What are the chances....

Something that's been on my mind this past week is chances. You know, the chance of something happening or not. I guess it all started with the Hudson River plane crash. As I was watching Larry King's coverage of this, one of the passengers said that he just felt incredibly blessed, essentially that he had been part of a miracle. He said that the chances of surviving a plane crash were slim to none (something like 1 in a billion). I also heard that the co-pilot pointed out to the pilot (after they were rescued) that he was the only pilot to ever pull off a successful "ditch." Seriously, what are the chances that first of all, a flock of birds would cause a plane crash, and second, that all 150 passengers survived? Incredible!

Then all the talk of the upcoming Inauguration caused me to think about the chances of the United States ever having a black President. Whether we like it or not, history is being made. I remember at the first of the elections, I thought what are chances of a minority (a woman, a Mormon or a black person) actually getting elected as president? Now the chance has been given.

We know a little bit about chances...whether they are for or against you. Did you know that only 1 in 29,000 children are diagnosed with ALL (Leukemia)? Believe me, I never thought that the chances of having my child be the one was possible. It's just not something that you ever actually think about happening, I mean really, what are the chances?

This isn't the first time that we've been part of a statistic. When I pregnant with Jace, our ultrasound found Choroid Plexus Cysts on his brain. (Basically these are pockets of cerebral spinal fluid that typically fill in as the pregnancy progresses. They are essentially harmless if that's the case, but on an ultrasound, they can also be indicators of chromosome abnormalities.)We were told that these cysts only occur in about 1% of fetuses, however, about 95% of the time, it turns out to be nothing. As you can imagine, being my first pregnancy and all, I was pretty shocked. "What are the chances that we are the 1%?" I wondered. With some additional testing, all was well, and we fell into the 95% statistic-chances being for us.

So...this week was a week of preparations of sorts for us. First, we got enrolled and set up for the cord blood banking process. We were advised to bank some cord blood of our new baby since we are in the situation that we are in. We were eligible for a free banking service for people in situations such as ours, so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. What are the chances that we'll ever use the stem cells? We're not sure. We hope that standard/traditional treatment will take care of things, but we want to be prepared just in case.

We also attended a seminar/free dinner put on by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation this week. The topic centered around childhood cancer survivors and re-entry/entry into the education system. They discussed the late-effects (cognitive, phychological, emotional, etc.) of cancer treatments and risk factors, etc. I'm a big believer in becoming educated on what's ahead for us. However, some of what I learned can be disturbing. What are the chances of all or some of these effects actually happening to Rylee? We don't know & could possibly not know for years. That's why they're called late effects. Basically it made me realize that we're really between a rock and a hard spot. If we rejected doing chemo, cancer could overtake her body, spine, central nervous system or brain. If we stick to traditional treatment, the chemo can and most likely will have at least some lasting negative effects. Will Rylee beat all the odds? I guess we'll take our chances.

So here's my take on chances. I don't really think it's as much about chances, as it is about a plan. A divine plan. Full of agency, as well as divine intervention. I guess I don't buy into all the statistics. I believe that anything is possible. If it's possible for 150 passengers to survive a plane crash, if it's possible for a minority to be elected to a prominent position, then it's certainly possible for Rylee to have a successful outcome. That's a chance that I truly hope we'll be blessed to have.