June 16, 2025 • 50 mins
This episode of Fed by the Fruit features a poignant narrative shared by Lauren Garner, who recounts her harrowing experience during a trip to the Dominican Republic. The tale begins with excitement and anticipation but swiftly transforms into a saga of medical distress as Lauren falls gravely ill shortly after boarding the plane.
The episode meticulously details the onset of her symptoms, her falling into a state of severe illness, and the subsequent challenges faced while navigating the healthcare system in a foreign country. Lauren articulates her fears, the feelings of helplessness, and the moments of divine intervention that ultimately led to her survival.
This episode serves not only as a personal testimony but also as a testament to faith and resilience, emphasizing the importance of community support and prayer during life-threatening situations. The listeners are engaged through her heartfelt reflections on the experience, illustrating how faith can provide solace in the face of adversity, culminating in a message of hope and healing that resonates deeply.
Reach out to KB on Instagram and share your thoughts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Foreign.
S welcome to Fed by the Fruit,a podcast focused on nourishment
for the mind, body and soul.
I'm kb, a spirit filledcertified life and nutrition coach
with a calling to disciplewomen who are hungry for more.
Each week we will learn whoGod is and what he wants for and
(00:22):
from us through powerfultestimonies, biblical truth, and
so much more as we fuel ourminds and bodies in ways that honor
Him.
Let's get fed.
Hello friends.
Happy Monday.
Welcome to episode two of Fedby the Fruit.
I'm so excited that you're here.
(00:43):
I have my sweet friend Laurenhere today to share an incredible
story with you.
As I shared with you last week.
Each month of this podcastwill bring a powerful testimony from
an incredible guest.
And today that is my friend Lauren.
And then an episode divingdeeper into well known or not so
well known stories andcharacters of the Bible, an episode
(01:06):
on how to apply biblical truthto our daily lives.
And then a wild card where Iwill continue to share my life with
you and talk about all of thethings I love.
So today we get the powerfultestimony and I'm so excited for
Lauren to just dive right inand share her story.
So welcome Lauren.
(01:27):
Thank you for having me.
I'm happy to be here and sharethe way the Lord has been working
very specifically in my lifethe past couple months.
Yeah, I just, I think youshould just, just start with your
story.
It is, it is.
I don't even know how tointroduce it, but I think so many
people will be able to relateto, like, where you were at and what
(01:48):
you were doing and like, justto think, like, how would I react
in a similar situation?
I've thought that so manytimes since I heard your story, like,
what would I do if that were me?
I know so many times I've evensaid, and I'll get right into it,
but if I could go back, Iwould do this or that.
And it's so dumb to say thatbecause if I could go back, I would
know everything I know now andI wouldn't have gotten on the plane
(02:10):
in the first place.
So my husband and our friends,another couple and I were heading
on March 4th.
We flew to the Dominican justto go on a trip together to get away.
We all have kids and as mostpeople do, jobs, lives, families,
and we were just going to getsome, some rest and have a good time
(02:32):
together in beautiful sunshine.
Like you were saying, winterreally gets to me.
So that first week of March,we were like, this is going to be
amazing.
Sunny and 80 every day and Myhusband and I had gone on a trip
to the Dominican last year,actually for my 40th.
And I said the day we got backfrom that trip, I said there isn't
a thing I would change aboutthat trip.
(02:55):
And the day I got back fromthis trip, there's not a thing I
would change.
There's nothing I wouldn'tchange about my 2025 trip.
So we get on this plane andwe're an hour and a half into the
flight.
I felt perfectly well.
I ate a bacon, egg and cheesecroissant in the airport.
I drank an iced coffee,totally fine.
And about an hour and a halfinto the flight I told my husband
(03:17):
I was.
Do you have your.
Can I use your sweatshirt?
I'm freezing.
It's freezing on this plane.
And he looked at me and he waslike, it is not cold on this plane.
I'm covered in chills.
Twenty minutes after that, I'mvomiting in the bathroom.
And I will spare you any otherdetails, but I was violently ill
within an hour and a half whenbasically when we reached cruising
(03:37):
altitude on this flight, afterbeing perfectly well, I went to the
gym.
The day before we left my, wecelebrated my youngest, my 12 year
old daughter's birthdaydowntown in D.C.
so going around perfectly fine.
So we get down to the resort,we get off the plane.
Sorry.
We do get to the resorteventually, but not for long.
(03:58):
We get off the plane and wehad been further up than our friends
and I sort of had this weirdpain in my shiny and I said to my
husband, I know this soundscrazy, but I need to say out loud
to you, I have this verystrange pain that arrived at the
same time as I got nauseous onthe plane and I'm fearful that it's
(04:20):
going to give me sepsis andI'm going to die on this island.
And he laughed.
I mean, my.
I'm not, it doesn't, it soundscrazy, but that part, that part gives
me goosebumps every time youtell the story.
Yes.
Like, it was definitely one ofthose things where I feel like God
was like planting this seed inmy head to like be aware.
I am not, I'm not an anxietyprone person.
(04:42):
I am not a person who stressesor worries.
In fact, I don't know that Ihad been to the doctor in four or
five years other than likemaybe an annual like ob.
I had had.
We had five kids in six years.
So I went regularly.
I was like, I'm fine, I'm fine.
I'm just not, I'm.
It's not something that I'mprone to.
And I'm thankful that that isnot the way my mind naturally goes.
(05:05):
But I was, I would say, like,led to have this.
Premonition is a superstitioussounding word.
But I would say this leadingto be like, you need to be on your
guard against what's happening here.
This isn't something normal.
So my husband, of course, laughs.
We're waiting for our bags.
Our friends catch up with us,and I say to my friend Amy.
I was like, amy, I.
(05:25):
I think something might beseriously wrong.
And she was like, oh, no, what happened?
And I just was like, I gotsick on the plane.
I don't know.
I just don't feel right.
Something's not right.
Um, so we go to the resort,and as soon as I'm walking around
there, but I was like,something isn't.
Something isn't great.
I go to bed that night.
Um, we ended up moving resortsbecause our room was horrifying.
So we move resorts.
They had to take me on, like,a golf cart.
(05:46):
So we're in this other roomand I just.
I couldn't even stand up inthe hotel lobby.
Like, this is gorgeous place.
You're surrounded by, like,palm trees and just beautiful surroundings.
And I'm literally.
This is not my personality, y' all.
I'm sitting with my head on,in my hands in front of all.
Everyone probably thought Ihad been drinking all day in the
hot sun, which I had.
I had.
I had a mango juice upon arrival.
(06:08):
So my husband is like, are you okay?
Can you make it to the room?
And.
And so there's two full sizebeds in the room.
And we get there and I waslike, just sleep in the other bed.
This is a tiny bed.
If I have the flu, I don'twant you to get sick.
So he, like, just lays down.
So all of this to say, myhusband is not.
He's not ignoring me, but he'sacross the room.
Sure.
In the middle of the night, Iam crawling to the bathroom.
(06:29):
I can't walk.
My leg is hot and swollen.
It's my left shin from, like,the knee down.
It had gone from somethinglike the size of a ping pong ball
to what I would say was, like,radiating out.
And it was.
It was hot and puffy.
It was.
It was probably double thesize of my other shin by the morning.
(06:49):
So I'm.
I'm crawling to the bathroom,like, clamoring my way there.
I keep getting sick.
My body's obviously, like,very upset.
And my husband, in the morningGoes out to just see like, maybe
I could find her somebreakfast or something.
He's unaware of how unwell Ihave been in the night.
I must be a quiet brawler.
You must be.
I'd have been waking him up, like.
(07:09):
Look, I knew there was nothinghe could do.
I was.
It was one of those timeswhere I only wanted to go back to
sleep because I felt so, so sick.
So he comes back around 10:30and he's like, hey, do you want to
come down to the beach forsome breakfast?
And I said to him, I reallyhate to say this, but something is
horribly wrong and I have togo to the clinic here and at least
(07:30):
find out.
And he was like, he knows I'mnot like, like, not like that.
I haven't been to the doctorin five years.
So he's like.
He's like, well, do you wantme to ask?
He was like, it's right acrossthe street.
Do you want me to ask for thelittle golf cart?
It's like across the littleresort road.
And.
And I was like, I don't knowif I can make it.
I had to scoot because we wereon like a second floor villa.
I had to scoot, like on mybottom down the steps.
(07:51):
I'm saying bottom.
All my kids down the stepslike that.
It was so.
It was like funny now, but horrifying.
Then, like the day before, Iwalked onto an airplane perfectly
well.
Right, right.
So I like flop onto the golf cart.
And the guy, he literallydrives like 20ft and looked at me
like, was this necessary?
(08:11):
I was like, yes, this is notmy style, but yes, this was necessary.
We get into the clinic and thegirl, this is where I should have
known to.
To flee home.
Dominican healthcare.
They took my temperature in myarmpit like it's 1981.
Like, oh my God.
Where have you heard ofsomeone taking.
This is like.
That is like 1950s.
(08:33):
Like, what is happening?
And it was 105 in my armpit,which it's usually a few degrees
lower.
In his armpit than it would be.
Oral or on your forehead or whatever.
So the girl's like.
And she looks at my leg andshe goes, did something bite you?
And I said, no, this ishappened before I touched down here.
(08:53):
She was like, we have a lot of insects.
I was like, no, I'm tellingyou, this happened.
It had already happened when I landed.
She was like, you have to goto the ER in an ambulance right now.
And I, well, of course we'rethinking like America.
So we're like thinking it'sgoing to be like several thousand
dollars up front.
And we were like, well, do.
How does it.
Like, is there any other option?
Like just having no idea whatwe're getting into.
(09:14):
Right, of course.
So.
And me not really having agood concept of what was.
What was happening.
So she says, you could take ataxi, but you're not going to get
into the hospital very fast ifyou don't go in the ambulance.
I was like, okay, I guesswe'll go in this ambulance.
So everything is like.
It's like humorously bad.
It's like this rolling chair.
(09:34):
They're like jostling me down.
It hurt for anything to touchmy leg.
At this point.
They strapped a seatbeltacross my leg and it was like taking
my breath away.
Like, you could barely touch it.
And we're bouncing downDominican, like the Dominican roads.
I don't know if you've everbeen like, I know you have traveled
to Mexico and stuff.
It's like a.
I described it last year aslike a.
(09:55):
It's like a video game, likeMario Kart.
Like, people are just.
They don't care.
I don't know, they.
They just go.
And the ambulance, we.
It was like a 25 minute ridewith like the blaring siren.
I'm delirious.
And then we get.
Is your husband.
Your husband's in the back ofthe ambulance with you Put it.
They put him in the back?
Yeah, they did let him go.
And the guy like, they likedropped me off a curb.
(10:19):
It's not like here, like, Ialways complain about, like, I'm
like, why are there all theselike, ramp rules and everything?
America, thank you for theramp rules.
Because we know.
So painful, so bumpy.
I'm like, literally like beingjostled down and everything hurt.
Like my whole body is justhaving a hard time, like, existing,
being alive.
Yes, yes.
Literally fighting for my life.
(10:40):
We use that as a joke.
But I'm like, looking back,I'm like, no, that's what was happening.
So we get there and I'madmitted finally after several, like,
bouts and rounds of do.
Did this bite?
You kept asking me ifsomething bit me because my leg was
so swollen and red.
Right.
And like, they kept.
The communication was poor,which it's not the U.S.
(11:01):
like, I chose to go to a nonEnglish speaking country, but this
was like a resort hospital.
So the communication wasincredibly frustrating.
They finally are like, yeah,you need to stay.
And it's a private hospital,so you pay every day.
Like, they just come and say,like, here's Your bill, everything's
in Spanish.
