Modern Miracles

 I am feeling immense gratitude lately for scientific miracles.

Health Gratitude Post 1/2: Ben and I were blessed to get our first vaccine yesterday. What a miracle! I believe in God, I believe in science, I believe in miracles, and I believe that when we fasted and prayed last April for relief from the pandemic, God blessed us with this vaccine. It is truly a modern miracle! I feel like crying with relief that there is hope because of this vaccine, and I marvel at the good people volunteering their time to distribute it, at the scientists who developed it, and the blessing we have to live in such a time as this to witness the miracles of God unfold!

Here's a sweet message from the President of my faith, who was a world renown heart surgeon before becoming a full time leader of my Church.

**I am SOOOOO grateful, but yikes- my arm is really, really sore! Like I couldn't sleep last night sore! Time for Tylenol and a hot pad to try and help ease the pain. But to be clear, I will GLADLY take a sore arm to help save the world!

From President Nelson: "With approval from our physician, my wife, Wendy, and I were vaccinated today against COVID-19. We are very grateful. This was the first week either of us was eligible to receive the vaccine. We are thankful for the countless doctors, scientists, researchers, manufacturers, government leaders, and others who have performed the grueling work required to make this vaccine available. We have prayed often for this literal godsend.

As a former surgeon and medical researcher, I know something of the effort needed to accomplish such a remarkable feat. Producing a safe, effective vaccine in less than a year is nothing short of miraculous. I was a young surgeon when, in 1953, Dr. Jonas Salk announced that he had developed a vaccine against the cruel and crippling disease of polio. I then watched the dramatic impact that vaccine had on eradicating polio as most people around the world were vaccinated.

For generations,

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

has donated considerable resources to making vaccinations available for people in developing countries. Vaccinations have helped to eliminate diseases such as diphtheria and smallpox. My professional and ecclesiastical experiences convince me that vaccinations administered by competent medical professionals protect health and preserve life.

Receiving the vaccine today was part of our personal efforts to be good global citizens in helping to eliminate COVID-19 from the world."

Here is how we were able to get the vaccine. It's nothing short of a miracle:

Basically, it's the hunger games to get the vaccine. You either need to know somebody or be tech savvy or be just lucky. We were lucky.

Our vaccine group, 1B4, opens on Friday. We are relatively high on the list, but I knew it would likely still be a few weeks before we get the vaccine.

Last week I had an OBGYN appointment. While there, I asked my doctor if there were ever leftover vaccines and if I could get on a list if there was. She said, "yes" and that often they will come downstairs and ask people if they want leftover vaccines. She suggested I go upstairs and ask, so I did. I was told they don't have a list and the best thing I could do was to show up between 4:30-5 each day to see if there were any no shows and extra vaccines.

This appointment happened to be about 25 minutes away, so it's a little far for me to drive to every day. But, there is an office about 3 minutes from my house distributing the vaccine, so I figured I would go in and ask them as well.

I had the kids with me, but I stopped at the facility and told the girls, "I'll be right back. This will just be a few minutes." It was only 2:30, so I was just planning to run in to ask if I could even come each to check for extras.

I went in and asked the lady, and I was being super super nice, and she said, "Let me text my head nurse to see if there's any extra." I was like, "I don't need it now- I can come back later," and she said, "oh, no, let me text. Have a seat." There was nobody else getting a vaccine at this time. A couple minutes later she said, "Come and back, we have an extra!" I couldn't believe it and almost started crying right there! The relief. The joy. All the feelings- it's just a miracle.

I decided to be greedy and ask if there was one more for my husband. THEY DID! I called Ben and was like, "Get down here right this second! They have a vaccine for you!" He raced down and also got the vaccine. I can't even believe it. I'm still in shock! We go back in 3 weeks for our second dose, then one week after that we will be 95% safe from Covid! It is an absolute miracle, and I am overwhelmed with absolute gratitude that we were able to get the vaccine. That the vaccine even exists! I'm so, so, so happy!

And my arm is so, so, so sore!

Health gratitude post 2/2: I just finished reading this book, about a 32-year-old woman with Chron's Disease. I have Ulcerative Colitis, which is very similar. As she described her pain and feelings that she would die, I knew exactly how she felt.

Unlike her, however, I was diagnosed relatively quickly. As of today, I have never been hospitalized for my illness and I have not yet required any major surgeries.

I realized reading this book how lucky I am- lucky that I have excellent health care thanks to Ben's job (and angry at our system of health care that requires a good job to have access to said care,** but that's another story and today I'm focusing on gratitude), grateful for an excellent doctor who is very proactive in ensuring that I don't go into another flare, so incredibly grateful to live in a time of miraculous scientific research and access to life giving drugs to keep me in remission, and just so incredibly grateful that for right now, today, I am healthy and strong and can live a wonderful life. I know it can easily be taken away- I could end up with a stricture and be hospitalized tomorrow- but for today, I'm grateful for all the things mentioned above. What a wonderful time to be alive!

OK, I'll stop being sappy for today. #gratitude

**thankfully, the ACA does help with this.