(The Eli Series 3/6: Eric/Dad)
(The Eli Series 3/6: Eric/Dad)
"My journey with Down SYNdrome (it’s amazing how many ways you can pronounce it. Pro tip: switch it up every few months just for fun) begins with me in a surgery suite and a man in his late 50s plunging a needle into my scrotum. His office wall had a medical degree but to be honest I never called the school to confirm, yet there I was. He spent the next hour sewing my vas deferens back together. Post vasectomy reversal surgery, I swear my nether region could feel a gnat flap its wings. Good news, it worked. Michelle and I would be having our fourth child; and a boy, after having three girls. Also, good news (but at the time is seemed like less than good news), he’s got a whole extra chromosome! In my brain, the unknown can create a whole slew of the unwelcome emotions. For example, I remember sitting in the waiting room while Eli was is in surgery. It was a relatively minor procedure, but still the surgery waiting room is pretty nerve racking. Trying to keep the worry thoughts in check is stressful enough, but when the surgeon comes out and asks you to follow him into a private room after watching all other surgeons talk to the other parents while in the waiting room, it took me from a stroll in the land of slight discomfort to a free fall to the bottom of the pit of despair. During the short walk to the room I tried to pretend I wasn’t actively creating an ulcer. Long story short, everything was fine, but I wish he would have told me that in the waiting room. Like I said, for me the unknown can create a fecal hurricane of unwelcome emotions. However, from my experience with DS, as each unknown becomes known, is filled with joy, laughter, and peace, and more laughter. From Eli’s first day of school, first soccer practice, first time at camp I am filled with joy and excitement for each life stage to come. The thought of Eli’s future fills me with joy; and the feeling of a hypersensitive nugget pouch is just a memory."
