January is EA/TEF Awareness Month. If you have no idea what EA/TEF is, don't feel bad. I didn't have a clue it existed until 11:00 AM (Mountain Time) on May 23, 1982. I was impeccably dressed in a fetching hospital gown when a nurse wheeled me from my room to the nurses' station to take a phone call. Back in the olden days, cell phones hadn't been invented yet, and small hospitals … [Read more...]
God Is Enough
This week I'm visiting the vast, remote South Dakota country where we lived when our son was born. I'm driving on roads that look like they stretch out forever over miles and miles of short grass prairie in a county with more pronghorn antelope than people per square mile. Each day, I fight an irrational urge to travel the long miles between the tiny town of Camp Crook, where I am staying, and … [Read more...]
Because of C. Everett Koop
My day came to a halt this past Monday morning when the radio host announced the death of Dr. C. Everett Koop at the age of 96. I nodded as the accomplishments of his life in politics were listed: Surgeon General under Ronald Reagan, evangelical Christian and early champion of the pro-life movement, promoter of AIDS education and prevention, crusader of tobacco health warnings, and defender of the … [Read more...]
Alphabet Soup Is Hard to Swallow
Alphabet soup isn't hard to swallow. Not for most people anyway. But when a pediatrician says your newborn baby has esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF), the diagnosis is a hard one for parents to digest. And for the baby with this condition, soup–or any kind of food–can be deadly. Alphabet Soup: EA/TEF Style My husband and I learned of our son's diagnosis about seven hours … [Read more...]