above all else, we are praising god for his presence and encouraging news today. he gets all the glory.
i tend to fast forward through the good and worry about the upcoming days. i have been thankful that those moments were short-lived today and i was able to catch my breath.
the MRI went as smooth as possible. the waiting was pretty torturous and i knew ben lost his marbles when he stopped pacing and started answering the phone at the reception desk. a dad in need of information on his baby can't be contained. :)
we were thankful to have had a detailed conversation with the radiologist. the next step is a meeting with the surgeon on friday.
when we got to see caroline she looked like she had been put through wringer. at first she was pretty upset and had a hard time being consoled. then she had a popsicle then a banana then crackers then i lost track because she did not stop eating for the rest of the day.
she has recovered beautifully and had a great afternoon.
if it weren't for the bandage markings and darn lump on her neck you would never know there is anything wrong.
we are thankful for a god who strengthens us and family and friends who lift us up.
saturday was wagon rides and playing outside.
sunday was urgent care and children's hospital.
in short, the left side of caroline's neck is extremely swollen. every step of this journey we have expected it to stop; for there to be an easy diagnosis and treatment.
it's been far too many doctors shrugging their shoulders and admitting being puzzled.
after 2nd and 3rd opinions the specialists seem to agree on it being a cyst caused from a valve that never shut when she was developing. there is some uncertainty as to what specifically is going on so they have recommended an MRI. they need more information that the CAT scan could not provide before they operate. they also need to confirm that a gray spot on the CAT scan is a gland that has been shifted and not something "worrisome" which would require a biopsy.
the surgery will be complicated due to the size of the cyst and the presence of "important structures" (blood vessels).
at the moment we are waiting to schedule an MRI. we are praying that it will be tomorrow.
my heart aches and my eyes are blood shot from tears.
caroline is doing amazing. she is her normal spunky self and she is in zero pain. it's comforting to be with her and see her good spirits.
the days ahead remain uncertain but we are trusting caroline to god's hands. that he will provide the most caring, best and precise surgeon in charlotte. that he will comfort caroline when she is frightened. we will be on our knees praying that the spot on the CAT scan is a gland and a biopsy will not even be necessary. we are praying that after the MRI the diagnosis is conclusive and the doctors can gather all the information necessary for a successful surgery.
Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
(the MRI was just scheduled for 9am tomorrow morning. thank you jesus.)
you may think i am all nice and polite. that may be about to change.
my sister, sarah, and i have a long history of quirks and pranks in our relationship.
in fact, as far back as i can remember i have rarely referred to her as "sarah." actually, when i use her real name something feels off. when she was in elementary school i called her charlie for about 5 years then through a long chain of variations it permanently landed on chad. it is so second nature that i have caught my parents also referring to her that way.
decades ago (literally decades ago) we started an ongoing prank that continues to this very day. it started with a pair of white granny panties that landed in our laundry pile. we each denied ownership and it started simply with us spending a few months throwing them back and forth into each other's rooms.
this evolved into us hiding them in the other's room which then resulted in finding them somewhere in our own space.
we got more creative over the years and the panties have been baked into a birthday cake, sent to college in a care package, and placed in the passenger vizor mirror in a car so when someone unsuspecting checked makeup, giant panties would fall upon them.
we lose track of who has them which makes the surprise more maddening each time they are discovered.
over christmas chad got me with a new prank. all the sisters worked together to make an adorable shutterfly calendar for our dad. on christmas morning when he opened it there was a less than pleasing picture of me on one of the pages. i am just vain enough to not take that well.
but i can laugh at it now because of some sweet sweet revenge that just went down.
we worked on that shutterfly calendar on her account...thus i used her password. i wondered if she is like me and uses the same password for everything.
to my DELIGHT, she does and i had full access to the site where i would attack....pinterest.
now what makes this so beautiful is that when i did this she was in the mountains on a technology free weekend. my work would be live for 2 whole days.
i needed to attack with something quirky but possibly believable. nothing humiliating, just weird.