And so they're like, they'relike, it's going to be $4,000 to
(11:22):
be admitted tonight.
And so we're like, okay,thinking like, we'll go, we'll get
admitted, I'll get onantibiotics and I'll head back to
the resort the next day.
It's like what was in ourhead, right?
So we get, I get admitted.
And soon after it became clearlike that the communication and the
treatment was just not going well.
(11:45):
Like I was getting sicker.
Everyone who came in, myhusband would say, what are you giving
her?
What is that?
Like the iv?
You know how in the US The IVruns through like a computer and
there's beeping, like beepingto the point of like, okay, calm
down.
This was like, it was likethis shining.
There's like a pole and a tubeand hopefully gravity will dose out
(12:07):
what you need at the right speed.
Gosh.
Wow.
Yeah.
Some of the stuff, it waslike, my husband would say, you know,
this hasn't, this, thismedicine hasn't dosed at all.
Like it hasn't moved in 24 hours.
And they would just like flickit and they'd be like, oh, it's slow.
And he was like, no, no, it's12 ounces and 24 hours.
It hasn't gone at all.
So I'm getting no hydration.
I couldn't eat and I hadn'teaten since my croissant on Tuesday
(12:32):
morning.
This is Wednesday night.
So anyway, I'm getting sicker.
Thankfully they did run a fewblood tests the second day.
They were like, oh, whatever, antibiotics.
And I'm allergic to penicillin.
So they're trying to findthings that aren't related, which
is kind of hard in theantibacterial world, especially cross
crossing languages as well.
(12:53):
So anyway, they were like,whatever antibiotics we're giving
you are where your kidneys areshutting down, like your, your organs
are dying.
So we need to take you off of that.
So thankfully, I think thatdrew red flags in to bring a specialist.
They were like, oh, that she'snot responding the way we would expect
(13:14):
to these original course oftreatment, which was given by a general
surgeon.
So the internist comes in andI, at that point I didn't know it,
but I was going septic.
And so I've been in the U.
Out of the US for 48 hours andmy blood is turning on my body and
people die.
People our age die of sepsisin the US within 48 to 72 hours of
(13:39):
having it So I was havingthese horrifying, I would say demonic,
like, hallucinations when Iwould close my eyes in the room and
I just wanted to sleep becauseI'm so.
Such high levels of infectionand exhaustion from the fever.
But I would close my eyes andthe room would still be there, but
(14:01):
there would be other thingspresent in the room.
Picture things that you wouldsee in, like, movies, like, where.
Where people are cursed.
And sometimes it would be,like, children who were helpless,
like, around me.
And I.
It.
It was so real.
Like, I would try to reach for them.
One one of the days, it was myown kids through, like, this glass,
(14:21):
and I could see that they werestruggling and suffering, but I couldn't
do anything.
And I feel like the thing thathas always been the.
The saddest or most horrifyingthing to me, I guess, about life
on earth is, like, thesuffering of innocent children or
innocent people.
And so it was almost like theworst things I could imagine were
being brought in front of mein a way that I couldn't shut out.
(14:44):
So, anyway, all of this ishappening, thankfully.
Go ahead.
I was just.
Is your husband, like,reaching out?
Like, are you.
Is anyone in contact with yourdoctor back home?
Do you not even have a doctorback home at this point that you're.
Like, I have one now.
I did not have a primary care.
My husband, we.
We didn't know how sick I was.
(15:06):
I think I thought that thehallucinations were from the medicine
they were giving me.
But when I looked back overthe medicine, I realized now it was
a symptom of sepsis because Iwas on Tylenol.
Was it.
Oh, my gosh.
I think that was part of it.
We were like.
And I knew I was not wellenough to fly, so I think we had
this, like, paralyzed mindsetof, like, they would not let me on
(15:27):
a plane.
Right now.
I cannot go up to a plane and be.
I was still getting sick, eventhough I hadn't eaten in days.
So I knew, like, logically, Iwas like, they're not going to let
me get on a commercial airline now.
There are many things where,like, we would have called, probably
the embassy, I think, is whatyou can do, it turns out, especially
(15:47):
if the care is as horrifyinglike, they were breaking IVs in my
arms.
I was getting, like, swelling,so the medicine wasn't even going
anywhere.
And they.
I was completely dehydrated.
They would give you, like, awater bottle once a day.
It was like a jailish POW situation.
I shouldn't say that because Irealized POWs have it much worse.
But it.
(16:08):
It was bizarrely neglectful,considering the cost of what we were
paying every day.
And it was clean, I would say.
I will say it was clean.
But beyond that, the care was deplorable.
And you would try tocommunicate, and I don't know if
they were told to not try to use.
We would try to use Google Translate.
I don't know if they haverules like we have here in the US
(16:31):
where they're like, sorry, itdoesn't give an accurate description,
so we can't do that.
They were very unwilling tocommunicate with us other than the
people who came in every nightwith our list of expenses that we
were just, oh, they could communicate.
They could.
And a couple times, my husbandwas like, can't we.
Can you come in and help uscommunicate here?
And they were like, no, that's.
We're not trained to do that.
(16:53):
They were just trained to say, $4,000.
Thanks.
Wow.
Yeah, so we did.
We were talking to my parentsa little bit, but also, we didn't
want to alarm everyone.
Like, there was not a lot thatwe could do other than wait.
What we thought was wait forthe swelling to go down so I could
be well enough to travel.
So there are lots of otherdetails I don't want to drag out.
(17:17):
But we ended up on Friday afternoon.
The internist was like, you're starting.
Your leg is starting to calm down.
Like, the infection is nolonger spreading, but you can't travel
until you have been onantibiotics for at least 20, 24 hours.
Like, legally.
And your first.
Your Wednesday, Thursday don'tcount because they were not effective
(17:37):
for your body.
They were just causing you problems.
So legally, I think the firsttime I could have considered leaving
the hospital was Saturday night.
Our flight was on Sunday at noon.
And so I think we tried tolook for a Saturday flight, but all
of them were long layovers.
The flight to the Dominicaninto Dulles is only just under four
hours.
(17:57):
So we were like, if we keepour direct flight on Sunday, I will.
It'll give me a whole notherdose of antibiotics, and I should
be good to go.
So that was, like, our.
How we felt.
We felt that was the wisestthing to do, and it made sense of
what we already had.
Our friends on Saturday nightbrought us our luggage.
They had offered multipletimes to come see us.
He's a.
Her husband, my friend Amy.
(18:18):
Her husband, Josh, is afirefighter and a paramedic.
And when he came, he was like,you have to get out of Here, you
have to go.
Like, I think he knew that Iwas septic, but I think he didn't
want to scare me, but he waslike, you have to go.
So they brought us our luggage.
We never went back to thehotel once we had left on Wednesday
(18:39):
morning after my golf cart ride.
So they bring us our luggage.
Thankfully, that saved us aton in the way the next morning was
orchestrated.
I felt the whole time I was inthe Dominican, in the hospital, my
husband never left me thewhole time.
He stayed in the same clothes.
He didn't eat for a week.
I'm sure Jonathan would do thesame thing.
(19:00):
A loving husband.
Yeah, I have always.
My husband has always beenloyal and loving, but I don't know
that I have ever felt so stoodby by him than I felt this week that.
That week he.
So in the morning, oh, I was saying.
I was starting to say I neverhad a sense of dread while I was
(19:22):
there, even though I knew thatI was very sick and I knew that there
was a possibility that I could die.
Like I said, I feel like I wasconfronted with that possibility
the moment we landed.
I was confronted with that possibility.
And I feel like I had thepeace that passes understanding of
knowing.
Of course I have.
I have five young children.
My oldest is 13, my youngestis six.
(19:44):
There was no part of me thatwas like, oh, I'm fine if I just
die because of them.
I did have the peace ofknowing if I die, I know what happens
to me and I'm trusting thesovereignty of God's plan for my
children's lives, that peoplewill step up for them and he will
(20:06):
be faithful to care for themas they continue to grow.
And hopefully, obviously I'mthankful I don't have to think past
that because I'm here and I'mback and I'm well.
But I did.
I did not have any sense ofdread, even though what was happening
was dreadful.
And I know that that is thecomfort of the Lord.
(20:28):
I know that's what that is.
I don't know what else itcould or would be because I'm not
okay with being like, oh, I'm41 and I died with all my young kids.
I'm not okay with that.
In the moment when I wasconfronted with that possibility,
I had the peace of knowing ifthis is what happens as the Lord
leads, like, if this is hiswill, this is what's going to happen.
So anyway.
(20:49):
But it didn't.
That's not.
Like, I do not want to soundat all like, if I die I die.
That's not how I feel about my life.
But it's important to say that God.
God intervenes in thosemoments, and he gives you that PC,
promises that it's in the Bible.
And I think until you've beenin a situation like that, you can't
even fathom what that means.
(21:09):
But you're confronted withthis very real and very scary, you
know, situation where itreally could be your fate that you're
going to die.
I mean, I.
Very similarly, but also very different.
Like, just in waiting for mysurgery to happen and having all
this time to think about,like, what if I die?
(21:32):
Like, he said to me, you'renot going to die.
But, like, I mean, you're cut.
You're sawing open my chestand working on my heart, like, anything
could happen.
And of course, all you thinkabout is your children.
But somehow in there, I wouldgo to bed at night and feel like
Jesus was literally.
I was sleeping in his arms andI had full peace.
(21:53):
It's.
It's.
It's.
It's incredible.
Yeah.
It is amazing to experience that.
I have said sometimes in mylife, like I said at the beginning
of this podcast, I don't.
I am not a person who dealswith a lot of anxiety.
And I have sometimes askedmyself, is that because I don't have
things to be anxious about?
(22:13):
And I would say, after thisexperience, I did experience the
supernatural power of thepeace of the Lord in those days,
for sure.
Not to say that, like, oh, Idon't worry about anything now.
But of course, in the.
In those moments, it wasdefinitely like, no, this is real.
This is.
This is what it's like to havethe hand of God covering your situation.
(22:36):
Um, so Sunday was one of thosedays where you see Sunday morning,
I would say the very specificdirection of God, where we saw this
in our lives.
Um, we knew we had to go.
Like, we woke up, the sun wasshining as it was every day, beautiful.
Out the window.
We're overlooking this jungle,and the doctor comes in and we're,
(22:57):
like, pumped.
Like, we have our stuff.
We had our first shower.
They didn't change my clothesthe whole time I was there.
I was in my own personalclothing for seven days, six days
with this fever.
It was so bad.
Anyway, I have to keep talkingabout that, but my.
We're ready to go.
The doctor comes in and helooks at my leg, and he looks at
my husband, and he goes,you'll kill her if you get her on
a plane like this.
(23:17):
He was like, her, my leg, myCalf was three times.
I also had it in my elbow.
And my elbow was like, thesize of, like, a Bradford pear.
Like, picture, like a lump.
And then my shin.
It was.
It's what it looked.
It was like, even the color.
Yeah, it was like red and yellowish.
Anyway, my shin is twice the size.
Three times, I would say three times.
We have pictures of it.
(23:37):
Three times the size of myother one.
And he's like, if you put.
He looks right at my husband.
Super clear communication.
If you put her on a plane likethis, you will kill her.
She will have deep vein thrombosis.
She could throw a clot.
She could have compartmentsyndrome and lose her leg.
He was like, so many thingscan go wrong on that plane.
You should not leave hereuntil this swelling is down.
(23:58):
My husband said it could be days.
And he was like, yeah, it could.
And so he leaves the room.
This is like 8:45 in the morning.
I have an IV in my arm.
I'm still getting an.
