"Find a penny, pick it up. All day long you'll have good luck."
I'm probably showing my age quoting that saying, but it popped into my head this past week while we were at the hospital.
They had just wheeled Jacob into the pre-op room for his liver biopsy. I sat down in the chair closest to his bed.
Then I looked over at the chair beside me and noticed a penny sitting right in the middle of the seat.
It was face up, which is supposed to mean good luck, right?
It made me think about the children before Jacob that were wheeled in and out of this room.
And their families who sat in the same chair I was in.
We had already been there for a full week and were finally nearing a diagnosis. This biopsy was the last step to figuring out what was wrong so we could work on healing him.
This was a room where so many families came to hopefully find answers.
This room had seen so much worry and fear, but also so much anticipation and hope.
It was a small room, maybe 12 x 10 if I had to guess.
About the size of Jacob's bedroom at home.
But it was a powerful space.
I could almost feel the energy of the families before me.
Pre-COVID times it looked like two people could have been in this room with the patient.
I envisioned spouses holding hands as they put on brave faces for their child.
I imagined a parent and an adult sibling, supporting each other as a younger brother or sister lay in that bed.
I imagined a grandma or grandpa and their son or daughter, encouraging their grandchild to be brave and that this will "all be over soon."
Doctors and nurses came in and talked to us one by one, explaining the procedure.
We learned about the anesthesia he would be under and approximately how much time the whole process would take.
Jacob told me he was going to try to count to purple once they gave him the meds. He didn't even make it past orange.
As they wheeled him out of the room and I got up to go to the waiting room, I looked down at that penny on the chair.
I didn't pick it up. Even though that's what the saying tells me to do.
I figured the next person might need to see it.
We got our diagnosis from that biopsy and Jacob is on the road to recovery now.
It will likely be a long and winding road, but he's strong and resilient. I'm so proud of how he handled the whole process and those 12 days in the hospital.
They say a penny that is face up is lucky.
But I'm not sure how much I believe in luck when you truly look at how life plays out.
There's so much we can control that shapes the path we take.
I think instead of lucky, I would say that penny made me feel grateful.
Grateful to have been given the opportunity to parent this thoughtful, introspective, smart, exceedingly brave young man.
And so very grateful that we are home now and putting life back together.
I hope it makes the next family feel the same way.
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