Nige's Surgery - Update #1

Mt Ruapehu on the left and Mt Tongariro on the right

It was a beautiful day for flying - sunny and not many clouds until closer to Auckland. We checked into Auckland City Hospital at 3:00 pm and Nige was shown to his bed. We didn't really see anyone until 5:00 pm and then the different medical staff began coming to see him and were still coming when I left about 6:15 pm.

The plan for tomorrow is that about 8:00 am he will be taken down to surgery, and I'll able to go with him to the surgical ward. They will give him an epidural and then will do all the rest of the prep work. So they won't actually get started until about 9:30 am. Someone is going to call me when the surgery is finished, which will be around 2:30 pm but they said I probably won't get to see Nige until about 5:00 pm. They're also saying it may be possible he will be in Intensive Care for the first couple of days (so he won't be in Ward 78 for a few days yet).

Tomorrow will be a long day for me . . . of waiting. God is already showing His care for us through the visit of Ian, Cathie and Kirsten this evening (friends from Riverbend who were up in Auckland for another reason), and tomorrow Phil and Natalie and the kids are driving up to Auckland for a few days (it's school holidays here in NZ), and a few others from Riverbend will be attending a conference at Howick Bapist in the weekend and some have said they will visit. What a blessing! We are thankful too, for all our other friends out there who can't visit but we know are praying for us this week. Thank you!

Ian, Cathie and Kirsten ended up coming to visit me in my apartment room this evening also. I called for help because I wasn't able to get the Internet working on my laptop and they very graciously came over to help. Together, Ian and Kirsten, figured it out and so now, here I am. Thank you Ellis family! :)

Oh, I just remembered another little blessing from earlier today . . . we had just flown out of Napier Airport and I told Nige I'd just remembered that I hadn't packed extra hankies (and you all know the teary-deary I am). Right after that I opened an envelope from a friend and inside the card were two hankies! They had an 'S' stitched on each one. She said they were reminding me of my job description for the next few weeks - "Sereena Shailer - Surgery Support". Cute, and practical!

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness O Lord, great is Thy faithfulness."