Ouch! My Arm hurts!

On the last part of our time away I was skiing with the guys down a gentle downhill and feeling very proud of the fact that I hadn't fallen over for at least half an hour when suddenly my sense of balance momentarily left me and I went over in a tangled mess, the unfortunate result being a dislocated left shoulder.

We were 100 metres from the van that had taken us up the mountain "praise God it wasn't further!" however the nearest doctor was at least 40mins away.

Now I don't want to appear wimpy but on that particular journey there were times when I thought I was going to pass out from the pain! Every snowy small bump in the road every corner it felt like my arm was being wrenched off time and again! It was just agony with no end.

We got to the surgery and they had to call for an ambulance to take me to the hospital as an xray was required before the shoulder could be put back. The ambulance thankfully came very quickly and my hopes were raised that this particularly painful part of the journey would soon be over. Thinking that it would all be over soon James and Bertin went back to where we were staying and Des stayed with me in the ambulance.

However it took another 40minutes to get to the hospital and then another hour to get the first xray done! By this time the painkillers had worn off and the horrible non stop pain was back again.

We had to wait for the doctor to be able to administer any more pain killers and to try to put the shoulder back, it felt like eternity! It was hours before the doctor would see me.

Des was incredibly patient as he sat by me in the hospital room and there were times when I was totally consumed by the non stop agony, the only times there were breaks in the pain was when Des would quietly pray in tongues

Eventually the doctor did see me and after a certain amount of struggle my shoulder was put back into place.

The doctor also told us that the treatment I had received didn't have to be paid for, which was another awesome blessing!

Just when we thought we were home and dry however, the struggle didn't quite end there. We had to get back to where we were staying, and when the hospital tried calling the taxi firms no one would come and take us the distance we needed to go. The receptionist told us that the only taxi that could come was in about an hour!

It was already late so we decided to venture outside into the nighttime of Trondheim to see whether we could find transport ourselves.

Now neither of us speak Norwegian and it was a pretty tall order that we were going to find anybody who would be willing to take us back but after some brief desperate prayer a taxi did indeed turn up and the driver was willing to take us all the way back.

I think in all of this I learnt that it would of been great if God had healed my shoulder instantly on the mountain or when Des prayed in the waiting room, however I think He wanted me to know that He is with me in the midst of and despite the pain, also that He breaks through in ways that we couldn't expect and yet we can appreciate after the event.

Jason Cooper, 05/03/2008