And now, today has been met with mixed emotions. Relaxation (it's Sunday after all), fear, some tears, deep love, and more prayer. We are entering another "season". It isn't the one that I expected and I have to admit, it's a bit scary. And yet I find myself thinking about faith and small blessings. I find myself hoping that this season is short and that whatever storms will be coming as part of it will be minimal.
Earlier this week, BJ finished volleyball and was regretting not playing Spring football. He decided to call his coach and see if he could play for the remainder of the season and was disappointed when the coach told him that the season was actually coming to a close and he wouldn't be able to play.
The next morning, Coach Dan called back to say that after thinking about BJ's call and calling the league, he had found a team that was in need of some additional players to finish out the season. We immediately answered yes. A practice and a half later, BJ had his first game on Saturday. Neither Ben nor I could attend because we were coaching our volleyball team at the AAU Super Regionals. In between games, Ben picked him up and when he walked in to the gym, he was limping. One look at his knee, and you could tell that there was something wrong.
Football can be rather brutal. I've watched him get sacked by boys twice his size and bounce back up. I've watched him hit others at a full run and knock them over. He loves it & I tolerate it because he loves it. Such is the plight of a mother of boys... :)
Turns out, he took a helmet to the side of his knee...in the 1st quarter of the game. And, to his credit, he continued to play another 30 plus minutes on both sides of the ball on this knee. I'm watching him sleep now -- leg up on pillows and an ice pack -- and I can't even imagine the adrenaline a person would need to keep playing on it. The one thing he wanted me to tell Coach Dan last night..."I didn't quit".
We won't know the full extent of the injury until we see the orthopedist tomorrow. There's a little spot on the film that looks wonky, but there's no fracture in the knee itself (which is good news). There is a possibility that his MCL (the tendon that runs from femur to tibia and keeps things together) tore and in that process broke off a little piece of bone. But the season I am talking about is actually not the recovery time it will take for him to be back on the field.
Friends, we need your prayers. Your positive energy. Your good thoughts.
The X-ray revealed more than just the knee injury. It also revealed a tumor in his right Tibia -- about the size of golf ball.
The word tumor has been turned over and over and over in our heads today and throughout the night. This afternoon I held our beautiful 14 year old son as he cried, scared of what the possible outcomes might be and trying to take comfort in the hope for a positive one. This season has the potential to be ugly, filled with rain and snow and hail and trying winds. And yet, it could be a benign tumor. It's not necessarily cancerous and I keep reminding myself of that. We do know two things -- it's not a cyst and we need to have an orthopedist look at it. As I explained to BJ today that we "shouldn't borrow trouble", I found myself wishing I was as wise as the words coming out of my mouth to reassure him.
As I sit in the sunlight of my bedroom thinking about God's goodness, I am going to beat back fear and anxiety. I am going to pray for wise doctors, offer thanks for modern technology, and marvel in the beauty of this season, even if I find it hard to find.
