you figure that out.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.