1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,000 Welcome to the God's Goodness podcast where our mission is to encourage and highlight God's 2 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:17,440 Goodness and modern-day miracles. We are your hosts, Josh and Shelley Higgins. Today we have 3 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:24,240 with us a special guest Sue Rackavan and she was introduced by a close friend in Christ and her 4 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:28,960 friend was telling me a little bit about her story and then I connected with Sue and she told me a 5 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:33,600 little bit about it and I'm like, oh, this is God showing up over and over. So we're going to have 6 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:39,760 her share her story with you and we are going to see where God showed up. So with that we'll have you 7 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:45,040 open us up with an opening prayer. Lord, I just ask you to bless this time together, put the words in 8 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:53,120 my mouth and tell the story that you want to be told, Lord God. I thank you for your peace and your joy 9 00:00:53,120 --> 00:01:00,240 in these times. In the name of Jesus, amen. Amen. So where would you like to start, Sue? 10 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:08,160 My life in general, I like to live life aggressively. I have been known to jump out of perfectly good 11 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:15,280 airplanes. I don't have much fear of anything other than disappointing others, some of you have that, 12 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:21,920 but as far as sports, very aggressive sports, jump out of airplanes, that kind of thing, 13 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:27,440 I learned how to ski downhill at the age of 42 because that was my first opportunity. It wasn't 14 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:32,960 because I was afraid to do it. It's my first opportunity and I took it. So I like to do fun 15 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:37,840 things. Like I said, my biggest fear is really if I have a fear, it's disappointing someone else. It 16 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:43,680 has nothing to do with being active. So what I learned in this process is that we always have hope. 17 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:51,360 Whenever you do something by accident or not that you intended to do, God can always turn it around 18 00:01:52,320 --> 00:02:01,360 and give you hope and keep going forward. On to my testimony. On Friday, August 17th of 2012, 19 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:10,160 seven days into a nine day vacation, my son and his friend and I went to Jetski's. 20 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:16,160 The first Jetski was a two person Jetski and then the second Jetski was just for one person. 21 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:24,800 The only thing I remember that day is going to rent the Jetski's. I remember taking the test 22 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:32,800 for safety, chuckle, and then I remember signing the papers and I remember walking down to the dock 23 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:40,800 and seeing the Jetski's. I have no recollection of ever being on the Jetski's. However, I'm told, 24 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:47,040 a lot of this story is what I'm told because I don't remember it was a head injury, but I'll 25 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:53,440 be very clear on what I do remember. But I'm told that I was on the first Jetski for about an hour 26 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:00,400 on the back of the Jetski with my son's friend and my son was on the solitary Jetski, hooping it 27 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:07,280 up, having a good time because he's the one that later you'll find I jumped out of a perfectly 28 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:14,800 good airplane with. So we like to live life that way. And so after that hour, we switched and I got 29 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:22,160 on the back of my son's Jetski. What I'm told from my son is that he had intentionally thrown me off 30 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:29,600 two more times. And knowing me, I would have been like, woohoo, what a ride and just really enjoyed 31 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:36,400 it or dared him to try to turn me off again because that's just my personality. So when I was riding 32 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:43,200 on the back of his Jetski, he threw me off for the third time. The way the spray was coming up the 33 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:49,600 back of the Jetski, the rider behind us was too close to see me fall off. He was not aware that 34 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:56,480 I fell. So when I fell off, I went under the water, came up, and that's where the first thing that 35 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:05,200 happened that allowed me to live through this ordeal. When I came up, I must have heard the Jetski 36 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:13,040 coming at me and I turned towards the Jetski. When I turned towards the Jetski, it hit me in the 37 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:21,680 shoulder and then came up over my head when I was looking at the Jetski. So I have two scars right 38 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:28,080 on the corner above my eyebrow here going up into my head. That's where the Jetski hit me. Had I not 39 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:34,000 turned towards the noise, it would have come up over my shoulder and went over the top of my head, 40 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,240 potentially a lot more tragic situation than what it was. 41 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:47,760 The softer bone plates. Yes. The second life saver is that my son's friend at the last moment 42 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:55,360 saw me and that's when he turned to Jetski sideways and it came in sideways instead of again running 43 00:04:55,360 --> 00:05:03,600 up over the back of my head. So those are two very momentary things and decisions that were made 44 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:11,920 that ended up coming to the best solution in my story. When I came up the next time out of the 45 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:18,240 water, I was face down in the water. My ski vest was keeping me buoyant but my face was down in 46 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:27,440 the water. My son was off of his Jetski, ran up, pulled my head up and he said, Mom, your face was 47 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:34,480 dead. You didn't have much color, you weren't breathing and I could tell your neck was broken. 