It’s the Mayo Clinic haze. It’s the first thing that hit me when I realized we were
going and it remains hanging over our time as if I didn’t drink enough caffeine
and I’m still trying to wake up.
Or maybe I hit my head on one of those marble pillars that support the
elevator system between the Mayo and the Gonda building. Sometimes my head throbs like I did.
Our first visit with Doctor Milone didn’t reveal much. She sent Ian through the paces and
gathered all the info from the previous tests that he has undergone. She ordered more tests and a return
visit on Friday. The following
days were a series of tests, not too intense, aside from the EMG on Thursday
morning and a physical strength test on Friday that will have Ian wiped out for
several days.
Ian’s sisters, Mary Heather and Rebecca came and spent
almost the entire four days with us.
It was special to have them there.
They helped to cheer us on and cheer us up during the waiting times.
At one point I sat in the waiting room and looked over and
saw another young couple sitting together. He was the one there for an appointment and she sat next to
him silently crying. We didn’t get
a chance to talk to them as we were called away to our appointment but it
struck a cord in my heart. So
many, many, many ill people come and go through the halls of Mayo. Each one is there seeking answers to
some of life’s biggest questions.
Just like Ian’s little brother Clyde asked Ian last night. “Ian, why do rabbits die?” There is much in that simple question. Hopes and dreams of today and tomorrow
tied up and left to the inconsistencies of life. And what is God saying in all of this? I find the only place to rest is at the
feet of the One who says, “I change not.”
Doctor Milone asked us if we wanted to go ahead and pursue a
MRI and yet another muscle biopsy.
Why not? Because it might
reveal an incurable muscle disease.
So we ask, we wonder. We
hold tight to each other through the haze, and through the tears. And like I read on the back of a pink
sweatshirt that walked by, “Let us run with endurance the race that God has set
before us.”
We’re home from Mayo for the weekend and we’ll head back up again
on Tuesday. Most likely for the
rest of the week.
