The Lord's Hand Making Our Burdens Light

There have been a lot of little things that have happened over the last month that have made this a little more bearable.  Some may see these are mere coincidence, but I see these as tender mercies of the Lord and evidence that He is a part of our lives.  There is a story in the Book of Mormon of a people who were being denied their religious rights, and threatened with their lives if they were caught praying vocally.  This is part of their story (Mosiah 24:14-15):

And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

 Here are a few of the things that happened that have helped prevent a bad event from being worse, in no particular order:



J experienced a new pain, and it was significant enough to get me, a doctor, to have him checked out. There really isn't much reason for the tumor to have caused that pain.  The pain was gone that night and has never returned.

There was blood in J's urine.  Only a small amount.  Only could be detected by testing. Coupled with the pain, it was enough to prompt the order for the ultrasound that first showed the mass (both the pediatrician and I were pretty convinced we would have a normal ultrasound and that we would be starting a bowel clean out that would make him feel better).

The interpreting radiologist for the ultrasound was one of our pediatric radiologists.  He not only recommended the MRI, but came down for the entire scan to choose which types of images to get, and had a slot available 45 minutes from the time we completed the ultrasound.

We were able to get through the emergency room admission process and be ready for that MRI time slot.

Star Wars Mad Libs.

J sat through an MRI without any sedation.  He's a fidgety kid.

The pediatric oncologist that was on service that first night was the only one of the three that I really already knew (and she was our neighbor around the corner).

The pediatric anesthesiologist was also our neighbor.

The pediatric cardiologist who was on service when he received his echocardiogram was our good friend.

The frozen section at the time of biopsy was positive, allowing them to place the medication port and obtain the bone marrow biopsies during that same surgery.

Weeks earlier, we decided we wanted a nice dinner with several friends before one family moved.  I made reservations and debated between Feb 13 and Feb 6.  Feb 6 was chosen, for no reason.  Would have never happened if we had chosen Feb 13.  J's pain started Feb 11 and his biopsy was Feb 13.

Same friends who were moving were planning on a moving truck that we would load Feb 16.  Very last minute they decided to use ABF.  To ensure their belongings would be at their new home when they arrived, they needed to have the trailer loaded and leaving for their new home by Feb 11.  We loaded them Feb 9.  OK, so I know they would have been able to get it all done without me, but it would have driven me crazy to know that I couldn't be helping them if they had stayed with their initial plan.  It also freed a lot of time for them to help us.

I was given an assignment to assist our missionaries sometime that week.  Tuesday or Thursday were the times they suggested.  Even though Thursday was the less disruptive date, I chose Tuesday.  Wednesday was the day the mass was found.

I was asked if I could teach a class to college students.  I enjoy teaching and really wanted to accept  the invitation.  Glad I didn't, as all the imaging was happening right during the class time.

We have been considering a commitment that would significantly impact our family's future.  We felt it was a good decision and had formalized the commitment Wednesday morning.  It was only about 6 hours later that the pain began.  (Since there is a human tendency to interpret why things happen, had the mass been found before the commitment made, we probably would have felt it was a sign that we should not do it).

J was able to go home that first weekend.  Our whole family was home and able to spend some time with our friends who were moving.  Prior to the decision to discharge him, we were told to not even think about going home for two weeks.

Influenza.  Really??  With my work, I have a certain amount of sick leave, and I will be excused from work under FMLA.  I get paid when I'm sick, but not off by FMLA.  During this week of chemotherapy, I have been home sick on sick leave and Mom has been able to spend all this time at the hospital, but we're getting paid.  Wouldn't be getting paid if I were healthy.

Influenza, again.  It hit our household hard, but we should be healthy and clean by the time J comes home and has low blood counts making him susceptible to infections.

Mom had decided to wean the 5-month-old about 1 week prior to all of this happening.  A little earlier than all of our children.

I also want to add how so many people have made this a lighter burden to bear.  That deserves a dedicated post.

In spite the difficulty of having a child with cancer, undergoing intense chemotherapy, we feel that we have been very blessed and this burden does not feel heavy.