I'm supposed to be getting onemore dose, which was making us feel
better about traveling, right?
So he.
My husband sits down on thebed next to me, and he takes his
(24:20):
hands in mine.
And I have seen my husband cry.
We've been together since2006, so 19 years.
I have seen him cry one time,and he had tears streaming down his
face.
And he sat down next to me andhe held my hand, and he.
We bowed our heads together.
And he said, we need guidance.
We don't know what to do.
(24:40):
Lord, show us what to do.
And we looked up from praying.
I also, in that time, hadprobably seen him get a Bible notification
the same number of times.
And he had.
It was the ding at.
He doesn't even keep it.
His phone's always on silent.
His phone dings, and he looksat it.
And I said, who is that?
(25:01):
And it was Psalm 90, verses 1and 2, which are.
He who dwells in the shelterof the most high will find rest in
the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, myrefuge, my fortress, my God in whom
I trust.
And to me, that Psalm 90 hasalways been a verse, a chapter of
flying, because you justpicture, like, the wings.
(25:21):
And the Lord's described likean eagle so often.
And so we both looked at eachother, and the peace came over us.
We looked at each other and wesaid, let's go.
At this point, it's almost10am I took out my own IV because
they were like, you can't leave.
Obviously, it's not a.
It's.
It's not a prison.
But we signed what would be in.
(25:43):
In the US An AMA saying.
We hear you saying, this couldkill me.
We're going anyway.
We paid another $4,000 and wecalled a cab.
We were.
This is.
We are.
10:00am I'm in a hospital bed.
Our flight, an internationalflight, is taking off at noon.
I hadn't walked in four days.
(26:03):
I walked out of that hospitalperfectly well, pushing my own suitcase,
leaning on it, but pushing it.
And we got through the airport.
I cannot even begin todescribe this series of perfectly
miraculous timing.
Our friends got us babyaspirin, which helps with blood thinning
to help prevent the clotting.
And I've told people, I'mlike, It was literally like a movie.
(26:25):
They walked past and passed itto us, like, high five.
My friend Amy, like, squeezedmy shoulders and she was like, I'm
praying for you.
I'm.
We are here with you.
You know, just.
And the.
The presence of otherbelievers is such a strength producing
truth like the church as a whole.
Our church was praying for us.
My parents church was prayingfor us.
My brother's churches up inNew England were praying for us.
(26:48):
I'm like.
And my father in law, theylive out in new.
In Arizona in this time of year.
They.
They are there through the winter.
And their church in Arizonawas praying for us.
I'm like.
We had thousands of believerspraying that I would make it back
safely.
And you feel that like, youfeel and know that's there because
(27:08):
I just.
We were like, we've been toldin the face by a medical professional,
you'll die if you do this.
Like, very, very high chanceyou will die if you do this.
I'm unaware that I'm septic atthis time.
I just think I have to havethis infection.
We get on the plane.
I was.
This plane ride was veryuncomfortable, but I was much.
I felt better than I had onthe way I got off the plane at.
(27:30):
At Dulles.
I had a wheelchair.
I got myself to our car and Idid not walk for a month and a half
after that without crutches.
So, like, the fact that I wasable, like I said, the.
The strength of the prayers ofbelieving people have power.
And I know that, that the.
(27:50):
That is what got us safelythrough the airport on time to each
and every one of these things,these wickets that you have to make
through customs, through this,through that I got.
My husband took me.
We live in Manassas rightaround the corner from the hospital.
And my husband took mestraight to Prince William.
I Had been like, maybe Ishould go home and see the kids.
And then I was like, it's nota good idea.
We were going straight to the hospital.
And when I got to thehospital, I could no longer walk
(28:12):
and they couldn't.
I was so dehydrated, theycouldn't even find a vein to get.
They were trying to get a drawfor mrsa.
They were trying to do allthese things.
Every single person Iencountered in that hospital could
not have been more competentand interested in finding out what
went wrong and how do we getyou better?
Such great care.
(28:33):
I know people go back andforth about different hospitals and
different places, but everysingle person that cared for me in
that hospital was absolutelydirectly concerned with exactly what
was happening and how theycould help me.
I did.
It was terrifying.
I heard a girl in the ER say,what's our policy on drawing from
(28:55):
feet here?
And I was like, I'll just die here.
Rather than draw blood from my gosh.
So it was the dehydration though.
And they had, like I said the.
In the doctor, they had brokenso many veins just with a pretty
cute careless attempts at IVsand blood draws and stuff.
So anyway, I ended up spendingfive days there.
(29:18):
And on Thursday morning Iheard, you know, it's a.
There was a nurse there whowas practicing reciting charts and
stuff.
And she was telling.
She.
She was a.
A student and she was readingmy chart and she was like, she arrived
septic on Sunday night.
And just me thinking about,like hearing that being said about
(29:40):
myself, of my deepest dread.
Yes.
And fear, like affirmed andconfirmed in that moment was very
like surreal to be like Iarrived on the brink of death.
And the next day, Friday, Iwent home prior to Praise God, like
(30:01):
for his faithfulness, for his healing.
I could barely walk.
I couldn't.
It was hard for me.
There's one step from ourgarage into our family room, which
is how I was getting into the house.
I'm not kidding you when Itell you I could barely do it.
It took everything I had toget myself.
Cause I have this, this my armand my, my right arm and my left
leg.
(30:22):
I was like trying to figureout how do I take a single step into
my home?
Wow.
And this dramatically from theweek before, my 75 pound luggage,
like rolling out.
Here we go.
Let's have a great time.
Two weeks, Two weeks before.
Because it was basically aweek in each hospital.
Right.
But anyway, just.
(30:42):
And now I'm back at the gym,like, yeah, it's amazing.
It's so Amazing how much wetake for granted how quickly we can
go downhill.
And the power of the Lord, Ithink, to touch and heal our bodies.
And actually, the day I wentback to the gym was April 25.
I came home from the hospitalthe very last week of March, so it
(31:02):
was almost a month.
And it was hard.
It was.
I felt weak.
Expectedly, I expected that,but I felt weak.
I felt sad when I left.
I'm sure you can relate onmany more levels with what you have
been through.
And you knew it was coming, soyou had time to dread it.
I had this two months on mycouch, completely out of the blue,
(31:25):
literally sitting there withmy leg up.
Can't even make my family dinner.
And thank God we had so manyfriends who brought us meals, sent
us doordash.
My parents, my husband'sparents, you know, we.
We had a lot of love andsupport, which.
And the gym, too, sent us adoor like doordash.
Just able to.
Felt so cared for by peoplewho care about us.
But the inability to do allthese things.
I went to the gym and I.
(31:46):
I was discouraged, for sure.
Yeah.
And verse of the day comes tome at 7:14.
I go to the 6am class.
That's usually right aboutwhen I'm getting in my car and leaving.
I very rarely look at itbecause I'm driving.
I happen to be sitting at a light.
And it was Psalm 34, 19.
Many are the afflictions ofthe righteous, but the Lord delivers
him from them all.
(32:06):
I'm not saying I considermyself righteous, but righteousness
is seeking the Lord, right?
We.
We are to seek the Lord as believers.
And like I said, I don't.
I don't consider myselfrighteous, but I do think I.
I am trying to follow what theLord would have for me.
And I was like, I do feel likethese afflictions are many.
Why?
You know, just being like,okay with that.
(32:28):
Like, it was basically saying,yeah, it's hard.
You think it's hard?
It's hard.
It's hard because it's hard.
Like that.
It was such a.
An affirmation of like, yeah,it's not.
You're not promised an easy road.
If anything, you're promised.
Exactly.
And that's the.
Your promise.
Trials and tribulations onthis earth.
(32:49):
Like, wow.
So that was.
That was like.
I would say like the April 25,though, was like, a good day to be
like, all right.
Yeah.
Like, people were.
People were like, oh, are youback, like 70%?
And I'm like, I'm like 0% ofwhere I was.
But I am 100% in that I amredeveloping the expectations of
(33:09):
myself to be getting back intoroutines and habits that rebuild.
And Caleb at the gym, such,such an encouragement.
I was like, I'm so discouraged.
And he was like, this work youdid beforehand got you through this.
Like the.
He was like, you build thatmuscle, so when your body needs that
source of energy while you'rehealing, it's there already.
(33:32):
And even I've even talkedabout that a little bit.
Like, I.
I had, as I mentioned, I hadhad all those kids close together.
I hadn't spent a lot of timeon my own physical health and wellness.
And around 39, I was like,yeah, I got to do something.
Things are going to go downhill.
So it's like, even this yearand a half before this trip, I feel
(33:53):
is preparation for challenges.
And it doesn't matter if ahorrifying challenge doesn't come.
There's still challenges every day.
Like, you're still a betterperson for taking care of the body
that God has given you.
So anyway, that was.
Caleb was very encouraging inthat, in being like, you can't be
(34:14):
upset that you went through ahard thing and it cost you something.
I'm sure you've had similar conversations.
So many.
He has talked me off the ledgeso many times and reminded me how
fortunate I am that I have putthe time and effort and energy into
my health and fitness, whetherit's what I'm eating or how I'm working
out my body and buildingmuscle, because it's what.
(34:36):
It's why I recovered so quickly.
I truly believe that that's true.
I believe that I would nothave come back so quickly and it
would have been a much moredifficult recovery had I not put
that, you know, intention intotaking care of myself before.
So that's a great, Honestly, agreat thing for people to hear.
Like, it's so, so importantnot to wait until the thing happens
for you to start taking careof yourself.
(34:58):
Yeah.
Wow, what a story.
So now obviously, hindsight 2020, like, what would you have.
I know probably everything,but I guess you probably just wouldn't
have.
You would have gotten straightback on a plane and gone home because,
I mean, you were fine gettingon the plane.
I was okay getting on the plane.
I was pretty ill.
(35:19):
I think I would have felt verydramatic doing that.
Like I said, without knowing.
Yes, exactly.
I.
I'm like, even though I feel.
I don't think anybody would do that.
Yes, I don't think anybodywould do that.
You're like, oh, I'll go have,like, one rough day.
And then you're like, I'll be fine.
We have a whole week.
Yes.
Our friends made reservationsfor us on Thursday.
(35:41):
They were like.
They were like, we're gonnamake them for Friday and hope that
we can all be there.
Like, And I think even onWednesday, Thursday, I was like,
there's a chance.
Like, I didn't think I wasn'tgoing to be there.
I did not have a good conceptgoing into it of what was happening.
And of course, like, there isno going back.
I feel like this is also,like, God's.
God's plan in our lives.
(36:01):
If you believe God plannedanything, he planned everything.
Like, you can't pick it apartand let it.
You know, obviously, there arebad choices that we make.
I'm not saying, like, oh, it'sGod's fault that I've taken myself
down this road.
But things like this, that itwas just pure.
It got.
They.
I've.
I actually had my last, Ithink, appointment with infectious
(36:22):
disease tomorrow.
They've been just followingup, and they think it got in through
eczema, which I have very.
Okay, that's what I wanted to ask.
Yeah.
Okay.
Interesting.
Wow.
I wear.
I wear socks and shoes prettymuch all winter.
Like, there's nowhere out inpublic that my feet would have been
sure.
And it came in through my foot.
On my left foot, there's likea tiny cut that's actually disturbingly
(36:44):
in the pictures when we weredoing it, to see the size of my leg
from.
Compared from before and afterthe flight, you can see this little
red.
It's like, it's tiny.
So that is what, though, theinfectious disease doctor once she.
I saw like, five or sixdifferent ones, and they all were
like, yeah, this is avulnerability point.
They were like, you need totake better care of that.
But there's.
(37:04):
There's not a lot you can do.
Um, I.
They don't know where it came from.
