This week reminds me of what happened 15 years ago. Joe was on the mountain, known to Moravians as Laurel Ridge. And it was back in the days where cellphones did NOT work up there.
What was happening in Atlanta was not fun and games. Littleman had his first bout of pancreatitis. We went to the Emergency Department two nights in a row. The first night we were sent home being told he had heart burn. The next afternoon I had one very sick little boy in my arms and back to the Emergency Department we went again. This time the news was not as easy of a fix as heart burn. After many tests and many more tests and lots of needle pricks that evidently led to an IV, we had a new diagnosis – pancreatitis. Yes in a three year that is very, very rare. And as in adults very, very painful.
He had to be taken off of all food and liquid and hooked up to the IV fluids that they told him was power juice. That barely got a smile. He got a break for about a half hour after his first night and got to take a ride in the little red wagon. He said he was staying a a “weird hotel”, ok I thought whatever, they were his feelings and his thoughts. I on the other hand was scared out of my mind. It was no “weird hotel” it was the place my child may never leave.
On his bumpy little red wagon ride he was a little amazed that fish also came to this “weird hotel”. I didn’t have the heart to try to reason with him, so I chocked back tears and said “yes son they do and aren’t they so pretty”?
Back in his room he got another dose of morphine because his pain was coming back. That bumpy red wagon ride might have brought interesting sights and it also might have intensified the pain. So once the morphine kicked in, he got super, super silly – when the child life specialist came in with sticky letters and numbers. The result of her gifts, as you can see adorned his clothes and became new additions to his cute little face. It should also be noted that his two favorite security filled stuffed animals Zoomie the dog and Motney (aka Snoopy) were there to protect.
As forementioned I was petrified. When they told me in the Emergency Department that he would be admitted and perhaps to ICU, I had to have a nurse stay in the room for a minute while I went out in the hall and broke down. I barely knew what pancreatitis was never mind be able to comprehend my littleman having it. I got it together and went back in and we moved forward with treatment and getting into a room in the middle of the night. Thank God he didn’t go to ICU, didn’t need surgery, and recovered with the watchful care of the medical team at Children’s Hospital of Atlanta – Eggleston (and of course the “power juice” they had him hooked up to).
He learned a lot about hospitals (even if he thought it was a hotel), body parts, great doctors and nurses. Mommy and Daddy learnt that children are a gift of God and we were lucky to have the miracle of one we did!
Gathering the Gleanings: Reflections on Life in the Ministry 
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