Prayers...

In April, 2010, when Andrew was 2 1/2, a tumor was discovered behind his eye. The tumor was removed, but it was found to be an aggressive cancer. He endured seven months of chemo and six weeks radiation. In December of 2010, the day after his last treatment, he was rushed to the ER with an almost fatal bacterial infection. He survived.

He is now seven-years-old!! I don't visit here much, because during the ordeal, this is where I dumped everything--my rage, my fear, my sadness, my ugly, my hope, my everything. But I want all of you who supported and prayed for us to hear his updates. You helped me survive, and I am deeply thankful. Every once in awhile, I will check in to let you know how he's doing. Please continue to pray that cancer will never return to his body. Thank you.



Sunday, August 8, 2010

I'm no MacGyver, but neither were the firemen...

Last night, Aaron left Houston to go home for first grade on Monday. He was completely excited and even made a countdown calendar, crossing off each day until school starts.  I on the other hand, am still sad.  This is obviously not how I wanted to spend Aaron's first day of first grade-- far, far away in a radiation treatment center.  I truly need a clone.  Thankfully, John was able to go with him.  Aaron will stay with my parents for three weeks while we finish up here.  I will miss him.  I miss John, and he is only going to be gone until Tuesday. 

Anyway, after John's mom and I returned home from the airport and put the kids to bed, I went back to check on Andrew and couldn't get into the bedroom.  It was locked.  I'm not sure how.  Did I do it?  Had Andrew locked it?  I don't know, but it was locked.  And in my frantic search above these foreign bedroom doors, I discovered there was NO key.

John's mom and I immediately went to work, bending paperclips, untwisting hangers, taking apart my hair barrettes, trying to find anything that would unlock the tiny little mechanism inside the doorknob.  We were pathetic MacGyvers...none of our attempts helped at all....and all of my apartment emergency numbers, and my cell phone, were locked in the room with Andrew.  No one was answering the phone at the apartment complex.  No neighbors were home...and honestly I was cautious to try too many of their doors, it was 10 pm on Saturday night.

John's mom was trying to keep Andrew from crying by passing him pieces of cereal under the door (actually quite humorous...we could hear the cries interrupted by crunching). She was also passing  him pictures of the door knob, complete with arrows, trying to show him what to turn...this was also fairly humorous...but it wasn't working!

In comes the Fire Department. We were desperate.  I felt stupid to call them, but Andrew was getting more and more upset and we couldn't get the door open!  I was hoping they might have a "not-such-an-emergency vehicle"...you know the one they send when they rescue cats from trees...but not so.  Here comes the HUGE firetruck, lights flashing, siren squealing--  for me, and my little son locked in a bedroom.  Three big men hop out with a HUGE AXE.  I was thinking a tiny screw driver might be best...

And they tried the same tricks...untwisting hangers, searching through swiss army knife gadgets...none of them worked.  I feared we were getting closer and closer to that HUGE Axe being used and imagining the HUGE repair bill that would follow.

So the Firemen tried talking to him.  "Please open the door Andrew."  "I can't" he said.  After many attempts at bolstering his confidence, and telling him how big he was, and how he "could do it."  He was told WHO was on the other side of the door.   He was told that if he opened the door, he could see firemen and have some candy.  And somewhere, from the depth of his being, he summoned the ability to turn the knob,  open the door, and spare us all from THAT AXE. :)  Hooray for Andrew! 

But alas, that was not the end to my evening.  I finished off the night at 1:30 am with a panicked search through my computer for photo files that I inadvertantly deleted. Thankfully they hadn't made it any further than the recycling bin, but for a while there, my heart was racing.

What a crazy night!!  And all I wanted to do was sit and relax with a good book.

10 comments:

  1. Oh, the power of firemen and candy! It could probably reverse global warming, if only we could harness it somehow. =>

    Hope you get some time soon to relax with that book. You deserve it.

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  2. Oh my goodness! What a night! I know it was stressful at the time but...how funny that he managed to finally open the door when he realized who was behind it! :)

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  3. OH boy, that sound like quite THE night. UGH~~ But at least ya'll didn't have to use the axe.

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  4. Now that's a story to save for many years to come!

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  5. What a riot!!! I laughed out loud!! I'm glad Andrew is okay and you can laugh at it now. Love to all.

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  6. oh friend... i'm praying for a moment in which you can enjoy a good book. love to you.

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  7. as if your life needed any more heart racing adventures! Hip hip Hooray for Andrew- gotta love that the vision of firemen pulled him through that door :)

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  8. How crazy...glad it all worked out, I just knew by your title this was going to be a dozy.

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  9. Oh my, what a story. My daughter locked me out of the house once on a freezing cold winter day when I stepped out with the trash and had no jacket, key or phone with me. It took 20 long minutes to persuade her that she could unlock the door. Glad the firemen did not have to break down the door and that Andrew got to see some firemen. But what a crazy day indeed.

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  10. Wow, what a night. I'm still snickering about the cereal being passed under the door. Poor Andrew was probably just too nervous to focus on twisting the knob at first. Glad all turned out well. Yeah for just 3 weeks to go. I know how you feel not wanting to miss out on Aaron's first day of first grade, but it sounds like he is in good and capable hands until your return.

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