So let’s back up a couple of days:

 

Wednesday, November 22, 2017:  This was the first time Laurel had ever really complained about a headache. She said that her head hurt and that she felt a little nauseous. When she also mentioned being sensitive to light, I got very concerned. Having suffered with migraines for more than 20 years, I didn’t want to think that my sweet baby girl could be inheriting such a burden from me. So I got her some medicine, an ice pack, and I set her up on the couch so she’d have access to the TV and I’d be nearby if she needed me.

The Isom Family Thanksgiving Dinner was being held that night, so Matt took our 3 boys and I stayed home to take care of Laurel. My deepest hope was that her body was just trying to shake the stomach-flu virus that had afflicted us a few weeks prior.

 

Thursday, November 23, 2017:     Thanksgiving Day. My favorite holiday. My family still meets with my mother’s side (Haverstock’s) and it’s like a huge family reunion!! My cousins and I were all raised very close together and now the new generation was making friendships and enjoying those bonds as well. Laurel’s favorite tradition was the Money Scramble.

My maternal grandfather (Fot) kept a large bag of coins in his trunk. At random family occasions he would sneak out to get it. I remember playing with my cousins when we’d hear all those coins hit the kitchen ceiling before scattering all over the floor. Everyone would yell “Money Scramble” and we’d all scramble from various parts of the house as fast as we could to get our share of the loot! Fot has been gone for many years now, but his traditions live on. All of my cousins and I bring our change to Thanksgiving every year and the new generation of cousins gets to dive in for their share!

Laurel would start talking about the Money Scramble weeks in advance! When Thanksgiving morning came, however, she was still feeling a little nauseous and her headache was still bothering her. Though the intensity had lessened.

I gave her a kiss and she made me promise to bring her back some loot from the Money Scramble. Matt would care for Laurel while I took the boys to the Haverstock Thanksgiving Party. As much as I tried to tell myself that she wasn’t inheriting my migraines, I was still getting very anxious. I did pretty well until I saw my mom (my mom always says that a woman can tough it out through a lot of stuff – that is until they see their mother.)

My mom was the first person I saw when I walked into the kitchen of the church where we have our Thanksgivings. Though I thought I was doing okay, I immediately started to cry. I told her that my sweet Laurel was home with a headache and I told her how worried I was. Being the amazing mother that she is, she gave me advice on caring for Laurel and helped me get a smile back so I could enjoy Thanksgiving with the rest of my family.

When it came time for the Money Scramble, I had my hands full helping Travis (3yrs) to get his loot while keeping an eye out to make sure Rhett (10yrs) and Jackson (6yrs) were getting enough (but not too much). I knew they would all be fine when I scooped a little out of each of their cups in order to make a pile for Laurel.  That became a non-issue though, when my Uncle Bob came up to me immediately after the Money Scramble and handed me $10. He instructed me to give it to Laurel and to tell her that he had cashed in all her coins for paper money. Everyone has a soft spot for Laurel, and you wouldn’t believe the smile that $10 bill gave her!!

 

Friday, November 24, 2017:  Laurel had been able to play a little bit on Thursday and her symptoms were coming and going (in frequency and intensity). But she still needed to rest a lot. By Friday morning I was still concerned. I called her pediatrician and left a message so he’d get it first thing when he got to the office. I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t missing anything. When he called back, he told me that it was unusual for an 8-year-old to get migraines, but not unheard of. Since my migraines hadn’t started until I was in my late teens, he thought she was probably just fighting that earlier stomach-flu virus as it tried to exit her system. His recommendation was rest, ibuprofen and caffeine.

Caffeine? Oh Laurel would love this! I loaded my arms with 2 different types of Mountain Dew and a bottle of coke. When I walked into her room to give her a dose of ibuprofen, I put on my mom-face and tried not to smile when I gave her the doctor’s recommendation. She’d had an occasional drink of my Mountain Dew or she’d split a can of coke with her brothers every once in a while, but usually she just got her choice of caffeine-free pop. But here, she was getting her choice of a whole can of pop loaded with caffeine – all to herself! Again, her face lit up.

