Tested

Today was long, emotional, and full of love.

My son had a test that required 8 blood draws over the course of almost 7 hours. We fed him before he went to bed at around 9pm last night. He didn't eat again until all of the testing was over at 3pm.

He had an IV in so that made it much easier. Besides the IV he had one addition poke, that was it as far as poking and jabbing. He had his own dedicated nurse who was with us the entire time and never far away. She took wonderful care of him. 

He fell asleep part way through! What a blessing. It was truly an answer to prayers. His whimpers while he slept pulled at my heart strings. Just being in the pediatric oncology unit brought about tears. I cried and my heart was heavy for all of those young people fighting for their lives. I felt so blessed that my son wasn't suffering from cancer and so, so, so sad for the children that are. It was a humbling experience. 

My son's love and trust in me and my husband was also something that humbled me. His understanding was beyond his years today. There were many tears shed by all of us. Thankfully my sweetheart was there to help and comfort both my son and myself. It's our third wedding anniversary today. We spent it together, doing what families do: love, support, and strengthen each other. I am amazed by my sons strength, love, and resilience. 

We now have to wait a week or so for the results.

Update

I really enjoy writing and I've loved this blog and it's contributors. Sadly I have had to take a break to better meet my family's needs. We've been on a roller coaster over the last few months. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like the ride is coming to an end anytime soon.

We are doing much better and things have slowed down quite a bit. My son's health has improved enough that it appears we are out of immediate danger. He is making progress, even if it is in centimeters and ounces instead of inches and pounds.

We discovered that many of his horrible symptoms were due to an environmental cause that I can't/won't go into great detail about here on this blog. He is still recovering from that, but thankfully we are now able to focus his other health issues.

Those issues include: sensory processing disorder, tongue tie, tip tie, high palate, and slow growth (height and weight). Some of these are leading us down the path of more testing while others we are already seeking therapies for.

We have come a long way and we have a long way to go. Being a mom is never easy. We all have our own unique set of challenges and struggles. My son is beautiful, funny, charming, smart, sassy, mischievous, loving, snugly, assertive, inquisitive, and playful among other things. I'm so glad I get to watch him learn, grow and change. So, even though we face our own unique challenges, I'm glad that our family is facing the challenges we have together.

With all of the busyness of life I hope to be able to jump back into blogging.