What a Week!

You might have noticed that I haven't written in a while. In fact, my last post was on Christmas Day. You could say that the last five days have been a whirlwind for me, not because it is the holiday season, but because last Monday, I received a sucker punch like no other, and have been reeling from it all week.

On Monday, the 27th, I took my oldest child, Wes, in for a routine eye exam. It had been several years since he'd had his eyes checked, and he was overdue and also in need of more contact lenses. I'll admit that after all of the doctor's appointments I've had recently, I was relieved to be taking someone else to the doctor, and that I was also enjoying the "routine" nature of the visit. That is, until the end of the appointment, when the poor opthamologist (who knows that I'm in the middle of breast cancer treatment) turned around and said "well, there is a finding in the back of his eyes that I need to tell you about." Sucker punch. He proceeded to explain that Wesley's optic nerve was elevated, which is abnormal. He further explained that although he thought that this was probably the way he was born (although highly unusual), it also could be being caused by some sort of "pressure" inside the head. The next step, he explained, would be to have an MRI. Sucker punch.

I gathered my things, they went and took some pictures of the back of Wesley's eyes, and we left the office. The next day, the pediatrician's office called to say that they had scheduled the MRI for Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Eli and I both went with Wes, who manned up, as they say, and did wonderfully throughout the procedure. He had been invited to the Vandy/Marquette b'ball game at 8 that night, so Eli took him over to the gymnasium right after the MRI. I went home and fretted.

I fretted some more all day Thursday, and grew more fretful as the late afternoon approached and I figured I'd be receiving a phone call with the MRI results. At some point that afternoon, I decided that I was just so sick of being afraid of my phone ringing with all of the waiting for results we've had recently. Really, at one point, I hid the phone in a drawer because I didn't want to hear it ring, and I'd check it every 10 minutes or so to see if the light was blinking.

By 6:00 Thursday night, we still hadn't heard anything, and I decided to assume that that was a good sign; surely, I told myself, if there were a BIG problem, everyone would be scurrying around and I would've gotten a call. My sister in law and her family arrived that evening and we passed the evening with pizza and football. Good distractions.

Friday morning arrived and I knew that I would hear something today. I decided to call the office a little after 9:00, and a kind woman named Kim looked to see if the results were in. They were in, she said, and then a moment later, she uttered the words "no intracranial mass," and I thought that I was going to faint. I proceeded to tell her how relieved I was, and that I was going through breast cancer treatment, and that I had a son with autism, and that we really had so much on our plate, and that I didn't know what I would have done if the news had been bad. That poor woman deserves a medal for talking to me this morning in such a kind and sensitive way.

I then had the pleasure of descending the stairs and sharing the good news with my husband, his sister and her husband. The kids are all still asleep, and the only one who really knows anything about this is Wes, anyway, so we'll tell him that everything is fine (which I'm sure he assumed, anyway, being the cool cat that he is), and then we'll carry on with our day. And then, tonight, as we bid 2010 farewell, we'll give thanks for our health and for the love of all of the wonderful people in our lives and for all of the support and care that we've received over the past few months. And we'll look forward to a better, less stressful 2011.

Blessings to each of you, and the happiest and safest of New Year's celebrations to you and your loved ones!!

See you on the other side.

Erin