My gorgeous daughter

The first time my Grandma Thompson saw Joan, her comment was, "she had to have been born with a smile", and she seriously was. I wasn't draped, the doctor caught her, held her up, she looked at me and grinned. I swear! She and I were so close it was almost freaky. Don't get me wrong, I love my other daughter, Misty just as much.

Joan has always said that she loves her dad and I the last number times the last number, and she does. Joan was a very healthy baby, but around age 5 she started having some major issues. First was her kidneys. She had severe infection, and at the age of 7 we came very close to losing her because of it. Our pediatrician told us he had never seen a child come in the hospital so sick and survive. We fought this until she was 11, and then she only had a couple episodes after that.

When she was in high school she started getting so sick off and on, with some very serious illnesses. Lots of tests, a surgery, and hospitalizations, but never anything definite. It was so frustrating, and very scary. I still think that she had contracted Lyme disease.



Joan is the single mom to three beautiful, wonderful children. She has never had a bit of support from any of the "dads". She works like crazy. She is the best friend anyone could ever ask for and maintains her friendships forever. She is an aunt to two terrific kids, but I know they both think of her as their second mom. She is there for everyone, 100% of the time. She has a homeless man in town that she always gives her cans and bottles to, and has given him clothes after our flood this past summer. She has always had more kids than her own at her home. We always say that she attracts anyone down on their luck, and would literally give them the shirt off her own back.

6 years ago she had some huge problems with her optic nerve. At first they thought it was a tumor, and after a battery of tests, and lengthy hospital stay, she got better. Again, no definitive answers, but around that time, in doing lots of tests, they did discover that she had a hemangioma on her liver. The past year it has really been bothering her a lot, with pain. She had a liver biopsy, and was sent to various doctors. The thing ended up being 7", basically the size of her liver, and was also attached to her gall bladder. She was finally sent to a surgeon that specializes in the liver. We knew there was a great risk in having the surgery, but the risk of not having it was just as great.



She had her surgery this past Tuesday. It lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. Three hours later, we got to see her, and it was horrible. She was whiter that I have ever seen her. Her blood pressure was extremely low, and her pulse was very high. She had little to no urine output, even though they were pumping in tons of fluids. She got to where she couldn't breath and was rushed to surgery again. She was back in for 2 hours and 50 minutes. When we finally got to see her she did look better. We were later informed that they were minutes away from losing her. She was hemorrhaging and her kidneys had totally shut down. Never in our lives have we ever been so very frightened. I just kept thinking of all the people I know that have buried their children, and knew that we could be facing that possibility. She had been given 13 units of blood and blood products in just a matter of hours.




She is still in the hospital, and will be for a while longer. She is still receiving blood and blood products trying to get her hemoglobin up. She is still improving, but certainly not out of the woods.

This experience has made all of us different people. We have all realized how fragile life is, and how much we better show our love to each other. I have always known it, but this was a huge eye opener for all of us, and we do know how much we do love each other.

I hope and pray that we have a much better 2011, because this year has really been quite the strain on all of us.

We are all looking forward to a joyous Christmas, and will certainly celebrate the true reason for the holiday.