Some weeks are just regular weeks and then there are weeks like this one where some serious stuff goes down! A few days ago my 19 year came into the family room around 9 am. I thought he seemed tired, but he had just woken up so I didn't think twice about it. We chatted for a minute and then he said, "I need to talk to you." Those words made me immediately pray, "Lord, help me handle what he's about to say." Then he said, "I have to talk to you about my health." Whew! Is that it?! That's what I was thinking at least. Why do we always go to worst case? Anyway....the long story shorter is that he was woken up that morning by what he thinks was a seizure, shaking, and tremendous chills. It went on for quite a while and then somehow he went back to sleep. That in itself would be disconcerting except that that wasn't the first time he experienced this. This is now the third time. That morning we got on the phone with the doctor's office and they said, "Go to emergency." So off we went.
Because he is 19, he is no longer in the pediatric system, which means everything takes longer and they don't seem as concerned when the patient isn't a child. Also, because of covid I wasn't allowed to be with him. So I literally had to leave him at the door of the hospital and walk away. I hated that. Twelve hours later, he had had a CT scan, blood work and fortunately, it all came back clear. However, that doesn't explain the seizures he's been experiencing. So, thankfully, he'll be able to see another doctor on Saturday that is willing to pursue this a little further and help us get to the bottom of this.
In other family news, months ago, in the summer, my daughter finished her performance exam for the highest level in piano with the Royal Conservatory. It was one of the most stressful things my daughter has been through. Covid changed all the rules and made it a very difficult process. Normally you would play one piece at at time in front of an adjudicator. Now, it was all prerecorded, 45 minutes, in a row, no stops. It was very exhausting. Somehow she pulled it off. She sent it in and within a few weeks they gave her the results. She hadn't passed. A pass was a 70 and she was just under that. We were all in shock. My daughter has always been in the high honours level with 80s as marks. This was a blow. For a few days we sat on in it. Her teacher was so upset as well, not at my daughter, but that covid had changed how everything was done. We thought and thought about it and were about to leave it alone, but then the teacher called and said, "You have to appeal this. This is wrong." She had read all the comments that the adjudicator had made and as an adjudicator herself, she believed that the ruling was very unfair in light of the way she marked, the process of recording, and a whole bunch of other reasons. The more we thought about it we agreed. Once covid had started, my daughter hadn't had in-person lesson with her teacher since March, during the most important time in her piano career. Then, her piano teacher began the process of moving to another city and really stopped being able to listen to all her recording demos, giving input, getting back to her, etc., as she was so busy. So my daughter found herself pretty much on her own trying to get a recording together that could pass. It was a very hard time.
My husband sat down and wrote a life-changing letter in the Fall. He outlined in a very calm, organized and clear way the challenges she faced without whining and complaining like an angry toddler. He showed how her past marks from the time she was six to now are all exemplary. He outlined how as a professor himself, a good student doesn't suddenly just become a bad student, there must be extenuating circumstances to take into consideration. He outlined the process of covid, and how this is an untested, unproven way to mark and judge a student. All she needed was a half mark, per piece, to pass. If any other judge had seen her work it could have easily been given. He went on and on and then we just had to wait. When January hit and we still hadn't heard (we'd been told it would take a long time), we finally reached out, just this week. They said it had been moved up to a higher level and that we should hear back shortly. That same day we called, we got the email we had been waiting so long for. The comments said something like, "Your arguments were very compelling.....and so we are happy to award your daughter with the diploma..." Yay! That was it - in one email she went from no diploma to diploma! It was a huge moment. We immediately called the teacher to thank her for encouraging us to pursue it. She was thrilled. We were thrilled. We are still in awe. I think what I loved about the letter writing experience was that 1) it speaks of the power of a parent advocating for a child - love that and 2) it speaks to the power of the pen - my husband helped the powers-that-be understand the weaknesses in their own system just by writing a clear letter and without accusing them or whining at them. Who knows if others appealed, but I'm so glad we did as we know, not just because we are her parents, but in our heart of hearts, we knew the effort she had put in, literally two years of prep for that moment. To make her start over and redo the whole exam, was going to put her and all of us over the brink. I cannot explain the relief enough.
So there you have it - a week of serious highs and a serious lows, but a week of miracles and a week of trusting God in it all. He proved Himself faithful through it all and we made it. Our faith grew in leaps and bounds yet again.
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