Ifs. . .

I'm not yelling yet.  I'm not woo-hooing yet.  I'm not dancing around yet.  I'm not jumping and acting all crazy so my kids ask me to stop yet.  Not yet.  Soon though.

Right now I'm whispering.  Shhh.  I'd like to tell you something, but I will whisper.  Do I have your ear?  I'll try not to be too breathy so it tickles your ear--I can't stand that!  Simon might be coming home on Friday.


There are a few "ifs", so I've been spending some time with my Father God and talking with Him about it.  I've also become a little more pushy.  I think that it's o.k.  Parents whose kids have been in the hospital for 17 days are allowed to ask a few more questions.  They are allowed to call a doctor at home when the doctor didn't come in and visit them.  (Yup, we did that.)  They are allowed to bring in Ben and Jerry's ice cream so that the calorie count on their son goes higher.  I'm normally not so pushy (I don't think so.  Gary?!?  Mom?!?), but I'm a mama bear and it is time for us to return to our cave.  We need a little family time.  I need me some Gary time.

So here are the ifs.
1. He needs to take in more calories.  Someone somehow thought that Simon had lost huge amounts of weight since he got sick.  Here is the thing.  He isn't a big kid.  He. Is. Chinese.  Do you know lots of large Chinese people?  There's that one crazy basketball star, but the Chinese excel in ping pong and something called snooker (?), not basketball or football.  Let's do a search of all the Chinese players in the NFL.  Hmmm.  Yes, Simon has lost weight.  He didn't have much to lose (again, Chinese small person. . . but so stinkin cute!).  We'll get it back on him.  We'll give him bacon and ice cream and fried fish and we'll make him lift weights.  (Nope, we won't do that.)  I think he'll be o.k. in the "returning back to normal size" category.
2. He needed to switch to an antibiotic that could be given at home.  There wasn't one that could be taken orally.  Boo.  Dr. Dahl (the infections disease doctor that I called at home last night--pushy mama remember?) thought there might be one she could switch him to that was every eight hours that would cover his infections.  She decided to do this today.  TODAY!  Do you know what that says to me?  He might be coming home!  Oops, that was a little loud.  I have to remember to whisper.
3. The tubes.  The plan (last I heard) was to inject contrast dye into his abscesses on Thursday and see what is going on.  They aren't excited about sending Simon home with three tubes coming out of his belly.  I'm not excited about that either although I'd still take him home!  So we are really hoping and praying and praying some more that one or two (please!!) of the tubes could come out on Thursday.  We really want those abscesses to be closed!!!

I'm planning on being at the hospital both today and tomorrow.  This will be really hard for my other kids: especially Penny.  Boy that girl gets very upset anytime someone comes over and mom might be leaving.  She also wakes up screaming every night.  It isn't fun.  Last night she finally fell back asleep on the floor in front of her door.  This child needs her parents to be home on a more regular basis.

So, if I get news tomorrow and if it is good and if your windows are open, you might hear me laughing and shouting and clapping and jumping from the 9th floor of Helen DeVos Children's Hospital.  Then I might have to get on the phone and rent a trailer or something to get all of Simon's gear home.  :)