4 French Fries and 2 Grapes

So much has happened since I last posted so let me see...

...We barely got home from Omaha and then headed down to Branson, Mo to visit with my mom, sister and her son's who were in from Montana for my nephew to go to a baseball camp. It was so great to see them! Living this distance away from both of our families gets a little lonely at times so getting to sit and visit, watch Shorty play baseball, play video games, watch Wyatt teach John how to give five like the big boys, laugh, giggle and talk, talk, talk felt so good. We only got to see them for a couple days, but we sure made up for our short time together by staying up late and giggling at every opportunity.

...We got home from Branson just in time for church and big church meetings here in town on Sunday at which we were told that the congregation intends to sell the parsonage, the house that they provide for us to live in, in an effort to remain financially viable for a little longer. While I don't begrudge the selling, I must admit that it makes me kinda sad to think about packing all of our stuff and not having a new state, new town, new everything to explore, that part usually makes up for the royal pain in the butt that moving is. Oh well, this too is in the Lord's hands and we are confident that He will work all things out for our good.

...Then we were off and running to St. Louis for some meetings that Mark needed to attend and a chance to shop at Trader Joe's. They are always fun, John loves to look at all the crazy stuff that they have hanging around and I think Mark and I are in love with TJ's Horseradish Humus.

...A day to hang out at home and then off again to Columbia for labs and such. Unfortunately John wasn't feeling so well so Dr. Rashmi checked him out and sure enough the kid has some kind of virus. A little rash on his face and his belly just not happy.

...The weekend was quiet, thank God, other than John just not feeling well.

...We left early for Omaha, John wasn't feeling tip top, but good enough to go and visit with the Baker's before we had to go for appointments. John is learning to say 'you're welcome' in response to 'thank you' and it was fun to watch him figuring out when to say it. Mark and Birk had a long cigar and visit and Charity and I got to chat too and the kids had a great time. It's always like a mini-vacation at their house and none of us are ready to part when the time comes, but it inevitably does.

...John's appointments, well let's say he's had better. His weight is okay, but his labs were starting to drift off kilter and so we spent 22 hours in the treatment room getting IV fluids and then he was feeling much better. During that time we got to visit with another IRP kid and his mom and that was fun. It's always nice to get to know the other families better and share experiences.

...We could tell by the time that we got home that John was already not feeling well again, and the puking in the middle of the night was a sure indication that the darn virus had not given up yet. Early Thursday morning we took John to Columbia and checked him into the hospital for bowel rest and IV fluids. Mark stayed with him last night and today and I'm making a nice roasted chicken to take for supper and then we'll trade places and Mark will come home for the weekend. John is doing fantastic. His belly is finally settling down for the first time since this whole thing started and thankfully his peripheral IV is holding and he's not having to get poked all the darn time. He is having labs every 12 hours, but they are just doing a finger stick and that crazy kid is so excited that they aren't going to be sticking a needle up his hand or foot again that when the lab person comes in he's excited and smiles and waves and hold out his hand and shows them which finger they should poke this time.

...So what does all this have to do with french fries and grapes. Well let me tell you our exciting news. When we stopped using John's central line he started playing with food more intentionally and when the darn thing got pulled out he started eating again. Just a bite here or there, and not on the days when he was puking because of the virus but today, hanging out with dad watching Stevie Ray Vaughn DVD's he ate 2 grapes for breakfast and 4 french fries for lunch, we are excited! He had eaten a few grapes at Charity's too and at every meal that he's felt good he's taken a bite of something, and all of this gives us hope that he's going to go back to eating and all discussions of feeding therapy can just cease.

...Well that gets the highlights in, hopefully things will settle down and I'll get more chance to post and John will get more chances to just be a little boy that lives at home, and we'll both be happier to just being under the same roof as dad!