Extended Family - Nieces and Nephews

Man, oh man, have I been out of touch lately. It's what easily can happen when you live on the opposite coast as the rest of your family and only chat every once and a while.

Well, a simple phone call today to my parents revealed some very disheartening news about an extended family member - Anna, a little 4-year old girl - who is also the second cousin to Paige and Taylor. My mom informed me that Anna has undergone surgery in her brain to remove a rare malignant cancer/tumor. The good news is that the tumor was successfully removed but the bad news is that due to the nature of this particular form of brain cancer, the doctors are going to recommend radiation treatment as well. Yes, radiation. The risks are substantial - little Anna's doctors have already informed the parents that concentrated forms of radiation, which is what is needed to eradicate the spreading malignancy in Anna's brain, can often lead to blindness, mental impairment and other severe impacts to the brain functioning. The doctors indicated that typically radiation of the brain is avoided at all costs among the young pediatric community because the brain of young children is still developing and growing, however, in Anna's case, there may be no other option if they want to have a fighting chance of saving little Anna's life.

GASP. What a really tough situation. I just can't imagine, as a parent, having to wrestle with such heavy issues - issues of life and death for my child, issues of quality of life - and my heart really goes out to little Anna and her mom and dad. And, while there really isn't much I can say or do, I definitely will be keeping Anna in my prayers and thoughts.

And, now in other family happenings, my brother emailed me some pictures of Paige and Taylor's cousin Brandon after a really bad school playground accident. Evidently, Brandon and another little 1st grader collided in gym class resulting in a split forehead on Brandon. Not just a cut, but an actual split. Poor little guy. He was taken to the emergency room because the cut was so deep on his forehead you could actually see the skull beneath. Trust me on this one, I have the pictures to prove it. I won't be posting the pictures here however because it's just too gross! Anyways, Brandon ended up getting 30 STITCHES in his forehead...fortunately, a plastic surgeon was called in to perform the stitching so there is likely to be no visible scarring.

So, why am I sharing all this with you? Well, I guess, first, because I'm giving myself a little tisk-tisk for not staying in better touch with the family and second, because these couple of happenings have reminded me of how quickly life changes in an instant and to never take things for granted because you just never know what phone call you might get, what email you might get, what news you might get, what doctor report you might receive, or what unforseen event might happen that will rock your entire world...