the goodness of people

my answer to everything lately has been “a few days ago” even though it might have been yesterday or two weeks ago. it’s hard to keep track of what happened when. we’ve been in the general floor for… a few days now and have been adjusting quite well here. i look at the general floor as a place to “work out the kinks” perfect the meds and maintain a baseline to be able to go home. which thank the Lord we have been doing. Otto has been responding perfectly to the medical treatments he’s been given that will hopefully buy us more time before his next surgery.

yesterday we had a swallow study done to make sure he was not “leaking” milk into his lungs causing heavier breathing and the bad xray from a few days ago. a swallow study is they set cameras up on either side of you and take a live xray of you swallowing special glow juice to see where it goes down your track. otto – no leaks. can’t decide if thats a good or a bad thing. good because well… he’s not leaking even though it would just be a matter of thickening the formula bad because… hmmm why did he have fluid in his lungs that day? nobody seems overly concerned as the xrays have since cleared up and shown clear lungs. it was kind of funny because this is the first time otto has been out of his room in 14 days with the exception of moving him around. he was NOT having it. they put him on a plastic car seats of sorts and i was supposed to hold out a bottle to him. the kid barely eats already so there was no way that was going to work. we figured out a way for joe to hold him on his lap and feed him in an awkward way that worked.  we didn’t get much but we got at least 7 swallows down which is good enough.

and now we are just working on feeds again and medicines before we can go home. they are thinking this week we will finally be set free into the wild. as i sit here and think about where the “last few days” have gone i’m just blown away by the kindness of people. with all the crappy stuff going on in this world situations like this make you see the true good in people.

i’ll never forget the day i came home to my beautiful porch that robin from robins flowers in holland decorated for me. you guys my porch is an area of pride for me. i LOVE decorating my porch and due to just everything going on it looked like crap since august. it made me so sad. when i asked robin for just a few pumpkins and mums to put on my porch she did this. i was just overwhelmed it’s absolutely beautiful. and folks robin is just as beautiful as the flowers she sells. if you are looking to be inspired and decorate you need to visit her greenhouse. it’s stunning. she has the best ideas (planters with corn stalks and wheat and all these amazing grasses?!?) she’s incredible. every time i look at my home this fall i’m not only blown away by the beauty of it but by the incredible acts of kindness we’ve witnessed through our journey with otto.

we are so grateful to those who cleaned our house while we were gone. you heard me, my dear friend brenda cleaned my home while i was gone. i went home to quick grab laundry and the house was just spotless from the disaster zone we left it in from packing and getting ready for surgery. again more tears.

i wish i could put into words all of the emotions that joe and i have felt these past few months and express our deep and sincere gratitude for all of the prayers, starbucks, meals, comfort and words of encouragement. all i can say is i promise you that someday Otto will know of how many people prayed for him and helped his family out get through this. we still have a long journey ahead of us but we are so grateful to be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.

so again from the bottom of our hearts. thank you. have i said it enough? no. never. thank you.

abby joe and otto