I do! I definitely think this year my family's health has either been under attack (i.e. Job) or God is trying to teach me something.
This actually started the week of Christmas. I received one of those phone calls that will stop you in your tracks. My mammogram came back abnormal. For some you, this might not be shocking, but we have NO history of breast cancer in my family. None. Zilch. Neither of my sisters or Mom have ever even been called back on a mammogram.
I had an appointment at the hospital the day before Christmas Eve. Not a very fun start to the holiday. After another bad mammogram there, they performed an ultrasound. All I was told was, "looks benign. Come back in 6 months to re-check."
Well, this didn't settle real well with me, my mom, or my doctor. My doctor made me an appointment with a breast surgeon, just to be safe. We were leaving for a ski trip the day after Christmas so the appointment would be when we returned. As much fun as we had on our trip, it seemed as if a big cloud loomed over the week. But, it was finally determined by the breast surgeon to, in fact, be benign. Whew!
The same day I was called about the bad mammogram, I must have been a nervous wreck because I sliced my finger opening a can of soup. Thanks to a good friend for stitching me up. That little finger caused me some havoc for several weeks.
Three weeks ago I woke hope with a horrible case of hives. I mean horrible I'm not going to post a picture of my face, but my lips were swollen, eyelids swollen over, etc. I looked like I had bad plastic surgery. I have never had an allergic reaction to anything! Ever! My friend, Gayle, drove me to the urgent care and I'm so glad she did. They gave me a steroid shot. When I got to the parking lot I started feeling lightheaded and before Gayle could get to me I fainted. Are you believing this story? Crazy! And of course Daniel was out of town. We never really figured out what was causing the hives, but the best guess was an allergic reaction to an antibiotic I was
taking. I probably need to go for allergy testing because every so often, like this morning, they reappear very mildly.
As if all of this isn't enough, I received a phone call from a mom on Hannah's gymnastics team. "Amanda, I don't want to alarm you, but Hannah has fallen. They have her stabilized and I can see that she is wiggling her toes." This is not a phone call any mom wants to receive. Ever! Hannah had fallen on her back. They wanted to call an ambulance, but I knew that would scare her so I raced out to get her. (yep, Daniel out of town for this one too!) Luckily, her x-rays came back perfect. I am so so thankful for that, but a few weeks later and she is still hurting so we are headed to an orthopedist this morning to have her checked out.
And finally, last night at her gymnastics class, Ellie Grace hurt her wrist. Honestly, I almost didn't even take her to the doctor. It was swollen, but she could move it so I didn't think it was broken. (Mother of the year here) But, I decided better safe than sorry, and sure enough, broken wrist. It is so swollen that they were not able to put a hard cast on it yet. Instead she has a soft cast. The doctor asked if I had an orthopedist. Well, conveniently I do and I will be there tomorrow. She sent me with the x-rays and I will talk to him this morning while I am there with Hannah.
Again, I'm not sure if I'm under attack or being pruned for His glory. But, evidently I'm a slow learner! Whether or not this is the point, I have learned not to take good health for granted. I have learned that life can change with one heart stopping phone call. And, I have learned that even though we think we are in control, we really have none.
