Hydrocephalus Bites

Charlie is special, there is no mistaking that, however, it is extremely easy to forget that he has a major life-long illness. A majority of the time, he is a normal, easy going six year old boy. Then something will happen and it hits you, and you frantically study his head, check the shunt, look at his eyes, make sure he isn't seizing, etc. etc. etc. It is scary and it sucks. So, when we went swimming last week, he wanted to wear goggles. No big deal, right? So, over an hour passed and he took them off and I realized that the rubber strap had been cutting into his shunt. The indentation was deep and I went into panic mommy mode. Once I realized he was okay, my thoughts began to go to the dark side. How unfair is it that a 6 year old can't even wear a pair of goggles while swimming? Do I have a right to even be angry about that? It's just a pair of goggles, right? Nonetheless, I'm angry about it. It's just one more thing we have to add to "Charlie's Can't Do" list. This freakin' list keeps getting longer and longer. When you have a child, you don't think that one day you will have to explain to him that no, you can't wear goggles in the pool even if every other child is wearing them because those goggles could potentially kill you. Nice. Now, I know that my ranting is, in the grand scheme of things, ridiculous. It has not escaped my attention that we are lucky to have him, in whatever physical/mental shape he is in. There are parents who have to say goodbye to their children everyday due to all sorts of accidents and illnesses that seem so unfair. I can't even put myself in the shoes of those parents, but also realize that if we don't watch Charlie closely, we could easily be those parents that have to say goodbye. Something as simple as a pair of goggles could cost us the life of our child. If I didn't know better, I'd think, she's really going overboard isn't she, but the fact is, I'm not. Charlie probably does things every single day that put his life at risk and we don't notice. We have become complacent and it's so easy to look at him as a "normal" kid. Well, let me set the record straight, Charlie is anything but "normal". So, to all the parents out there who have wonderful, precious, healthy children, take a minute to thank your lucky stars and say a prayer that your children stay that way.