Just wanted to give an update... It's long - but worth it to see what God is doing. :-)
In case you don't know - my dad's name is Bob Doring. ( I think it's nice to have a name.)
My dad will be having a quadruple bypass tomorrow morning. It turns out that he had the top 4 cardiologists in the world baffled, due to the fact that his heart is an anomaly. My dad was born with numerous birth defects. His left ear was basically one little lobe, his mouth was underdeveloped and was open from cheek bone to cheek bone. He spent the first several months of his life in the hospital having his mouth and ear reconstructed. When he was 31 he was able to hear in stereo for the first time when they did surgery to open his ear canal on his under-developed ear. So it turns out that his heart also has had a defect for all these 56 years. Our hearts, as you know, have arteries running from them. These arteries then branch off and into our systems (bear in mind my lack of knowledge when it comes to medical terminology). Well - not my dads. These cardiologists were scratching their heads because my dad's arteries do not branch out. They simply go straight into his "system." So they were looking for things that simply are not there.
God's orchestration is amazing in all this. My dad is maintenance man at Midwest Electric. He could have been up on top of a roof, all by himself when he had his heart attack. He could have had his head stuck in a live electrical box with testing equipment. (something he does almost daily). He could have been on the road with my mom and nephew, returning from a church conference in Milwaukee. But he wasn't. He was awakened, throughout the night from pressure. He did the right thing, and listened to his body and went in to get checked.
Furthermore - God placed him in Rochester, and for very good reason. You see, he would have had to wait until today to get an angiogram at ISJ. Instead, he was transported to Rochester where the top cardiologists will be performing an operation on an anomaly - a potentially fatal anomaly.
Today I went to visit my dad with my oldest sister, Natalie. We had a very, very special time with him - just chatting and enjoying each other's company. Before I left, I asked if it would be ok to pray with him. He said, "Absolutely." Now - for those of you who know any guys who are reserved about emotions and somewhat inhibited when it comes to expressing love verbally - then you get where I'm coming from. I am resolute in knowing that my dad loves me to the very core of my being. And I love him the same way in return. And we certainly tell each other that we love one another - but there are other words that are so touching that I've always wanted to make known to him, and maybe have in writing, but feel uncomfortable telling him verbally because I think it would make him break down. Today I was able to speak to him those words in prayer. It was a powerful moment that we shared.
I sat down on his bed, got really close to him, took him by the shoulders, looked in his eyes, and said, "Dad, I'm not going to be able to do this without crying." But I prayed and I had words pouring out of my soul that were not my words. It was a completely powerful and intimate moment that we shared. I am so grateful for it.
I am trying to not allow fear to enter the picture right now. I believe that there is no mistake in all that's been happening. I believe that God would not have planned this out so perfectly if not to spare my dad. I believe He has more purpose to carry out in person he created my dad to be.
I am running on, so I'm going to stop. Thanks for taking the time to read this and just pray as God leads. Thanks for embracing our family into your hearts right now. I can only say that God is pouring out His grace in ways that I can't put into words. He's so good, and He is in control!
Thanks - Gena
In case you don't know - my dad's name is Bob Doring. ( I think it's nice to have a name.)
My dad will be having a quadruple bypass tomorrow morning. It turns out that he had the top 4 cardiologists in the world baffled, due to the fact that his heart is an anomaly. My dad was born with numerous birth defects. His left ear was basically one little lobe, his mouth was underdeveloped and was open from cheek bone to cheek bone. He spent the first several months of his life in the hospital having his mouth and ear reconstructed. When he was 31 he was able to hear in stereo for the first time when they did surgery to open his ear canal on his under-developed ear. So it turns out that his heart also has had a defect for all these 56 years. Our hearts, as you know, have arteries running from them. These arteries then branch off and into our systems (bear in mind my lack of knowledge when it comes to medical terminology). Well - not my dads. These cardiologists were scratching their heads because my dad's arteries do not branch out. They simply go straight into his "system." So they were looking for things that simply are not there.
