Sunday, April 3rd, at 5:30 AM, Mackenzie woke me up. "Mom, I have this horrible pain on the side of my stomach." This began one of the stranger weeks of my life. On that day, she was admitted to the hospital. The third day she had surgery, which, thank goodness, relieved her pain. The fourth day, she was discharged. During that time, I never left the hospital. I didn't want to miss anything that happened and didn't want to leave her alone. Even though she is 18, she is still my child and had never been in the hospital. Having a child in the hospital is more than being the advocate for your child and watching over them. It is communicating with other family members about your child's condition, making sure things are still happening at home (Chris filled in as team manager for Morgan's soccer team, a teammate's mom got Morgan to practice that week, etc.), and trying to take care of yourself as well. Ours was a short stay in comparison to the families who de