About 3 years ago my daughter, Kwan-Yin became a part of our family. She spent the first year of her life in an orphanage in SW China. The mortality rate there is estimated at 60%. She is a tough kid and she is wonderful. Bright, happy and full of good will toward anyone she meets. Last month, during a routine exam to remove her adnoids (sleep apnia) the doctors decided to do an MRI and they found something that was not supposed to be there. The MRI was inconclusive but the doctor thought it was likely a tumor. If not a tumor then it was likely a vascular malformation.
So we found this out right before our family vacation to the Grand Teton Natl Park. The doctor tells us "its serious, but not an emergency". We were unable to arrange the follow up test for a couple of weeks. The thought of hanging around worrying about what might be did not appeal to my wife or me - so we were off to the Tetons.
We had a great time. The weather was perfect - a liitle smokey in the park. They said there were five fires burning in wildrerness areas. We Yellowstoned for a day but spent most of our time hiking around Jackson lake and painting rocks with the water color paints we brought along. I was truely gratful for the distraction. Kwan had a great time. We brought one of those portable DVD players for the car but she only used it a couple of times. We talked, played games and spent every moment we could together. I'm reminded of the line from that Tom Waits song:
"I was tryin' to make it last,
Squeezin' every bit of life
Out of a lousy 3 day pass."
We had to break off early because my wife's aunt passed away (August was a rough month for us). I took my wife and Kwan to Denver for a flight home then made my way across Kansas as fast as I could to St Louis. The test was just a few days after the funeral.
As I was signing the Permission To Treat paperwork the doctor performing the test again indicated that we were likely looking at a tumor. The question now was how serious of a tumor would it be, malignant, benign and a host of other horrifying questions. We went in with Kwan to help get her to sleep for the test, kissed her good night and stepped out to wait.
About an hour later they came out and said it was good news: Kwan has a rare venious malformation inside her brain. The doctor told us there was no danger at this time but we would have to keep an eye on it probably the rest of her life due to the location. Venious malformations are rarely complicated. The test showed the blood was flowing freely thought the malformation.
We recieved this news on the Friday of the holiday weekend. I remeber the doctor said, "Go home and have a great weekend" and I had no idea what he was saying. I did not know it was a holiday until the next day.
I feel like I aged 5 years last month. Kwan, who is four and a half, heard me say that and said, "Yeah, I feel like I'm five and a half".