Completely Normal!!!!

After two weeks of waiting-- Monday was finally MRI day. Jackson was a trooper! Derek and I sat in the waiting room for what felt like an eternity watching an NCIS rerun and playing on our phones-- anything to make the time go by faster! After about an hour, I began to scrutinize every single minute because they said they'd be done by then... but finally we were called back in to see Jackson. As we were preparing to leave, the nurse was telling us to give the doctor's office two days to call us with results. Before we even left the room, I realized I had a voicemail from our doctor's office that said the Jackson's MRI results were completely normal. 

Completely normal. Praise God!!! If my son never gets to be "normal" at anything for the rest of his life, at least his brain images are normal. I'll take it!

As Jackson woke up from his anesthesia, he was pretty loopy (which is the best word I can think of other than the word intoxicated... and that just seems like a weird term to use for a 4 year old). He was eating and drinking, but was having trouble getting his hands to his mouth on the first try. He couldn't hold his head up well, but he didn't want to lay down. He kept talking and talking even though he didn't make sense sometimes. It was humorous. And it was definitely easy to enjoy knowing that a possible brain tumor was now out of the question!

His appointment was at 4:00 on Monday. I spent the afternoon keeping him busy and pre-occupied so he wouldn't focus too much on being hungry. It was a really windy day and it turned out-- he was already so pre-occupied with the wind "messing up his cool hair" that I didn't have to try hard to distract him. He kept his hands on his head all day-- and didn't even take it down to play on the playground. 

It is SUCH a relief to have the MRI done and results. So, where does that leave us now? We are rejoicing in the fact that it been almost two weeks of no-vomiting for Jackson... which is huge coming from a 3-week period of daily vomiting. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of reasons to continue to explore this if he isn't still getting sick, but I've been on the phone with his doctor's office a couple of times this week and we have a follow up appointment on Monday. I want to make we are doing everything in our power to make sure he's still healthy and there isn't anything more for us to be doing, but I have trust in our doctor's judgement so we'll just follow her lead.

Thank you from the very bottom of my heart for all of the love and encouragement! The meals, the cards, the phone calls-- just thank you so much. I am certainly one lucky lady to have such wonderful friends and family to rely on in times of crisis. Mostly, thank you SO much for your prayers. 

During this whole ordeal, an old high school friend of mine has taken me under her wing to check on me almost every day. She's a brain cancer survivor and was full of such great insight and support. Plus, she has a really cool name, Amy Marie. :) Anyway, we were talking the other day about how the role of prayer in situations like these. 

I know that a lot of prayers were prayed on Jackson's behalf. I believe that God hears our prayers, answers our prayers and I whole-heartedly believe that God can and does perform miracles of healing. The fact that Jackson is better and we don't have devastating news upon us is a true blessing from the Lord. The power of prayer is greater than anything we can truly understand. God calls us to pray and to pray without ceasing. But God's will and plan is greater than all else. His plan is divine. As much as I wanted to continually pray, "No tumor please." (and I did pray that prayer a few times)... I know the greatest prayer is in accepting of God's Will and trust in Him. I tried my hardest to pray that prayer for myself and I know many you prayed those prayers on our behalf!

Thank you for those prayers; I know God heard them. They made a HUGE difference in our lives as we waited. But I also don't want to send the message to anyone that we have a healthy boy because we prayed hard enough. Or because so many of you prayed for him too. Over and over again. There wasn't a prayer quota to meet in order for God to spare us the devastation of a brain tumor diagnosis. 

In reality, Jackson doesn't have a brain tumor because God has different plans for Jackson... whatever they may be in the days, weeks, years to come. God has plans for him. As parents, Derek and I take our role seriously to raise him and guide him down the path of God's will. Hopefully, we'll do it right. :)

This post could have ended paragraphs ago with our great news of the MRI results, but I just couldn't waste the opportunity to share even greater news that God has a plan for you too! Ultimately, His desire is for you to love and know Him; to follow and obey His commands. And for those who already have a relationship with Christ, He desperately wants you to trust in His plans for you, your family and for your children, too. It's hard and I'm not perfect at it, but let me know how I can pray for you! We're all stronger as a team! :)

Thanks again for all of the support and encouragement! Love you all!!!