If it is true that April showers bring May flowers, then we are going to have the most flowery May ever! Seriously, I don't remember ever experiencing so many rainy days in my life. It's been to the point that when the sun pops out and the rain stops for just a few minutes, Bryson hollers, "The sun's out, Mom!" and I get a little excited myself.
We've just been trying to truck along through these rainy days and make the most of them. It certainly has been eventful. Avery has continued to get red cells and platelets, since he's not making many on his own. We're meeting with the transplant doc from Cincy on May 11, and we're hoping to get some sort of plan for his treatment. The response to people wanting to register for the Bone Marrow Registry has been huge, and we are so thankful for that!
Bryson, my usually very healthy, active child, has had quite a rough time lately. This is the first morning in the last 13 days that he has woken up without a fever, thank God! It started as a cough and low grade fever that would come and go, and of course, I didn't get too stressed. I just tried to keep him away from Avery by letting him sleep in our room for a few nights. But, after about 5 days of fever, I took him to our pediatrician. She wasn't terribly concerned either since his ears, throat, and everything else looked good. She said it must be viral and would pass. A few days later with even higher fevers and more coughing, and we headed back for a chest xray, which showed many spots in his lungs. She said it was either Pertussis (whooping cough) or walking pneumonia. He's been on antibiotics for three days now, and I think he's finally on the mend!
Phillip's pappaw passed away Sunday evening, and we had his funeral yesterday. He has always been such a spunky guy, even at 83, that it seems odd that he went so quickly. He will be missed dearly!
So that's the bad stuff that has been going on lately. But, as usual, it hasn't been all bad. Actually, despite the physical rain, we have received some "showers of blessings" as well. One blessing came in the strange form of diapers. I know that sounds weird, but a person who I wouldn't have considered a friend, more of an acquaintance, blessed us by buying us four large boxes of diapers. I'm not talking about the little boxes you get at the store; these are the boxes with multiple packs inside. Two were Avery's size, and two were smaller for our baby. She said she wanted to do something nice for us because we have done some counseling with a couple of her family members recently. We truly appreciated it! It may sound strange for me to list this as a blessing, but it certainly was a huge blessing to us!
Another fantastic blessing is that we got our largest tax refund we've ever gotten before. We kind of procrastinated on having our taxes done because we were pretty sure we would have to pay or maybe break even. Boy, were we surprised!
Phillip is now on day shift on his weekends that he works, which is just one more step closer to getting on full day shift. He has been told that sometime early May he may be saying good-bye to second shift, and I know neither of us will miss it!
Something else I am so thankful for this month is that Avery was invited to join a research study at Johns Hopkins hospital. Joining only meant that we had to send two tubes of blood out there, but in exchange, they're doing some of the tests for free that we have been waiting on our insurance to approve for more than a month. We're hoping to have results back in a couple of weeks, and the outcome should give us some really helpful information about the cause of Avery's bone marrow failure and how best to modify his transplant medication regimen.
Oh, and I don't want to forget to mention that my sister, Rebecca, got to make a trip into town. I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving! We have wanted to go to Alabama ourselves for a visit, but we just can't make that big of trip right now with Avery's health. It was so nice to see her, catch up a little bit, and of course, compare bellies. I think I'm about to win that contest! Oh well, at number three, I think I'm entitled to be a little fatter. :)
You know, bad things are always happening. There's always loss, sickness, frustrations, stress, and lots of negative things to focus on. But amidst these painful times and this dismal weather, there are also many blessings I don't want to fail to overlook!
I praise God for his blessings and for his strength to take us through the rough times in our lives.
Hoping for an end to our monsoon season...
Bethany
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