A Year Ago Today … Hope!

Hello Monday, I have been waiting for your return since Saturday afternoon. I woke up feeling excited, nervous, hopeful and worried all wrapped together into a knot that sat in the pit of my stomach. I quickly got ready for work and drove in listening to my favorite Christian radio station. I remember singing along to the songs in the car for the first time in a long time. I sang with hope and a few times, cried tears of joy, in anticipation of good news that morning. As I waited at work (not so patiently) for the clock to turn to 8 am, I worked wondering what would happen when I called Purdue. As the time grew closer to when I could call, I became increasingly nervous. What would they say, would they turn us away, would they help us? Oh, I was SO nervous. The clock finally turned … I could call! I slowly walked to a small conference room where I could make the call. I sat down, took a deep breath and started to dial the number – the phone rang and rang and no one answered. I hung up. A little disheartened, I went back to my desk and waited. I would wait for 30 minutes to call back. So here we are … back in that small conference room and I am on the phone. A voice answered and I started to tell my story – I ended with, we were told there is no hope left for Layla and the voice on the other end of the phone said, Oh honey, we can offer you hope here. Can you come next week Tuesday? I couldn’t believe it, was I dreaming? I had to ask Patty, “So does this mean we are in the clinical trial? She responded with, “we have more than one, we have a lot of options here to help Layla, we’ll find the right one for her”. I couldn’t believe it … at that moment, I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. I finished the conversation, got all the details I needed for the next week, hung up the phone and started to cry – I was so relieved. I e-mailed my husband and told him we had hope again and that he better find a hotel that takes puppy dogs in IN because we were headed on a road trip! When I arrived home later that day, I told Layla that we had our hope back, that we would never give up the fight. It was a good day – we were a happy family that evening, enjoying the new found hope Purdue offered us in a short phone call. Eight days … here we come Indiana!