Neck Surgery.

Stay caught up! Read - "Brain Surgery."

I had brain surgery on a Friday.

I spent one night in the ICU and two nights on the fourth floor before I found myself being rolled right back into that icy operating room.

That weekend was pretty uneventful. I slept...a LOT. I went on a few walks, took a shower, and watched a lot of Family Feud and River Monsters. But there is one very important thing that happened that weekend, and it has changed my life ever since.

I discovered the hospital mac & cheese.

You guys. I can't even explain how good this stuff is. It is LITERALLY the best mac & cheese I've ever had. And I promise I'm not crazy. It's not just the pain meds talking. My friends and family all agree that it is pretty dang good.

So moral of the story - if you ever stay at the Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, Utah, do yourself a favor and get the mac & cheese.

Anyways, another amazing thing I was able to experience over the weekend was taking the sacrament in the hospital. It was the first time I ever took the sacrament outside of sacrament meeting, and even though it wasn't that big of a deal, it was something I'll always remember.

It was a senior missionary couple who came to my hospital room that Sunday evening to give my parents and I the sacrament. After the elder missionary blessed and gave us the bread and water, the sister missionary had a short message to share. She gave us a little card with this quote on it -

There honestly couldn't have been a more perfect quote for me at that time. (And if you know me, you know how much I love quotes.) My body was slowly relearning how to walk. I hated every time I had to go for a walk because of how painful and difficult it was. But now these two missionaries - these two angels - came into my room and gave me this quote that literally said to "rise up" and that the Atonement of our Redeemer and Savior has the "power to lift you up and give you strength".

I know, I know. The quote means "rise up" in a spiritual way. But that's what I love about quotes - they mean what you need them to mean. Have you ever had those days where you're scrolling through your social media and you happen to see a random quote that somehow perfectly applies to the exact situation you're going through? You're probably shocked by how much you needed to read that quote.

I can promise you right now with 100% confidence that you didn't just happen to come across that quote. Quotes are just another testament to me that God knows us. He knows EXACTLY what we need and when we need it. He knows EXACTLY what we need to hear and when we need to hear it.

He knows us.

Okay, sorry. Back to the story.

After getting this quote from the missionaries and getting another priesthood blessing, I was ready. I was ready for surgery #2. This surgery was going to be another rough one. The surgeon was going to go back in through the same incision from my brain surgery, and cut a little further down my neck.

Instead of going to the ICU after surgery, I went right back up to my room in the corner of the fourth floor.

Now just so you know, the fourth floor is where they keep all the older people. I was the youngest on that floor by a long shot. But my surgeon didn't want me on the pediatric floor, because he knew as the youngest one there, I would get better care on the fourth floor.

And I did. The nurses were all amazing. Not only did I love them, but they loved me too! I had a few nurses tell me that they wished they could just hang out in my room because I was a lot more "pleasant" than some of the "older" patients they were in charge of.

Every time I had a new nurse or doctor come to my room, I would get the same questions:

"You're so young! Why aren't you on the pediatric floor?"

"How old are you, anyways?"

"Why are you always so happy?"

I thought my head and neck were sore after brain surgery, but my neck surgery gave me a whole new definition of sore. If I wanted to look around, I could only move my eyes. My neck would not budge. Not even a little. It felt like someone had filled it up with concrete.

Not being able to move my head and neck at all made every day tasks much harder. Sitting up in bed, walking, eating, drinking, swallowing, showering, and brushing my teeth, just to name a few. My entire body hurt. I was taking pain meds, but they were barely helping.

Luckily, growing up with brothers and playing sports my whole life has helped me develop a pretty high pain tolerance, so it wasn't completely unbearable. I could handle it, but I was still pretty miserable.

All this pain I was feeling just made me that much more grateful for Jesus Christ. He felt the pain that I felt multiplied by like...a trillion. It was nice to know that I had someone who had gone through the same thing I was going through. He knows what it's like to be in so much pain. He knows what it's like to have brain and neck surgery. He knows what it's like to relearn how to walk. He knows what it's like not being able to sit up in bed or easily brush your teeth.

I think we often forget that he felt EVERYTHING. Every. Single. Thing. Not just the big stuff.

He's felt the heartbreak of a break-up. He's felt the embarrassment of a bad hair day. He's felt the humiliation of saying something stupid in front of your whole class. He's felt the shame that comes with being self-conscious. He's felt the stress of studying for a big test and he's felt the disappointment of failing one.

God knows what you're going through and Christ knows what it's like to go through it. Add in the Holy Ghost, and you've got yourself an motivational dream team. They are your biggest support group, your loudest cheer squad, and your most loving fan club. With them, you will beat any trial that comes your way. 

@season.atwater.photography

💗 / Mickey