I am reminded how precious each moment is with our little darlings. Almost 9 years ago, Tim, age 3, was diagnosed with I. T. P. (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura). He woke up one morning with a bloody nose that wouldn't stop bleeding, bleeding gums, a huge bright blue bruise on his knee and thousands of freckle sized bruises (petechiae) all over his body. Basically, Tim's body was destroying his platelets so his blood would not clot well. It was a scary time for us. He was not allowed to do anything, for fear that he would bump his head or fall etc and bleed out.
This shiner was caused by Tim bumping a small, empty water gun just under his eye. After a couple of hours it went from a tiny, tiny scratch to this monstrosity. We took him in to the ER, but all they could do was watch it, if they drained it or poked him it would have only bled more.
After a year of bumps and TONS of bruises, and several months of prednisone, Tim was declared recovered.
A few years later, just before Halloween, Tim (6 yrs old) got very ill. He couldn't keep anything down. My other kids had been throwing up too, but recovered. Tim was getting worse after a couple days. I took him in to the doctor. I was worried about dehydration and he would not move from the sofa with out being carried. They rushed us to the hospital, Tim's appendix had ruptured. They did immediate surgery and cleaned his belly out as best they could. He stayed in the hospital for a week and improved greatly. He came home on Halloween, so we took him around with the kids in a wagon to Trick or Treat.
A couple of days later he began vomiting again. We went back to the hospital and they discovered that he had several abscesses. He went on hard core antibiotics and stayed another week in the hospital. They let him come home with a PIC line for two weeks of at home I.V. treatments. After several more ER trips for clogged PIC lines, they discovered that the line was in too far and instead of dispersing the meds near his heart they had the line going into his heart. His heart kept pumping blood into the line and clogging it.
The meds worked and he was well enough to return to school after missing 22 school days. Poor guy!
Tim is rarely sick but when he does come down with something he has made it exciting for us. I am grateful for him in our family. He is a hard worker and a loving brother and son. He is my Timmy and I love him! I am tremendously grateful that we didn't lose him, and I am comforted to know that because our family is sealed together for time and all eternity in the temple he will always be mine no matter what.
