2 years of waiting is almost over.

I need to do a recap of some history in order to make this post make sense. Most of you know that my husband had a brain injury in August 2004 when an AVM in his brain popped. You probably also know that when the doctors were initially trying to figure out what caused that brain injury, they found not only the popped AVM in his brain but a second (un-popped) AVM as well that they knew they would have to treat one day (once Martin had finished recovering fully from the first one popping) to ensure that it would never cause Martin any problems. Martin received that treatment in June 2005 in the form of a single dose of finely-targeted radiation given over the course of about 20 minutes. The idea is that this single dose of radiation would slowly build up scar tissue on the insides of the blood vessels of the AVM, eventually cutting it off from Martin's blood flow entirely, although we were told it could take about 3 years for this process to be complete. How a single 20-minute burst of radiation continues to do work in one's body years after it was given boggles my mind (maybe effects lead to effects lead to effects, I don't know), but there you go.

Anyway, because of the length of time this treatment takes to work, Martin hasn't been monitored or called back to the hospital since that day nearly 2 years ago now (well, other than one day we had a scare and thought the AVM might have popped and rushed him down there, but he turned out to be okay that day). He's more or less fully recovered from his initial injury and gone back to work. This July, however, Martin will be back at the hospital for his first check-up MRI. A couple or a few weeks after that (I have to get the date confirmed again yet), we will be back at the AVM clinic finding out the results of that MRI and if the treatment Martin was given nearly 2 years ago is actually working. Let me tell you, 2 years is a long time to wait for results like that...and who knows, we may have to wait another year for full treatment. Yes, after a while you kind of forget that there is a potential bomb in the brain of someone close to you, and start to take it for granted that everything is indeed okay now, but the worry never fully goes away, creeping up again whenever that person is late coming home from work or seems to be feeling or acting oddly. We haven't risked his taking any plane flights, and for a while we didn't even want to risk being too far from the city and its particular expert hospitals. I know I mentioned the idea of my being a teacher in a missionary school somewhere, but I've decided to put off pursuing that until we hear that Martin has been fully treated; I will teach here for at least my first one or more years until we get that news.

It is good to be coming to the end of this two years of waiting. Who knows, though, what news our upcoming AVM clinic appointment will bring, and how it may change our lives? I still need those of you who are in our prayer group to pray us through this, as long a journey as it's been. You keep us lifted; I'll keep you posted.

My apologies for being somewhat rambly tonight; there is a lot on my mind. Have a good night, all, and enjoy some of that sunshine we're getting this weekend!