A change of plans

Last Wednesday I was worried about missing a workout. I was worried about skipping statistics class the day before. I was worried about studying for an art history quiz.\nThen I got a phone call. It was Dad.\n"Bad news ... Mom's blood test achieved strange results ... We're going to the hospital in Indianapolis ... come now ... it could be leukemia."\nI cried. I dropped my phone and everything else I had scheduled and expected to do the next five days. Memorizing the meaning behind Francisco Goya's masterpieces didn't matter so much anymore. Now I worried for my mother's life.\nWell, it turned out -- she doesn't have cancer. She has aplastic anemia. It's treatable. And we think she'll be all right.\nBut as my parents and older brother and sister sat in one of the drab, overheated boxes hospitals like to call "rooms," waiting to hear the diagnosis, we couldn't help but wonder if our family had ties with Hitler in another life. What did we do to deserve all the trauma we've encountered? My family knows two things well: sandwiches and trauma.\nMy dad has had three heart attacks in his lifetime, one just this April, sparking a need for open-heart surgery. He overcame respiratory failure following the surgery, but he is doing well now. His inappropriate humor is as rampant as ever.\nIn 2002, I was diagnosed with leukemia -- a cancer of the bone marrow. Treatment demanded almost an entire year of my life. But it worked. Next July, I can consider myself completely cured. I heart healthy bone marrow!\nAnd now Mom. While it's not cancer, it's still a blood disorder which you don't particularly want to have around. It'll be a few months before we know if the current treatment is effective.\nCombined, the Manchirs could provide grounds for a highly rated Lifetime original film script. \nBut I don't want your pity. The thing is -- we might be better off for it.\nThe obstacles we've faced have made our characters -- and our faith -- stronger. It has enriched our lives. It has inspired us. It has made our "good" or our "normal" days even better. The joy is not the same without the pain.\nTrauma brings out the best in people -- we know. We've witnessed genuine compassion in humans. Good people want to do anything to help out -- even if it means going to three different grocery stores to find the right cereal. Or driving several miles to the nearest McDonald's (chemo can trigger cravings for processed white meat, mmmm).\nMost of all, the fortune we feel in our hearts for the things we have overcome, for the days when treating an illness isn't a priority and for each other's unconditional love, is absolutely overwhelming.\nI almost feel bad for people who haven't experienced really crappy crap.\nSo, feel fortunate. Don't take your health for granted.\nTake care of your body. Enjoy life.You never know when you're going to get one of those phone calls, after all.