This day too, Laurel was able to play here and there – but she was still resting quite a bit. We decided to have her stay home with grandma and grandpa (who were in town visiting from Idaho Falls) while we took the boys to see their cousins who were visiting from Houston. Matt and I were also able to hit some Black Friday sales in order to stock up for Christmas!!

 

Saturday, November 25, 2017:  Though Laurel was still a little tired from being under the weather. She was excited to go to the park and play with her brothers. We took all our park stuff and headed out to play! The videos and pictures we took this day are bitter sweet. The kids are all so happy, and yet, now we know that Laurel only had 4 days left to live.

 

Sunday, November 26, 2017:  I had been fighting my own migraine for several days, so Laurel and I stayed home from church. We had a bit of a lazy day.

Though I wasn’t feeling well and Matt was also a little under the weather with a cold, I insisted that we put up the Christmas tree. Even though Laurel’s head hurt a little and she had some nausea, she jumped right in and unpacked all the Christmas decorations with the rest of us. Our Christmas tree has Disney ornaments and the kids are always so excited for their favorite characters to be unboxed! Laurel always hung up Tinkerbell. Though there are several others she kept an eye out for as well!

My favorite ornament is The Beast. The kids know that I always get to hang up The Beast – so it’s especially fun for them to try to get it first. During Laurel’s down time that week, we’d been watching a lot of the new version of The Beauty and the Beast together (starring Dan Stevens and Emma Watson). So by the end, when everyone realized that the Beast was hidden behind my back almost the whole time, I let Laurel choose where The Beast would hang on our Christmas Tree.

 

Monday, November 27, 2017:  Laurel slept well Sunday night and rested well over the weekend, so we decided to try school on Monday morning. I sent a note for the teacher to keep her in from recess so she wouldn’t jar her head or neck around. She took some ibuprofen and said she’d be okay at school. Though it was only half way through the day when the school called to say she was having another headache.

Laurel broke her nose in the beginning of October while she was playing jump-rope on the playground with some friends. She had surgery a week later to put her nose back in the middle of her face and everything had gone remarkably well. But this lead me to my new theory when my sister, Rose, reminded me of the time a few years ago when she had some serious migraines that ended up being attributed to an infected sinus cavity.

I picked up Laurel from school and drove her straight to her ENT so they could check her sinuses for any sign of infection from the nose break or from the surgery. I was so excited that the solution might be that simple! But after checking her nose, the doctor declared that she was healing beautifully and suggested that I take her to her pediatrician for an overall check-up. I immediately called her pediatrician for an appointment; they’d be able to see her Tuesday afternoon.

 

Tuesday, November 28, 2017:  Laurel woke up feeling just a little nauseous. She said her head hurt a little bit still too. I decided to keep her home one more day. Though, I told her that since she seemed to be on the mend, she’d have to rest at the salon since it was my morning to get my hair done. She smiled and said that would be fine. She sat in the back seat while we drove to the salon, and we talked about whatever came to mind. Laurel and Travis charmed the salon staff and then sat together to play on a tablet. Then we got some lunch and headed for her doctor appointment. She had been resting on an ice pack a little bit in the car, but for the most part she seemed to be doing better. When we got to her appointment, the doctor and I noted that she had no fever, no headache, and no nausea. She was in perfect health. I couldn’t believe how good she looked when I had been so worried for nearly a week!! I started to wonder if I shouldn’t have kept her home from school that day. But when we got home she was exhausted again and said she wanted to lie down instead of coming with the boys and me to the park next door.

Laurel wanted pancakes for dinner, they’re her favorite. So we all had pancakes and afterwards we started our nightly routine, Laurel decided that she wanted to go to bed a little bit early. I got her a bucket in case she was nauseous again, and I helped her get comfortable with an ice pack for her headache.

Matt got home from work at 11:30 that night (preparing for end-of-year audits).  When he peeked in Laurel & Travis’ room.  He immediately called me over to see what was going on.  We laughed so hard when we saw that Travis had fallen asleep before he had snuck all the way into Laurel’s bed!  His bottom half was still on the bed railing!! We were so sure that his legs were numb! I immediately posted a picture to Facebook, it was just too sweet!  We would later wonder if Travis had been able to sense that something was about to happen.

We got them both situated and we tucked Laurel in to bed… for the last time.