The Summer I Found Hope: A FamilyaEUR(tm)s Story about Chronic Illness with Their Beloved Child

By Tracy Moulton

Have you ever thought that, maybe, life was just too hard? Maybe you just want to give up? Tracy feels like this on a daily basis with all that she has been through in the short forty-two years she has been alive. She has had so many life experiences and challenges along the way. The only thing that got her through everything was God. He kept showing up when she was at her lowest and carried her through each and every obstacle along the way.

Boy, was her life filled with obstacles along the way, and it seemed each season of her life was a lesson all unto itself. In The Summer I Found Hope, Tracy deals with many different obstacles that she has faced, and all occurred or started in the season of summer. This is the first book in a series of four books named after the seasons of the year.

Some obstacles that Tracy deals with in The Summer I Found Hope include

* weight issues, which turn into an eating disorder;

* an abusive teenage relationship, which distorted her self-image;

* infertility, premature labor, and challenges of raising a preemie;

* the death of a loved one;

* Moulton's greatest traveling adventures;

* having a child with multiple chronic illnesses yet no diagnosis for years; and

* learning how to be an advocate for herself and her family.

Grab your comfy blanket, and sip on your favorite drink as you come along on her journey of being an overcomer and full of hope despite her circumstances.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887519555

Book preview

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The Summer I Found Hope

A FamilyaEUR(tm)s Story about Chronic Illness with Their Beloved Child

Tracy Moulton

Copyright © 2023 by Tracy Moulton

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 1

To God, who sustains me on a daily basis. I couldn’t do life without him. He gave me the inspiration to write this book.

To my parents; without them, this would not have happened. They have encouraged and helped me in so many ways. I wouldn’t be who I am today without their love and support.

To my husband, the love of my life. He has been my rock and foundation. He loves me unconditionally. Thank you for always going along with all my crazy dreams, including this one.

To my daughter, who is my life and miracle from God. I dreamed of having a little girl for years, and she has been my inspiration and my hero. The way she has handled herself has been a true inspiration to so many in our community.

To my church family and friends, thank you for helping to raise me up. I have been blessed to go to the same church for forty-two years and have the same pastor the entire time.

To my cousin, who I love like a sister. I love you so much and am so happy with the woman you have become.

* * *

This book was written in honor of all the parents out there who are dealing with a child who has a chronic illness. Children who suffer with a chronic illness are the strongest people I know. They are my hero because of all they have had to overcome. They are warriors on a daily basis.

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

—Philippians 4:19

Characters in the Series

Tracy—main character, author

Will—Tracy’s husband, paralyzed in a motorcycle accident

Maggie—Tracy and Will’s daughter, has health issues

Riley—our family dog, a Lab

Trish—Tracy’s mother, Nana to Maggie

Marlin—Tracy’s dad, Paw Paw to Maggie

Grandma P.—Tracy’s maternal grandmother

Granny L.—Tracy’s paternal grandmother

Tara—Tracy’s cousin on maternal side, like a sister

Ann—Will’s mother, Mimi to Maggie

Arthur—Will’s dad, Papa to Maggie

Lee—Will’s sister, has two boys

Steven—Lee’s oldest son

Brian—Lee’s youngest son

Aunt Marge—Tracy’s great-aunt on maternal side

Dr. Daily—Maggie’s motility doctor

Dr. D.—Maggie’s cardiologist

Dr. Perkins—Maggie’s SMAS specialist

Dr. McCall—Maggie’s PCS specialist when she had a concussion

Tiffany—Maggie’s physical therapist

Trever—Tracy’s first boyfriend

Vanessa—Tracy’s cousin on paternal side, introduced her to essential oils

Allison—Tracy’s teammate and best friend

Maria—Tracy met in Utah at the Young Living convention in June, uses body code as her gift

TSA agent

Multiple ER doctors

Multiple principals

Neighborhood gang of friends

*Character names have been changed

Prologue

Present day, April 2022

Thank you so much, I said. I was standing inside Dollywood theme park in Tennessee, and I ended my telephone conversation. I felt so relieved. Finally, after one and a half years of trying to get my daughter, Maggie, some help, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Her doctor had agreed to a mesenteric duplex ultrasound and referred her to see a motility doctor in Charlotte, North Carolina. I had been pushing for this for months.

We live in the foothills of North Carolina, and this week was our Easter break. We were up here in Pigeon Forge for a few days with my husband, Will, and his family. We had season passes to Dollywood and brought his family to experience the Great Smoky Mountains during the springtime. His family is from Maine, so it’s quite a different scenery than what we have been experiencing here in the South.

Maggie had been sick for over one and a half years, and everyone, especially her, was so tired. She couldn’t eat; her stomach hurt 24-7, and the intensity just varied. She battled nausea and went through eating and starving phases. She lost 30 lb. right off the bat when this all started back in November of 2020.

I still remember it like it was yesterday.

