Count Your Many Blessings

I'm sitting in a bed at Seattle Children’s Hospital at 3:00 a.m. shaking my head in awe thinking back on the last 34 hours of my life. I'm amazed with what I get to experience. It all started Sunday night when Ashtyn and I were invited to my sister Jen’s friend Emily’s house for dinner. Jen had just arrived into town for a short 24 hour visit. I had never met Emily and their four friends. We had the best conversation while eating the best homemade curry. I was disappointed after leaving without a picture of those awesome people. A couple hours later my close friend of almost 30 years Mathis and his 18 year old son Mason arrived near midnight after driving for over 13 hours straight from Salt Lake City to bring me my car. Mathis had offered to drive my car to Seattle over a month ago. After realizing how long we are projected to be here I texted him, "I might be asking Mason to bring up my car." His response, "One way or the other we’ll get a car up to you next week.” No words of gratitude is sufficient for what they did for me. As they settled in Ashtyn had been mildly complaining about nerve pain making her body extremely uncomfortable in every position. She tried laying on a heating blanket and hardly sleep all night. By morning she had unbearable pain from head to toe that felt tingly, burning, and numb all at the same time. She winced at every touch. By 11:30 a.m. she said, "This is the kind of pain I would go to the ER for.” I called her involved, experienced nurse practitioner Jennifer and was told to bring her to clinic. We would have loved to hang out with Mathis and Mason but instead had them go sightsee for the one day they were here while Ashtyn, Jen, and I headed to the hospital. Upon arrival Jennifer was immediately empathic to the pain Ashtyn was experiencing. She credited it as being a side effect, on the extreme spectrum, from the chemotherapy drug Vincristine. Ash was admitted into the hospital to receive the IV pain medication Dilaudid. A nerve pain medication called Gabapentin was also started that may start helping with the neuropathy in several days. By the end of the night Jen, Mathis, and Mason had flown home, Ashtyn slept restfully, and I counted my blessings.

It was so good to see my sister.

We love Mathis and Mason.