Free For All Friday

Well, we've made it to "Free for All Friday".  Friday posts can be about anything...and may often be rather random and disjointed in nature.  So here we go...

This week has not exactly gone as planned.  Remember all those favorite things about summer I talked about in my last "Ten on the Tenth" post?  I believe I said something like, "I may not have to leave the house all summer."  Well, I've actually spent the last four days of this week at the doctor's office with Bethany.  Starting this past Sunday, she began developing a constellation of symptoms that left me convinced by Tuesday that she had viral meningitis.  I brought her to the doctor, who drew lots of blood, and announced that she did not have meningitis (thankfully!), but she did have strep.  This seemed a little odd, because a sore throat was not one of her symptoms.  But we left with a prescription for an antibiotic, and figured we were done.

Later that afternoon, though, I got a phone call from the doctor's office.  The full blood test results were now back, and there were some numbers they did not like.  Would I bring her back in tomorrow for another blood draw?  Well, of course I would...but after having a child with cancer, hearing that there were problems with Bethany's bloodwork really twisted my gut.   

So we went back the next day, and had another blood draw.  There were lots of folks having labs done that day, and the results were slow coming back, so the doctor suggested that we go out for lunch and come back later to find out the results.  So off we went to a nearby Mexican restaurant and had lunch ... which, for me, was eerily reminiscent of the day the MRI tech sent Hannah and I down to the hospital cafeteria for lunch while we waited for her scan results.  I really wasn't very hungry. 

When we got back to the doctor's office, we were told that her bloodwork profile was indicative of either Lyme Disease or mononucleosis.  Either one was preferable to what had been going through my mind.  The tests were inconclusive, though, so we were asked to return the next day for another blood draw.  Just in case it was Lyme Disease, the doctor did prescribe another antibiotic to tackle that, which we started that evening.

So yesterday was another blood draw, with some numbers going up and some going down, which led to yet another set of blood work today.  Today's numbers showed improvement in all areas...Praise the Lord!...but we'll have to go back Monday for another blood draw.  We should also have results of some of the sent-off tests by Monday, hopefully letting us know definitively whether it's mono or Lyme Disease.  Hey...We can deal with those things!  I'll just be glad to have it settled.  And, thankfully, she really doesn't feel all that bad, although I know she is sick because she hasn't been begging me to let her drive...not too much, anyway.  :)

OK...Now a random subject change (as my friend Susie always says).  I have a friend who has lost two children, a little girl to a mitochondrial disease, and a little boy to cancer.  Before her little boy ever got sick, he told her that if he went to Heaven before her, he would send her heart-shaped clouds.  So ever since he went to Heaven, she has been collecting pictures of heart-shaped clouds.  When I saw this picture posted on Facebook today, I emailed it to her, and I thought I would share it with you, too.  Enjoy!