Thursday, December 01, 2011

Things have been quite busy here for a few weeks. I kept intending to write a blog post whining about the various infections (Holden is still battling ear infections, the dog's ears keep getting infected, Noella has a staph infection on her foot), lack of sleep (seriously, what does this kid want?), diaper rashes (because of 3+ weeks of antibiotics), the piles of laundry, a house that appears to be hit by a tornado every day around 4.....
In the past two weeks, we have had several friends go through experiences that put those gripes into perspective.
A 9 month old who had such a severe stomach bug that he had to be hospitalized.  I am relieved to report that he is fine now.
A 35 year old father of two young girls who had blood clots in each lunch, spent several days in the hospital, and just returned with the fear of a heart problem. He was released this morning, but no one is sure where this is going.
And this afternoon I learned that a 5 year old friend of Mariel's has had a recurrence of Neuroblastoma, a particularly virulent pediatric cancer.  She had been declared cancer free for almost a year now, so this took her family completely off guard.  A week and a half ago everything was fine; her mom and I picked out matching clip-on earrings for our princesses and were planning for a time to get together.  They have yet to tell their daughter or her brothers that the cancer is back, because they do not know what to say.  There is no standard treatment for the recurrence of this disease, so they are looking for a clinical trial and, quite literally, a miracle.
At our Thanksgiving dinner, I laughingly said that I was thankful that Thanksgiving dinner was so much harder to make than it used to be.  With three kids underfoot, everything is much harder than it used to be.  And I am so lucky that it is.
Please keep our friends in your prayers.  And count your blessings.  I am.