Comfort

Recently, at about 2 am, our youngest son Conner woke up in a terrific panic because he could not breathe. Tears were pouring out of his eyes as he tried to communicate to us that he couldn’t get any air. To give you some background, Conner was 2 months premature and had to have a breathing tube put in as a newborn. This caused a permanent narrowing of the airway called subglottic stenosis. When he gets any kind of cold with a cough or congestion, it sounds like the croup and results in a very rough and raspy cough. If it gets bad enough and there is enough swelling in the airway, it can make it really difficult to breath, much like a severe asthma attack. It sounds like a sick seal for lack of a better description.

After 2 breathing treatments, usually one does the trick, he was falling on the floor still very much uncomfortable and unable to get a good breath. Call 911.

The ambulance showed up and his oxygen levels had dropped below normal and they suggested getting him to the hospital right away. Conner chose Mommy to go with him in the ambulance and I stayed home as our 6 year old was asleep in bed through it all.

I can’t describe the feeling of strapping my 4 year old in to the gurney and watching him loaded up in to the back of an ambulance, all the time with a breathing mask over his face, little tears in his eyes, looking to me to assure him that everything was okay. I did my best to give him a big smile and thumbs up and expressed how cool it was that he was getting to ride in an ambulance and that mommy was right up in front with him. From what I could tell, he seemed to get some comfort out of my reaction and what I was saying and seemed to think that everything would be okay after all. And it was okay. He is home now resting and doing much better.

I’m not sure at the age of 4 if Conner has learned to get comfort and reassurance from anywhere other than Mandy and I. It’s a great responsibility as a parent to provide that kind of comfort but I do think it comes naturally. You just love your kids so much that you always want to reassure them that everything will be okay. I wonder at what age you grow out of that and need something more to comfort you. I hope that as a father, my sons will always get some form of reassurance from the things I tell them. But more importantly, I look forward to the day when they receive comfort from God as I now do. I wonder how people who are lost can get along in life without that source of comfort…

Don't panic. I'm with you. There's no need to fear for I'm your God.I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.
(Isaiah 41:10 as read from The Message)

Peace,
Monte