Let's not think about that right now

We have the sweat test scheduled for Monday and the EGD for Friday at the children's hospital. I'm heading to the clinic near us now to get the prescription for reflux medicine filled, and to pick up the equipment I need for taking stool samples.

I found out some family history I hadn't known before last week.

#############

For instance, I didn't know that one of my mom's aunts nearly died from allergic reactions to seafood, and that another has severe food allergies also. I did know that cancer, kidney failure and other serious health issues run rampant in the family.

I knew that both of my dad's parents died younger than we had expected they would--Grandpa of intestinal lymphoma and Grandma of an unknown cause, having been active and fairly healthy until moments before.

I knew that my grandfather (my mother's step-father; not related to us) lost his wife, twin daughters and one of his two grandsons to early-onset Alzheimer's in their 20s or 30s.

I did know that my grandmother on my mom's side had only one surviving child out of 3--one stillborn, one who lived only a few days or weeks, and my mother, who was very premature but survived against the odds. I knew she was given DES while pregnant with my mom.

But I didn't know that grandma thinks her son had cystic fibrosis, if she remembers right.

That's one of the many things they're testing Baby E for. Apparently some of the symptoms she has could point in that direction, although it's not very likely that she actually has it.

I decided after researching cystic fibrosis a bit that I'm not going to allow myself to think about or research the various things they're testing for until something comes back positive. There's no point in stressing about something that's most likely never going to be an issue.

My SIL's sister's son has CF. I understand better now what they're going through. I don't know how they do it, but I'll be praying for them a lot more now that I've read up a bit on the disease.

I'm still not feeling well, but am somewhat functional. Strapping the kids into car seats and taking them for a drive is a comparatively low-energy way to keep them occupied for the afternoon. At least it's better than watching videos and playing computer games, as I've been letting them do for much of the morning.

My Sis J had 15 vials of blood drawn last week, and they're going to be doing more testing to try to figure out what's wrong with her. Some of the possibilities they think likely are not pretty to contemplate.

Little Sister Sparrow is still not feeling well much of the time, too.

My mom is slowly gaining strength, but still sick and weak after her bout with the virus or whatever it was this past week. Thankfully she's been able to keep her anti-rejection drugs down.

I hate that our family has so many health issues. It makes me want to scream.

Sometimes I find myself asking God why life is so often difficult. Then I remind myself that He didn't promise us an easy life . . . just to walk beside us in it.

At least we have something better to look forward to.