The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good:
Sabrina is such a tenderhearted little girl. She is the first on the spot when anyone is hurt. She always offers her most treasured possession, her monkey, to the injured person. She constantly wants to know when she'll be a mom - she'll be a great one! (Although, she did say she doesn't want to grow up because she doesn't want to have to get her ears pierced.)

Two different things happened just in the last week that I had to journal. We were in Walmart, and like all the other mothers there, I was in a hurry just to get to the checkstand. I came around the corner at the front and there was one of those tables where the lady stands ready to give you a 2-liter of pop just for signing up for a Sam's club membership. I don't know about the rest of you, but I try not to make eye contact and walk as quickly as I can so I don't have to tell them NO for the 100th time. We were just past her when Sabrina says, "Mom, I think we should go back and talk to that lady. She looks like she's all alone. I think she's lonely!" Wow! How do you talk your way out of that one?!?!?!

The same week she came running out from preschool, obviously distressed. When she reached me I could tell she'd been crying. "What's the matter, Sabrina?", I asked. "Olivia is sick!", she replied. I looked to her teacher for an explanation. Her teacher went on to explain that Olivia (her classmate) was home sick. She said Sabrina had asked if she could say a prayer for her, which she immediately did. All the ride home I had to convince her that Olivia would be fine and her prayers answered.

The Bad:
Sabrina has suffered for about a year from Kidney infections. They have come and gone, but when they arrive they hit her hard! The last few months we have had to keep her on an antibiotic just to keep the infection away. Her pediatrician suggested we take her in for further testing. She had a Renal Ultrasound and a VCUG (which is just a fancy word for a horrible procedure including a catheter and a screaming child). We found from these tests that Sabrina has Grade 4 Renal Reflux. In simple terms this means that the urine is going back up into the kidney instead of out of the body as it should. We took her last week to Primary Children's Hospital for a consultation. They told us that this small birth defect is more common in blonde girls of Scandinavian decent. She fits all of those. After going through the options there was no question that surgery will be our best option. It has a 95-98% effectiveness rate and we don't have to go through all the horrible testing again. It's an outpatient procedure and she should be up and running in a week or less. We'll take her in the first week of May. We haven't really explained the whole thing to her, since she'll be sedated for all of it. But any prayers offered her way would be greatly appreciated.

The Ugly:
Lest we think it's all princesses and ribbons around here, this is a conversation I had with Sabrina on the way home from preschool one day...

Sabrina: "What's your hair doing?"
Me: "What?"
Sabrina: "You're hair looks weird!"
Me: "I curled it instead of wearing it straight. Do you like it?"
Sabrina: "NOOOOO. You should change it, it looks funny."