This is a very personal post and it doesn’t really have anything to do with miles and points. But then again, it has everything to do with miles and points.
The stress is off now because everything turned out OK, but that wasn’t the case just a few days ago. Last month, I took my son for a regular annual check-up. He seems perfectly healthy and I didn’t expect any issues. Well, when they did his urine test (I know, TMI), they found some protein in it. It indicates potential liver problems.
The doctor said maybe it was a fluke and asked me to re-test him in a few days. No big deal. Well, we went back to the office and protein level actually went up. I could tell the doctor was a bit freaked out, which in turn freaked me out.
Now we had to go do a blood test and my son cried the entire time. It was this pathetic cry that totally breaks your heart. I looked up info online (never do that!) and read that if blood test looks suspicios, the next step is taking a sample of the liver. What? Thankfully, the results didn’t indicate any serious problems. We still have to take him back a few times to make sure everything is really fine but for now, it appears that we can breathe a sigh of relief.
This episode brought back all the emotions dating back to my pregnancy. Needless to say, it was a rollercoaster from the start. At twelve weeks we heard the heartbeat and thought that we could finally relax. Nope. Just two days later I thought for sure I was having a miscarriage. Somehow I made it to 35 weeks and my son had to go to NICU. You know those smiling women who get wheeled out from the hospital while holding their newborn baby? I wasn’t one of them. I remember just sobbing the entire way to the car with everybody staring at me. Well, I’ve always been a drama queen.
The hospital is located 1 hour away from our house, and we had to make a daily drive to see the baby for few hours while I was recovering from c-section. Did I mention that I also had a toddler back at home? But at the time, I just had to focus on getting him to the point of being healthy enough to go home. My son was stuck in his incubator, yellow from jaundice, hooked up to monitors and tubes. And we were actually the lucky ones. Some of the babies in that NICU unit never made it home.
The truth is, parenthood is exhausting. You never really stop worrying, do you? Still, this whole thing reminded me how grateful I should be to have two relatively healthy children. One day you wonder if you should make a speculative transfer to Southwest, and then something like this hits you like a ton of bricks. Miles, points and travel in general, are gravy when your kids are healthy. It’s something I know I take for granted sometimes.
Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
I’ve noticed something in the business/corporate/marketing world I work in. We are always looking forward to some product launch, meeting, or test results. Always looking forward to some point on the calendar, or time in the day for that presentation. Deadlines, etc. It’s hard to live in the now sometimes and it feels like time just goes so fast.
This hobby does that to you, makes you look forward constantly. Always looking forward for points to post, credit cards to arrive, a trip we planned.
Sometimes we just need to sit back and live in the now with the people that matter most. Never know how long or in what condition you will have loved ones. I think travel experiences are a huge way to connect with and grow with the people you love. Our trip to Mexico was such a wonderful time for my relationship with my kids, especially after living in another state for 5+ months. But I think for this year we’ll slow things down a bit and live in the now. Sit around, play board games, video games, play with play-doh, draw pictures.
I’ll take my kids and loved ones, however I can get them, healthy or not. But here’s to hoping they stay as healthy as possible! And living in the now.
@Cheapblackdad I absolutely love your comment and agree wholeheartedly. I might do a post on this topic sometime and include your comment if you don’t mind.
I was thinking the same thing, I’m always planning ahead, always hustling to get more points. It’s important to just slow down and enjoy the moment. Who cares if you end up being in a Holiday Inn Express 1 hour away from your home for your main vacation? I’m so happy you finally reunited with your family. Being 5 months away from them must have been tough. With your new house expense, it makes perfect sense to take it easy for 1 year.
Slowing down sounds nice, though I’m not very good at it! Something I need to work on, I guess. I’m very restless by nature and travel is my outlet.
Glad things appear to be OK.
@Russ Thanks! I wasn’t sure if I should share this experience. I mean, people have enough of their own problems to deal with. But I do think it’s important for all of us to stop and ponder on all the blessings we get to enjoy. This hobby tends to bring out a lot of negativity in folks (guilty!), and sometimes people forget to see the forest for the trees.
Scary! I’m glad it sounds like it won’t be too serious. Without our health, nothing else matters. I take it for granted all the time until we have something come up.
@Nancy Everything is scary when it comes to kids, right? I just worry about every little thing. Then of course, there is guilt. Am I paying enough attention, am I raising them to be decent human beings? And the list goes on…
So glad everything is okay.
I just had to remind myself of how lucky I am and keep myself from whining about all the medical things I have to keep track of for my daughter this morning.
HML, thank you so much! We are still not 100% certain that everything is OK, but at least there doesn’t appear to be a serious problem, otherwise blood test would pick it up. This blog has been a blessing of sorts because it kept my mind off this whole thing while we were waiting for results.
I’m so sorry your daughter is having medical problems. When your kids are sick, it’s the WORST feeling, especially when there is nothing you can do. I hope she gets better soon.