Advice

 In the last few months I have been bombarded with information.

TONS actually.

I see so many doctors. I have so many friends.

And I understand that everyone is trying to help.

And sometimes the help is VERY helpful.

But with all the info I'm getting, I'm sometimes confused as to what I should really do.

And I go to church.

And some of the best answers have come from there!

One day I taught a lesson to my Young Women and the lesson posed the question (and answered it):

How can we lose the ability to feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost?

 (By ignoring them, by refusing to repent, by listening more to what others say.)

That last part "BY LISTENING MORE TO WHAT OTHERS SAY."

Stuck out like a sore thumb to me. I read it over and over. I knew that little bit was for me.

Especially with my life right now.

And then I heard the following story.

I have heard this story before but this time was different!

Many of us have had experiences with the sweet power of prayer.

 One of mine was shared with a stake patriarch from southern Utah. 

This saintly soul suffered much because of a failing heart.

He pleaded for help, thinking that his condition resulted

from a damaged but repairable valve in his heart.

Extensive evaluation revealed that he had two faulty valves.

While one could be helped surgically, the other could not.

Thus, an operation was not advised. He received this news with deep disappointment.

Subsequent visits ended with the same advice.

Finally, in desperation, he spoke to me with considerable emotion:

“Dr. Nelson, I have prayed for help and have been directed to you.

The Lord will not reveal to me how to repair that second valve, but He can reveal it to you.

Your mind is so prepared.

If you will operate upon me, the Lord will make it known to you what to do.

Please perform the operation that I need, and pray for the help that you need.”

His great faith had a profound effect upon me.

How could I turn him away again?

Following a fervent prayer together, I agreed to try.

In preparing for that fateful day, I prayed over and over again,

but still did not know what to do for his leaking tricuspid valve.

Even as the operation commenced, my assistant asked,

“What are you going to do for that?”

I said, “I do not know.”

We began the operation.

After relieving the obstruction of the first valve, we exposed the second valve.

We found it to be intact but so badly dilated that it could no longer function as it should.

While examining this valve, a message was distinctly impressed upon my mind:

 Reduce the circumference of the ring.

 I announced that message to my assistant.

“The valve tissue will be sufficient if we can effectively reduce the ring toward its normal size.”

But how?

We could not apply a belt as one would use to tighten the waist of oversized trousers.

We could not squeeze with a strap as one would cinch a saddle on a horse.

Then a picture came vividly to my mind, showing how stitches could be placed—to make a pleat here and a tuck there—to accomplish the desired objective.

I still remember that mental image—complete with dotted lines where sutures should be placed.

The repair was completed as diagrammed in my mind.

We tested the valve and found the leak to be reduced remarkably.

My assistant said, “It’s a miracle.”

I responded, “It’s an answer to prayer.”

-Russell M. Nelson

If you have been reading, you know we are struggling, trying to get Bradley to gain some weight.

And the docs just keep upping the calories.

I even got back the pump to pump formula into his tummy thru his g-tube at night.

YOU thought you forced your kids to eat? pshw!

And he has gained a little, but it has been such a struggle!

Bradley's top of his stomach was tightened and he cannot throw up. He wretches instead.

And I have felt like he had a blockage or a twist or something because NOTHING goes down.
But the gastro has reassured me he does not.

And on Sunday I fasted for him. That he would gain some weight.

And on Monday he got sick.

And he's had an unexplained, reoccurring cold since he came home 6 months ago.

And I've asked his pulmonologist about allergies and he has quickly answered

"He's too young for airborn allergies! Could be food allergies though."

And Bradley has been throwing up one bottle a day for two weeks.

And it is violent when he does.

And his ability to suck has gotten slower and slower.

And yesterday, all day, he threw up.

ALL DAY!

And no one else has been sick.

NO ONE.

Not even a cold or earache like the doctors say Bradley has.

And all he would keep down yesterday was pedialyte.

Finally about 3pm, I was so tired of cleaning up throw up,

 I said a prayer and asked to know why Bradley was throwing up.

And quickly I got a response.

And it was to try soy formula.

So the kids and I went down to the store.

And I mulled over which to buy.

There are so many now.

And the spirit came to me and said, "I've told you which to buy."

And I picked it up and then I put it back.

And I thought about getting small cans of different kinds to try.

AND AGAIN, the words came into my mind "I'VE TOLD YOU WHICH TO BUY!"

So I picked up the biggest can I could and thought "Okay. We will see!"

And I came home and mixed the bottle to 27 calories of soy formula.

And I put it in his mouth.

And he chugged it.

He ate three ounces. Something he has not done in months.

And I opened his tube to vent him and water came up.

I HAVE NEVER SEEN WATER COME OUT OF MY SON.

Only chalky, white formula.

He was digesting it!!!

And he's slept all night with the pump running. I didn't have to turn it off. He didn't wretch.

And when the pump had been done an hour, he woke and let me know that he was hungry.

And I fed him a whole bottle. And now he is asleep.

Why do we resist the promptings that come?

Why do we try to prove them?

If we could just trust in our Father's advice, life would be so much simpler.
If we trusted him more, we would seek him more.

And this whole throwing up thing, caused me to change his formula.

And I know he's going to gain weight now.

It was an answer to prayer :)