What is happening to 2007?

I just realized that as of midnight tonight 2007 is half over! Seems like we just had Christmas and already we are closer to next Christmas than we are to last. I guess it's true what they say about time going faster the older you get.

It's been an interesting six months for our little family. We made some changes and improvements to our home that required a steady stream of contractors in and out for about 3 months. I think we are finally finished with all of that (knock on wood). The last repair was done last week and I think we are ready to spend the second half of the year enjoying the fruit of our labors -- well, OK I guess it was mostly other's labors but we did have to write the checks.

And while having several home improvement projects going at once was total chaos, the stress of that was nothing compared to this year's other bump in the road: our little A.J.'s health problem. Most of you know all about it so I don't want to spend too much time on the details here but on July 13, A.J. will have surgery to remove a schwannoma, or benign growth, from his facial nerve.

This is something we've pretty much been dealing with since the first of the year. If I counted right, A.J. has seen 10 different doctors this year, and 8 alone just for this issue. (And that doesn't count all the residents we saw before we saw the doctor we actually had an appointment with.)

We were told at first that it wasn't a big deal, probably just a virus that was causing the facial weakness and that it would go away. I believed that for about 6 weeks, but then when it got worse again around his birthday, the neurologist ordered an MRI. That's when we found out about the growth. Then it seemed like every doctor's appointment we went to, the news kept getting worse and worse. First is was finding out the growth had caused hearing loss in his left ear. Then we found out that his face will never completely get better and that his hearing is as good as it will ever be. And then there was the news that he might have an incurable genetic disorder that causes these growths.

But the hardest thing was finding out how invasive the surgery was going to be. Knowing that two surgeons were going to cut into A.J.'s skull and move his brain out of the way and maybe his middle ear too was just a little too much for me. I cried whenever I thought about it, let alone talked about it. How could this be happening to our little boy? How could his little left dimple be gone forever? And what would happen to him when he gets to Jr. High and all the kids made fun of his crooked smile?

But then the miracle happened. It wasn't the miracle that everyone was praying for, but to me it was a miracle none the less and one that I really needed: Peace. And it seemed to come all at once. Suddenly, my ability to cope and my resolve to get through this increased and I just knew that whatever happened, everything was going to be all right. And I came to realize too that we were lucky to catch this now while he is so young.

Now I know there are hard days ahead. I know when they wheel A.J. off to surgery I will be a basket case. And I know when he comes out of surgery and he's in the PICU with all those tubes and machines, it will be difficult. And then we still needs to meet with a geneticist to find out if he has the genetic disorder and I've heard that can be very nerve wrecking.

But I also know that the prayers of many are going with us to the hospital. We've been touched by the outpouring we've felt from our family, friends and ward members. A.J. has been asking a lot about it lately and getting more and more scared and I keep telling him that everything is going to be all right because so many people are praying for him.

So I guess I do know what has happened to the first half of 2007. I spent a quarter of it at the doctors office, a quarter of it dealing with contractors and half of it rubber stamping.