They're like, it could havebeen from chicken that you were cooking
in your kitchen.
It could be from anywhere.
So that is.
I'm like, this is anotherthing, though.
I'm like, I am not going toborrow anxiety.
I'm not going to worry, like,oh, this could happen again.
Anything could happen toanyone at any time.
(37:25):
My husband's in law enforcement.
I feel like that has, like,helped me to be, like, stressing
about it is only going to maketoday worse.
And I mean, we're told thateach day has enough trouble of its
own.
Like, it is scriptural.
It's not that you don't care.
It's that if you're dwellingon all the things that could happen,
like, you're not going to livea very full or healthy life.
(37:45):
So they don't.
They're like, you can't reallyprevent it.
There's a few things.
Taking better care of myeczema would.
Would be helpful because itcreates a very vulnerable area, and
you have to use your hands sothat you know that.
And they did say, like, wear gloves.
Stupid things.
Wear gloves when you do thedishes, because it's just protecting
you from the water.
And also possible bacteriathat could be in the water.
(38:07):
There's so many things, somany possibilities, but that was
the general consensus.
I even had this, like,horrifying realization.
I was like, did I.
Like, when I was puttinghydrocortisone on here and on my
foot, like, did I give this to myself?
And she was like.
She was like, no, that's nothow it works.
But she might have been lyingto me to make me feel better.
I don't know how else it got there.
(38:28):
Exactly.
That's.
That's crazy.
So are you, like, more proneto it happening.
Happening again now that it'shappened to you, or.
No?
Yes and no.
Okay.
She.
They said.
They were like.
They said this could happenagain, but they were like, this could
happen to anyone.
So I think they, like, have totell you that.
I guess they did.
(38:48):
Multiple people said they werevery, like, befuddled at the doctor.
They were like, you are notthe patient for this.
Usually it's someone who'sregularly hospitalized.
Super unhealthy, because thatmakes you more vulnerable.
There are several othermarkers that they were like, you
don't have any.
You have no reason this shouldhave happened to you.
One thing that is, like, alittle disturbing is they were, like,
(39:12):
cabin pressure could have beenthe trigger for the sudden spread.
So if I hadn't gotten on thatplane, it's possible.
However, I had.
The day before I mentioned, wehad gone to tea around town, downtown
to celebrate my daughter's birthday.
And the girls and I, as weoften are, we're about 10 minutes
late.
So we were, like, running.
(39:33):
And I had on.
I had on, like, booties.
And as I was running thepounding, I was like, I feel like
a horrible, hard pain in myshin that felt like a bruise, like.
And I stepped over a rower atthe gym and bumped it on Friday.
And I thought that's what it was.
It was the right spot.
No scrape.
No, it was not the Entry point.
But so it was already there.
(39:53):
There's a possibility.
Who knows.
Again, like we said, like youcan't go back and second guess all
these things.
I believe the Lord led me toeverywhere I was for very specific
reasons.
And I don't know that I willalways understand what all those
reasons were on this, thisside of eternity.
I know.
I.
We.
We talked very briefly about.
(40:13):
My daughter was.
My 12 year old was diagnosedwith diabetes this winter and it
had made me particularly.
We are having to wake up at2am to check her numbers still because
she's.
She's so newly diagnosed.
I know you have a son who hasT1D so selfishly, I was so looking
forward to this trip to take abreak from 2am alarms which also
(40:37):
makes it hard to get up at5:30 to go to the gym because you
have broken sleep every night.
But also it's what we have todo right now.
The, the shift in percept per perspective.
Thank you.
Perception is all I had.
Perspective.
When you're like, oh, what a pain.
I have to get up at 2.
Yes.
Yes.
To being like I am alive.
(40:57):
I am well.
I have five children who, whoI get to see and care for and love
in different ways.
And my husband as well.
Of course I'm gonna leave himout of this.
But like realizing the thingsyou could have lost.
Yes.
What an absolute blessing itis to have a 2am alarm to check on
my daughter.
Absolutely.
That I can wake up and go getlike my husband.
(41:19):
Yes.
All that because I was like meand my crutches.
It was, it was a situationlike every time I put my leg down,
I was breathless from thepressure of the blood rush.
So, so grateful for him beingso faithful in that.
But what a perspective shiftof like, oh, I can't wait for five
days to just do nothing.
To not have to worry about that.
Exactly.
(41:40):
Being brought back from thebrink of death.
Yes.
I mean that is, that is anincredible story.
And I mean, I think myfavorite part of it is just the confirmation
that God gave you guys whenthe doctor was looking at you in
the eye saying especially toyour husband because he had to just
be such a leader in thatmoment and be like, I have to make
this decision for our familyand it's life or death.
(42:03):
And thank God he came in withthat confirmation.
And then your husband justlistened to what the Lord said, you
know, because that is such ascary decision to have to make.
Like I am ne.
I am not one to call in an emergency.
You never want me to be theperson you're dealing with.
I just don't know what to do.
Like, I just panic.
So that is just so amazingthat God just showed up right in
(42:25):
that second, literally.
He said, here's your answer.
Yeah.
When they said, oh, sorry.
They said, when we got toPrince William, when they, they,
they ran all the numbers, likeall my blood tests, some of my, like
my potassium was like in the,it's supposed to be like around a
four.
It was like in the decimals.
(42:47):
They, There was other things.
They were like, you were goingto die if you.
They were not tracking any ofthese things.
They were just waiting forinfection to go down.
Like, it was not a question oflike, oh, why do we, you know, would
it have happened?
They were like, you were onyour way to death just by your own
body not being able.
I was shutting down.
Right.
And so what happened?
(43:08):
What would happen to you,Lauren, if you guys were unable to
pay that bill one of those days?
Like what?
That is kind of funny because.
Yeah.
They're telling you you can't leave.
I don't, I don't know.
I, I think they would havesent us out.
So one, one thing we did learnearly in our marriage is to always
(43:29):
have like financially to havea cushion and to be ready for things
like that.
And so I'm so grateful that wehave practiced disciplines to be
prepared for those things.
We also did learn, side notethat if it is an emergency like that,
generally your healthinsurance will pay it.
That's wondering.
(43:49):
Okay.
They pay back most of it,which is great.
But it was interesting.
We weren't sure, but they were like.
Because you had.
It's not like if you're like,oh, I don't feel good, I'm going
to go get an IV infusion.
That they would pay for that.
But because it was life, lifesaving care, it was mostly covered.
I think they calculated inlike a co pay which the same as it
(44:10):
would have been here if it washospital care, which that's fair.
But I did not know that wehave Blue Cross, that everyone has
different policies.
But I would be something Iwould say I would never travel without
affirming now beforehandbecause it would have taken some
of the stress off of beinglike, wow, we are really getting
cleaned out here.
Right?
Yes.
That, that just that in itselfthat on top of the everything else
(44:32):
you're going through, I guessyou kind of just have to compartmentalize
at that point and be like,let's keep her alive and not worry
about all of this.
I know that when.
When I found out I neededheart surgery, we had a trip planned
in January and we didn't knowkind of the timeline of things.
And Jonathan was like, well,we have this trip.
Is it safe for her to fly?
Her son is getting married as well.
Like, you know, and he said,you can go to Mexico.
(44:56):
He said, just make sure youget air ambulance insurance.
And I thought, yeah, we're notgoing to Mexico.
If I have to, if I need that,then we're not going there.
But just, you know, the ideaof that, like, you just never think
something like that's gonnahappen to you.
I mean, there's no way toreally be prepared.
So I feel like.
I mean, having a faith in Godand trusting his plan and, I mean,
(45:20):
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know what else you do.
I mean, I think you dideverything you could possibly do.
You prayed, you listened towhat they were saying, but you also,
you know, discerned that.
Ok, I think maybe now this iswhat we need to do.
And, I mean, thank God heworked it all out the way he did.
What a story.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Again, like I said, the powerand protection of.
(45:41):
I think the.
The prayers of.
They say the prayers of arighteous man do not go unheard.
And so knowing like, all thesepeople were supporting us, I think
that is significant.
I know you talked earlierabout people having, like, favorite
verses that they like to share.
I feel like I am not.
I.
I always hate.
I tell people this too.
With kids.
(46:01):
I'm like, favorite questionsare stressful because it feels like,
oh, it has to be, like, the best.
In my defense, that's why Isaid it earlier instead of asking
you on the spot.
But it doesn't have to be the best.
Sometimes.
Sometimes, you know, someone'sfavorite verse might be really unassuming
and something that, you know,most people wouldn't think of or
(46:21):
they haven't heard that verse.
Or maybe it's John 3:16 andthat's okay, too.
Yes.
Well, the favorites.
I just always feel likefavorites is like you have to leave
so many other out superlatives.
It makes other people feel bad.
But no, seriously, the one ofmy favorites that I often put on
our Christmas card because Ifeel like it's almost like a blessing
of Hope is Romans 15:13.
(46:42):
May the God of hope fill youwith all joy and peace as you trust
in him, so that you mayoverflow with hope by the power of
the Holy Spirit.
And I think I love it becauseit doesn't rely on Any power that
we have within ourselves tohave that hope and that peace and
that joy, we don't have those things.
We are given those things.
Those are fruits of the spirit.
Love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
(47:05):
gentleness, and self control.
Each of those things we don'thave within ourselves.
And I find.
I would find it sodiscouraging to be looking within
myself for answers, becausewhat I find there is lacking, but
what I find in the Holy Spiritis joy and peace as we trust.
And it makes even these typesof situations.
(47:26):
It doesn't make sense why Iwent through this.
It doesn't make sense why this happened.
Doctors were like, I don't know.
But the Lord knows and healready knew.
And even if it's just for meto learn to truly say, like, I do
cast all my cares on him.
Even if that's it.
That's it, you know?
(47:46):
Right.
If that was the lesson, ifthat was the thing.
I know, I just.
I can't imagine what eternityis like or what heaven is like when
we can actually get the fullpicture, you know?
Yeah.
Like, he works it all out for good.
And it's just like, man, youknow, you see so many situations
in this life that you can'timagine how God could be using that
(48:09):
for good, but somehow he is.
Yeah.
And I think we have to be socareful with how we express some
of these things.
Like, obviously, in mysituation, the Lord brought us home
safely.
You never want people to feellike the right person wasn't praying
or things don't go that way or.
So many times we see childrenwho get sick and aren't healed here
(48:30):
on Earth and never wantingpeople to feel like, oh, well, there
must be something going on.
They didn't pray.
Right.
They didn't believe Right.
They didn't have enough faith.
Like, obviously eternal,Eternal healing isn't the same as
earthly healing.
And I'm so grateful to havemore time on this earth with friends
and family and to grow andlearn and change.
But to never, you know, tonever have someone else feel like,
(48:50):
oh, well, yeah, the Lord heardmy prayer.
Sometimes he does hear ourprayer, and he doesn't answer it
in the way that we would expect.
I'm so grateful for you justbeing here and, you know, powering
through that with me.
I appreciate you and I'm not bad.
Thank you so much for being here.
And, guys, I just hope thatthat story just inspired you and
(49:11):
gave you hope and, you know, just.
I don't know how people getthrough things without faith.
And so if that's somethingthat you, you know, have questions
about or something that's nota part of your life.
I.
I would love for you to reachout to me and I would love to just
chat with you about that.
But again, Lauren, thank you.
I'm so grateful that Laurenwas willing to come on and share
(49:31):
her story with us.
Before you go, I want toremind you of our memory verse for
June, which is actually twoverses, Galatians 5, 22 and 23.
But the Holy Spirit producesthis kind of fruit in our lives.
Love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self control.
(49:52):
There is no law against these things.
