I will pray for your mom’s peace of mind as well as her successful recovery from surgery. If your parish offers a community celebration of the Sacrament of the Sick, she ought to consider going to that. I did that just before I had back surgery on the 11th of December, and would recommend it to anyone who is facing serious surgery. Even though waiting in the preop waiting room was scary, somehow I knew that God was in charge, and that all would be well. I was talking about this with our deacon the other day, and he told me that just about every priest that he knows who has more than a couple years experience reports that there are many people who experience physical, as well as spiritual, healing. No, it isn’t an instantaneous miracle, it seems, though, that knowing they have the support and strength that this sacrament confers helps them heal physically afterwards. Maybe the spiritual strength conferred helps the body focus its energy into recovery, I don’t know. There are far too many connections between body, mind, and spirit that science hasn’t even scratched the surface of. But it seems that it helped me a lot: When I went to the neurosurgeon’s on the 21st to get my staples out and for my first preop checkup, the doctor told me he was impressed with how well I was doing.
I’d like to add this, perhaps in way of reassurance. I’m a licensed physical therapist. Although I’m recovering from back surgery myself right now (and yeah, that trip into the operating room is scary!) I’ve treated a lot of people who have undergone knee replacement surgery. Almost all of them, once they are healing and in physical therapy, report how much more comfortable they are, and wonder why they put it off for so long!
Please extend my prayers and best wishes to your mother for her recovery.
