In the midst of the more important health issue I’m experiencing, I didn’t tell anyone that when Donn and I were out on a walk three weeks ago, my left upper calf and behind my knee started to hurt. By the time we got home, I could hardly walk. I assured myself that if I just stayed off of it for a few days, it would get better. It didn’t.

A few days later, Donn gave me an ultimatum: he wanted me to be seen by a doctor  that day to be sure it wasn’t a blood clot. (Donn has had a few of those and the favorite place is in his calf.) My doctor’s office obliged and sent me to the hospital for an ultrasound. The CRNP didn’t think it was a blood clot but said there was no way to be sure without doing the test.

If a blood clot was ruled out, she suggested I get an appointment with the orthopedic doctor who had treated my left knee area before. When my ultrasound was clear, that’s the path I ended up taking but would have to wait three weeks to see one of the doctor’s PAs.

Of course, when the oncologist’s office called with an appointment, the first opening was at the same time as the appointment with the PA! However, thankfully, the oncologist’s office was able to do an appointment the following day. When that Monday finally came, I was so eager to find out what my orthopedic doctor’s PA would say, I almost forgot about God sometimes having a secondary purpose for me being in the doctor’s office!

But when I was ushered into an inner waiting room after having some x-rays done, I remembered. The other two women in the room were buried in their phones, so I didn’t interrupt but opened my Kindle app on my IPad to read. Eventually, those two women were taken to whomever they were seeing and I was alone. Maybe God didn’t have anyone for me to talk to today.

A few minutes later, a friendly looking young man wearing a WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) hoodie came into the waiting room. I put down my IPad and asked if he was there with a sports injury. We talked for awhile about our individual reasons for being there. Then I said, “I like your hoodie!”

He smiled and said, “I’ve only been in this for about a year and a half.”

When I asked him what had prompted him to make that decision,  he said, “I thought about it a couple of times when I was in school but I never did anything about it. Then one day I downloaded the Bible app and started reading.  I just couldn’t get enough of it–I was so hungry. I even started going to church.”

I smiled inwardly, thinking that “in the olden days,” going to church was often where people went first to learn to know Jesus!

My new friend continued, “It’s almost like I’m re-inventing myself.”

“So sort of like ‘Who am I now?'”

“Yes, exactly!”

We talked about where he was going to church. It wasn’t a church I recognized but the denomination was one I knew and believe is sound. My next thought was that I needed to get the  name of this young man that I already loved so I could pray for him. Just then a PA came into the waiting room, looked at my new friend and said, “Nathan?”

I smiled at Nathan as he stood up. “It was so good to talk to you.”

He gave me a huge smile. “Yes, it was. I hope I run into you again.”

Later, as I stood by the check out window, someone gave my shoulder a warm squeeze and said, “God bless you!”  When I turned to see who it was, I saw Nathan’s smiling face.

Even if I never see Nathan again in this life, God, in His goodness, has given me another “son” for whom I can pray, and another reminder that nothing, even an arthritic knee, is ever wasted in God’s Kingdom.

The PA I saw believes that my pain is from fluid gathering behind my swollen knee and that a cortisone shot will fix it for now. So that’s what I chose to have done.

God had one more encounter for me that day at Walmart. When I walked into the store, a young woman with purple hair, a three or four-year-old son, and her significant other–a young man with long hair and a billowing, purplish-burgundy, nylon tulle skirt, were standing by the carts.  I have to admit my first thought was, “What is this?”

Then I remembered how displeasing Chuck Smith’s attitude toward hippies was to God in The Jesus Revolution. Here in front of me, in the flesh, were two hippies for whom Christ died and whom He loves.

I repented and spoke to the young woman–the young man was engrossed in his phone. “My daughter would LOVE your hair! She has purple hair too.”

She smiled. “Oh purple is the BEST!”

I nodded. “Purple is her favorite color.”

“Ours too!” The young woman had pulled out a cart and I realized she had pulled it out for me.

I thanked her and went on my way, chastened and determined not to judge people by their appearance and to pray not only for Nathan but also for this family God had placed in my path.

Father, forgive us when we are so engrossed in our own circumstances or so busy judging others, that we don’t make ourselves available to those you bring across our path. Give us the eyes of Jesus to see all those we meet. Amen.

Health Update 3/9/23: My appointment Tuesday with the oncologist, whom we liked very much, went well but didn’t result in a treatment plan. She leaned toward wanting me to have surgery before chemo, thinking I might be able to have less chemo if we do surgery first. My surgeon called this morning to say they had come to an agreement that I should have surgery first. The benefit of less toxic chemo outweighed the possibility of complications of surgery delaying chemo. He hopes to have a surgery date for me by next Friday. Thank you so much for your prayers!