Because You're Here Now

Today's entry and lesson is best expressed by my 7 year old daughter who wrote this song today:


Because you're here now,
I feel better, Now that you're here
You can help me,
Now that you're here

In a situation like this
I'm glad you're here

Because you're here now,
You can drive me through this
I love that you love me so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much.


I suspect she wrote this song in response to an event this weekend which put my husband in the hospital. He got a virus, which was compounded by stress and it triggered a thyroid response (released a great amount of thyroid hormone into his body in a very short period of time). The response required IV meds consisting of anti-inflammatories, a beta-blocker, and a prescription of reduced stress and follow-up care for up to 6 months.

We had quite a scare, because the first diagnosis was "Thyroid Storm" which is likely life-threatening. Luckily, they changed the diagnosis after the initial blood work came back. The new title "Subacute Granulomanous Thyroiditis" was still nerve-wracking and even amusing to the immediate care doctor and hospital staff since they "don't ever expect see a case of this in their entire career." Apparently, my husband was "textbook case" but the hospital did not even have standard discharge orders they could print out because of the rarity of the condition.

Things like this keep us down on the lower rungs and that's a good thing. It causes us to count our blessings, re-assess the pace of our lives, band together, remain humble and treat one another with greater kindness and respect. It's also a testimony of the power of prayer, as several family members (and some friends) were praying within minutes and the initial blood test results were encouraging, which caused the doctor to re-think his initial diagnosis.

Today I am more thankful to have a partner to share this country life with me; the 24 hours when he was at the hospital was more lonely than the several weeks he traveled during the year. And I am encouraged by my daughter's song and will post it where we can all see it each day.

My personal lesson this week is best expressed in many single descriptive words :
Thankful
Grateful
Blessed
Scared
Comforted
Renewed
Slowed
Loved
Peace
Quiet
Determined (to not ever forget how much my loved ones mean to me)