Timehop

Have you heard of the Timehop app that lets you see things you've posted on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in the past?  I check Timehop from time to time, and today really got me thinking about some things.  This time of year always reminds me of happy things - graduations, summer approaching, beautiful spring weather.  Two years ago around this time, I was wrapping up my last semester of graduate school and was about to graduate with my masters degree.

Some of you know about my best friend, Cohen, who has practically been my adopted sister since we met in seventh grade.  We went to college together, roomed together, lived together after college, and she was my maid of honor in my wedding.  But two years ago, Cohen got sick.  You can read more about her story on my blog at kristinlafollette.blogspot.com/2014/12/still-perfect.html or on her fundraising page at youcaring.com/deesbraindefenders.  Her mystery illness started getting worse around the time I was supposed to graduate. 

At the end of April, I was getting ready for my final week of grad school.  I had huge papers due, plus I had to finish up my thesis project and defend it in front of my committee.  Life was chaotic.  Cohen had been having some serious health issues and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with her.  She called me one afternoon to tell me that she was going to Indiana University Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis to have surgery because the pressure in her head was building up and they needed to relieve it.  The surgery happened to be during the final week of classes.

I was torn because I had so much work to do and I was so close with my classmates and I worried this would be the last time we would all be together, but I dropped everything and drove to Fort Wayne and then to Indianapolis with Cohen's family for the surgery.  I remember sitting in the waiting room with Cohen's mother, stepfather, and grandparents while eating Taco Bell and working on a Julia Kasdorf stylistics paper.

I ended up staying in Indianapolis for three days, sleeping on a cot in Cohen's room because I was so afraid to leave her side.  (I also learned that people in the hospital get no sleep.  Who comes in to take someone to get a CT scan at 3:00 in the morning!?) 

My bed, office, and everything in between for the three days I stayed with Cohen at IU Methodist.

I had to head back to South Bend faster than I would have liked (it was about a three hour trip from South Bend to Indianapolis) because I had loose ends with school and my thesis project.  Cohen had a brain biopsy shortly after her shunt surgery to relieve pressure and went home a few days later.  We all were anxious to find out the results.

Cohen and I together at her house in Ft. Wayne right after she got home from her shunt/biopsy surgeries. 

Two weeks later, in the midst of my grad school and graduation madness, Cohen called me when Justin and I were driving to watch my little brother's high school baseball game.  They finally had a diagnosis - it was a rare brain tumor that we later found out was incurable.  As Phillip Phillips "Home" was playing on the radio in the car, I broke down. 

Cohen was scheduled to have major brain surgery the following week on the same day as my graduation (Justin also happened to be graduating at the same time with his undergraduate degree in psychology, so it was a big deal for us).  Cohen told me over and over again how upset she was that she wouldn't be there, but I was more heartbroken that I wouldn't be there with her.

Justin and I at our graduation from Indiana University in May 2013.

Cohen's mother ended up telling me later that Cohen woke up after her surgery wanting to know if anyone had heard from me and how my graduation went.  Cohen is always worried about everyone else.  She ended up texting me while I was sitting at graduation and my mom sent her several videos of the ceremony.  It was like we were together the whole time.

The very next day, I left for Indianapolis to go see Cohen in the intensive care unit at IU Methodist.

My friend, Elisabeth, and I with Cohen after her surgery to remove a portion of the tumor.

Cohen and I at my old house in South Bend.  She came to stay with Justin and I for a few days during her recovery.

Cohen and I sporting our Boston gear shortly after her surgery. 

So this time of year has me thinking about lots of things.  Several of our youth group students from church are preparing to graduate which always gets me thinking about May 2013.  It was a time of happiness for me as I was moving on after two years of hard work in grad school, but it was also chaotic and scary and exhausting.  There were many tearful days and nights.  I wrote an entire 25-page paper and communicated with my committee about my thesis in a hospital while simultaneously fighting the anxiousness I was feeling about Cohen's surgery and the unknown (at the time) nature of her illness.

And as I prepare to go back to school this fall, I think of new beginnings and graduations and how something can be both wonderful and terrible at the same time.  Graduating with my masters was a great feeling, but it also brings with it memories of hardship and sadness and questioning and anxiety.

It's crazy how Timehop brought up all these old memories and feelings and happiness and sadness all at the same time.

I continuously thank God for the happy moments and praise him in the sad times.

"Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
-Joshua 1:9

If you are compelled to contribute to Cohen's cause or learn more about her, visit the fundraising page I mentioned above.  And above all, could you pray for her?  She is a very special young woman who has brought much happiness and joy to each person she has come in contact with.

God is good all the time.