God's orchestration is amazing in all this. My dad is maintenance man at Midwest Electric. He could have been up on top of a roof, all by himself when he had his heart attack. He could have had his head stuck in a live electrical box with testing equipment. (something he does almost daily). He could have been on the road with my mom and nephew, returning from a church conference in Milwaukee. But he wasn't. He was awakened, throughout the night from pressure. He did the right thing, and listened to his body and went in to get checked.
Furthermore - God placed him in Rochester, and for very good reason. You see, he would have had to wait until today to get an angiogram at ISJ. Instead, he was transported to Rochester where the top cardiologists will be performing an operation on an anomaly - a potentially fatal anomaly.
Today I went to visit my dad with my oldest sister, Natalie. We had a very, very special time with him - just chatting and enjoying each other's company. Before I left, I asked if it would be ok to pray with him. He said, "Absolutely." Now - for those of you who know any guys who are reserved about emotions and somewhat inhibited when it comes to expressing love verbally - then you get where I'm coming from. I am resolute in knowing that my dad loves me to the very core of my being. And I love him the same way in return. And we certainly tell each other that we love one another - but there are other words that are so touching that I've always wanted to make known to him, and maybe have in writing, but feel uncomfortable telling him verbally because I think it would make him break down. Today I was able to speak to him those words in prayer. It was a powerful moment that we shared.
I sat down on his bed, got really close to him, took him by the shoulders, looked in his eyes, and said, "Dad, I'm not going to be able to do this without crying." But I prayed and I had words pouring out of my soul that were not my words. It was a completely powerful and intimate moment that we shared. I am so grateful for it.
I am trying to not allow fear to enter the picture right now. I believe that there is no mistake in all that's been happening. I believe that God would not have planned this out so perfectly if not to spare my dad. I believe He has more purpose to carry out in person he created my dad to be.
I am running on, so I'm going to stop. Thanks for taking the time to read this and just pray as God leads. Thanks for embracing our family into your hearts right now. I can only say that God is pouring out His grace in ways that I can't put into words. He's so good, and He is in control!
Thanks - Gena
posted by Disney Family at
9:46 PM
1 Comments:
Gena,
Thanks for sharing your blog with me. I feel so much closer to you and your family and am so thankful for the Christian faith that you have and with your openess in sharing it. God is so good to us and deserves our thanks and praise in all things, but especially now - because of the strength He has provided to you and Adam as well as the wonderful gift of healing to your Dad.
Gena, you probably don't know this, but as the oldest of the Klammer cousins, I took care of your Dad as a baby - in fact it was my very first babysitting job! He was less than a year old and I think I was only 8 1/2 or 9 myself. I remember accidentally sticking him with a safety pin when I changed his diaper and I felt so bad about that - I was sure that your Grandma (Carm) would never let me babysit again. I told your Dad about that incident when I was in college and of course his response to me, was something like: "I remember that and I'll never be the same because it gave me a complex of some sort!" He has always been "very special" to me - in fact he was a junior groomsman at our wedding.
Although I don't know exactly what the disorder was with your Dad's coronary circulation I can share a little bit of my knowledge of human anatomy. The arteries around the heart are the vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle. From what you described in your e-mails, I would suspect that some of the major branches of one or more of the coronary arteries was missing. (In many cases when there is one birth defect, there will be others - which apparently is what happened with your Dad.) Anyway what our bodies can do when something like that is missing, is develop "collateral circulation" - it's sort of like road construction when they build a detour - it gets enough blood through to work for a time, but not forever. As you said, it is truly a miracle first that he was able to live all these years without major problems and then that he experienced the symptoms when and where he did and not in one of the very precarious places where he often works! God truly is a gracious and loving God who works mircles in our lives everyday!
I'm afraid I've rambled on and on here. Much love to all of you. ~Karolyn
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