I would encourage you to writeout your memory verse and read and
meditate upon it daily.
I can't wait to see you next week.
Thank you for being here.
Later.
If this podcast blessed you,please share it with a friend and
hit the subscribe button soyou never miss an episode.
Leave a five star review onitunes and come hang out with me
(50:15):
on Instagram.
Ed by the Fruit.
I'd love to connect with you there.
And most importantly, I'll seeyou right here next week.
Come hungry, get fed.
Sam.
Foreign.
S welcome to Fed by the Fruit,a podcast focused on nourishment
for the mind, body and soul.
I'm kb, a spirit filledcertified life and nutrition coach
with a calling to disciplewomen who are hungry for more.
Each week we will learn whoGod is and what he wants for and
(00:22):
from us through powerfultestimonies, biblical truth, and
so much more as we fuel ourminds and bodies in ways that honor
Him.
Let's get fed.
Hello friends.
Happy Monday.
Welcome to episode two of Fedby the Fruit.
I'm so excited that you're here.
(00:43):
I have my sweet friend Laurenhere today to share an incredible
story with you.
As I shared with you last week.
Each month of this podcastwill bring a powerful testimony from
an incredible guest.
And today that is my friend Lauren.
And then an episode divingdeeper into well known or not so
well known stories andcharacters of the Bible, an episode
(01:06):
on how to apply biblical truthto our daily lives.
And then a wild card where Iwill continue to share my life with
you and talk about all of thethings I love.
So today we get the powerfultestimony and I'm so excited for
Lauren to just dive right inand share her story.
So welcome Lauren.
(01:27):
Thank you for having me.
I'm happy to be here and sharethe way the Lord has been working
very specifically in my lifethe past couple months.
Yeah, I just, I think youshould just, just start with your
story.
It is, it is.
I don't even know how tointroduce it, but I think so many
people will be able to relateto, like, where you were at and what
(01:48):
you were doing and like, justto think, like, how would I react
in a similar situation?
I've thought that so manytimes since I heard your story, like,
what would I do if that were me?
I know so many times I've evensaid, and I'll get right into it,
but if I could go back, Iwould do this or that.
And it's so dumb to say thatbecause if I could go back, I would
know everything I know now andI wouldn't have gotten on the plane
(02:10):
in the first place.
So my husband and our friends,another couple and I were heading
on March 4th.
We flew to the Dominican justto go on a trip together to get away.
We all have kids and as mostpeople do, jobs, lives, families,
and we were just going to getsome, some rest and have a good time
(02:32):
together in beautiful sunshine.
Like you were saying, winterreally gets to me.
So that first week of March,we were like, this is going to be
amazing.
Sunny and 80 every day and Myhusband and I had gone on a trip
to the Dominican last year,actually for my 40th.
And I said the day we got backfrom that trip, I said there isn't
a thing I would change aboutthat trip.
(02:55):
And the day I got back fromthis trip, there's not a thing I
would change.
There's nothing I wouldn'tchange about my 2025 trip.
So we get on this plane andwe're an hour and a half into the
flight.
I felt perfectly well.
I ate a bacon, egg and cheesecroissant in the airport.
I drank an iced coffee,totally fine.
And about an hour and a halfinto the flight I told my husband
(03:17):
I was.
Do you have your.
Can I use your sweatshirt?
I'm freezing.
It's freezing on this plane.
And he looked at me and he waslike, it is not cold on this plane.
I'm covered in chills.
Twenty minutes after that, I'mvomiting in the bathroom.
And I will spare you any otherdetails, but I was violently ill
within an hour and a half whenbasically when we reached cruising
(03:37):
altitude on this flight, afterbeing perfectly well, I went to the
gym.
The day before we left my, wecelebrated my youngest, my 12 year
old daughter's birthdaydowntown in D.C.
so going around perfectly fine.
So we get down to the resort,we get off the plane.
Sorry.
We do get to the resorteventually, but not for long.
(03:58):
We get off the plane and wehad been further up than our friends
and I sort of had this weirdpain in my shiny and I said to my
husband, I know this soundscrazy, but I need to say out loud
to you, I have this verystrange pain that arrived at the
same time as I got nauseous onthe plane and I'm fearful that it's
(04:20):
going to give me sepsis andI'm going to die on this island.
And he laughed.
I mean, my.
I'm not, it doesn't, it soundscrazy, but that part, that part gives
me goosebumps every time youtell the story.
Yes.
Like, it was definitely one ofthose things where I feel like God
was like planting this seed inmy head to like be aware.
I am not, I'm not an anxietyprone person.
(04:42):
I am not a person who stressesor worries.
In fact, I don't know that Ihad been to the doctor in four or
five years other than likemaybe an annual like ob.
I had had.
We had five kids in six years.
So I went regularly.
I was like, I'm fine, I'm fine.
I'm just not, I'm.
It's not something that I'mprone to.
And I'm thankful that that isnot the way my mind naturally goes.
(05:05):
But I was, I would say, like,led to have this.
Premonition is a superstitioussounding word.
But I would say this leadingto be like, you need to be on your
guard against what's happening here.
This isn't something normal.
So my husband, of course, laughs.
We're waiting for our bags.
Our friends catch up with us,and I say to my friend Amy.
I was like, amy, I.
(05:25):
I think something might beseriously wrong.
And she was like, oh, no, what happened?
And I just was like, I gotsick on the plane.
I don't know.
I just don't feel right.
Something's not right.
Um, so we go to the resort,and as soon as I'm walking around
there, but I was like,something isn't.
Something isn't great.
I go to bed that night.
Um, we ended up moving resortsbecause our room was horrifying.
So we move resorts.
They had to take me on, like,a golf cart.
(05:46):
So we're in this other roomand I just.
I couldn't even stand up inthe hotel lobby.
Like, this is gorgeous place.
You're surrounded by, like,palm trees and just beautiful surroundings.
And I'm literally.
This is not my personality, y' all.
I'm sitting with my head on,in my hands in front of all.
Everyone probably thought Ihad been drinking all day in the
hot sun, which I had.
I had.
I had a mango juice upon arrival.
(06:08):
So my husband is like, are you okay?
Can you make it to the room?
And.
And so there's two full sizebeds in the room.
And we get there and I waslike, just sleep in the other bed.
This is a tiny bed.
If I have the flu, I don'twant you to get sick.
So he, like, just lays down.
So all of this to say, myhusband is not.
He's not ignoring me, but he'sacross the room.
Sure.
In the middle of the night, Iam crawling to the bathroom.
(06:29):
I can't walk.
My leg is hot and swollen.
It's my left shin from, like,the knee down.
It had gone from somethinglike the size of a ping pong ball
to what I would say was, like,radiating out.
And it was.
It was hot and puffy.
It was.
It was probably double thesize of my other shin by the morning.
(06:49):
So I'm.
I'm crawling to the bathroom,like, clamoring my way there.
I keep getting sick.
My body's obviously, like,very upset.
And my husband, in the morningGoes out to just see like, maybe
I could find her somebreakfast or something.
He's unaware of how unwell Ihave been in the night.
I must be a quiet brawler.
You must be.
I'd have been waking him up, like.
(07:09):
Look, I knew there was nothinghe could do.
I was.
It was one of those timeswhere I only wanted to go back to
sleep because I felt so, so sick.
So he comes back around 10:30and he's like, hey, do you want to
come down to the beach forsome breakfast?
And I said to him, I reallyhate to say this, but something is
horribly wrong and I have togo to the clinic here and at least
(07:30):
find out.
And he was like, he knows I'mnot like, like, not like that.
I haven't been to the doctorin five years.
So he's like.
He's like, well, do you wantme to ask?
He was like, it's right acrossthe street.
Do you want me to ask for thelittle golf cart?
It's like across the littleresort road.
And.
And I was like, I don't knowif I can make it.
I had to scoot because we wereon like a second floor villa.
I had to scoot, like on mybottom down the steps.
(07:51):
I'm saying bottom.
All my kids down the stepslike that.
It was so.
It was like funny now, but horrifying.
Then, like the day before, Iwalked onto an airplane perfectly
well.
Right, right.
So I like flop onto the golf cart.
And the guy, he literallydrives like 20ft and looked at me
like, was this necessary?
(08:11):
I was like, yes, this is notmy style, but yes, this was necessary.
We get into the clinic and thegirl, this is where I should have
known to.
To flee home.
Dominican healthcare.
They took my temperature in myarmpit like it's 1981.
Like, oh my God.
Where have you heard ofsomeone taking.
This is like.
That is like 1950s.
(08:33):
Like, what is happening?
And it was 105 in my armpit,which it's usually a few degrees
lower.
In his armpit than it would be.
Oral or on your forehead or whatever.
So the girl's like.
And she looks at my leg andshe goes, did something bite you?
And I said, no, this ishappened before I touched down here.
(08:53):
She was like, we have a lot of insects.
I was like, no, I'm tellingyou, this happened.
It had already happened when I landed.
She was like, you have to goto the ER in an ambulance right now.
And I, well, of course we'rethinking like America.
So we're like thinking it'sgoing to be like several thousand
dollars up front.
And we were like, well, do.
How does it.
Like, is there any other option?
Like just having no idea whatwe're getting into.
(09:14):
Right, of course.
So.
And me not really having agood concept of what was.
What was happening.
So she says, you could take ataxi, but you're not going to get
into the hospital very fast ifyou don't go in the ambulance.
I was like, okay, I guesswe'll go in this ambulance.
So everything is like.
It's like humorously bad.
It's like this rolling chair.
(09:34):
They're like jostling me down.
It hurt for anything to touchmy leg.
At this point.
They strapped a seatbeltacross my leg and it was like taking
my breath away.
Like, you could barely touch it.
And we're bouncing downDominican, like the Dominican roads.
I don't know if you've everbeen like, I know you have traveled
to Mexico and stuff.
It's like a.
I described it last year aslike a.
(09:55):
It's like a video game, likeMario Kart.
Like, people are just.
They don't care.
I don't know, they.
They just go.
And the ambulance, we.
It was like a 25 minute ridewith like the blaring siren.
I'm delirious.
And then we get.
Is your husband.
Your husband's in the back ofthe ambulance with you Put it.
They put him in the back?
Yeah, they did let him go.
And the guy like, they likedropped me off a curb.
(10:19):
It's not like here, like, Ialways complain about, like, I'm
like, why are there all theselike, ramp rules and everything?
America, thank you for theramp rules.
Because we know.
So painful, so bumpy.
I'm like, literally like beingjostled down and everything hurt.
Like my whole body is justhaving a hard time, like, existing,
being alive.
Yes, yes.
Literally fighting for my life.
(10:40):
We use that as a joke.
But I'm like, looking back,I'm like, no, that's what was happening.
So we get there and I'madmitted finally after several, like,
bouts and rounds of do.
Did this bite?
You kept asking me ifsomething bit me because my leg was
so swollen and red.
Right.
And like, they kept.
The communication was poor,which it's not the U.S.
(11:01):
like, I chose to go to a nonEnglish speaking country, but this
was like a resort hospital.
So the communication wasincredibly frustrating.
They finally are like, yeah,you need to stay.
And it's a private hospital,so you pay every day.
Like, they just come and say,like, here's Your bill, everything's
in Spanish.
And so they're like, they'relike, it's going to be $4,000 to
(11:22):
be admitted tonight.
And so we're like, okay,thinking like, we'll go, we'll get
admitted, I'll get onantibiotics and I'll head back to
the resort the next day.
It's like what was in ourhead, right?
So we get, I get admitted.
And soon after it became clearlike that the communication and the
treatment was just not going well.
(11:45):
Like I was getting sicker.
