“RNP the Blog”

I have made conscious effort to keep this blog from getting too personal. It would be easy to fill up posts with pictures of my children and our adventures together but I haven’t felt like that served a genuine purpose for the folks that visit my website and blog.

Today I am breaking my own rule because my youngest daughter Malia turns two today.

She has lived a full life in her twenty four months with us. About five months into her pregnancy during an ultrasound scan we found out she had developed a small growth on her lung and near her heart. The doctors called it a “CAM” which stands for Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation which is basically a lung malformation. The doctors watched this growth frequently throughout the reminder of the pregnancy and we met with a specialist and a surgeon to talk about possible scenarios for her. Thankfully the growth remained very small throughout the pregnancy.

She was born two years ago today at 6:18 a.m. and was quickly taken away to the “NICU” the neonatal intensive care unit where she spent the first few days of her life. Her oxygen levels were a little low initially and with her growth they wanted to keep a close eye on her. We were able to take her home with us after four days at the hospital a beautiful spring day that my wife and I will not ever forget.

For the most part Malia’s health has been good throughout her life, unfortunately she got very sick last September while I was in Phoenix working. Sick enough that she had to be taken to the hospital. A stressful time to say the least but while we were at the hospital we decided to have her scanned to take a look at the CAM because we were still faced with the decision on whether or not we would elect to have the CAM removed. Apparently the biggest danger related to a CAM of her size is they have a history of attracting cancer cells.

What was originally a very stressful situation turned into a joyous one…the scan in September confirmed what we had all hoped and prayed for, the CAM was gone. I still remember trying to tell my mom the news and not being able to get the words out.

Her middle name is Grace…and every time I start to feel sorry for myself I just look at her and think of how blessed we are to have her (and have her healthy) in our lives. Happy Birthday Malia Grace…