Yesterday's COVID Test

We have been absent from our family blog for one month exactly as our son Thomas was diagnosed with cancer. We were publishing over at CaringBridge (https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/thomaslauer/), but are now going to try to bring the two together seamlessly in order to continue the family blog I have written for 14 years. This blog post is copied from CaringBridge and is being published retroactively. Please subscribe to our family blog to receive updates as I publish!

On Saturday, Thomas was required to have a COVID-19 test in order to have his surgical procedure upcoming on Tuesday. 

The testing staff were kind and gentle with him. We parents received a little consolation from God: When the nurse filling out Thomas's paperwork asked for the name of his doctor, we gave the name of the head surgeon on his team. The nurse exclaimed, "I normally work in NICU and I've worked with Dr. B---- for so many years! He is AMAZING! He is so wonderful!" Believe me, every moment like that is a balm to concerned parents' hearts.

As kind as the staff was, the Q-tip thingy going into Thomas's nasal cavity and swishing around for 5 seconds did make him distressed and cry. I had intentionally held back a gift that a family had sent him the day before, so I had it at the ready: a little doctor's kit and a stuffed lion. Thomas was distracted from the pain in his nose and full of excitement, declaring the gift, "The best surprise ever!" 

He spent the rest of the afternoon playing doctor with his lion, processing all that is going on with him: doing tests on the lion, performing x rays, checking his reflexes, giving him an IV, and so forth.

And on Sunday we learned that his COVID test was blessedly negative! Operating room, here we come!