After the Doctors gave us a green light to travel to Spain we had to make certain arrangements to make all of that happen.
The first issue was that Parker had another MRI scheduled for the 15th of April, right in the middle of the week we were supposed to be gone. We first tried to change the appointment but Dr. Couloigner was very particular about who he would allow to do the MRI and both of the hospitals he would allow (Robert Debre and the American Hospital) could not fit us in before late May.
We then moved to plan B, I would fly back with Parker in the morning, go to the MRI as scheduled, and then fly back that evening. I found some relatively inexpensive flights and was in the process of verifying schedules and feasibility but on Wednesday night we came to the conclusion that to force Parker to spend an entire day travelling was not going to be therapeutic for anyone.
At that point we questioned whether or not it really made sense to travel at all. We were feeling like the girls really needed us to just be with them for a while but we were feeling reckless for jeapardizing Parker's progress.
After some prayers for guidance, we decided to revert to plan A and try again to reschedule. This time we asked for help. As all of our five children were born at the American Hospital and our pediatrician Dr. Robin practices there as well, we thought this was our most promising avenue. Dr Robin has been very concerned through the entire process and has called us regularly. I am not sure how many pediatricians give their cell phone numbers and personal e-mail addresses to patients but he had given us these even before the meningitis struck.
I left a message with him Thursday morning just before lunch and he called back within 15 minutes and put me on the line with the nurse who assists with the MRI's. She asked what dates would work for us and called me back ten minutes later saying we could come the next day in the afternoon.
With the MRI taken care of, we had to determine what to do with the girls while PJ went to the hospital. Sarah is slated to go to her sister's wedding in Arizona that week, and the girls have no school which meant we would need someone pretty much full time. Katy, My older brother Michael's wife, had offered to come over on several different occasions and one of those was the night before we had the date for the surgery fixed. I called her on the way home from work and four hours later she had found a flight using miles. Katy has four boys but we have faith that she will adjust.
So here we are on this Easter Sunday, looking at a brilliant blue Mediterranean sky and feeling a sense of the renewal of the Atonement.
About mid-week we started having some inklings of defeatism. Everything seemed too hard again as we wondered if we should just give up on any plans and recluse ourselves to waiting out this next stage of the process in bunker mentality. This certainly seemed the easiest solution, or at worst the solution with the least effort required. As persistent as that thought was, I really felt that we needed a time of happiness together before we committed ourselves to the different surgeries over the next few months and pushed through to find a way to accomplish that. Despair is a very real concern- not that we are visited often by it but it can attack aggressively, in a period when you don't expect it, and if left unchecked can quickly spiral into darkness. Despair is the meningitis of spiritual and emotional well-being. We are starting to recognize its symptoms more readily and finding the force to combat it aggressively.
For the first time in eight weeks the entire family attended church together. There is a small English-speaking branch of our church near Malaga, made up principally of retired British nationals and tourists. It was the one Sunday a month where people are asked to go to the pulpit to share their own feelings, thoughts and testimonies about the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we were relatively secure in our anonymity in the congregation, Renee and I both felt compelled to express our feeling of gratitude for the power of God and the Eternal nature of the family and the atonement of the Savior.
The older girls are also showing a lot of spiritual growth. Abby and Hannah's prayers depart from the standard list of family members and focus on specifics; reduced liquid on the brain, that Parker can go on vacation, that he can feel better. Today, Hannah even took the pulpit and in a calm, clear, strong voice that belies her normally timid nature and simply stated "I am thankful for my family, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
The girls are also very keen on the Easter season, and focused on the Savior. This morning we hid the traditional Easter baskets and though the girls were excited, Abby asked astutely, "what does the Easter Bunny have to do with Jesus?" On Friday Abby and I talked for a while about how the Friday before Easter is the day Jesus died on the cross, she completed the story of the tomb, and the resurrection. We talked about how Jesus kept his scars so that he would remember us and we would recognize him. We talked about all the scars that I have, that Parker has, and how one day they would all go away and we would be perfected.
