"T"ouching Moment

I hope this doesn't embarrass my dad since I know he is one of the 7 loyal readers of this blog, but I wanted to share a touching moment I had with him today.

Last October I woke up one morning with a strange numbness only in the right side my face. Throughout the day it began to spread into my right shoulder and arm. I was able to see a doctor the next day, and he diagnosed me with something that allowed for the right medicines to be given that made it subside a ton. Any further symptoms were only supposed to last for three months. Well unfortunately, nine months later I was left with still a mostly constant slight numbness in the right side of my face. It doesn't hurt, and it isn't visible, but I just kind of figured most normal people don't feel a continual numbness on a side of their face.

I was able to see a more specialized doctor this past week, and my dad was in the room with me when the doctor listened to my symptoms I had initially 9 months ago, as we watched her face get a little confused as she explained it could not have been what my general practitioner had diagnosed me with, and then as we calmly digested the words she began throwing out as options, the most scary one being Multiple Sclerosis.

This morning I was able to have an MRI, which would tell us a lot. It was 45 minutes of being as still as possible, while at one point trying to fight off an immediate feeling of nausea when they injected me with this stuff. I have to say it is a little difficult being completely still while only having three inches of moving room on each side of you anyway, listening to loud hammer type noises and trying to not throw up at the same time. Needless to say, I was so grateful when the feeling passed.

I didn't think I would get the results from the test until tomorrow, but I got a call from my doctor late this afternoon, and the MRI looked great. Nothing was there, so for now I just need to pay attention to if the numbness gets worse and have it rechecked out in a year if not.

So to the main point of this entry. When I told my dad the news, he at first listened, was excited and then went back to what he was doing. A couple of minutes later, though, he came into the kitchen where I was and just gave me a huge hug and didn't want to let go. He had been so worried about me for the past 24 hours, that he hadn't really been himself. I had no idea it was because of the doctor's appointment and MRI. You always know your parents love you and care for you, but I love how the Lord gives us special moments like this to get to hold onto as a tangible reminder of those truths.