Roller coaster

The last 30 hours or so have been an emotional roller coaster.  Last night at 5:15 the phone rang; it was the doctor from Children's.  The moment I heard her voice I panicked - when we left her office on Thursday afternoon we were told we'd receive a letter in about a weeks time letting us know the results - that is, unless the results were such that we needed to talk.  Faced with two children who were bouncing off the wall and a doctor who had news, I turned off all the lights in the house so Oliver could flash around in his Pumas and I handed Henni an item she covets -- the iPad.  Seconds later Davis walked in and I vanished up the stairs, leaving Davis utterly confused and the house in mayhem (understatement).  The doctor said that a couple of Henni's labs came back looking not so wonderful, to say the least.  We discussed several of the possibilities (scary words a parent never wants to utter), and then the doctor promised to call back over the weekend with more information.  Last night was not a fun night.  Davis and I tried to limit our research to academic papers, but even those did not give us an sort of reassurance.

This morning the doctor called and gave us some good news.  A pathologist reviewed a smear of Henni's blood and the cells look normal.  While this is good news, this does not mean everything is ok.  In fact, we are still at a point where we need to monitor Henni's temperature and if it gets to be 100 or more we are to head directly to the ER.  We are also suppose to be vigilant hand washers and try to limit germ exposure.  That being said, my understanding is that we are no longer stuck in the deep end of the pool with cement blocks tied to our ankles.  So where are we then?  We are not yet out of the pool, or even in the shallow end.  At this point we are awaiting another call from the doctor on Monday, follow-up lab work, and appointments with at least one more specialist at Children's Hospital.  We also are still no closer to addressing the issue of Henni's hives - as these test results are not hive-related.

In the meantime Henni is Henni.  She covered herself in maple syrup at breakfast, required a full change of clothes after throwing herself down the slide and into the mud at the playground, she road her bike with abandon, she stomped in mud puddles, she fed the llama, mooed at a cow, massaged her head with spaghetti, ate another dinner which just consisted of broccoli (this child may actually turn into a piece of broccoli)...

For next next however long I may not take a full breath, I will jump at the ring of the phone, and I will snuggle both Oliver and Henni that much closer.