Laugh or cry?

Are we players in an absurd drama? Ben's back in the hospital for the third time.

Rewind. Saturday was a good day for Ben. Short walks, an outing in the car with gma & gpa, some good naps, a shower, and eating, eating, eating.

This morning was great, too. Ben went with us to church because we all needed to be there, and he seemed up to it. My cousin Joel's choir from El Monte High School in CA were guests in our worship service. They were great! Ben did what Ben does best, mingled with church-goers and received all their well wishes and delight for his healing.

And indeed Ben has been healing, gaining strength. Except....

Except for some swelling in his left leg and complaints of pain when he walked. For a while we thought that it was simply a product of needing to regain strength and tight tendons and ligaments. But today there was noticeable swelling, still pain, and knowledge that our families have histories of clots. Add to all that the fact that because of his bleeding ulcer he wasn't on any post-op blood thinners, we thought it best to contact the doctors.

Jon took Ben back down to Children's where the short ending is that they discovered a blood clot in the iliac vein in the groin. Likely it was encouraged by an i.v. that was located there during/after the ulcer surgery. He has been re-admitted to the hospital where he will receive treatments of heparin for a few days. There is risk in this treatment due to his recent surgeries, but the surgeons feel like he has healed enough to lower the risk of the heparin, and they also don't see another choice.

Kim's back to the hospital for a Sunday night stay. Jon's home with Noah and Lydia and preparing for meetings early this week. It looks like flexibility and prioritization will continue to be the guiding principles this week.

So at this point it's difficult to know whether to laugh or cry. Your continuing prayers are appreciated.