Everyone who came in, myhusband would say, what are you giving
her?
What is that?
Like the iv?
You know how in the US The IVruns through like a computer and
there's beeping, like beepingto the point of like, okay, calm
down.
This was like, it was likethis shining.
There's like a pole and a tubeand hopefully gravity will dose out
(12:07):
what you need at the right speed.
Gosh.
Wow.
Yeah.
Some of the stuff, it waslike, my husband would say, you know,
this hasn't, this, thismedicine hasn't dosed at all.
Like it hasn't moved in 24 hours.
And they would just like flickit and they'd be like, oh, it's slow.
And he was like, no, no, it's12 ounces and 24 hours.
It hasn't gone at all.
So I'm getting no hydration.
I couldn't eat and I hadn'teaten since my croissant on Tuesday
(12:32):
morning.
This is Wednesday night.
So anyway, I'm getting sicker.
Thankfully they did run a fewblood tests the second day.
They were like, oh, whatever, antibiotics.
And I'm allergic to penicillin.
So they're trying to findthings that aren't related, which
is kind of hard in theantibacterial world, especially cross
crossing languages as well.
(12:53):
So anyway, they were like,whatever antibiotics we're giving
you are where your kidneys areshutting down, like your, your organs
are dying.
So we need to take you off of that.
So thankfully, I think thatdrew red flags in to bring a specialist.
They were like, oh, that she'snot responding the way we would expect
(13:14):
to these original course oftreatment, which was given by a general
surgeon.
So the internist comes in andI, at that point I didn't know it,
but I was going septic.
And so I've been in the U.
Out of the US for 48 hours andmy blood is turning on my body and
people die.
People our age die of sepsisin the US within 48 to 72 hours of
(13:39):
having it So I was havingthese horrifying, I would say demonic,
like, hallucinations when Iwould close my eyes in the room and
I just wanted to sleep becauseI'm so.
Such high levels of infectionand exhaustion from the fever.
But I would close my eyes andthe room would still be there, but
(14:01):
there would be other thingspresent in the room.
Picture things that you wouldsee in, like, movies, like, where.
Where people are cursed.
And sometimes it would be,like, children who were helpless,
like, around me.
And I.
It.
It was so real.
Like, I would try to reach for them.
One one of the days, it was myown kids through, like, this glass,
(14:21):
and I could see that they werestruggling and suffering, but I couldn't
do anything.
And I feel like the thing thathas always been the.
The saddest or most horrifyingthing to me, I guess, about life
on earth is, like, thesuffering of innocent children or
innocent people.
And so it was almost like theworst things I could imagine were
being brought in front of mein a way that I couldn't shut out.
(14:44):
So, anyway, all of this ishappening, thankfully.
Go ahead.
I was just.
Is your husband, like,reaching out?
Like, are you.
Is anyone in contact with yourdoctor back home?
Do you not even have a doctorback home at this point that you're.
Like, I have one now.
I did not have a primary care.
My husband, we.
We didn't know how sick I was.
(15:06):
I think I thought that thehallucinations were from the medicine
they were giving me.
But when I looked back overthe medicine, I realized now it was
a symptom of sepsis because Iwas on Tylenol.
Was it.
Oh, my gosh.
I think that was part of it.
We were like.
And I knew I was not wellenough to fly, so I think we had
this, like, paralyzed mindsetof, like, they would not let me on
(15:27):
a plane.
Right now.
I cannot go up to a plane and be.
I was still getting sick, eventhough I hadn't eaten in days.
So I knew, like, logically, Iwas like, they're not going to let
me get on a commercial airline now.
There are many things where,like, we would have called, probably
the embassy, I think, is whatyou can do, it turns out, especially
(15:47):
if the care is as horrifyinglike, they were breaking IVs in my
arms.
I was getting, like, swelling,so the medicine wasn't even going
anywhere.
And they.
I was completely dehydrated.
They would give you, like, awater bottle once a day.
It was like a jailish POW situation.
I shouldn't say that because Irealized POWs have it much worse.
But it.
(16:08):
It was bizarrely neglectful,considering the cost of what we were
paying every day.
And it was clean, I would say.
I will say it was clean.
But beyond that, the care was deplorable.
And you would try tocommunicate, and I don't know if
they were told to not try to use.
We would try to use Google Translate.
I don't know if they haverules like we have here in the US
(16:31):
where they're like, sorry, itdoesn't give an accurate description,
so we can't do that.
They were very unwilling tocommunicate with us other than the
people who came in every nightwith our list of expenses that we
were just, oh, they could communicate.
They could.
And a couple times, my husbandwas like, can't we.
Can you come in and help uscommunicate here?
And they were like, no, that's.
We're not trained to do that.
(16:53):
They were just trained to say, $4,000.
Thanks.
Wow.
Yeah, so we did.
We were talking to my parentsa little bit, but also, we didn't
want to alarm everyone.
Like, there was not a lot thatwe could do other than wait.
What we thought was wait forthe swelling to go down so I could
be well enough to travel.
So there are lots of otherdetails I don't want to drag out.
(17:17):
But we ended up on Friday afternoon.
The internist was like, you're starting.
Your leg is starting to calm down.
Like, the infection is nolonger spreading, but you can't travel
until you have been onantibiotics for at least 20, 24 hours.
Like, legally.
And your first.
Your Wednesday, Thursday don'tcount because they were not effective
(17:37):
for your body.
They were just causing you problems.
So legally, I think the firsttime I could have considered leaving
the hospital was Saturday night.
Our flight was on Sunday at noon.
And so I think we tried tolook for a Saturday flight, but all
of them were long layovers.
The flight to the Dominicaninto Dulles is only just under four
hours.
(17:57):
So we were like, if we keepour direct flight on Sunday, I will.
It'll give me a whole notherdose of antibiotics, and I should
be good to go.
So that was, like, our.
How we felt.
We felt that was the wisestthing to do, and it made sense of
what we already had.
Our friends on Saturday nightbrought us our luggage.
They had offered multipletimes to come see us.
He's a.
Her husband, my friend Amy.
(18:18):
Her husband, Josh, is afirefighter and a paramedic.
And when he came, he was like,you have to get out of Here, you
have to go.
Like, I think he knew that Iwas septic, but I think he didn't
want to scare me, but he waslike, you have to go.
So they brought us our luggage.
We never went back to thehotel once we had left on Wednesday
(18:39):
morning after my golf cart ride.
So they bring us our luggage.
Thankfully, that saved us aton in the way the next morning was
orchestrated.
I felt the whole time I was inthe Dominican, in the hospital, my
husband never left me thewhole time.
He stayed in the same clothes.
He didn't eat for a week.
I'm sure Jonathan would do thesame thing.
(19:00):
A loving husband.
Yeah, I have always.
My husband has always beenloyal and loving, but I don't know
that I have ever felt so stoodby by him than I felt this week that.
That week he.
So in the morning, oh, I was saying.
I was starting to say I neverhad a sense of dread while I was
(19:22):
there, even though I knew thatI was very sick and I knew that there
was a possibility that I could die.
Like I said, I feel like I wasconfronted with that possibility
the moment we landed.
I was confronted with that possibility.
And I feel like I had thepeace that passes understanding of
knowing.
Of course I have.
I have five young children.
My oldest is 13, my youngestis six.
(19:44):
There was no part of me thatwas like, oh, I'm fine if I just
die because of them.
I did have the peace ofknowing if I die, I know what happens
to me and I'm trusting thesovereignty of God's plan for my
children's lives, that peoplewill step up for them and he will
(20:06):
be faithful to care for themas they continue to grow.
And hopefully, obviously I'mthankful I don't have to think past
that because I'm here and I'mback and I'm well.
But I did.
I did not have any sense ofdread, even though what was happening
was dreadful.
And I know that that is thecomfort of the Lord.
(20:28):
I know that's what that is.
I don't know what else itcould or would be because I'm not
okay with being like, oh, I'm41 and I died with all my young kids.
I'm not okay with that.
In the moment when I wasconfronted with that possibility,
I had the peace of knowing ifthis is what happens as the Lord
leads, like, if this is hiswill, this is what's going to happen.
So anyway.
(20:49):
But it didn't.
That's not.
Like, I do not want to soundat all like, if I die I die.
That's not how I feel about my life.
But it's important to say that God.
God intervenes in thosemoments, and he gives you that PC,
promises that it's in the Bible.
And I think until you've beenin a situation like that, you can't
even fathom what that means.
(21:09):
But you're confronted withthis very real and very scary, you
know, situation where itreally could be your fate that you're
going to die.
I mean, I.
Very similarly, but also very different.
Like, just in waiting for mysurgery to happen and having all
this time to think about,like, what if I die?
(21:32):
Like, he said to me, you'renot going to die.
But, like, I mean, you're cut.
You're sawing open my chestand working on my heart, like, anything
could happen.
And of course, all you thinkabout is your children.
But somehow in there, I wouldgo to bed at night and feel like
Jesus was literally.
I was sleeping in his arms andI had full peace.
(21:53):
It's.
It's.
It's.
It's incredible.
Yeah.
It is amazing to experience that.
I have said sometimes in mylife, like I said at the beginning
of this podcast, I don't.
I am not a person who dealswith a lot of anxiety.
And I have sometimes askedmyself, is that because I don't have
things to be anxious about?
(22:13):
And I would say, after thisexperience, I did experience the
supernatural power of thepeace of the Lord in those days,
for sure.
Not to say that, like, oh, Idon't worry about anything now.
But of course, in the.
In those moments, it wasdefinitely like, no, this is real.
This is.
This is what it's like to havethe hand of God covering your situation.
(22:36):
Um, so Sunday was one of thosedays where you see Sunday morning,
I would say the very specificdirection of God, where we saw this
in our lives.
Um, we knew we had to go.
Like, we woke up, the sun wasshining as it was every day, beautiful.
Out the window.
We're overlooking this jungle,and the doctor comes in and we're,
(22:57):
like, pumped.
Like, we have our stuff.
We had our first shower.
They didn't change my clothesthe whole time I was there.
I was in my own personalclothing for seven days, six days
with this fever.
It was so bad.
Anyway, I have to keep talkingabout that, but my.
We're ready to go.
The doctor comes in and helooks at my leg, and he looks at
my husband, and he goes,you'll kill her if you get her on
a plane like this.
(23:17):
He was like, her, my leg, myCalf was three times.
I also had it in my elbow.
And my elbow was like, thesize of, like, a Bradford pear.
Like, picture, like a lump.
And then my shin.
It was.
It's what it looked.
It was like, even the color.
Yeah, it was like red and yellowish.
Anyway, my shin is twice the size.
Three times, I would say three times.
We have pictures of it.
(23:37):
Three times the size of myother one.
And he's like, if you put.
He looks right at my husband.
Super clear communication.
If you put her on a plane likethis, you will kill her.
She will have deep vein thrombosis.
She could throw a clot.
She could have compartmentsyndrome and lose her leg.
He was like, so many thingscan go wrong on that plane.
You should not leave hereuntil this swelling is down.
(23:58):
My husband said it could be days.
And he was like, yeah, it could.
And so he leaves the room.
This is like 8:45 in the morning.
I have an IV in my arm.
I'm still getting an.
I'm supposed to be getting onemore dose, which was making us feel
better about traveling, right?
So he.
My husband sits down on thebed next to me, and he takes his
(24:20):
hands in mine.
And I have seen my husband cry.
We've been together since2006, so 19 years.
I have seen him cry one time,and he had tears streaming down his
face.
And he sat down next to me andhe held my hand, and he.
We bowed our heads together.
And he said, we need guidance.
We don't know what to do.
(24:40):
Lord, show us what to do.
And we looked up from praying.
