I see that it has been over six weeks since I’ve updated this blog. Actually 45 days. There have been many days when I thought that I had to get on here and write everything that has been happening in our lives as a family, and in my life in particular, but there honestly never seemed to be time. There actually doesn’t seem to be time now, but it’s high time I let those of you who have been praying for our family have at least a little glimpse into our lives, and to give grateful praise for the promises that will never fail us. (The rest of you can listen in.) Because of the length of it, I’m going to write it in segments.
After writing that last blog, Deborah developed an infection on one side that has continued to give her trouble. For awhile, it looked like it was going to clear up with antibiotics and extra care. We were even given permission to take her to Ohio for the Yutzy reunion over the weekend of July 31st. Deborah was especially wanting to go because it was the weekend that we were also having her Aunt Lena’s memorial service. It was a lovely time! Deborah traveled out late and came back early and even though it was a stretch for her, she did well! She came back feeling pretty well, and when she saw the doctor that week, she was given permission to take her own showers and comb her own hair! We thought we were on a good track towards recovery. We were wrong.
Every time it looked like things were finally settling down, about the time that she finished a course of antibiotics, and we got hopeful, the next thing you know, here would come the swelling, increased pain, lots of drainage and the incision would start macerating and the stitches would come loose, creating more and more anxiety with each day. Last week her surgeon decided that more surgery was in order, and plans are for her to go back in and have that done this week on Friday, August 26th
Looking back, it would seem that we had enough to think about without adding a single thing to our emotional plates. Our daughter in law, Jessica, dealt with a major flare-up of her stomach disorder shortly before Deborah’s surgery, and that was on our minds as well, and even though it seemed like it was beginning to settle down, there was the ongoing concern for the residual pain left from the earlier damage. Into the middle of this, another issue raised its ugly head.
Our Ohio granddaughter, Ellie, had been dealing with sudden pain in her right leg for some time. She would suddenly stop almost mid-step and cry out and then sob while someone rubbed it for a bit, and then she would go back to being herself. She often walked with a limp, though, and even though it had been checked repeatedly, it was not thought to be anything serious. The hard part was that it would seem to disappear for a time, and then come back for a spell, and then quiet down again. This spring, it came back and seemed to intensify. There were numerous tests done, and it was decided that the lump that had been deemed a cyst needed to be checked out more thoroughly since it seemed that the pain was originating from that cyst. It was so small that the surgeon said that it would be just as invasive to do a biopsy as it would be to remove it and so he did just that. Following the surgery he said that it was a lipoma – nothing to worry about, they would send it to the lab, but he was sure that it was just a lipoma. The aftermath of that surgery was difficult. Ellie was in a lot of pain, and she couldn’t sleep. There was an exhausted, miserable little girl, and equally exhausted parents. A few days later the hospital called and said that they were unable to identify the lump, that they were going to send it to the Mayo Clinic to have it analyzed. They reassured Raph and Regina that they felt it was benign.
That weekend, the three grandsons came to Delaware for a week. What a week it was! This Grammy didn’t know if she was going or coming! Deborah, usually my right hand person when it comes to doing things with the grandsons, was not only incapacitated, she needed my help! Charis had just spent a week with Bontrager cousins and was rather peopled out, and it wasn’t feasible to have Christina help if Charis wasn’t here. There were various activities planned for the week for which Charis joined me and the boys, but Daniel was working and it was a very full week at First State Inspections so he was gone a LOT! Oh, we did things, alright:
I took them swimming in a neighbors beautiful inground pool. Twice or three times.
I took them to the Rehoboth Children’s Theater production of “Puss in Boots.” They were unimpressed. I loved it.
I took them to Bob Evans for lunch. They were keyed up. And I’m not used to the dinner topics of a girl and three boys ages 10. 11. 12 & 13. The Restaurant was short handed, and the wait did not wear well on the restless natives.
I took them to Chuckie Cheeses. They liked it. I didn’t. At least not much.
And then on Thursday, Certain Man took off work and took the three boys and me to Sight and Sound to see “David” and it was a grand time. On the way home, CM stopped and the boys and he played a couple of rounds of miniature golf (and I might have sat in the car with the A/C on and slept).
Friday was a bit of a catch up day for me. The rest of the family was coming in for the weekend and there was food to prepare and stuff to catch up, so I didn’t plan anything major for the boys. So they ran the golf cart and were on the computers and did young men kinds of things until their Uncle Rob and Auntie Rachel came and took over the entertaining until I got supper on.
Somewhere through that afternoon, we had a text from Raph:
“Is there anyway that we can get everyone together tonight? We have something we want to discuss with the family.”
And thus began another saga in the life of our family. Our four-year-old granddaughter, Elise Evelyn, had received a diagnosis on the “cyst, tumor, lipoma, benign (but unknown)” area in her right leg that had been excised the week before.
It was a Synovial Sarcoma.
Delaware Grammy 
Oh Lord, hear…. Oh Lord, hearken and do.