WORST & BEST DAY OF THE YEAR

Today was my annual worst day of the year. I had 1 of 2 yearly MRI's to check on my tumors. One of the remaining tumors is on the right side of my brain in the inner ear (which is the one that got checked today) and the other is in my neck (MRI for that one is next Tuesday). All this week, I've been a bundle of nerves. I'm a fabulous basket case and while I knew that things could turn out well, I had myself a heck of a time borrowing trouble. The tumor that remains in my head is bigger than the one they removed on the left side and so the chances of losing my hearing on the right side are much higher. Not exactly swell considering that I'm stone deaf on the left side thanks to the surgery I had to remove that one.

I spent the morning keeping myself busy doing dishes, putting away laundry, etc., then picked up the babysitter, took a nice little Valium pill (couldn't survive an MRI without one), and Max and I headed for Imaging and Neuroscience. He dropped me off and I went in to treat myself to disrobing so I could get in a luxurious and most fashionable hospital gown and pants. Then I decided to spend some quality time lying on a lovely little table. They gave me earphones, I asked for "easy listening" music, and then they slid into a tiny tube for my scan. Much to my horror, I found out too late that when someone asks for "easy listening" music, the peeps at I&N interpret that to mean "tacky and tasteless elevator tunes". However, I didn't have to listen to it too much. I was actually grateful to be deaf in the left ear for once and as for the right side, the banging, humming, and tapping of the MRI pretty much drowned the music out. Thanks to the Valium, the 45-50 minutes I was in there flew by fairly quickly. I was totally bummed to get back into my normal clothes and leave the building. Wish I could go there every day.

When I was done, Max came and picked me up and we ran a few errands in the spare time we had before my hearing test and appointment with my ENT. My hearing test went well...according to the results, I scored 3 points higher than last year. But my ENT says that this may or may not be accurate (more likely not) but I'm going to imagine that my right ear has decided to make up for my being deaf on the other side. I can pretend, right? Moving on. I was positively overjoyed, relieved, thrilled, and ready to get up and do a little dance when Dr. S informed me that my tumor has not grown over the past 12 months. I literally threw my hands up in the air in a silent "yes!". When this whole thing started a couple of years ago, my doctor had told me that considering my "youth" and physical health, my tumors would most likely continue to grow. So far, we - my tumor and I - are proving him wrong. And really, it's not me that is proving him wrong. It's a loving Heavenly Father who is allowing me to move forward another year without brain surgery. Without possible complete deafness. A year of living my everyday life as a wife, mother, sister, daughter, and friend. Another year of knowing each and every day that I've been blessed beyond measure.

So, while it was a hard day with a dreaded MRI and waiting on pins and needles for the results, today was - as the same time - the best day of the year.