12 teeth in, a visit to the ER and the nicest man in the world.

Leni officially now has 12 teeth IN. It is so crazy....but not as crazy as Labor Day visit to the ER. We all woke up Monday morning happy as clams to have the extra day off. We were planning to go to a BBQ at Nicole and Jason's when Leni starting acting super tired and began to feel feverish. I took his temp and figured it was from teething. We got to Nicole and Jason's and I continued to take his temp fairly often and it read 102 degrees. That is when I had Levi get me the phone so I could call the advice nurse. We ended up at the ER, and at that point his temp had jumped to 104.3. They were all really concerned and ended up having to take two vials of blood, a urine sample and chest x-rays. They had to wrap him all up with just his arm out to take the blood out of his little arm, and then used a catheter to get a urine sample. The tests all came back negative (thank goodness) and we still don't know what caused the temp to go so high. It was the saddest thing I had ever seen. He was laying on me during the entire ordeal and moaning and attempting to sleep. He did a great job and all the nurses and doctors were really supportive and kind to both him and us.

Across the hall from us in the ER was a 70 year old man. He started talking to me and asked what was wrong with Leni. I proceeded to explain the situation and he told me that he had been in the ER the last 5 days out of 12 due to complications with his radiation treatments for lung cancer. He talked about being 'ready to go' and hating that he had to keep going through all this. As we were in the process of getting released, one of the nurses came up to us and said, "I have strict instructions to give this to you, and he won't take no for answer, here.." and handed us a five dollar bill and pointed to the man across the hall. He told us, "I know he is turning a year old soon and I know it isn't much, but we all have to start somewhere. All I ask is that every year you double that amount and start saving for him." At this point I was crying and I just kept thanking him over and over again. He smiled and seemed so pleased to be able to do it. When we were walking out, the nurse said, "Poor guy, he is dying of cancer." Although I knew this, I still was in awe of the whole situation and his complete kindness and generosity. I felt like he was an angel that my mom sent to let us know that every thing was going to be all right. I said a silent prayer under my breath when we were walking out of the hospital for him to be able to go soon in peace, so that he can get his wish and move on.

Fast forward to today and I am still crying over that random act of kindness that we recieved. I have been thinking about that man all week and hope that things have gone the way he wanted them to. Leni has been throwing up off and on for the last three days, but his fever went down to normal by the next morning. Seeing your own child sick and not being about to save them from any of the pain is so unbelievably difficult. It put so many things into perspective and I am so thankful that he is okay. Life just blows my mind so often. Sometimes, when you are in the thick of day-to-day life you forget how special random acts of kindness are. You forget to give them and you forget to take the time to notice them. I learned so many things during that ER visit. I am not happy that it happened, but I am thankful that I was able to really connect to all the things that were going on around me and take the time to appreciate the kindness of a stranger.