You may have noticed that our week in Paris didn't get a 'survival number' like at least one post per week gets (including this one). The numbers on the posts DO represent survival to me. Each week that goes by is one more week since our lives were changed forever by the nephronophthisis diagnosis.
But Paris was not at all about survival. It was about rising above. It was about triumph.
After our arrival home, I found Babygirl online researching the outcome of Make-A-Wish trips. She had found an outcomes survey that showed all of the positive things that came from the trips: Improved medical compliance, decreased depression and so on. The vast majority of parents surveyed said that these trips marked "a significant turning point" in their childrens' medical progress.
http://wish.org/wishes/wish-impact
I can see how this could be true. The Babygirl who managed more than 1600 steps up and down the towers of Paris in one day is less likely to cower in the face of a mere headache! I can already see more optimism, more energy, and more of a desire to go-out-and-do than I've seen in months. She chatters more, is bolder to say what it is that she wants, speaks her own order to waitstaff in restaurants and holds her head higher in general.
Conversation yesterday: Babygirl (after I'd rudely interrupted her): "May I speak now?" Me (laughing) "No." Babygirl: "Thank you. Now as I was saying...."
Courage. She's always had it. She's never been a quitter. But there is a difference between a dogged determination to survive and an optimistic forward-looking attitude.
Make-A-Wish makes a difference.
DeeDee
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