In the Eye of the Storm . . . . ([God] remains in control . . . )

OCT (picture of the back of Anna's eye in layman's terms) of Anna's left eye this past Wednesday

Well, it's not as bad as it was in 2014, but the Macular Edema has returned in Anna's left eye.  At least this time, we are already established with a Retina Specialist who has a calm but decisive manner and who seems to know exactly what she's doing.  She increased Anna's Pred Forte eye drops and doesn't want to taper until this is under control.  For our next appointment with her in June (four weeks), we have allowed 3-4 hours, just in case the retina specialist (Dr. N.) feels it necessary to do a Periocular steroid injection to stay ahead of the Macular Edema.  (I'm learning new words, and although I did an Internet search to know how to spell it, I'm not quite ready to look at the images.)  I used to not even want to think about an injection into the eye of one of my children, but at this point, I am okay with putting Anna in the hands of this specialist.

This news comes in the middle of a storm of activities and emotions, as Anna prepares to graduate from high school next week and move toward her future as an adult.  There are a wide variety of emotions for us as parents (Anna being our third and last child to leave the nest.) And while we're busy, we're also eagerly anticipating all three of our children being together again next week, and seeing our daughter and son-in-law and grandson who live 12 hours away from us.  We're also constantly thinking of a very dear friend of ours, who seems like family, who is not long for this world, having battled an aggressive cancer for the past 2 1/2 years (and grieving for her family). The Lord is speaking to me again through songs and Scriptures, as He often does in the tougher seasons of life.  On our way home from Hershey on Wednesday, as we were thinking about and praying for our friend and her family and letting the news from the appointment sink in to our minds, the song in the video below was playing on the radio.  I was thinking how appropriate these words are. This song has been playing in my head for the past few days.

In the eye of the storm
You remain in control
In the middle of the war, You guard my soul
You alone are the anchor when the sails are torn
Your love surrounds me in the eye of the storm.

(if you decide to listen to video, listen through to the end---they go A Capella, and it's awesome if you love music and are into that sort of thing--I am!)