There is nothing like a little dose of radioactive tracer to make you appreciate how truly blessed you are. Yesterday was a medical marathon for us. It started with a "well-child" visit to the pediatrician for Chloe. She is exceptionally average--50th percentile across the board, and she even drank most of the rotavirus vaccine drink (something the nurse said doesn't happen often). Shortly after we left the doctor, I started to feel a familiar feeling-lightheadedness and some numbness in my lips and chin. Yeah, this has been going on for a few days, though it started to be a lot more apparent on Sunday evening. I decided I had had enough and caught a ride to the urgent care where they did an ECG and a whole slew of blood work to make sure that I wasn't having a heart attack, anemia, blood clots, etc. I left with the expectation that the doctor would call and give me the all-clear and tell me to "drink more water", "eat more frequently", or "get more sleep", but instead he called me and told me that the test that indicates a probable blood clot was abnormal and that I needed to go to the hospital right away to get further tests done. I think I did a pretty good job of staying calm, I just let Andrew know (he was still at work) and he rallied the troops. Almost an hour later, Andrew, Chloe, and I made our way to the hospital and Clancy and Yehyeh (Andrew's dad) went on their own separate way. Despite my being calm, the possibility of having a life-threatening problem was still lingering in the middle of my mind (not the front or the back, just somewhere in the middle). When I went to kiss Clancy and tell him goodbye, I tried not to let myself think (but I did) that this could be for the last time here on earth. Wow, that is a sad thought.Well, needless to say, I am writing this post, so I don't have a blood clot (hooray!), but we didn't find that out until 5 hours, and a couple radioactively expensive tests later. Other than being told that I would be giving off gamma radiation for a while and should try to stay away from my children, the news was all good. How blessed I am to have more time in mortality with my two awesome kids, wonderfully supportive husband, and all the other people in my life. With so many of my friends and family experiencing difficult trials in their lives...advanced lung cancer, loss of a job due to hard economic times, a baby with a delayed release from the hospital (and then only with oxygen), divorce, financial trouble, etc., I am grateful that the Lord really knows me and the kinds of trials (pretty small ones) that I can handle and that he still gave me some really great people in my life to help me through them.