48 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:43,360 So I can only imagine what that might have looked like. So that's when the third thing 49 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:52,000 comes into play and this is when you never know what God has planned for you in your life and 50 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:59,920 how you're going to use it later in life. About five years before my accident, my son graduated 51 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:07,600 from high school said he wanted to be a welder and I said, okay, you can be a welder and I know 52 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:13,440 you already know how to weld but I want you to have credentials behind your name. So I sent him 53 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:19,680 to community college and became a welder. When there he heard about this really cool thing called 54 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:27,840 underwater welding and of course we lived life aggressively and he would choose as an occupation 55 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:35,680 the most dangerous occupation on the planet, construction under the water. So off he goes to 56 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:47,040 school. I spent roughly $20,000 on his education. He came home, used that occupation or that profession 57 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:55,120 for less than a year. For the next four years as I think some other parents might do, I was a little 58 00:06:55,120 --> 00:07:01,120 ticked off that I had spent all that money on an education and he wasn't doing it. 59 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:09,680 I got over being upset about that $20,000 investment when he used what he learned in 60 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:17,200 that education to save my life. So in that education he learned how to resuscitate in the water, 61 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:30,080 how to swim a body ashore for a distance. He knew my neck was broken. What he did was pull me up on 62 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:38,400 his chest, stabilize my neck between his chin and his shoulder and started the backstroke 63 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:49,680 to shore. During that swim I would vomit. He would lay over sideways, let me vomit over him 64 00:07:50,400 --> 00:08:01,760 into the water, put me back down and keep stroking. When we got to shore is when his friend on the 65 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:09,760 other jet ski went off for help. Once he knew we were on the shore. We're in a war here. I believe 66 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:17,520 Satan wanted me dead. Jesus Christ did not. All of the things that already take in place to give me 67 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:23,760 the best opportunity to live. Jim and his friend and I had attended church together, my son his 68 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:30,640 entire life, but with this other young man for about 20 years. So we were all pretty solid in 69 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:38,240 our faith. When his friend came back he said he had told the water police where we were. 70 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:46,720 They did not come right with him for whatever reason. When my son had me up on shore he saw the 71 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:57,200 water police go by two times looking for us. So that just says to me there were distractions 72 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:05,920 by the enemy wanting this not to succeed. Eventually on the third try they were able to get their 73 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:12,080 attention. A lot of that is where we were in the cove where we were jet skiing the way that the 74 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:19,680 water police would go by. Every time I quit breathing Jim would bring me back. It went on for 75 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:28,000 about a half an hour where I was gurgling, moaning, stopping breathing. He would bring me back, 76 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:36,400 gurgling, moaning, stopping breathing. That's when I left my body. I was up in a tree about 40 feet 77 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:42,880 in the air and people have said to me, Sue, did you see the light? I didn't see any one light. 78 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:50,800 I saw beams and beams of light everywhere. Like in the evening in the summer you'll see a beam of 79 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:58,960 light come through a cloud. Those beams were everywhere. It was so bright, not painfully bright, 80 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:06,400 but just so bright the leaves on the tree that I was in were just gently waving 81 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:13,920 and yes they were green but it was so bright they were almost yellow. So one thing I can say about 82 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:21,840 the near-death experience or out-of-body experience, colors are different. I'm trying to describe it to 83 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:27,840 you in a way that you guys will understand it but it's just different. The lights are different. 84 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:32,560 The colors are different. Like how when God speaks about heaven having colors we've never seen before. 