I also edited the tabs down a bit also. The "Threads" tab is anything to do with fabric. My slight obsession...fabric. You can always spot someone who speaks fabric, because they feel their way through stores. We HAVE to feel it!
The other tabs I feel are pretty self explanatory. But I am going to add in another one. Parenting. NOT that I can offer much in the way of advise. Just some things I never knew I never knew until I had kids (and NO that is not a typo). I have learned so much about myself since having kids. I don't think I would have learned .01% of that without those darn kids (that I am really excited go back to school on Monday!)
So to get us started, I was thinking about when Avery got diagnosed. One of the first blessings we got was she was actually misdiagnosed at first.
They day we went to do Avery's MRI I took all the kids with me. It was suppose to be a quick 30 minute procedure and then we were going to do some fun stuff while in Seattle. It had been scheduled toward the end of the day, but there was an ice cream shop the kids wanted to try. And it was summer, so no school. So we all loaded up and went. The other kids got to hang out in the sibling room making crafts, meeting Miss Washington and playing games. Thank goodness for great children's hospitals and all their amenities. But after her being in there for almost an hour the tech came and told me they had to do contrast.
Now, I am not a nurse, but even I knew that they don't do an MRI with contrast unless there is something they are trying to see. And honestly, I didn't panic. And when they said we couldn't leave without seeing a doctor, I was still calm. The doctor explained she had a brain tumor and the radiologist wanted to admit her right then. But he (the neurologist, the only doctor we had at that time) felt she was fine to go home and we would schedule appointments to see other doctors right away. It didn't sound odd. Somehow, it felt right. I don't know how else to say it. Maybe it was because ignorance is bliss and I had no idea how this would affect us. But somehow this didn't feel like a kick in the stomach.
The doctor was saw was actually transferring to another hospital in another state, but said he was going to make some calls and we would be meeting with Dr. Ojemann on that Wednesday. This was Monday.
We did go for ice cream, but my head was starting to process the information. The minute I got home I looked up Dr. Ojemann. He is the HEAD of neurosurgery at Seattle Children's. I at least knew that you do not see heads of departments unless something is really wrong! That's when all the worse case scenarios started playing out in my head.
I had made a crockpot dinner and got the kids all eating when I decided I had better call our bishop. To those of you not LDS, it's a pastor. He wasn't home, so I left the message with his sweet wife. I think all I said was, "they found Avery has a brain tumor." She said she would pass along the message. I hung up the phone and walked over to the table. Before I got even a bite in, there was a knock at the door. It was our bishop. Now this might not sound unusual, but he lived about 15 minutes away. So when his wife called him, by some miracle (not small) he was within 5 minutes of our house! He came in and stayed with us for the evening.
When Chris got home, he came in and put Avery on his lap and for the first and last time that I have ever seen, cried. All the emotions from his dad's tumor and surgery came flooding back and the thought of your child having to go through that I guess was too much even for him.
They did get us in that Wednesday afternoon. It was just Avery, Chris and I that went to Seattle that time. After checking her in we met with the "team". That day it was Dr. Ojemann and Dr. Olsen. They said brain tumor board had met that morning and Avery was on the list of discussions. There were conflicting opinions but with either option, this was basically nothing to worry about.
Most thought it was an optic glioma. Just some discolored tissue, they said like a freckle. Not really doing much. Not growing or causing any issues(I WISH!). I just about laughed out load. Honestly. I had worried for two sleepless nights over a freckle? Seriously? So we went home...totally relieved!
This is our home in Washington. Built in 1903. It had three bedrooms (kind of) and ONE bathroom...don't ask. Oh and no garage. But we did have chickens, bunnies and fat squirrels.
It was summer in Mt. Vernon, Washington. Our first summer there. We had moved from Las Vegas and I was tired of being cold...all....the...time! Not kidding. For example, my mother-in-law came for the 4th of July. The high was 65 degrees. I REFUSED to turn on the heater....in JULY. So I baked a turkey. I figured having the oven on for four hours should heat the 100+ year old house enough I wouldn't have to turn the heater on. And all spring I had suffered from seasonal depression. I didn't know how bad it really was until I took the kids to Utah and had been sitting out at the pool one day, when I realized I finally feel like me again. It was the first time I had ever encountered any type of depression. I had no idea how bad it had gotten. But sitting there in the pool that day I seriously was re-energized.
If Avery had been correctly diagnosed, we would have been dealing with that instead of on vacation in the nice warm sun!
So there you have it. A wonderful bishop and his wife right exactly where and when we needed. A tumor that was so out of character they didn't know what it even was. And sunshine, blessed sunshine. Where the peaceful happy moments roll. Do you have sunshine in your soul today?
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