April 6, 2008


Happy 5 weeks! Can you believe it? Five weeks ago yesterday Garrett got a new lease on life and he’s making the most of it, at least as much as he can. His discomfort from the surgery is minimal now, much to our relief. Even the nightmares are fewer. The kids were playing in the ‘fun room’ here at the Ronald McDonald house their laughs could be heard throughout the building. Great stuff.

Garrett had a big last few days. He got to meet Billy Thompson from the 1977 Bronco’s Super Bowl team, and “Miles” the mascot. Miles kinda took a shine to momma and about got a knot snapped on his butt. Horseface! Mr. Thompson, though, was very nice to the kids and talked football and baseball with Garrett for quite a while.

Today’s clinic visit at the hospital was pretty uneventful. We’re still wishing he’d start gaining more weight back, but at least he’s not losing a lot. A new medicine they have him on to help fight thrush is raising his cyclosporine levels, which works with a few others to fight possible rejection. So they have to move up some here and down some there. It’s really a giant balancing act to make sure the lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) will accept his heart while still helping to protect him from invading organisms that can cause harm. All the while it’s giving his body the best opportunity to heal and grow. There’s really not enough time or room to explain it all, and I’m not sure I really understand it anyway, but suffice to say it’s all necessary to carry on the mission.

Our days are starting to blend together now and the Ronald McDonald house is getting smaller all the time. We try to get some ‘normal’ activities in, but they are often interrupted with moments of yearning for home. That is usually manifested in somebody having a 13 year old spoiled girl fit. Mostly me. The kids are doing their best to adapt and mom and dad are doing our best to remind them that we can’t control circumstances, only our response to them. They handle it better than we do. We honestly are trying to pray often, reflect and to hope our devotion to God will be pleasing to Him. There is a flight for life helecopter that comes and goes frequently nearby. Each time it flies, we all pray for the pilot, crew and whoever it is they're flying to help. The kids are great at stopping everything to pray when we hear it. Although we don’t understand why we're in this chapter of our journey, we do know that we are exactly where He needs us to be right now. It's more of a blessing than I can explain to be able to be here with my family.

May God bless and keep you all.

JD