85 00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:38,240 Exactly. Exactly. It's just very different. It would be very hard to describe a color 86 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:45,440 that no one's seen. Yeah. So when I was in this tree other than looking out at the limb of the tree 87 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:54,240 at the leaves and sheer beauty I could look down and I saw my son I'll say working on me. I feel like 88 00:10:55,040 --> 00:11:00,480 he was resuscitating me but I don't have any documentation of that and he would say, yeah, 89 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:07,840 mom you'd stop breathing sometimes. To be completely honest it's difficult to get my son to talk about 90 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:15,200 my accident. He has a lot of guilt for intentionally throwing me off the back of the jet ski 91 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:22,960 and I've tried many times over the years and certainly immediately after you don't have any 92 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:27,920 guilt. We were having fun. That's how you rolled. Exactly. Exactly. That's how we rolled. That's how 93 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:34,080 we had fun. There is no guilt in it. That was a norm. But understandably I get it. Yeah. Yeah. 94 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:39,520 I'm missing some pieces to the puzzle just because it's difficult for him to talk about. 95 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:48,960 When I looked down at his friend what I actually saw him do, he was touching the jet skis. I want 96 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:54,160 to think he was pulling them ashore. He was real close to the shore and he was touching the jet 97 00:11:54,160 --> 00:12:01,840 skis. But what my spirit told me is that he was in a position of prayer and like I said, 98 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:07,200 he was not on his knees. His hands were not folded. But knowing this young man going to church with 99 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:13,520 him for over 20 years, he was probably in a position of prayer. Oh my goodness, what happened? 100 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:20,720 Lord help us. Again, I haven't had the opportunity to talk to him about that. That's about the extent 101 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:28,720 of the automatic experience other than thankfully God allowed me to bring the emotions back with me. 102 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:38,960 And that is peace and joy for I would say at least six years after my accident. It's been 12 now. 103 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:47,680 I always had an overwhelming sense of peace and joy with me at all times. I still have it. 104 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:55,360 It's just not to the volume. If I could use that word to... It's not to the volume that it was, 105 00:12:56,160 --> 00:13:01,360 but I still have that and I pray he lets me keep that forever till I get there again. 106 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:09,040 The lack of anxiety, the lack of stress. Like I said, I could look down and see my son. He looked 107 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:17,520 like he was working on me but I had no anxiety about it. I knew that was my body. I had no 108 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:23,840 anxiety about it. No way did I say I want to go back there. No way did I say, oh my gosh, he needs help. 109 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:31,920 Keeping in mind what I did for a living prior to my accident was I was a certified registered 110 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:38,560 nurse and a statisticist. So I had attended many arrests in the hospital. In fact, my very first 111 00:13:38,560 --> 00:13:48,400 arrest as a new nurse, not a CRNA, but as a new nurse was in the cardiac unit and I had attended 112 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:55,920 arrests before but it was never my patient. This is the first time it was my patient. At that time 113 00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:03,120 in medicine, which is blah, blah, blah, years ago, if it was your patient, you ran the arrest court. 114 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:08,880 I was nervous. It was my first time running the arrest court. In this particular arrest, 115 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:15,520 I was so nervous I dropped a medication that was in a blue box. The blue box hit the floor. 116 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:24,320 I picked it up. It was still sterile. We used it. That patient was resuscitated. And when he came back, 117 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:30,800 he told us what happened during the arrest and he went around the room and said, you did this and 118 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:38,960 you did that and he pointed at me and said, you dropped the blue box. So all my career I knew this 119 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:45,840 type of thing was true. And then as a CRNA, from time to time, we would resuscitate someone and 120 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:53,760 they would tell us what happened. But now I have this memory. This is my story, my auto body experience. 121 00:14:53,760 --> 00:15:02,720 And it is so true that there is life after death. I was out of my body looking at what was going on 122 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:13,360 earth, zero anxiety, zero fear. The next thing I remember is over a week later. That's not uncommon 123 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:19,920 for traumatic brain injuries to not remember the event or a little bit after. Right. What I'm told 124 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:27,680 is eventually the ambulance arrived. It took me to a helicopter, flew me from Deep Creek, Maryland 125 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:37,200 to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia. I was in that hospital for 13 days. 126 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:46,400 I was in a medically induced coma for three days. My daughter never left my side. While I don't 127 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:51,680 remember what happened, what I've been told and what I can research on my medical record. 128 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:58,560 A few things happened. Again, I've said I live life aggressively and many patients do this in 129 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:05,040 the hospital. We don't know why they do it, but here's me. Nurses and doctors make the worst patients. 