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In the hospital...no, not me

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 deal with more serious conditions such as childhood cancer. I worked for 3+ years at a childhood cancer organization and met many great people, several of which I still keep in touch with via social media. Some are parents of childhood cancer survivors.



To those parents I say: I don't know how you did it for as long as you did when your child was diagnosed with cancer. Wait....yes, I do. You had to. You did what you had to do to see that your child was taken care of but for a much longer period of time than I did.



If I had a hat on, I would take it off to you parents of seriously ill children.



And Mackenzie is recoveringly nicely, not yet 100% but getting there. The hospitalization/recovery took 5 days of her high school senior year and the chance to compete for the last time at the 2011 Dance Worlds competition (she will be there to cheer them on). However, when you take a step back, that's OK. And I'm just glad that she is OK/healing too. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support.

Comments

  1. MindyApril 23, 2011 at 11:04 PM

    I'm sorry to hear you had more suffering in your family, but I am thankful you made it through with such strength. You are an amazing woman! I know it was disappointing to miss such special events in Mackenzie's life, but I am thankful she is healing well. She will do other amazing things in her life, I'm confident! Praying for continued healing.

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