Also, this is a picture of an X-ray of my jaw/neck area from back in December. That "bike chain" is what's helping hold my jaw together, and that tube you can see is the feeding tube- which I no longer have, thank goodness.
Let me set the scene for you. On Thursday up at the Huntsman, I was back in surgery, and my parents had decided to go from the waiting room to get some food up at the café. As they were sitting on some chairs kind of by the elevator, they were surprised to see none other than Jon Huntsman, Sr.! (That's THE "Huntsman" of the "Huntsman Cancer Institute") He was surrounded by about nine or ten people, and it looked like he was about to do a photoshoot or interview or something. My parents talked to him for a minute, and they said that he was really sincere. He asked, "Now who are you guys here for?" and they talked about me and my situation a little bit. He wished us all the best with everything.
The next day, Friday, my mom and I were just kickin' back in the room. My dad had gone up to the café to get some breakfast, and on his way back, he saw one of my previous nurses, McKell (sp?), who had become a really good friend. She said, "Whoa, I didn't know you guys were here!" My dad said, "Yeah, we're just in a room on the 5th floor, Erik had a surgery yesterday." And then she said, "Well, can I come visit?" She came to visit me and it was really great to see her again! (When I was in the hospital in December, she was my nurse for a few nights, and she was always just really sweet. Skullcandy had donated a bunch of headphones to HCI and she talked to some of the "higher up" people at the Hunstman and was able to get some for me. I thought it was a really nice gesture/surprise!)
I bring up these two stories because I honestly believe that most of the time, running into someone is not a coincidence. I don't know why Jon Huntsman, Sr. was really there that day or why my surgery was at the time it was. And I don't know why there was suddenly an opening in surgeries for this last surgery. I don't know why my parents decided at that time to go to the café- probably because they were hungry, right? But I do know that we were all in "the right place at the right time." I know that meeting and talking to Jon Huntsman really gave my parents comfort, and that running into McKell reminded me that I have people supporting me, even at the Hunstman. :) If that opening didn't come up, we wouldn't have been up at the Huntsman at that time, my parents would've never ran into Jon Huntsman, Sr., and we might not have seen McKell.
It's really just amazing to me how the Lord's plan works for each one of us and that our paths may collide, benefitting us both. You know, for the most part, I'm really grateful for all the people I run into and how they really can bless my life.
All I can really do is hope and pray that I can be guided to where I need to be. Because like a patriarchal blessing, the great things we are promised can only happen if we live righteously. And that's the ultimate goal, right? Receiving the blessings of our sacred covenants? I want to live righteously so I can be guided to be in the right place at the right time, so that I can be an answer to a prayer or a blessing in someone else's life or they can do the same for me.
Keep running!
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