130 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:13,360 I pulled my breathing tube out three times. The first two times they had to put it back in. 131 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:22,480 The third time, thankfully, I was able to breathe on my own. Because I had this habit of pulling 132 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:32,000 out my breathing tube, they put me in restraints. At first, they restrained my left hand. I was 133 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:38,960 paralyzed on the right hand side. The jet ski hit me on the right side of my head. The hematoma 134 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:47,120 developed on the left side of my head. Then things cross. Then, my right side was partially 135 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:57,120 paralyzed. I did not have use of my right hand. The left was restrained. What I did next is I used my 136 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:07,840 right foot and my big toe. I stuck it through the art line in my wrist. I pulled out the art line. 137 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:17,360 Now, I'm in three-point restraints. Again, this is a battle. Satan wants me dead. 138 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:26,720 I'm not aware of what I'm doing. I've known patients do these things from working in the 139 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:33,120 ICU's. You don't know why they do them. I don't know why I did them. But these are things that I did. 140 00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:39,600 Have you ever made a decision on your own that's to your own detriment? 141 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:40,640 Yeah. 142 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:43,760 Oh, we all have. You wonder why did I do it? 143 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:53,040 Yeah. So here I was, making my life worse for myself. The good part is, every time something 144 00:17:53,040 --> 00:18:00,240 like this happened, my daughter was there. She never left my side. When I excavated myself, 145 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:05,360 of course the alarms would go off, but she would be running for a nurse immediately. 146 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:08,240 When I pulled the art line out, no alarm went off. 147 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:09,120 And what does that mean? 148 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:15,680 I'm sorry. An art line is an arterial line. So most IVs that you see in the hospital, 149 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:21,200 they're intravenous there in your veins. Yes, there's blood flow in your vein, 150 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:29,920 but the blood flow is much stronger in your artery. So if you pull out an IV, an intravenous, 151 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:34,160 will it bleed out a little bit? Yeah, it will, but it will eventually stop 152 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:41,280 with most people unless you're on a blood thinner or other circumstances. For an arterial line, 153 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:43,600 if that comes out, you can bleed out. 154 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:45,520 Okay. So this is a bigger deal than I was thinking. 155 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:46,000 Yes. 156 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:52,560 Okay. It's a big deal that my right toe came up and pulled out my arterial line. 157 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:53,200 Oh boy. 158 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:55,280 I couldn't bled out. Oh my. 159 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:59,840 And again, my daughter was right there beside me and went for the nurse. Like I said, 160 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:08,240 there's an attack here. My son tells me after all these things have transcribed or transpired, 161 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:17,120 and I'm exubated. I'm breathing on my own. Apparently, I'm starting to talk a little bit, 162 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:25,520 but again, I'm paralyzed on the right hand side. So I look like maybe a stroke victim would look 163 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:31,120 that they just can't use the right side of their mouth. So my speech is way off. Words are very 164 00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:37,840 difficult for me to find, but I guess from what he said, I'm starting to talk. He reached out and 165 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:44,640 grabbed my hand and I squeezed him back. He said, that's the first time in over a week that I had 166 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:50,560 any kind of peace, mom. I felt like you were going to make it. What they tell me is the only words 167 00:19:50,560 --> 00:20:00,320 that I said for days is either okay if they're asking me a question or please instead of please, 168 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:08,240 the SH on the other, please, as I couldn't speak correctly. After about six days in the ICU, 169 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:13,600 they moved me to the step down unit. That's where I started talking more, but I didn't 170 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:21,760 know my birthday. I didn't know my name at some times when they would ask me. 171 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:26,400 And if you know in a hospital, when they bring your food tray in the room, 172 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:32,480 they ask you, what's your name on your birthday? That's how they give the right patient the right 173 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:38,800 food. I didn't know my name on my birthday. Apparently I got a little upset that they weren't 174 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:46,320 leaving my food. I called everyone by my sister-in-law's name and I love her to death. And I'm not 175 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:51,840 saying we're not close, but I don't know why I picked her name. I called everybody by her name. 176 00:20:51,840 --> 00:21:00,240 I could not pull names. I could not pull words from my brain. The only memories that I have of 177 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:04,000 being in the hospital, because these things that I'm telling you have been told to me by 178 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:11,040 my family and friends, I have a memory of waking up inside of a brain MRI machine. 