I also, in that time, hadprobably seen him get a Bible notification
the same number of times.
And he had.
It was the ding at.
He doesn't even keep it.
His phone's always on silent.
His phone dings, and he looksat it.
And I said, who is that?
(25:01):
And it was Psalm 90, verses 1and 2, which are.
He who dwells in the shelterof the most high will find rest in
the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, myrefuge, my fortress, my God in whom
I trust.
And to me, that Psalm 90 hasalways been a verse, a chapter of
flying, because you justpicture, like, the wings.
(25:21):
And the Lord's described likean eagle so often.
And so we both looked at eachother, and the peace came over us.
We looked at each other and wesaid, let's go.
At this point, it's almost10am I took out my own IV because
they were like, you can't leave.
Obviously, it's not a.
It's.
It's not a prison.
But we signed what would be in.
(25:43):
In the US An AMA saying.
We hear you saying, this couldkill me.
We're going anyway.
We paid another $4,000 and wecalled a cab.
We were.
This is.
We are.
10:00am I'm in a hospital bed.
Our flight, an internationalflight, is taking off at noon.
I hadn't walked in four days.
(26:03):
I walked out of that hospitalperfectly well, pushing my own suitcase,
leaning on it, but pushing it.
And we got through the airport.
I cannot even begin todescribe this series of perfectly
miraculous timing.
Our friends got us babyaspirin, which helps with blood thinning
to help prevent the clotting.
And I've told people, I'mlike, It was literally like a movie.
(26:25):
They walked past and passed itto us, like, high five.
My friend Amy, like, squeezedmy shoulders and she was like, I'm
praying for you.
I'm.
We are here with you.
You know, just.
And the.
The presence of otherbelievers is such a strength producing
truth like the church as a whole.
Our church was praying for us.
My parents church was prayingfor us.
My brother's churches up inNew England were praying for us.
(26:48):
I'm like.
And my father in law, theylive out in new.
In Arizona in this time of year.
They.
They are there through the winter.
And their church in Arizonawas praying for us.
I'm like.
We had thousands of believerspraying that I would make it back
safely.
And you feel that like, youfeel and know that's there because
(27:08):
I just.
We were like, we've been toldin the face by a medical professional,
you'll die if you do this.
Like, very, very high chanceyou will die if you do this.
I'm unaware that I'm septic atthis time.
I just think I have to havethis infection.
We get on the plane.
I was.
This plane ride was veryuncomfortable, but I was much.
I felt better than I had onthe way I got off the plane at.
(27:30):
At Dulles.
I had a wheelchair.
I got myself to our car and Idid not walk for a month and a half
after that without crutches.
So, like, the fact that I wasable, like I said, the.
The strength of the prayers ofbelieving people have power.
And I know that, that the.
(27:50):
That is what got us safelythrough the airport on time to each
and every one of these things,these wickets that you have to make
through customs, through this,through that I got.
My husband took me.
We live in Manassas rightaround the corner from the hospital.
And my husband took mestraight to Prince William.
I Had been like, maybe Ishould go home and see the kids.
And then I was like, it's nota good idea.
We were going straight to the hospital.
And when I got to thehospital, I could no longer walk
(28:12):
and they couldn't.
I was so dehydrated, theycouldn't even find a vein to get.
They were trying to get a drawfor mrsa.
They were trying to do allthese things.
Every single person Iencountered in that hospital could
not have been more competentand interested in finding out what
went wrong and how do we getyou better?
Such great care.
(28:33):
I know people go back andforth about different hospitals and
different places, but everysingle person that cared for me in
that hospital was absolutelydirectly concerned with exactly what
was happening and how theycould help me.
I did.
It was terrifying.
I heard a girl in the ER say,what's our policy on drawing from
(28:55):
feet here?
And I was like, I'll just die here.
Rather than draw blood from my gosh.
So it was the dehydration though.
And they had, like I said the.
In the doctor, they had brokenso many veins just with a pretty
cute careless attempts at IVsand blood draws and stuff.
So anyway, I ended up spendingfive days there.
(29:18):
And on Thursday morning Iheard, you know, it's a.
There was a nurse there whowas practicing reciting charts and
stuff.
And she was telling.
She.
She was a.
A student and she was readingmy chart and she was like, she arrived
septic on Sunday night.
And just me thinking about,like hearing that being said about
(29:40):
myself, of my deepest dread.
Yes.
And fear, like affirmed andconfirmed in that moment was very
like surreal to be like Iarrived on the brink of death.
And the next day, Friday, Iwent home prior to Praise God, like
(30:01):
for his faithfulness, for his healing.
I could barely walk.
I couldn't.
It was hard for me.
There's one step from ourgarage into our family room, which
is how I was getting into the house.
I'm not kidding you when Itell you I could barely do it.
It took everything I had toget myself.
Cause I have this, this my armand my, my right arm and my left
leg.
(30:22):
I was like trying to figureout how do I take a single step into
my home?
Wow.
And this dramatically from theweek before, my 75 pound luggage,
like rolling out.
Here we go.
Let's have a great time.
Two weeks, Two weeks before.
Because it was basically aweek in each hospital.
Right.
But anyway, just.
(30:42):
And now I'm back at the gym,like, yeah, it's amazing.
It's so Amazing how much wetake for granted how quickly we can
go downhill.
And the power of the Lord, Ithink, to touch and heal our bodies.
And actually, the day I wentback to the gym was April 25.
I came home from the hospitalthe very last week of March, so it
(31:02):
was almost a month.
And it was hard.
It was.
I felt weak.
Expectedly, I expected that,but I felt weak.
I felt sad when I left.
I'm sure you can relate onmany more levels with what you have
been through.
And you knew it was coming, soyou had time to dread it.
I had this two months on mycouch, completely out of the blue,
(31:25):
literally sitting there withmy leg up.
Can't even make my family dinner.
And thank God we had so manyfriends who brought us meals, sent
us doordash.
My parents, my husband'sparents, you know, we.
We had a lot of love andsupport, which.
And the gym, too, sent us adoor like doordash.
Just able to.
Felt so cared for by peoplewho care about us.
But the inability to do allthese things.
I went to the gym and I.
(31:46):
I was discouraged, for sure.
Yeah.
And verse of the day comes tome at 7:14.
I go to the 6am class.
That's usually right aboutwhen I'm getting in my car and leaving.
I very rarely look at itbecause I'm driving.
I happen to be sitting at a light.
And it was Psalm 34, 19.
Many are the afflictions ofthe righteous, but the Lord delivers
him from them all.
(32:06):
I'm not saying I considermyself righteous, but righteousness
is seeking the Lord, right?
We.
We are to seek the Lord as believers.
And like I said, I don't.
I don't consider myselfrighteous, but I do think I.
I am trying to follow what theLord would have for me.
And I was like, I do feel likethese afflictions are many.
Why?
You know, just being like,okay with that.
(32:28):
Like, it was basically saying,yeah, it's hard.
You think it's hard?
It's hard.
It's hard because it's hard.
Like that.
It was such a.
An affirmation of like, yeah,it's not.
You're not promised an easy road.
If anything, you're promised.
Exactly.
And that's the.
Your promise.
Trials and tribulations onthis earth.
(32:49):
Like, wow.
So that was.
That was like.
I would say like the April 25,though, was like, a good day to be
like, all right.
Yeah.
Like, people were.
People were like, oh, are youback, like 70%?
And I'm like, I'm like 0% ofwhere I was.
But I am 100% in that I amredeveloping the expectations of
(33:09):
myself to be getting back intoroutines and habits that rebuild.
And Caleb at the gym, such,such an encouragement.
I was like, I'm so discouraged.
And he was like, this work youdid beforehand got you through this.
Like the.
He was like, you build thatmuscle, so when your body needs that
source of energy while you'rehealing, it's there already.
(33:32):
And even I've even talkedabout that a little bit.
Like, I.
I had, as I mentioned, I hadhad all those kids close together.
I hadn't spent a lot of timeon my own physical health and wellness.
And around 39, I was like,yeah, I got to do something.
Things are going to go downhill.
So it's like, even this yearand a half before this trip, I feel
(33:53):
is preparation for challenges.
And it doesn't matter if ahorrifying challenge doesn't come.
There's still challenges every day.
Like, you're still a betterperson for taking care of the body
that God has given you.
So anyway, that was.
Caleb was very encouraging inthat, in being like, you can't be
(34:14):
upset that you went through ahard thing and it cost you something.
I'm sure you've had similar conversations.
So many.
He has talked me off the ledgeso many times and reminded me how
fortunate I am that I have putthe time and effort and energy into
my health and fitness, whetherit's what I'm eating or how I'm working
out my body and buildingmuscle, because it's what.
(34:36):
It's why I recovered so quickly.
I truly believe that that's true.
I believe that I would nothave come back so quickly and it
would have been a much moredifficult recovery had I not put
that, you know, intention intotaking care of myself before.
So that's a great, Honestly, agreat thing for people to hear.
Like, it's so, so importantnot to wait until the thing happens
for you to start taking careof yourself.
(34:58):
Yeah.
Wow, what a story.
So now obviously, hindsight 2020, like, what would you have.
I know probably everything,but I guess you probably just wouldn't
have.
You would have gotten straightback on a plane and gone home because,
I mean, you were fine gettingon the plane.
I was okay getting on the plane.
I was pretty ill.
(35:19):
I think I would have felt verydramatic doing that.
Like I said, without knowing.
Yes, exactly.
I.
I'm like, even though I feel.
I don't think anybody would do that.
Yes, I don't think anybodywould do that.
You're like, oh, I'll go have,like, one rough day.
And then you're like, I'll be fine.
We have a whole week.
Yes.
Our friends made reservationsfor us on Thursday.
(35:41):
They were like.
They were like, we're gonnamake them for Friday and hope that
we can all be there.
Like, And I think even onWednesday, Thursday, I was like,
there's a chance.
Like, I didn't think I wasn'tgoing to be there.
I did not have a good conceptgoing into it of what was happening.
And of course, like, there isno going back.
I feel like this is also,like, God's.
God's plan in our lives.
(36:01):
If you believe God plannedanything, he planned everything.
Like, you can't pick it apartand let it.
You know, obviously, there arebad choices that we make.
I'm not saying, like, oh, it'sGod's fault that I've taken myself
down this road.
But things like this, that itwas just pure.
It got.
They.
I've.
I actually had my last, Ithink, appointment with infectious
(36:22):
disease tomorrow.
They've been just followingup, and they think it got in through
eczema, which I have very.
Okay, that's what I wanted to ask.
Yeah.
Okay.
Interesting.
Wow.
I wear.
I wear socks and shoes prettymuch all winter.
Like, there's nowhere out inpublic that my feet would have been
sure.
And it came in through my foot.
On my left foot, there's likea tiny cut that's actually disturbingly
(36:44):
in the pictures when we weredoing it, to see the size of my leg
from.
Compared from before and afterthe flight, you can see this little
red.
It's like, it's tiny.
So that is what, though, theinfectious disease doctor once she.
I saw like, five or sixdifferent ones, and they all were
like, yeah, this is avulnerability point.
They were like, you need totake better care of that.
But there's.
(37:04):
There's not a lot you can do.
Um, I.
They don't know where it came from.
They're like, it could havebeen from chicken that you were cooking
in your kitchen.
It could be from anywhere.
So that is.
I'm like, this is anotherthing, though.
I'm like, I am not going toborrow anxiety.
I'm not going to worry, like,oh, this could happen again.
Anything could happen toanyone at any time.
(37:25):
My husband's in law enforcement.
I feel like that has, like,helped me to be, like, stressing
about it is only going to maketoday worse.
