Thank you to the tax payer

As we sat in the waiting room of the University MRI awaiting our fate.  Nerves fluttered but only briefly.  Accross the room a Fijian couple sat with their young boy who aparently had hydrocephalus, they were first for the day and late at that.  "Couldn't find a place to park,"  he said.  Strange, I thought, being their apointment was 7:15 am, so early in the day.  But we're used to waiting and we soon made friends with them quickly confirming my belief that Fijian's are by far the friendliest people in the world.  They openly shared their gratitude at getting a last minute appointment due to a cancelation and were handed a bill on their way out.  I asked if I could have a look.  $2 750 I was speechless.  I wanted to ask if they had enough money to pay for it, how could they pay for it?  But I just grimaced and shook my head as she smiled and walked out.  I have lost count of Elijah's MRI's, CT scans, you know, not to mention the 38hours of brain sergery and everything else and not one cent we've had to pay for.  It's just not right.  I feel a humbling sense of gratitude when I think about where we'd be if people didn't pay their taxes.  I often think about people who feel like they aren't contributing to our situation or they ask us if there's anything they can do, just pay your taxes I should say to them.  That is more than you could imagine.   

Next in line after us was a 6 year old boy with his mum.  We briefly share stories of why we're here and then wonder why we had to satisfy our curiosity only to find out another sad story.  Two children with Autism, the second with possible other brain problems,  like one wasn't enough.  

Anyway, once the MRI (45 minutes under anaesthetic) was done, Elijah slept while we took him up to level 7 in Starship, the Oncology (cancer) ward.  We were given a bed in 'day stay' where he slept and woke up with a smile for dad.  We fed him without any vomits or anything, a great recovery for Elijah, we were stoked and relieved and then the waiting begun....

To cut a long story short the waiting still continues as a series of unfortunate events unfolded from Wednesday onwards.  First the report from the radiologists took days rather than hours and then after having to go back to Starship on Thursday to get Elijah's shunt dial adjusted (after it got moved with the MRI) I decided to stay on in Auckland at Mum's while Steve drove to Whakatane to spend some time with his dad.  By this time my phone had gone flat and they were unable to reach Steve on his phone and since the Oncologist doesn't work on the weekends we are holding out for Monday for the formal report.

When I was in Starship on Thursday I spoke to Simon the surgeon who had had a look at the scans and I'm pretty sure he said "It looks like the tumour hasn't grown back like it did the other times but you'll have to wait for the radiology report."  This could be interpreted different ways but either way it's in the good news category!  I guess I'm still in a bit of disbelief untill I get that confirmation.

Well, that's all from me for now.  Since I'm at mum's I don't have any photos to pass on, sorry about that.  I know he is the cutest baby in the world and lights up your life when you see that smile but you'll just have to wait till I get home.  Elijah has had a great day, just by the way, a great great day.  Pretty grumpy before that with his yo-yo sodiums but I think he has come right for the moment.    

Thank the Lord.