The Day I Met My Angel

Today started like a typical day, but quickly took a turn that I never could have imagined. I was outside cutting the grass when my watch notified me of a meeting I had - one that was not on my usual calendar so had completely slipped my mind. It is a meeting to help plan an event for another organization, an event I cannot even attend. But when I commit to do something I am not going to just blow it off.

So, I get into this meeting with a group of people from the organization hosting the event and people living where it will happen. It is near where I used to live and do volunteer work in rare disease so I was included for my perspective. Before the meeting started a doctor on the meeting called me out by name thanking me for the work I do in adrenal insufficiency. He said someone he knew had adrenal insufficiency and he is grateful for all I do for that community.

As the rest of the meeting started my mind wandered back to nearly 10 years ago at the time of my son's diagnosis. If you look back at the blog post on my son's diagnosis you would see htis paragraph....

"There will be some who read this that do not share my faith, and I respect you, but please respect mine - with this story especially. When he was admitted the attending doctor was clearly placed there by God. This doctor was only there for the first couple hours of our 4 day stay, but what he did and how he helped me, as a scared mom will never be forgotten. As the nurses were getting our son comfortable the doctor spoke with me. He explained that the labs were concerning and were leading them in the direction of looking at a specific endocrine disorder called Addison's Disease and that more testing was needed to confirm this. The testing would be done the next day. He then went on to tell me that it is uncommon, but his wife had it and that she lives a normal and complete life as an adult. And at that moment, I felt a sense of peace for the first time in probably weeks for his future. I had gone from thinking his life could be destroyed by anxiety or that could lead to other more severe mental health issues, to being so terrified of that CT scan, to being unsure of what to even be afraid of and just wanting answers. This man gave me a glimpse of hope for my son, for his future..."

Could it be? He was a doctor at the same hospital system, involved in pediatrics. He looked about the right age - I knew he had been a younger doctor and he still looked like a young doctor to me!!

I took a chance and emailed him asking if he worked there in 2015 and could have been the one who came into my son's room and explained what they were testing him for. Within minutes I had an email said if your son's name is ***** with the same last name as yours - I was there that night with you guys, it was me. He looked up his clinic notes from 12/14/15 and found my son. When I read his message tears welled up in my eyes and he tapped his heart on the video meeting letting me know he was the one.

I shared this story as our call was coming to a close and I do not think there was a dry eye.

This is why we tell our story. This man, a doctor nonetheless took the time to ease a terrified mom's heart on one of the scariest days of my life. I have now met him virtually, I have thanked him and he knows the vital role he played for me that day. Without him I do not know that I would be doing what I am doing now. He taught me the importance of support, comapssion and caring for another in their darkest hour.

Crazy that the call started off with him thanking me....