Thursday, January 10, 2008

Just got myself recalibrated....

Anyone that knows me knows that I've been having a hard time balancing everything that's been going on between work and at home. Sick kids, a crazy job, a new diet for a hyperactive 3 year old, it's not been easy. Then we received this message tonight...

Madi is scheduled for a craniotomy tomorrow, which means they're opening up her head. She has a grape sized area of hemorrhage/mass in an area of the brain near the left side of the optic chiasm (the vision center) and the hypothalamus. The procedure tomorrow should tell us exactly what is causing the hemorrhage, take away much of the clot, and take away some of the mass as well. We're hoping that getting rid of this clot takes some pressure off the hypothalamus so that we can get Madi back full time rather than only for a few seconds at a time. Then we pray for a good prognosis on pathology results. There's still a chance we could get a benign tumor, which would probably require further radiation and/or chemotherapy--this is all speculative. In any case, tomorrow is an extremely important day. Madi has the best neurosurgeons in the world, the best support in the world (all of you), and her own fighting spirit on her side. We're praying that's enough.

Madison Couser is the 5 year old daughter of some friends of ours that moved to Minneapolis about two years ago. We haven't kept in very close touch with them since they moved, but do see them when they come back to town. They used to be in our "card club", and Greg and Marianne (Madi's parents) are the nicest people in the world!

Apparently, Monday night (just 3 days ago!!!) Madi woke up vomiting. Thoughout the day, they said she just started making less and less sense, and was slurring her words. They took her to the ER, where they did a CT and found this mass on her brain that is bleeding. They immediately did everything they could do to relieve the pressure on the brain by draining the fluid. She is responsive to them every once in a while now, but has her big surgery tomorrow.

Holy Cow, does this put things into perspective for me. It's like I've been hit with a brick. With all of my complaining and wallowing in my own sorrows, here are some people that have their little girl being operated on by neurosurgons at the Mayo Clinic. I complained about Connor's last ear infection.

Additionally, they were supposed to be in Disney World today with a couple other familys. Madi has two older brothers, Chad and Ethan, who were supposed to go meet Mickey and the gang. Greg (Madi's dad) is a marathon runner and was going to run in Goofy's Challenge this weekend, which is a half marathon one day, then a full marathon the next. Marianne was going to run the half marathon, and Chad, Ethan and Madi were going to run the 5K. It would've been Madi's first.

I have a good friend that reminds me frequently "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear". That couldn't be more true at this point. The teacher has definitely appeared, and reminded me of what is important in life, where my priorities should be, and what I have control over and what I don't.

When you say your prayers next, please say one for Madi.

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