Tag Archives: Surgery

by Anthony Baker | December 19, 2017 · 8:19 am

Surgery Day!

I don’t have a lot of time to write, but I wanted to take a moment to type away on this wonderful little keyboard. There is such a wonderful feeling I get when typing out words with both hands buzzing along, rarely misspelling a word… yeah, right.

You see, my wife and I are preparing to walk out the door and head out to the hospital for my rotator cuff surgery. This afternoon, not long after 2 p.m. (eastern), my right arm will be completely useless. I have no idea how long it will be before I am able to type the way I am doing right now, and that’s a little sad.

But on the other hand, I am going to do everything I can to keep my spirits up. This is a terrifying day, but it’s also a very exciting day! I am about to undergo the most radical surgery of my life….I am about to become handicapped… I am about to become totally dependent on my wife for things, as of this moment, I can do for myself…. I am about to sleep in a recliner… I’ve never owned a recliner until today 🙂

This day is also exciting because it is going to be the first day on a journey in which I am going to be able to prove my God is real. Already, even as of yesterday morning, the Lord has been opening my eyes to the reality that He will take care of my family and me through this challenging ordeal. We will not starve…we will not be destitute…He will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory!

I will do my best to keep you guys updated along the way (the best way will be through Facebook). Even though I would ask you to keep me in your prayers, would you please keep my wife, Valerie, in your prayers? She will have a lot on her over the next couple of months as she is not only going to be taking care of me, but still taking care of my grandmother (she’s 95). Keep this in mind – my wife also had torn tendons in her right ankle!

Well, I guess I’d better go and get some more things done before it’s time to leave. In the meantime, go back and look at my previous “appeal” post, and if you can help in any way, it would be most certainly appreciated.

“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”

– Anthony Baker

FYI, my surgery will be at 2 p.m. at Erlanger East, Chattanooga. Pray that Dr. Lund doesn’t slip up 😉

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Filed under current events, Faith

Tagged as blogging, faith, Healing, Health, notifications, Surgery

by Anthony Baker | November 20, 2015 · 10:33 am

Surgery Day

Sometime this afternoon (after 12 p.m. EST), I don’t exactly know when, a surgeon, a man highly skilled in his art, will open up my flesh and attempt to correct a problem which has been bothering me for several months. I’m going under the knife.

Oh, it’s not a big surgery, like having my brain removed and replaced with a turnip (that only happens when conservatives become liberals, and the government pays for the operation). No, I am having my hand operated on, specifically my left thumb. Why? It’s not working the way it should, or rather, “designed.”

Even for small surgeries like this, but especially when one is going to be put to sleep, one is asked serious questions about life and death.

“Do you have a living will and power of attorney?”
“Who do we contact if something goes horribly wrong?”
“If you were to do something in your sleep to make the anesthesiologist screw up, would you prefer a priest or a generic Protestant?”

The fact is that no surgery is a “little” surgery when it requires one to be anesthetized. Let’s face it, even though I’m only going to be having my thumb and hand cut on, I literally could die today. Yes, things like that happen.

This could be my last post. Sobering, eh?

But I’m not worried; my eternity is secure.

This operation has also gotten me thinking about spiritual surgeries, the kind when God has to come along and cut on our hearts. Fortunately, there is no need for anesthesia or living wills, but it’s surprising how many people refuse to let Him operate, even when the end result would be much better health.

Why is it I am so willing to allow a human doctor to put me under and cut me open when I’m so unwilling, at times, to trust my Creator with cutting away the things that make my spiritual life sick? Why would I want to be less effective in my walk with God any more than I want my hand to be crippled? Makes no sense, does it?

So, I’m having surgery in just a few hours. Pray for me.

In the meantime I’m going to be having a consultation with my heavenly Doctor. The great thing is that when He does His cutting, the Sword He uses not only cuts, but heals, too. Recovery time is up to me and how quickly I want to obey.

God bless!

UPDATE: I am still alive, but typing is a tad bit limited. My left thumb was cut open at the palm to release the tendon which makes it bend. I was suffering from an acute case of “trigger thumb.” Now let’s just pray I don’t do anything crazy in my sleep 😦

painful hand

Pain medication is a wonderful thing.

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Filed under Faith, fitness, Future, General Observations, Life/Death

Tagged as faith, Health, Surgery

by Anthony Baker | June 8, 2011 · 3:23 pm

Waiting, Waiting, and Waiting

I was going to write about having something to write about, but then I found something to write about…

Waiting in a hospital room.

Honestly, there are a few things on my writing agenda, including a paper discussing the audience of the letter to the Galatians; however, I just feel tapped out. There has been, and still is, so much on my plate that I am running out of RAM in my brain.

But sitting here in a hospital room waiting for my mother to come out of surgery gave me pause to think…and write…about waiting.

My mother is having a procedure done on her heart. It is called an ablation. It is not supposed to be that big of a deal, relatively speaking, but any surgery is big deal. Any time people take away your ability to breath on your own and put it into the hands of another, that’s a big deal. You just hope that person made more than just “average” grades on his/her “waking up the dead” exam.

Being a large, university hospital, there is good Wi-Fi signal, so here I have my computer to work from. If that fails, I do have my trusty back-up, my iPhone 4. As long as I can sit here and do something besides watch a television mounted too high on the wall next to the ceiling, I’ll be OK.

More bored than worried…

There are a lot of people who find themselves in situations similar to this, but are far more stressed and worried than I am. As a matter of fact, I am not worried at all. Maybe I should be, but why? Honestly, I am not only bored, but wishing that I was at home sitting in my own office, with all my books, getting done all the things that are pressing upon me. You could say that I am more worried about my schedule than I am about my mother’s surgery.

I can’t do anything about my mother’s surgery at this point. She is not only in the care of doctors who make far more than I do, but she is also in the hand of God. Why worry? All I have to do is wait.

Wait for what?

When we are told to wait upon the Lord, what is it that we are supposed to be waiting on? Are we supposed to be waiting for Him to do things just the way we want them to be done? Are we supposed to be waiting for Him to walk through the door with the news we want to hear?

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint. – Isa 40:31 KJV

The promise is that those who wait upon the Lord may not have all the answers, or see things turn out just the way they planned; but that they shall “renew their strength.” Better yet, they shall “mount up with wings as eagles” and soar above whatever may come. They shall stay in the race and “run, and not be weary.” And if it just so hard that there is no getting over it, no getting around it, and no denying the path ahead, then they will it least “walk, and not faint.”

Waiting for what is unknown can be wearisome. Many times the waiting is made harder because of the worry and the inability to plan for the outcome. Thankfully, when all is in God’s hands, there is no need to worry, just wait. In waiting on Him, there will be strength to make it through the unknown that lies ahead, and the boredom of the hospital room.

“Many things about tomorrow,

I don’t seem to understand;

But I know Who holds tomorrow,

And I know Who holds my hand.”