Tuesday, July 24, 2018

disappointment

Yesterday, Seth had his blood draw to check on his thyroid.  His reward for getting a "shot" and my reward for taking him and remembering the lidocaine was a peanut butter shake from DQ.  He's holding his left arm up because it still has the bandage on it.  This morning before I made Seth's strawberry milk (my method of giving him his thyroid meds), I checked my e-mail for a note from the endocrinologist.  The message was a huge disappointment:  the labs looked good, but Seth needs to stay on the same dose of thyroid meds for three months.  The good part of that is that Seth doesn't need any "shots" for three whole months.  The bad part, though, is that his thyroid stopped responding to the meds like it did the past several months.  The doctor said that some people hit a plateau and then the meds start working well again.  I'm pretty sure that if there's no change by October, Seth will have to have his thyroid removed and be on synthroid (hormone replacement to do the work that the thyroid is supposed to do) for the rest of his life.  Many people either have a slow-working thyroid or no thyroid at all and have to take meds, so it's not the end of the world.  I was just hoping that Seth would be the super great "everything went so well, it's amazing" kind of case.

Obviously, it's easier to trust God when He seems to be making everything go well.  This isn't exactly going well.  It's not necessarily bad news, but it's definitely not the great news we've gotten after the previous blood draws.  God's not a genie in a bottle, though.  His way involves His timing, His understanding, His will, not my demands or wishes.  As difficult as it is, I have to trust that God will work everything out for the best.  While I wait to see what He'll do over the next three months, I'll keep on giving Seth one and a half crushed pills every morning in his strawberry milk and be thankful that Seth is mine and that he is basically healthy.

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Flowers - Allium


I wish that each flower had only one meaning!  After reading The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (an UNBELIEVABLY great novel!!!!!), I wanted to learn the message of each flower.  The problem with that is that each flower has several meanings, and many of those meanings are contradictory.  I usually "give" flowers to people via facebook to say "Happy Birthday," and I pick whatever flowers look prettiest or are appropriate for the season.  Now I'm wanting to send flowers that have meaning.  I'm not just saying, "Happy Birthday" now.  I'm also giving a birthday wish.  Today, I sent allium (a wish for prosperity).  Other meanings include unity, patience, and humility.  I guess those go along with prosperity, though, since they're often requirements to prosper.

The Hofacker Family 2008