Bloggy, blog, blahh!!!

I have been wanting to have a few minutes to write down some profound thoughts to share with anyone who may venture to my blog site. But alas, life has been nipping at my heels of late.

Take a quick journey with me. Last Saturday, the 29th, by late evening my son complained that the left side of his neck hurt. His Daddy asked, “Did Gabe fall down and hit his neck?” So, being Mommy, I asked Gabe what was wrong. I checked his throat, which was a tiny bit red, felt his neck which seemed slightly swollen, and then I felt his head for a temperature, which seemed to be perfectly normal. By late Saturday night Gabe was awake and crying. He kept saying his neck hurt and it was clear that his throat was becoming swollen. By Sunday morning it was clear that Gabe was one sick little boy. The left side of his neck was so swollen that he appeared to have half of a softball tucked into his cheek. His throat was also swollen to the point that he had only an ink pen size opening to breathe through. It was clear that we had to take him to the ER.
Once we arrived at the ER we thought that we would be given a prescription for antibiotics and sent home. After all our community had seen a wide spread outbreak of strep-throat over the recent days. That was not to be the case. By 6:00 p.m. my little boy was hooked up to an I.V. and was admitted to the hospital. A CAT scan of his neck was inconclusive, except to the point that the doctors could tell us that Gabe was suffering from a massive infection. The swelling was too great to determine if he had a cyst or an infected gland. The doctors put Gabe on IV antibiotics and we waited to see if his condition would improve.

Praise God, the antibiotics began to work. By Wednesday morning Gabe was up and playing and more than ready to go home. Finally, we were released from the hospital on Wednesday evening, the 3rd, about 6:30 p.m. We still did not have answers as to what the cause of the infection was, but at least we were able to go home.

I decided to keep Gabe at home through the rest of the week, just to be on the safe side. I didn’t need him to return to Pre-K and day-care and get exposed to some virus and add to the problems that we were dealing with.

This illness took me away from my job for one-full week. I realized that my place was with my family, but at the same time I knew that I would be behind in my job duties when I did return to work. I also missed leading a Bible study class on Sunday night. This meant that my dear friend and co-leader of the Bible study had to pick up my slack. Additionally, I missed one-week of working on plans for an upcoming women’s ministry mini-retreat.

Can you feel my stress mounting? Now this week I am back at work. Well after taking one-half of the day off on Monday to take Gabe to the pediatrician for a post-hospitalization follow-up appointment, then going in to work about ½ hour late on Tuesday due to icy and snow covered roads. I am trying to catch all of my work up, and trying to catch up on my women’s ministry event duties, plus prepare for the next Bible study class that will be held on Sunday evening.

You see what I mean? Life has really been nipping at my heels.

But through it all, my God has been faithful. I wish that I could tell you that I have handled all of this with “strength and dignity,” but alas, that would be a lie. I can however affirm to you that, “With God’s grace I will not only survive, but thrive.” And, I have a little something to share on my bloggy, blog, blog!