Getting back to normal after a hard week

Through out my life I have heard the saying, "God will never put anything in your life that you can't handle". I've also heard, "Whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger". These statements certainly took on a whole different meaning in late 2002.

I never believed in love at first site, that is, until I met Mark in early 2002. My Mother was working at a cigar shop in Sawgrass Village & I had gone to visit her one afternoon. I walked in the door, and there he was! Our eyes locked, we were introduced to each other by Mom, and then we had a conversation that lasted for about 3 hours.

When I was driving home that afternoon, I remember thinking about how handsome and sweet he was & that I didn't want our time together to end. It was just one of those moments that you wish that you could "freeze time".
Well, it wasn't long before he was calling me & we were having our three our conversations every day. If it wasn't on the phone, we would meet at the very cigar shop that we met at & just sit & enjoy each other for hours. I woke up every morning thinking of him, and went to sleep every night thinking of him. It didn't take me long to realize that I had met my soul mate.

During this time, Mark had been building a new house. In late 2002, he moved in to his new home & invited me over to see the house. I was so happy for him & couldn't wait to see the home that I had heard so much about. He picked me up & drove me to his home...and I never left. It's funny...he never officially asked me to move in...but, he never wanted me to go home. Life was just perfect...

A few months after we had moved in together, we had been doing some work in the yard & I noticed that he was getting out of breath. I was a little worried, but then just thought, "maybe it's because he's getting a little over heated". I didn't realize it at the time, but Mark was really worried. You see, he had been diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia several years earlier, but had been in remission for six years. This feeling that he was getting of being "out of breath" was the same feeling that he had when he was first diagnosed.

We sat down that evening and decided that it was time to make a appointment to see what was going on. At the time, I really had no idea how serious this horrible disease was. I thought that if someone had anemia, they just needed to up their iron intake. Boy did I have a surprise three days later when we walked into the doctors office. I remember when the doctor walked in with Mark's lab results in his hand & told us that Mark's Aplastic Anemia was back. Looking back, I still didn't know how serious this was at that moment. It wasn't until we got home that night and I Googled "Aplastic Anemia". I was devastated, and so scared about what was to come.

When I came out of the office that night, I found Mark on the sofa staring off into space. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and asked, "Have I ruined your life?" I said, "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me!" I put my arms around him and we cried together. This was the beginning of our fight with Aplastic Anemia. You can read more about our fight in a previous blog post HERE.

Fast forward to last week...

Mark got sick...really sick. We went to the doctor they wanted to put him in the hospital immediately. He had an upper respiratory infection, a fungal infection on his leg, and his blood levels were critical. Well if you know Mark...he was not about to let the doctor put him in the hospital. He told the doctor that there was no reason for him to be admitted & that he could come to the hospital every day & come home at night. So, that's what we did for a week, and then on the weekend, we had a home health nurse come into our home.

To top it off, the day that I took Mark to the doctor, I received a call that my Mother-n-law had been admitted to St. Lukes hospital was sick. Then to really put the icing on the cake, the next morning, I got another phone call that my Father-n-law had fallen while walking the dogs, and was taken to the hospital & most likely had broken his shoulder.

Needless to say, I was a wreck! I put out a prayer request on my Facebook page. The next morning when I opened my email, I was so humbled by the response that I received by my request. I had a ton of emails letting me know that we were being prayed for, and offering help. God is so good...

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day and letting Mark and I know that you care. Even though Mark & I continuously live with the uncertainty of Aplastic Anemia, we feel so blessed. We have God, each other, a beautiful son, and such a caring network of support from our wonderful friends and family.
I am happy to report that after LOTS of IV antibiotics, 4 units of blood, and alot of prayer, my sweetie is doing much better! My mother-n-law is out of the hospital & my father-n-law did break his shoulder, but it wont require surgery.

You will never know how much your supportive words and prayers mean to me.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart...I love you guys!

XXOO,
Erica