Total Pageviews

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Steel Magnolias... Oh you bring me to tears.

I watched one of my most beloved movies tonight; Steel Magnolias. Its a 1989 classic that brings Southern Charm into your television. Lots of laughs, hilarious lines, sweet moments, but also tears... If you haven't seen this movie, I will fill you in, in the Reader's Digest version.

Long story short-- A young woman passes away after having a kidney transplant. Most of the movie revolves around her family and friends, all of whom know that her health is very fragile as a diabetic. When she became pregnant with her son, her kidneys went into renal failure and her mom decided to give her one of her kidneys. A few months after the transplant, her body rejects the donated organ and she goes into a coma that she never comes out of.

Watching this movie as a teenager, it made me sad. (duh.) However, watching it now, as a mom..... Its KILLER. I was a blubbery mess the entire portion of the movie when she was sick. I cannot even begin to imagine that kind of pain, nor do I ever care to. Losing a child is something I pray God spares me from. My children as precious to me as the sweet oxygen that keeps my lungs inflated and my body full of life.

When my son, Kyler, was sick with his ITP the first time in 2012... I thought my world was caving in. There aren't words to describe the sheer terror that engulfs your body when you hear words like "internal bleeding, brain hemorrhaging, deadly seizures" and they have to do with your child. My sweet boy was only 20 months old when he was diagnosed with this scary disease. We had to keep our watchful eye on him 24/7. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a 20 month old boy calm?! Its NOT easy. Boys want to be running, jumping, wrestling, playing with tractors, and jumping off of the furniture, not watching movies, coloring, and doing puzzles with their moms all day long. It was so hard to confine him to activities that were safe for him and not being able to explain why.

We would go places and know people were staring at him and his bruises. (They covered his little body like the chicken pox do.) Not their fault, its a very rare disease almost no one has ever heard of. We sure hadn't. Anytime he would get the slightest pressure on his skin -- BOOM. Bruise. No matter where it was. One of the worst things was having to hold him down to get his blood checked every week. After a while, though, he got used to it. He doesn't even cry now! What a trooper. He has always been such a strong boy.

Fast forward to today-- we have a very healthy and happy 3 year old in remission. Thank God! We are thankful for every day that we don't have to be giving him steroids or driving to doctors appointments. (He did have a relapse in Feb. of this year but we tried a new treatment that got his levels back to normal within 3 days!) I treasure my sweet Kyler. Watching this movie tonight just brought up all those old feelings.

If you have been blessed with children, hold them tight. They are the sweetest gift God could ever bless you with.

With love,

-A

No comments:

Post a Comment