The missing piece

The last few days have been crazy. Our daughter has had some falling spells lately, so my wife took her to the doctor. He suggested that we see a specialist, and we were able to get in on Thursday. I took her at 8:00 AM, and after looking at her, he says we need to get her to another specialist. At this point, some concern is setting in. The doctor he wants us to see normally has a 6-8 week wait before you can get in, but he says that he will call him, and see if he can expedite things. When he comes back, he tells me that she has an appointment for 3:00 today. More concern sets in.

This doctor, a neurologist, is very friendly. (So was the first specialist.) He chats while he examines her. He tells me that there is a concern about her muscle strength. This could be caused by the muscles themselves or by the nerves. He wants to run a test in the morning to see which is the problem. My wife will take her. After the appointment, she stops by my work to tell me that it is definitely a problem with the nervous system, and she is scheduled for another test at 5:00 PM to determine if this is a hereditary issue or an acquired one. If hereditary, it is not an easy fix, but if acquired, it can be treated with medicine.

She is at the surgical center at 3:30, and I get there at 3:45. She is a very nervous 10 year old at this point. They give her meds to help her relax. I want some too! By 5:00 she is headed in for the procedure, where they take some fluid from her spine which will determine the cause of the issue. Now the long wait until Monday for the result. But at 7:00 that night the phone rings. It is the doctor, calling to tell us that her problem is acquired, and not hereditary. Praise God! What a wonderful man not to let us wait through the weekend to find this out.

So here is where I want to talk about the missing piece. It is now 7:10, and it dawns on me that aside from immediate family and my wife's Bible Study group, and people at work, no one knew a thing. I had never once thought about calling anyone at church. Why would I when they have expressed so little concern about us up to this point? We already have enough postcards. Yet I find that extremely saddening, that that which should be a tree large enough for us to rest in its branches often feels like a weed that saps our strength. I wonder how many others, in times of need, have felt this way. And if this is how it is, no wonder the church loses people out the back door almost as quickly as they enter through the front.