It all started with what we thought was the flu. Aspen had a stomach ache and a fever and walked around bent over like a little old lady. After 4 days, the fever passed, but the stomach cramps continued...she endured much motherly mashing to be sure it wasn't appendicitis. The pain was way up high, and on the left. After a week of this, I really thought it should be gone, so we took her to the doctor who mashed around on her tummy again. He thought perhaps her stomach lining had been irritated by the flu, and started her on Zantac and ordered a bunch of blood work.
He called first thing the next morning to tell us her amylase levels were elevated and that the problem was with her pancreas, she had pancreatitis. Like most parents I would guess, we ran to the internet to look up pancreatitis...it was terrible doom and gloom. We quit looking and began talking. We weren't really worried, we just knew it could get serious down the line.
At what point will we seek treatment? If there is a 50% chance, 75% chance or 85% chance of recovery? At what point do we as parents trump her choices about her own body...if she doesn't want to be treated any longer, do we say, "Sorry, you have to do this?" Ultimately, she is not ours to keep, she is on loan from God and it has been a privilege to be able to guide her journey through life to this point.
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