Feels Like Home

Feels Like Home

Some things seem to carry more value to people than other things.  Would you agree?  Maybe it is your car, a trinket, jewelry, a hand written letter, a favorite blanket, and so on.

During this journey, I have found that seemingly simplistic things are taken for granted.  A shower.  Sunshine.  Fresh air.  The ability to walk or talk.  Conversation and company.

Patients in hospitals may lose that sense of being at home.  The nurses call it "hospital delirium" because patients become confused from pain medications and everything is unfamiliar.  Many in the ICU are intubated, meaning that they can't eat or taste anything, and cannot talk.  They stare at the ceiling or the TV, and the rooms are dark.  They are awakened at all hours, being touched and tested for vitals and blood work, changes of linens, and monitoring of alarms that go off.

What is home?  Is home stuff like TVs, computers, food, your own bed?  Or, is it how you feel?  Surrounding Wayne with people that love him, his family, feels like home.  Being here with him, sharing my love, talking to him, sharing my heart and my prayers with him, feels like home.  I hope he feels it too.  It is a reason why I stay by his side.

A tracheotomy was put in so Wayne could be more comfortable.  I can kiss his lips, and even though he cannot eat or speak by his mouth, I can lip read.  It is our hope to try a speaking valve soon, so he can again share his voice.  Hearing and using his voice will feel like home.

We have put some Lemon Italian Ice in his mouth, let it sit on his tongue, and then suctioned it out.  This is his favorite treat and I hope it tasted like home.

There are pictures and signs hanging up in the hospital room, showing your love of Wayne.  It feels like home.

Through the coordinated efforts of many people here at the hospital, Wayne got to go outside.  Security unlocked the closed Healing Garden and shoveled the sidewalks, privacy blinds were put up to block the windows looking out, managers coordinated people to push the hospital bed and machines.  As we rolled down to the garden, with my son helping push the bed, the sun came out from behind the clouds.  As we opened the doors to the garden, the sun continued to shine brightly, and we turned Wayne in the bed so that the sun shone on his face.  We breathed in the fresh air, saw the sky, and appreciated the beauty of outside.  We took pictures together, and it felt like home.

Home really is where the heart is, not in our possessions.  Having Jesus in your heart feels like home.  Someday, we all will rejoice in the perfection of a beautiful, eternal home in heaven.

Reflection Verses:

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”  Luke 12:15 NIV

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!’  1 Chronicles 16:31 NIV

Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.  John 6:47 NIV