October 17, 2023 - Surgery Day

     I am to check in at the hospital at 11:00 CST.  I would expect the surgery to start around 1:00 CST if the surgeries scheduled before me go as planned.
     It’s a beautiful fall day in Rochester.  The sun is shining and the leaves are turning with much more color than in Central Kentucky.  We can look across the landscape from our eighth-floor room.
     I got up early and came down to the lobby so Teresa could sleep for a while longer. 
     There’s a gas-log fire in the fireplace and the couch on which I am sitting is close enough that I had to move to the other end.  Just off the lobby is the breakfast area.  Maybe not the best place to be sitting when you are fasting before surgery.
     I have received several texts and I have no doubt lots of folks are praying.
     If you have followed these blogs or know me even somewhat, you know what Mike Courtney and his wife, Doris, mean to me.  He sent me a text this morning that literally blew me away.  Here is Mike’s prayer for me this morning:
 
“Oh great God of grace and healing, the author and finisher of our faith, I pray today, all day for my brother Chuck Cooper. I pray for comfort and peace for Chuck and his family. I pray for wisdom and skill for every doctor and nurse that comes in contact with him today. I pray that every mark, incision, shot, or suture will perfectly do what it is supposed to do. And, I pray with boldness and confidence for absolute, supernatural, divine healing. I pray the doctors will shake their heads in amazement at what You have done before they even begin a single process.  In all of this, I pray that Chuck will be strong and blessed. And that You will be glorified. In the Name of Jesus, by whose stripes we are healed. Amen”
 
     All I could say was, “Wow.”  And thanks.
 
     Teresa will send a text to Megan as things progress today.  Thanks again for your prayers.