I finally decided to start writing things down. Ya, I know, it's a little late already. I tend to be quite forgetful. And so many interesting and funny things have happened.
I have to start right now on the day of July 27, 2009. Early that morning my family's lives changed when my grand daughter Essa Liv Holz was born. When she was just barely 2 months old, my daughter, Rena, asked me to look at Essa's eyes to see if I saw anything strange. She was able to see inside one eye through the pupil. I wasn't able to really see what Rena saw, but I asked her to make an appointment with a pediatrician as soon as possible. No question is a stupid question when it comes to the health of a child. Luckily she got an appointment within a few days. But he immediately made an appointment for Essa to be seen at the Children's Hospital in Ottawa - CHEO.
Rena and Papa Christian found out that there were only days left to remove Essa's left eye because she was born with a childhood cancer of the eyes called Retinoblastoma. If left a day too long, the cancer could travel through to the brain.
What a shock to all of us, let alone to Essa's parents. How do you cope when your first child is diagnosed with cancer.
But Essa went through the enoculation just fine. She was fitted with a prosthetic eye soon after which we call her magic eye. She goes for regular check ups and has been doing perfectly.
So this special little sweetheart of ours has made our lives rich and happy with all her lively antics. She's a wise little girl and not afraid of anything. So this is what I'd like to focus on with bits and pieces of my life in general.
Little Essa has done quite a bit of traveling in her short years. At four months she went with her parents to their new temporary home in Glasgow, Scotland. Her papa was still working on his PhD at the University of Glasgow. About a year later they immigrated back to Canada when her parents got married. At the wedding, Essa was a year old and sat on the ground during the ceremony which was out by a lake by a peaceful park. Essa was quite amused by stones and found it entertaining to pile stones on her mama's wedding dress. Later during the party, she had a nice nap on some blankets in the corner of the chalet.