179 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:17,920 And I woke up inside of this machine. Now in my head, the last thing I remember is going to 180 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:26,320 rent jet skis. So the first thing I remember after that is I'm inside this medical device. 181 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:37,840 I'm looking around me going, this looks bad. This looks medical. And now let's go back a little bit 182 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:46,720 further in time to my career in anesthesia. I did my best to always be the second patient 183 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:54,080 at the bedside in the recovery room if that patient was going to get a bad diagnosis. 184 00:21:55,360 --> 00:22:01,600 So I take the patient to the recovery room after the surgery is done. Go visit my next patient. 185 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:08,160 Let that patient wake up a little bit. The surgeon would go in and do what he had to do 186 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:15,520 and probably give them devastating news. As often as I could, I made it my goal to be 187 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:23,920 the next person at their bedside to encourage them. You've got this. You have to fight. Don't just 188 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:32,320 take this diagnosis and go home. Take this diagnosis and work it. Fight it. Do whatever you have to do. 189 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:38,960 Take the treatment, whatever they prescribe. Do it and do it well. And just everything I could to 190 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:46,960 encourage them. So I'm inside this burn-a-mary machine. I'm getting a little fearful. This looks 191 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:55,680 scary. And they had the opportunity to take my own advice. And I take, in that moment, I changed 192 00:22:55,680 --> 00:23:05,200 my thinking and said, no, so this is good. You're alive. And that has been what I've carried with me 193 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:13,760 instantly. That peace and joy came. It's okay. You're alive. And I kept that all this time, like 194 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:22,560 just day-to-day life. You've been through worse, so you can do this. Let's keep going. 195 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:32,000 Things that my family was told while I was in the hospital. Initially, when they all arrived, 196 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:38,640 I had already been there a few hours by the time people drove in from Pennsylvania. And my son, 197 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:43,920 of course, the police wanted to talk to him and his friend, had you been drinking, had you been 198 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:49,520 doing all the normal stuff. Of course, that was all fine. But it took them time to get to the hospital. 199 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:56,880 I was in surgery for six hours. When I was done with my surgery and when the surgeon came out, 200 00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:03,280 they gave my family no hope that I was going to live. She made it through the surgery, but all 201 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:09,760 of these obstacles are in front of her. First and foremost, the first thing we're worried about is 202 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:19,840 a huge infection because her cranial cavity was opened into the lake. So right there, all that 203 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:27,440 bacteria, whatnot. Praise God, I never got an infection. Well, I'm sure they popped me through 204 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:34,800 with the antibiotics, but I cannot figure out how no infection ever developed. Praise God. 205 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:41,200 Then they were told she might survive, but she couldn't be brain dead, we're not sure yet. 206 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,240 You were calling everybody the one name. Yeah. 207 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:53,680 So then they said she could be in a vegetative state. I came out of that. She could be paralyzed 208 00:24:53,680 --> 00:25:00,560 because I said I was paralyzed on the right hand side. That started to resolve a little bit and 209 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:08,160 they said she might have the cognitive ability of a child. We just don't know how much she's going 210 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:15,760 to get back. But I made it through all that. And yes, it took a lot of rehabilitation. I went 211 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:24,240 to a rehab center. I was there about three days and I kept asking them how long do I have to be 212 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:28,960 here? How long do I have to be here? They were very vague in their answers. I think they just 213 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:34,880 didn't want to discourage me, but they were very vague. So on this third day, I put my foot down. 214 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:41,040 They came to get me for my rehab that day. And I said I'm not going. And they said, 215 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:46,160 come on, Sue, we're going to occupational therapy. We need to do this. I said, no, 216 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:52,880 I'm not going anywhere until you tell me how long I have to be here. So now everything stops. They 217 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:58,960 go get the nurse, get the doctor, get the physical therapist, get the occupancy. It's like a big 218 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:04,320 family meeting now. Sue's causing trouble. But I knew my rights as a patient. I'd work to the 219 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:11,040 hospital all these years. You have to answer my question. They told me when they all were done 220 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:16,400 talking to me about everything that was going on, the moral of the story was you definitely will be 221 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:23,520 here two and a half weeks because insurance has already paid for that. But it's possible you could 222 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:31,040 be here for six months before you're well enough to go home. Again, I had the opportunity to take 223 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:39,040 my own advice, do the work. At that point, I was not able to read. I didn't know my name on my 224 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:45,680 birthday by then. I had learned that thank goodness. But I could not read walking. I could walk. 225 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:54,000 I wasn't going to walk at any brisk pace because the paralysis on the right hand side was subsiding. 