My return visit to the UAMS I.C.U.

I know it has been awhile since my last post and I apologize for the delay. I was at church this past Sunday night when i was stopped by an old family friend from back home in Florida. Joe Stephens went to my church when I was born and has been close to my family ever since. He has been following my blog EVERYDAY since my accident, and said, "its been since July 10th since your last post." I was shocked to hear that Joe had followed my blog this whole time. Sometime I got the impression that people had fallen away from reading my blog. I wrote on it mainly for myself, kind of like my journal. Joe made me realize that it is still followed by people, even though I don't realize it!

I have some wonderful news to share with everyone! If you wanted to hear how God has been working behind the scenes then sit down because, BOY DO I HAVE A STORY FOR YOU!!
Last week a friend of mine was injured in a mountain bike accident at a near by park and was in the hospital at UAMS (she is doing ok now.) I went there to visit with her and her family to hopefully help a little since I know a thing or two about being in a hospital. After I visited with her and her family for awhile, I got the nerve built up to visit the I.C.U. in the other building where I spent all those months.

Before I go any further I need to give you guys a little back story!
(People ask me all the time about my stay in the I.C.U. and what it was like being in a coma. I can honestly say I remember very little about my entire stay at UAMS. I was either in a coma or so heavily sedated I didn't know what was going on. But, I do have memories...but only just 2 or 3 of them. They are of small 10-15 second snap shots whenever I would wake up for a brief amount of time. One of those memories I could not get out of my head!! I remember waking up in the I.C.U. with a ventilator breathing for me. As I opened my eyes I saw a young nurse standing over me with her hands on my arm, when I looked up it appeared that she was praying, with her eyes closed. I remember looking at her name tag and it reading JOY! I could not get her face out of my head for YEARS!! I even remember asking my mom if she remembered a JOY?? It was the ONLY nurse I remember throughout my stay there. But, she never could recall a Joy ever working on me. My mom kept detailed notes of all the doctors and nurses who ever worked on me, but there was never a JOY. For the longest time, I thought maybe I had dreamed her? or made her up? But I could never get her face out of my head)

- BACK TO UAMS. and my I.C.U. visit. As a nice lady led me through the halls of hospital when we finally came up to the I.C.U ward. I was kind of hesitant going in there and seeing the hall where I had spent all those weeks. I was not suppose to be in there but one of the nurses said it would be OK, but only if I wasn't in there for long. As soon as I went into the I.C.U. i saw a nurse sitting with her back turned to me looking through a window monitoring a patient. As I came up behind her I said,.....JOY??? She turned around and said...YES!? I could NOT BELIEVE IT!! one of only a few memories I ever had in the I.C.U. was of this girls face and seeing her praying in my room. AND IT WAS HER!!! I WASN'T MAKING IT UP! She remembered me very well and we hugged and caught up for 30-40 minutes. Joy could NOT believe it was me, she said I looked totally different than when she saw me in the ICU haha OBVIOUSLY. Joy then walked through the halls with me and was showing me off to all the other nurses. Joy told me most of my nurses who worked on me were on a different shift.
Its amazing but I see God behind every little thing that happens in my life like that! My ONE memory of a nurse would be the FIRST nurse I see. When I shouldn't be allowed into the I.C.U. one of the nurses makes an exception for me, and the FIRST person i see was the girls face i could never get out of my head. (THAT IS A GOD THING) It was a weird experience being back in there and even seeing the room where i spent all those hard nights. Im not going to lie....it was kind of tough with me being back there and reliving all of that. :(

God has blessed me SO MUCH!! I am forever grateful at the blessings he has given me. This accident has changed my life and has made me realize that I AM NOT IN CONTROL!! I use to think I had the whole world figured out, now I know that my time here is so short and can be taken at any moment! (IT ALMOST WAS!) It is a comforting fact that I can lay all of my troubles and worries down. God has taken care of me throughout ALL of this and he will continue to see me through to the end!

NEVER STOP PRAYING FOR MIRACLES!!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!
SO MUCH IN HIM,
BRENT