Much to be thankful for

So much has happened this last week it's hard to put it all down but let's start at the beginning...

Last Friday, Casey had her spinal tap. The procedure itself went just fine in spight of my extreme anxiety. The rest of the weekend went by as usual with Casey a bit more quiet than usual but I chalked it up to the spinal. However, come Sunday night, we were back at the ER with a very sick young lady. She had a horrible headache and they had warned us on Friday that if she got a headache to take her in. We sat in the ER for several hours waiting for the doctor to decide if she should have a "blood patch". This is a procedure that is performed after a Spinal if the patient gets a headache. They take blood from a different part of the body and insert it back into the area of the spinal tap. If the patient is truly suffering from a spinal tap headache, it's due to a small leak of spinal fluid. The blood patches up the leak. Well, the ER doctor didn't feel that she had true spinal headache symptoms so he gave her IV fluids to help hydrate her along with morphine for the pain and sent us home with instructions to get her into her Neurologist the next morning.

By Monday morning, Casey was very, very sick. She was in so much pain that she was unable to eat or drink anything and could barely walk. We were able to get her in to her Neurologist who promptly admitted her to the hospital. Casey spent almost the entire week in the hospital undergoing a lot of tests and a lot of medication to try and get her pain under control. She was on a pain pump where she could give herself a dose of pain meds once every 8 minutes.
After all of the tests that were ran on her spinal fluid, MRI, cat scan, etc...the neurologist told me Thursday during rounds that she has determined that Casey does not have Pseudotumor Cerebri. She believes that Casey's inflamed optical nerves are due to migraines. She sent Casey home with about 10 different medications and an appointment to see her again in 2 weeks.

Casey went back to school yesterday and we encouraged her not to get overwhelmed and take it one class at a time. I sat at work all day yesterday waiting for her to call me from school but she did just great and made it through today as well. They now have the rest of the week off and don't go back until Monday. She has a ton of homework to catch up on but feels great.

As scared as I was last week, I knew that my fear was nothing compared to what some parents feel with their children who are terminally ill and I couldn't help but think how very thankful I was for SO MANY THINGS!

Tuesday was Casey's worst day and I first called my wonderful husband Mike crying and scared and as always, he comforted me and gave me the courage to move forward. (Poor man was waiting for the repair man to show up at our house because our less than 2 years old washing machine had sprung a leak!!) I know how hard it was for him not to be with Casey and I that morning while he sat at home but he instantly got on the phone and started making phone calls including to the Neurologist who explained everything to him and then he called me back and explained it all to me. The worst feeling is not knowing what is going on! Right after I called Mike, I called Harold (Casey's birth father) who told me he would come up just as soon as he got his chores done. He lives more than 2 hours away but I swear he made record time getting there and spent the whole day with us at the hospital. When we were married, there were several years when there was nothing that could be done for a migraine other than a trip to the ER and a shot of Demerol and Harold was with me through all of that. Because he remembered those times so well, he was able to really talk to me, keep me calm, remind me of how it used to be and the steps they had to take to get the pain to go away. I'm so very thankful for all of the prayers that were sent out on for Casey including all of her praying grandparents. There's nothing like the power of a praying grandparent! I'm so thankful for my big sister Dawn who came up to spend the weekend with us and pretty much helped fill up my empty "emotional tank"! I'm so thankful for my brother Les and sister in law Christine who called every day to check on Casey and see how we were doing and if we needed anything. I'm so thankful for my daughters Ashley & Lindsay who helped keep me sane when I really just wanted to "trip out"! I'm so thankful for my sister in law Deb who came up to the hospital with a great big stuffed bear that Casey never let go off. Where would I be without this wonderful loving family?!

Maybe everyone reflects on the things that they are thankful this time of year? God has been so good to me ALWAYS but perhaps it takes moments like these last few weeks to remind me of just how good He is?

Love your friends and family. Be thankful for the friends, the loves, the life that God has given you. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!