Wow! We are so blessed! July 8, 2009

I had an interesting call last night. It was a worker from St. Louis Children's Hospital. During our last stay, they asked if we would participate in several studies. We said yes to most of them. Last night was a follow-up on one I consider to be one of the most vital--how our family handled Blaze's condition. I was asked a myriad of questions, most having to do with how our family dealt with having a child with a "serious condition." Did I feel it affected his friendships (No-he seems to want to gnaw on all the kids in the nursery while he is teething and no one even holds THAT against him.) Did I feel his life expectancy was hampered? Was our child's condition the most important thing in our lives? How worried was I over the future as it related to Blaze's condition? THEN I was asked if I had a "partner" that lived in our home with me and was helping to raise Blaze. The "yes" response lead to a new line of questioning-- Did my partner and I agree on how our child's condition should be treated? Did my partner and I fight a lot over our child's condition? Was our family unit suffering because we had a child with a serious health condition? On and on it went.

I had a major realization when I hung off the phone... "I am so blessed!" Blaze is doing well. He is healthy and thriving. He is ahead of most of his milestones. It's just amazing. One of the questions asked if we felt we were on a roller coaster...well, no, not now. Things are so steady. Blaze is such a great kid. I can't imagine him in any other way. Do we have to be a bit more organized? Yes, somewhat. We have medicine times and keeping prescriptions filled, that sort of thing, but I don't consider that a hardship. I am so proud of Blaze, he is sincerely doing well.

The other way we're blessed is in our family unit. Tim & I are a team in this. That does not mean things are always easy, but we work together for Blaze. Decisions concerning Blaze's medical care come easily for us. I believe it is the prayers for wisdom people are praying for us. We want the best for him and we're willing to do whatever we can to do that. One of the questions was how heavily Blaze's condition weighs on us. It really doesn't. I did sign him up for life insurance that he's guaranteed to have through the age of 25, after that he can sign up without having to address health questions. Would I have done that for a kid without a condition? I don’t know. This worked out well for our situation, so we did it. I think that's a normal parental thing to do.

I hung up the phone realizing that so many parents are struggling and how phenomenal an experience we are having. Thank you so much for your prayers. We cling onto His grace and are so grateful for His blessings.


Joy