My graduate this year, my youngest son, has never been healthy. From a rare but relatively minor birth defect, to the development of uncontrolled and debilitating epilepsy around the time he started school, he's never really known what it's like to be in good health. He has grown up watching two older brothers do whatever they like, can,…
My graduate this year, my youngest son, has never been healthy. From a rare but relatively minor birth defect, to the development of uncontrolled and debilitating epilepsy around the time he started school, he's never really known what it's like to be in good health. He has grown up watching two older brothers do whatever they like, can, will - while his seizures often sidelined him. He's been in the hospital more times in his 18 years than I've ever been in my life (or probably ever will be). He's endured 3 brain surgeries, and one VNS implant surgery. He's probably more familiar with hospitals than he is with schools. He complied willingly when I decided we need to remove him from public school a couple of times, to learn at home, since he missed so many days of instruction. This, even though he's never really liked school and felt its only redeeming quality was seeing his friends. He has trouble remembering things because of his seizures and the medication to treat it; he has trouble having energy to focus and do what seems to come so easily to his peers. He sometimes has trouble believing in a future, and struggles with anxiety and depression. I never imagined he'd graduate in 2021 - I was prepared for it to take a year or two longer. And that was IF he survived childhood, which I often worried he wouldn't. But somehow, he pulled it off. He checked all the boxes, and on May 13, he became a high school graduate. I don't know what he will do or be or how long it will take (or how long I will have him) but I can't stop being so utterly grateful for seeing him cross the stage and earn his diploma.
My graduate this year, my youngest son, has never been healthy. From a rare but relatively minor birth defect, to the development of uncontrolled and debilitating epilepsy around the time he started school, he's never really known what it's like to be in good health. He has grown up watching two older brothers do whatever they like, can, will - while his seizures often sidelined him. He's been in the hospital more times in his 18 years than I've ever been in my life (or probably ever will be). He's endured 3 brain surgeries, and one VNS implant surgery. He's probably more familiar with hospitals than he is with schools. He complied willingly when I decided we need to remove him from public school a couple of times, to learn at home, since he missed so many days of instruction. This, even though he's never really liked school and felt its only redeeming quality was seeing his friends. He has trouble remembering things because of his seizures and the medication to treat it; he has trouble having energy to focus and do what seems to come so easily to his peers. He sometimes has trouble believing in a future, and struggles with anxiety and depression. I never imagined he'd graduate in 2021 - I was prepared for it to take a year or two longer. And that was IF he survived childhood, which I often worried he wouldn't. But somehow, he pulled it off. He checked all the boxes, and on May 13, he became a high school graduate. I don't know what he will do or be or how long it will take (or how long I will have him) but I can't stop being so utterly grateful for seeing him cross the stage and earn his diploma.