The Beginning, Part 2

   Allison's lungs were permanently damaged.  The next several months were spent moving in and out of hospital rooms as she struggled with bacterial meningitis, a collapsed lung, and infections in the catheter.  Finally, the central line was replaced, and her health began to improve.  The doctors told us she would never run track, but we thanked God daily for the life that was given back to us!  That summer was amazing!  Her hair grew back brown and curly, she began to put on some weight, and we were cleared to take the most wonderful family vacation to Pigeon Forge!  The sight of our two beautiful girls playing in the pool, listening to recorded story books, riding a carousel, laughing at silly jokes was like a precious gift straight from heaven!  The fear and anxiety that had plagued our hearts and minds for the last year was finally lifting, and we felt a new freedom to look to the future with hope and joy. 
   In August 1990, Jim received word that his infantry battalion would be deploying soon as part of Desert Shield.  The commander was a Christian who cared deeply about all of his troops, and he suggested that Jim stay back with the rear detachment because of Allison's health.  After much prayer and discussion, we agreed to thank the commander for his concern, but assure him that Allison was greatly improved.  Jim needed to be with his soldiers, and they deployed together in early September.  It was a frightening time for all of us, but I fell right into the role of Mrs. Chaplain's wife. . .I started calling and visiting the other wives, trying to encourage them if I could.  The Chaplain's wives started meeting together weekly to pray and share concerns.  The fear that our husbands might not come home was the main subject one day, and I remember sharing that I really didn't have that fear.  During Allison's diagnosis and illness, I felt that I had been to "hell and back", and I wasn't afraid of anything else life could throw at me.  I wonder now how I could have been so foolish and arrogant.
   One Saturday night in late October, Allison got sick again.  My parents kept Bethany while I took Allison to the emergency room at Vanderbilt with a fever.  She was checked out by a doctor on call and we were sent home.  She started to feel worse, though, and we went back the following Tuesday.  She was diagnosed with pneumonia, and we were sent home again with antibiotics.  Wednesday morning, she seemed to feel better, and my parents went home, but on Thursday morning, she was vomiting and very weak.  I took Bethany to a friend's house and drove Allison to Blanchfield Hospital on Fort Campbell where she was diagnosed with dehydration and hooked up to fluids immediately.  Just a short time later, she was sitting up in her bed, eating gummy bears, watching cartoons, and laughing.  The doctor had sent some of her blood to the lab to be checked which was routine whenever she ran a fever, and the slip came back that her white blood cell count was about 300.  Since normal is between 6000 and 10000, the doctor assumed a mistake had been made, and had it rechecked.  It came back even lower.  I didn't understand. . .she looked wonderful, but we were loaded into an ambulance and sent to Vanderbilt immediately.