226 00:26:54,000 --> 00:27:02,640 But it was better than it was, but it was not good yet. I could not read. Speech was difficult. 227 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:10,400 Still is difficult, if I'm completely honest. So that day when I came back 228 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:16,800 from rehab, I did three rehabs per day. While I was in rehab, I did occupational therapy, 229 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:25,760 speech therapy, and physical therapy. At the end of the day, I was so tired. I would always nap, 230 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:31,520 and that found that was the best thing for me. I remembered a lot more when I woke up from my naps. 231 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:37,360 So that became a high priority for the next several years for me was to get a good night's 232 00:27:37,360 --> 00:27:42,960 sleep. But when I came back that day from all that rehab, I was determined to read something. 233 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:49,200 Don't you know there wasn't even a Gideon Bible in the drawer beside me as a patient? 234 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:56,080 Not anything I could grab ahold of to read. So the news came on, and I thought, oh, 235 00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:00,080 there's that ticker tape at the bottom. There's always those words. I'm going to, 236 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:07,120 I'm going to read something. Nothing that day. Nothing that day. I looked at that across the 237 00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:15,200 bottom of the screen. Absolutely nothing. That's got to be frustrating. Yes. The next day comes. 238 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:23,760 I picked out a word, the T-H-E. Oh, I know that word. That's the, and I got so excited. And that's 239 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:30,480 just how I proceeded. The rest of the weeks that I was in the rehab center was doing double work. 240 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:35,360 Everything they told me to do, I would go back to my room and I would do it a second time. 241 00:28:35,360 --> 00:28:42,320 I would go back to my room just to get myself better and then sleep like no other. I would sleep 242 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:49,600 such a sound sleep, but I always wake up feeling better than I did. Each time I 243 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:56,880 remembered more, each time I spoke better, each time I was walking better. So I could just see 244 00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:02,960 how good sleep was. It sounds like you got a little bit of healing each round of sleep. 245 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:10,800 Yes. Yes. That's when God was working in my life for sure. So after I was discharged from the rehab 246 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:21,760 center, I came home and I was pulling off normal, pretty good on the outside. On the inside, 247 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:31,120 was not so good. I had this constant noise in my head. I couldn't explain it. I never told 248 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:38,960 anybody about it. I was aware of it. It was just always there. And then on top of that, I was not 249 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:45,520 comprehending things like a normal person would. Someone would tell me a story and I would not 250 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:49,600 along with it or maybe even chuckle if I felt like it was appropriate, but I wasn't always 251 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:55,040 understanding what they were saying. I remember on two occasions asking my son to take me to the 252 00:29:55,040 --> 00:30:01,760 psych ward. I said, Jim, I think I'm losing my mind. I need help. And he'd be like, no, mom, 253 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:06,880 you're doing fine. Go take a nap. Even he knew what was going to make me feel bad. 254 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:18,640 So over time, what I found was that the noise in my head was ringing in my ears. It went away the 255 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:24,960 next February. Several months, my accent was August in February. All this noise stopped in my head. 256 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:31,040 It was ringing in my ears. In April, I got my taste and my smell back. 257 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:38,560 I did not know while I was in the hospital, my mom would say, Sue, how's the food? My answer was, 258 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:46,880 mom, tastes like poop. Tastes like poop. Has no good taste, mom. I didn't know 259 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:53,280 that I couldn't taste and smell. It came back in April while I was happy to be able to taste the 260 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:58,000 pizza again. How was the food then? Awesome. And my own is the best. I'm just saying. 261 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,360 I believe that under the circumstances where you were. 262 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:12,080 That was a big motivator for me to come home to was I wanted to cook. I want to go home and cook. 263 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:19,200 I just want to enjoy doing. I bet it gave you a sense of normalcy. 