And I mean, we're told thateach day has enough trouble of its
own.
Like, it is scriptural.
It's not that you don't care.
It's that if you're dwellingon all the things that could happen,
like, you're not going to livea very full or healthy life.
(37:45):
So they don't.
They're like, you can't reallyprevent it.
There's a few things.
Taking better care of myeczema would.
Would be helpful because itcreates a very vulnerable area, and
you have to use your hands sothat you know that.
And they did say, like, wear gloves.
Stupid things.
Wear gloves when you do thedishes, because it's just protecting
you from the water.
And also possible bacteriathat could be in the water.
(38:07):
There's so many things, somany possibilities, but that was
the general consensus.
I even had this, like,horrifying realization.
I was like, did I.
Like, when I was puttinghydrocortisone on here and on my
foot, like, did I give this to myself?
And she was like.
She was like, no, that's nothow it works.
But she might have been lyingto me to make me feel better.
I don't know how else it got there.
(38:28):
Exactly.
That's.
That's crazy.
So are you, like, more proneto it happening.
Happening again now that it'shappened to you, or.
No?
Yes and no.
Okay.
She.
They said.
They were like.
They said this could happenagain, but they were like, this could
happen to anyone.
So I think they, like, have totell you that.
I guess they did.
(38:48):
Multiple people said they werevery, like, befuddled at the doctor.
They were like, you are notthe patient for this.
Usually it's someone who'sregularly hospitalized.
Super unhealthy, because thatmakes you more vulnerable.
There are several othermarkers that they were like, you
don't have any.
You have no reason this shouldhave happened to you.
One thing that is, like, alittle disturbing is they were, like,
(39:12):
cabin pressure could have beenthe trigger for the sudden spread.
So if I hadn't gotten on thatplane, it's possible.
However, I had.
The day before I mentioned, wehad gone to tea around town, downtown
to celebrate my daughter's birthday.
And the girls and I, as weoften are, we're about 10 minutes
late.
So we were, like, running.
(39:33):
And I had on.
I had on, like, booties.
And as I was running thepounding, I was like, I feel like
a horrible, hard pain in myshin that felt like a bruise, like.
And I stepped over a rower atthe gym and bumped it on Friday.
And I thought that's what it was.
It was the right spot.
No scrape.
No, it was not the Entry point.
But so it was already there.
(39:53):
There's a possibility.
Who knows.
Again, like we said, like youcan't go back and second guess all
these things.
I believe the Lord led me toeverywhere I was for very specific
reasons.
And I don't know that I willalways understand what all those
reasons were on this, thisside of eternity.
I know.
I.
We.
We talked very briefly about.
(40:13):
My daughter was.
My 12 year old was diagnosedwith diabetes this winter and it
had made me particularly.
We are having to wake up at2am to check her numbers still because
she's.
She's so newly diagnosed.
I know you have a son who hasT1D so selfishly, I was so looking
forward to this trip to take abreak from 2am alarms which also
(40:37):
makes it hard to get up at5:30 to go to the gym because you
have broken sleep every night.
But also it's what we have todo right now.
The, the shift in percept per perspective.
Thank you.
Perception is all I had.
Perspective.
When you're like, oh, what a pain.
I have to get up at 2.
Yes.
Yes.
To being like I am alive.
(40:57):
I am well.
I have five children who, whoI get to see and care for and love
in different ways.
And my husband as well.
Of course I'm gonna leave himout of this.
But like realizing the thingsyou could have lost.
Yes.
What an absolute blessing itis to have a 2am alarm to check on
my daughter.
Absolutely.
That I can wake up and go getlike my husband.
(41:19):
Yes.
All that because I was like meand my crutches.
It was, it was a situationlike every time I put my leg down,
I was breathless from thepressure of the blood rush.
So, so grateful for him beingso faithful in that.
But what a perspective shiftof like, oh, I can't wait for five
days to just do nothing.
To not have to worry about that.
Exactly.
(41:40):
Being brought back from thebrink of death.
Yes.
I mean that is, that is anincredible story.
And I mean, I think myfavorite part of it is just the confirmation
that God gave you guys whenthe doctor was looking at you in
the eye saying especially toyour husband because he had to just
be such a leader in thatmoment and be like, I have to make
this decision for our familyand it's life or death.
(42:03):
And thank God he came in withthat confirmation.
And then your husband justlistened to what the Lord said, you
know, because that is such ascary decision to have to make.
Like I am ne.
I am not one to call in an emergency.
You never want me to be theperson you're dealing with.
I just don't know what to do.
Like, I just panic.
So that is just so amazingthat God just showed up right in
(42:25):
that second, literally.
He said, here's your answer.
Yeah.
When they said, oh, sorry.
They said, when we got toPrince William, when they, they,
they ran all the numbers, likeall my blood tests, some of my, like
my potassium was like in the,it's supposed to be like around a
four.
It was like in the decimals.
(42:47):
They, There was other things.
They were like, you were goingto die if you.
They were not tracking any ofthese things.
They were just waiting forinfection to go down.
Like, it was not a question oflike, oh, why do we, you know, would
it have happened?
They were like, you were onyour way to death just by your own
body not being able.
I was shutting down.
Right.
And so what happened?
(43:08):
What would happen to you,Lauren, if you guys were unable to
pay that bill one of those days?
Like what?
That is kind of funny because.
Yeah.
They're telling you you can't leave.
I don't, I don't know.
I, I think they would havesent us out.
So one, one thing we did learnearly in our marriage is to always
(43:29):
have like financially to havea cushion and to be ready for things
like that.
And so I'm so grateful that wehave practiced disciplines to be
prepared for those things.
We also did learn, side notethat if it is an emergency like that,
generally your healthinsurance will pay it.
That's wondering.
(43:49):
Okay.
They pay back most of it,which is great.
But it was interesting.
We weren't sure, but they were like.
Because you had.
It's not like if you're like,oh, I don't feel good, I'm going
to go get an IV infusion.
That they would pay for that.
But because it was life, lifesaving care, it was mostly covered.
I think they calculated inlike a co pay which the same as it
(44:10):
would have been here if it washospital care, which that's fair.
But I did not know that wehave Blue Cross, that everyone has
different policies.
But I would be something Iwould say I would never travel without
affirming now beforehandbecause it would have taken some
of the stress off of beinglike, wow, we are really getting
cleaned out here.
Right?
Yes.
That, that just that in itselfthat on top of the everything else
(44:32):
you're going through, I guessyou kind of just have to compartmentalize
at that point and be like,let's keep her alive and not worry
about all of this.
I know that when.
When I found out I neededheart surgery, we had a trip planned
in January and we didn't knowkind of the timeline of things.
And Jonathan was like, well,we have this trip.
Is it safe for her to fly?
Her son is getting married as well.
Like, you know, and he said,you can go to Mexico.
(44:56):
He said, just make sure youget air ambulance insurance.
And I thought, yeah, we're notgoing to Mexico.
If I have to, if I need that,then we're not going there.
But just, you know, the ideaof that, like, you just never think
something like that's gonnahappen to you.
I mean, there's no way toreally be prepared.
So I feel like.
I mean, having a faith in Godand trusting his plan and, I mean,
(45:20):
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know what else you do.
I mean, I think you dideverything you could possibly do.
You prayed, you listened towhat they were saying, but you also,
you know, discerned that.
Ok, I think maybe now this iswhat we need to do.
And, I mean, thank God heworked it all out the way he did.
What a story.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Again, like I said, the powerand protection of.
(45:41):
I think the.
The prayers of.
They say the prayers of arighteous man do not go unheard.
And so knowing like, all thesepeople were supporting us, I think
that is significant.
I know you talked earlierabout people having, like, favorite
verses that they like to share.
I feel like I am not.
I.
I always hate.
I tell people this too.
With kids.
(46:01):
I'm like, favorite questionsare stressful because it feels like,
oh, it has to be, like, the best.
In my defense, that's why Isaid it earlier instead of asking
you on the spot.
But it doesn't have to be the best.
Sometimes.
Sometimes, you know, someone'sfavorite verse might be really unassuming
and something that, you know,most people wouldn't think of or
(46:21):
they haven't heard that verse.
Or maybe it's John 3:16 andthat's okay, too.
Yes.
Well, the favorites.
I just always feel likefavorites is like you have to leave
so many other out superlatives.
It makes other people feel bad.
But no, seriously, the one ofmy favorites that I often put on
our Christmas card because Ifeel like it's almost like a blessing
of Hope is Romans 15:13.
(46:42):
May the God of hope fill youwith all joy and peace as you trust
in him, so that you mayoverflow with hope by the power of
the Holy Spirit.
And I think I love it becauseit doesn't rely on Any power that
we have within ourselves tohave that hope and that peace and
that joy, we don't have those things.
We are given those things.
Those are fruits of the spirit.
Love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
(47:05):
gentleness, and self control.
Each of those things we don'thave within ourselves.
And I find.
I would find it sodiscouraging to be looking within
myself for answers, becausewhat I find there is lacking, but
what I find in the Holy Spiritis joy and peace as we trust.
And it makes even these typesof situations.
(47:26):
It doesn't make sense why Iwent through this.
It doesn't make sense why this happened.
Doctors were like, I don't know.
But the Lord knows and healready knew.
And even if it's just for meto learn to truly say, like, I do
cast all my cares on him.
Even if that's it.
That's it, you know?
(47:46):
Right.
If that was the lesson, ifthat was the thing.
I know, I just.
I can't imagine what eternityis like or what heaven is like when
we can actually get the fullpicture, you know?
Yeah.
Like, he works it all out for good.
And it's just like, man, youknow, you see so many situations
in this life that you can'timagine how God could be using that
(48:09):
for good, but somehow he is.
Yeah.
And I think we have to be socareful with how we express some
of these things.
Like, obviously, in mysituation, the Lord brought us home
safely.
You never want people to feellike the right person wasn't praying
or things don't go that way or.
So many times we see childrenwho get sick and aren't healed here
(48:30):
on Earth and never wantingpeople to feel like, oh, well, there
must be something going on.
They didn't pray.
Right.
They didn't believe Right.
They didn't have enough faith.
Like, obviously eternal,Eternal healing isn't the same as
earthly healing.
And I'm so grateful to havemore time on this earth with friends
and family and to grow andlearn and change.
But to never, you know, tonever have someone else feel like,
(48:50):
oh, well, yeah, the Lord heardmy prayer.
Sometimes he does hear ourprayer, and he doesn't answer it
in the way that we would expect.
I'm so grateful for you justbeing here and, you know, powering
through that with me.
I appreciate you and I'm not bad.
Thank you so much for being here.
And, guys, I just hope thatthat story just inspired you and
(49:11):
gave you hope and, you know, just.
I don't know how people getthrough things without faith.
And so if that's somethingthat you, you know, have questions
about or something that's nota part of your life.
I.
I would love for you to reachout to me and I would love to just
chat with you about that.
But again, Lauren, thank you.
I'm so grateful that Laurenwas willing to come on and share
(49:31):
her story with us.
Before you go, I want toremind you of our memory verse for
June, which is actually twoverses, Galatians 5, 22 and 23.
But the Holy Spirit producesthis kind of fruit in our lives.
Love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self control.
(49:52):
There is no law against these things.
I would encourage you to writeout your memory verse and read and
meditate upon it daily.
I can't wait to see you next week.
Thank you for being here.
Later.
If this podcast blessed you,please share it with a friend and
hit the subscribe button soyou never miss an episode.
Leave a five star review onitunes and come hang out with me
(50:15):
on Instagram.
Ed by the Fruit.
I'd love to connect with you there.
And most importantly, I'll seeyou right here next week.
Come hungry, get fed.
Sam.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.