Not My Week

What a week.

Ei took nap Sunday afternoon. I should have known something was up then. Around midnight Sunday he woke up wheezing and gasping for air. I wrapped him in a blanket and took him outside. We sat there for about 10 minutes until he complained that he was cold. I brought him in. He was still having a hard time breathing, so I called the doctor who told us to bring him to the ER. Mike put him in the shower while I got ready to go. We got to the ER around 1:30. They gave him a breathing treatment and oral steroids and said we could probably go home in 2 hours. At 4:00 they gave him another treatment and said he would be admitted to the hospital. Tuesday, 5 breathing treatments and 2 days later, we finally got to go home.

Monday morning Mike's stepfather began a series of 7 days of continuous chemotherapy. The idea is to kill off all of his bone marrow. Hopefully it will then begin to slowly regenerate. Most likely it will not, and we will not have him with us by Thanksgiving.

So, yeah, it's not been a good week.

But here's what I learned:

1. Some things are not in my control. As badly as I would like to, I cannot stop bad things from happening, and I don't have a solution for every problem.

2. The world does not fall out of orbit if I am away for a few days. Other mothers can host a Halloween party. The other parent can care for a grumpy baby.

3. I have an amazing support system. My phone didn't stop ringing the entire time I was in the hospital. We had a steady stream of visitors. Family members canceled plans to pitch in and help with Jackson and Aaron. Friends made meals for us after we got home.

I have several thoughts swirling around in my head after all this, and maybe some day they will make it into full posts. For now, my house is messier than it's ever been (I'm not exaggerating). Fortunately, I don't have to cook tonight because of aforementioned friends. So, to everyone who called, visited, babysat, made a meal, sent a balloon, or said a silent prayer for us--THANK YOU.