More Hospital

Finally busted out! And here is the rest of that story.

Sunday July 19 - Helen and William arrived  having driven the 600+ miles in 2 days this time with a quick visit to have a look at a university on the way. Helen teaches virtually and of course has to juggle her schedule because she does not have vacation.

William had finished his summer employment that week. On Thursday 7/16 he did his part when all the interns in this program through the Vanderbilt University gave a presentation. We are so proud of him.

They came to see Papa and of course wanted to help but I also wanted William to have as much “cousin time” as possible at least in their first week of their visit. 

Sarah and Wade made that possible too. He helped his cousins with their bin-cleaning business when they needed to be driven to those places. He is 16 and has his driver license!

William also wanted to have time with Papa. They had fun playing cards in Papa's hospital room and I could leave to take care of something which needed attention. 

By now James was on the 4th floor in the In-house Rehab and every evening we would get a schedule for the next day. He had 3 or 3 1/2 hours of 3 different kinds of therapy every day. I could see how quickly he got better in some areas. 

Helen spoiled her father with chocolate. 

In the beginning I was not allowed to move James at all. He really needed a hair cut though. It makes him feel better. On Saturday 7/25, when not much was going on in the hospital, an OT was very happy to go outside with us to take care of it. It was a lot of fun for all three of us. 

Sarah had a birthday that week but so much was going on that it was celebrated a few days later. We wanted to have a bit of family time all together so I asked whether we could use the big room where James and I had to go once for a group meeting. 

It was ok to sing to Sarah and have some birthday cookie. In the hospital ... of course no candles.

I could not resist to share the next couple of photos. On Monday 27th I had to run home for something and look who was visiting our front yard. It was fun to watch for a fleeting moment.

This week Sarah and her family were gone to the beach with Wade's family. Helen (and some days also William) were sleeping in their house to take care of the animals (2 dogs, 1 cat, 2 lizards and 1 fish). They also love animals but they had to get used to especially Coopers temperament. 

While in the hospital James got visited by 4 different service dogs. 

Three weeks in the hospital. Comming and going at all different hours of the day. For several days we also had heavy downpours. Depending on the hour the parking lot was full or almost empty. Going home I always had to think where my car might be parked. Sometimes I needed some extra steps to find it which was probably good for me. Sometimes the sky was extra pretty.

On Friday the 31st Helen and William had to drive back home again. So the Thursday was my last chance to spoil him a little. It is tradition that we have an all-you-can-eat lunch at Sushi Masa. He is smiling! We both liked it.

Afterwards we went to the Science Museum. That too is tradition when William is visiting. Unfortunately this time only one time. We have a membership so at some previous visits we would go several days in a row. Special this time was an exhibition called "Survival of the Slowest" or "slow but steady"

I kept the stickers from that visit on my car dashboard. You know how much we love our family and of course we are missing those we can't see very often.

Good news is of course that they got home safely. 

Sunday James had his last therapy lessons. I am so proud of him. 

The only thing really hampering his progress is his left arm. After the "minimal invasive procedure" they did in the hospital in the first week he could not use his left arm. Something happened to a nerve during his placement. We are happy though that it steadily got better. Steadily but of course to slow for us.

Friday Helen and William gone. Sunday Sarah and Family are back. She came with the boys to visit Papa and show their beach findings. 

While she stayed with the twins to keep Papa company, I took Caleb to our house. He wanted to clean our trash can and the recycling can. He did an amazing job. And he did it so happily.

This was all three boys' summer job. Recently they celebrated their 100s bin. And it seems to continue past the summer vacation time. They have already more requests.

Monday August 3 - THE BIG DAY!

James got discharged. 

(This photo was taken especially for my niece Maren)

We are happy. And now a week later we are even happier. 

The discharge meeting with the doctor made us quite scared for the first night. And that is all I say about it. We were able to set up an appointment with wonderful urologist Dr Rollins for which we had to drive a bit out of the way. We went home on cloud 9.

Again, prayers have been heard. We have to give it some time and all will be good again. 

We are grateful to many caring people and OUR LORD!