Coordination...

When your child's primary doctor gives you a special number for appointments, etc., you really have to ask yourself, "Is my kid REALLY that sick?"

What I've discovered is that your kid does not have to be "that sick" but only has to have the potential to be that sick. As I reflect this week on John Travolta's loss (I realize that sounds silly, I do not know him or his child), I think about the terrible sadness he is going through. He probably had a special number for his son too, since the child had a chronic illness.

Jett Travolta had Kawasaki disease and that led to his death. As people speculate about whether John Travolta held his son as the child died, or did he give CPR until the paramedics arrived or was it his fault that the child died because of Scientology, none of that changes the fact that this man is grieving over a terrible loss. I can not imagine how he feels and it brings to mind worries over my own son.

He looks healthy, he plays, he attends school regularly. He has the occasional colds and bumps and scrapes from rough housing. He is, for the most part, a typical boy...but so was Jett Travolta. How a kid can look "normal" and happy and have something inside him that can kill is amazing.

This also brings to mind my friend's child. He looks normal and healthy too, but also survived 7 brain operations. You would never know unless you shaved the boy's head.

Which brings me to the issue of coordination. To say it is over whelming to coordinate medical appointments, school, fun family time and sanity time for myself is an under statement. Even with the medical problems you can not forget this is a child with the same desires for play and fun as any other child. It is a challenge in organization to say the least.

So as I prepare my son for various medical tests, I can only hope and pray that his problems will be healed and he will go on to have a happy, long life. People with healthy children have no clue the emotional rollercoaster we ride working to keep our children healthy.