264 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:25,680 Yes. To get back to where you were doing your normal things. Yes. Yes. And when I came home, 265 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:31,120 my son's buddies were wonderful. They would come every weekend and do whatever needed around the 266 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:36,960 house with the grass needs mowed or fence need fixed, whatnot. His buddies were just the best. 267 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,480 Do they still do it? Actually, they do. I was going to say, I ought to milk that one. 268 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:46,000 He has the best friends on the planet. He really does. That's awesome. So I guess 269 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:54,320 my takeaway from a lot of this is what's your purpose? What you're calling? I definitely think 270 00:31:54,320 --> 00:32:02,560 at least one reason that I came back, I can think of many is to tell this story. I think it can be 271 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:10,560 so encouraging and that it has encouraged many people. And I pray that it does again. Me too. And 272 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:19,120 I work daily just for that, the peace and the joy. And I just love to help others. I have helped 273 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:28,480 many people since my accident. Some for a two year stretch, some for a couple of days. It's 274 00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:38,880 what I enjoy. And I'm so thankful and happy to be back here and doing God's will and trying to 275 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:44,640 figure out what would you have me do in this situation? I'm here for a purpose. I'm here for 276 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:51,040 a reason. Come on with me through it. I actually lost track of how many times you should have died. 277 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:56,480 I was up at six while you were still on the beach. And then a couple more times in a hospital, 278 00:32:56,480 --> 00:33:04,160 from the expiation, from the art line, from the possible sepsis. So at least 10 times you should 279 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:11,040 have been dead. At least. I don't do statistics in my head very well. So I'm not going to give you 280 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:16,640 a number, but I'm going to go ahead and say that the probability of your survival had to have been 281 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:24,800 extremely low, like less than 1%. I can only think of one being that could make sure that less than 282 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:32,960 1% was 100%. I'm so grateful to hear how he moved in your life. And every instance, like what are 283 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:40,400 the sheer chances, the sheer chances that the enemy used the distractions of the now that used the 284 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:46,320 pain of the now that used the circumstances of the now, but God had already had something paved 285 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:51,840 away, right? Your son had that training because God sees the future. The enemy doesn't see the future. 286 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:56,400 And so he tries to distract it out. But God's going to lay this on his heart now. He'll think 287 00:33:56,400 --> 00:34:02,160 it's fun. It'll help. And you've been active in sports and such. So you say you did the right 288 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:08,400 thing at the right time. Maybe it was instinct because you had been in sports for so long and 289 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:14,400 dangerous activities that you had subliminally in your mind of what to do that God had prepared 290 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:20,080 you for with your life. The same with the friend on the the did jetski that turned, right? Everybody 291 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:25,840 responded the way they knew they needed to that they had developed through the years that the 292 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:32,000 enemy couldn't touch because they can't really work in the now. And all the prognosis is the time 293 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:38,480 that you took, we can recovery like years to get to where you are now and only be encouraged on top 294 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:43,440 of that and to share that blessing of hope to other people, the blessing that you receive from the 295 00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:50,240 peace and the joy to other people. What a true blessing that is. And I don't know what God's 296 00:34:50,240 --> 00:34:56,480 purpose is for you and all of that because it seems like it's more than just one thing that you can 297 00:34:56,480 --> 00:35:01,520 pick out. It seems like it's quite literally a plethora of things that he's like, this is your 298 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:05,680 purpose. I need you to do that. What about this? That's also your purpose. And this that also is 299 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:11,440 your purpose. All of that. And then this and that and this that you are clearly here because he needs 300 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:18,880 you here. You're clearly here because he has a need for Sue to be in this place right now. And 301 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,400 you say you felt it on your heart to tell the story. You're telling it to a bunch of people 302 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:28,400 right now. And I hope that this blesses so many people. I hope this encourages so many people. 303 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:32,720 I hope that it resonates with those that have had loved ones with near-death experiences and 304 00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:38,320 out-of-body experiences. I hope it resonates with people that are in rehab that need to know that 305 00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:43,840 you'll get out what you put in right. If you don't do the work, it's going to show. But if you work 306 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:48,000 hard, like you were doing double the work, when I walked into where I could never have guessed 307 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:52,320 that you had gone through that, you never would have guessed it. Not in a million years. If you 308 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:56,560 gave me a handful of chances to guess, I would never have guessed that you went through such things. 