1

When the Journey Began

November 2020

Maggie had juvenile bunions and was slated to have surgery on the twentieth of November. This was her first big surgery ever, except for having her adenoids and tonsils out when she was three. It was going to be outpatient, and she wouldn’t be able to bear weight on her right leg for ten long weeks. She had a scooter to take the weight off her foot after her surgery. I thought to myself, She is such a brave girl. Earlier this year, in January, she suffered a concussion and had so many problems from that, but that is another story all in and of itself that I will tell later on.

They had to stick her three times that morning to get the IV started. She has always had trouble with this. After getting the IV going, they put in a nerve block to help ease the pain afterward. I didn’t want her on pain medicine because I know what happens when a loved one gets hooked on them. I do not want that for my child. They wheeled her away, and at that moment, I had no idea what lay ahead.

As they wheeled her out of surgery, she had an adorable dinosaur cast on, and she was groggy. All had gone well, and we were extremely relieved the surgery was over with and a success. We loaded her up in our car and headed to McDonald’s to get something to eat.

Maggie stated, I’m not hungry. I don’t want anything to eat.

I replied, You haven’t eaten all morning, honey. You have to eat something when you take your Advil. You can’t take that on an empty stomach.

Reluctantly, she ate some french fries and took Advil to help with the inflammation.

I really don’t like her taking Advil, but the doctor had said she needed it, so I was giving it to her. We got home, and she went to bed. Later that night, she ate some buttered noodles that Will and I brought back from our favorite restaurant that we like to eat at in our small little town.

The next morning was Saturday, and that means Will will take our dog, Riley, for a walk. Riley is a huge 110 lb. Lab that we like to call husky in size. He is a big baby and loves to get into trouble. I could write a whole book on his escapades. I let him in the house, but Will hadn’t gotten out of bed yet. He was so exhausted from working so much lately and from Maggie’s surgery the day before. Riley came bounding on the bed, ready for his walk, not caring that Daddy was tired.

My husband, Will, is a paraplegic from a motorcycle accident when he was younger. I didn’t know him before the accident; we met years later. He had been really pushing himself lately and wasn’t firing on all cylinders this morning. Riley, just ready to go for a walk, decided to get into some mischief. Will begrudgingly got up into his wheelchair to get ready when he saw that Riley had grabbed my glasses off the bedside table.

Will lunged to get the glasses and stop Riley, who had jumped off our bed to get away. Riley had so much momentum and was so husky that he ended up pulling Will out of the wheelchair and dragging him across the bedroom floor. Will finally managed to get my glasses from his mouth but had hurt his left foot in the process. The glasses had huge teeth marks in the lens. I still could wear them and did for another year. In hindsight, it would have been much cheaper to have let Riley keep the glasses, but we didn’t know that at this point.

It looked like it had broken Will’s foot in the process. He went to urgent care, and they said it wasn’t broken but bruised and needed to be elevated. It was black and purple looking and looked terrible. Meanwhile, I had Maggie recovering from surgery at home and was taking care of her. I remember thinking, How did we get into this predicament? I followed the Tylenol and Advil protocol the doctor recommended for Maggie’s pain management. I thought it was a lot of Advil to be taking, but I trusted her doctor. Maggie was doing great with her foot. Her appetite on the other hand was nonexistent. I chalked it up to the surgery and didn’t really think much about it.

Maggie said she wanted to go out to eat, so we did on Saturday night. Can you imagine a wheelchair, a scooter, two hurt people, and me? I was the only one healthy and having to take care of both of them. It was not any fun whatsoever. It was exhausting. After putting both their accessories into the car and unloading them repeatedly, I was exhausted.

By Monday, Will’s foot looked horrible. He went back to urgent care. They couldn’t do much however. He decided to call his primary care doctor to take a look instead. They got him in on Tuesday and were immediately concerned he might have something really wrong with his foot, like an infection. They scheduled for him to have a CT scan on his foot for Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. They were working him in and did not know how long it would take.

My mom, Trish, who we also call Nana, came to stay with Maggie as we went to the hospital for the scan. We waited for over an hour before he was called back. They had scared us, saying that, if he did indeed have an infection, then they would have to hospitalize him and put a PICC line in. We prayed. We had everyone that we knew praying that this was not the case.

They took him back and did the scan. They had to run dye through him, and he hates needles too. We stayed there and waited for the scan to be read. It was an intense time. Finally, the doctor called and said that it looked like it was broken but did not have any infection. He could go home, but he needed to keep it elevated for a few weeks. No hospital time, but he had to stay at home and work from home while it healed. This was the best-case scenario, and we praised God immediately for the good news. That Thanksgiving was pretty low-key. We were very grateful for the good news, and a friend made us our meal. We felt very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives.

The first few weeks of December went by in a blur. I was taking care of two sick people who constantly needed something. It was exhausting, and I was still working at the time. I am an elementary schoolteacher, and