309 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:02,960 That's incredible. What an incredible miracle you are. Oh, thank you. I would say that 310 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:11,280 God can bless zero. He can definitely do a miracle with zero, but He can bless your own work a whole 311 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:17,520 lot more than He can bless zero. You know what I mean? That's my thing. Just put your in your own 312 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:25,280 work and God can bless it and multiply it. So huge. So big. And if I could say one more thing, 313 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:34,320 in 2015, so three years after my accident, my husband passed away. I'm sorry to hear that. 314 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:43,920 Thank you. He had been sick for 16 years. He had a genetic disease and it was a long 16-year stretch. 315 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:51,680 His quality of life was not good. Mostly the last three or four years. The day he was dying, 316 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:58,240 I went into his room and talked to him multiple times throughout the day. He was already in a coma. 317 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:05,760 I have to say, I rarely looked him in the face and talked to him that day. I was looking in the 318 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:12,080 corners of the room, talking to him in the corners of the room because I felt from my own experience 319 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:17,600 and from the experience that I've had with others in my career, that's where he was looking at me. 320 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:24,800 I bet that would be funny to hear the tale later when we all get reunited of him saying, 321 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:28,400 she looked in the corner of my, no, wrong corner. And then you're around now. And then you're like, 322 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:34,160 what did you see? You're looking right at me. I could see that. That would be hilarious. I was 323 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:39,760 almost even excited that day that he was dying. Sad for myself and my children, of course, 324 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:45,760 but excited for him to experience that peace and joy that I'd had. That for so many years, 325 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:51,040 he just had a very poor quality of life here on earth. Especially for those that suffer. 326 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:56,240 Yeah, absolutely. I 100% agree that it is like a dichotomy in our system that says that I want 327 00:37:56,240 --> 00:38:01,920 what's best for them, but at the same time, this horribly grieves me that I know this is better. 328 00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:07,200 I know and I'm glad that they're no longer going to be in that any longer in that situation, in 329 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:11,840 that pain, in that suffering, in that whatever it is that they're going through. And at the same time 330 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:20,480 that tomorrow it's going to just be me. And that is, that's, it's like literally equal sadness and 331 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:26,160 happiness. And so I completely understand the people that say that I never would judge someone 332 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:31,920 that said they were happy that someone passed. I get it. I get it 100% because I also know that 333 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:37,680 you're also sad. And I think that's, so I think it's so cute. I'm just thinking about the corners. 334 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:45,840 Thank you so much for joining us. I love this story. And as a non-medical person, I didn't 335 00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:51,520 realize how many times like death could have happened. And for Josh to put that into perspective, 336 00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:57,840 that helps a lot because like I'll process this all usually after the recording. So that, 337 00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:03,920 that definitely helped. And to see God show up time and time again was just so cool. 338 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:08,560 And that's great. He didn't get you that far just to get you that far. You put in the work and he 339 00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:15,120 blessed it. And here you are today sharing your story. The least 28 different countries. So that's 340 00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:21,840 fun. So with that, we will let you know that we have a fundraising campaign that is there. So if 341 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:26,880 you want to donate, you can go to giftsango.com and look up God's goodness podcast and that helps 342 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:32,400 with the audio expenses for now. And then we're also saving for when we do have a new rental, 343 00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:38,320 we'll have a studio one day and then we'll be able to make that into a place that's quiet with new 344 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:43,840 dogs and weed whackers and all that stuff. So it will go towards something if we don't use it for 345 00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:49,360 the audio expenses immediately. And then also we have, I'd like to share that we have an email list 346 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:53,520 that you can sign up for. So you can get the emails each week with the episode links. You don't 347 00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:59,280 have to go looking for it. Then there's also bonus content too sometimes. So far we've done it three 348 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:04,160 weeks and there's been bonus content three of those weeks. I encourage you to sign up for that. 349 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:09,200 And it's on the social media. You'll find the sign up link in Facebook and in other videos. 350 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:14,560 It's in the comments. If you could do that would be great. And then also if you rate this in Spotify 351 00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:20,640 or iTunes, that helps us as well. And it'll help the algorithm and it'll help it share it with more 352 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:31,600 people and the more people can be encouraged. And with that we'll talk to you next time.