Oh McDonald's!

After being on the waiting list, Tim and I finally got a room in the larger Ronald McDonald House a mile or so down the road from the hospital. For those of you not familiar with the program (as I wasn't just a few days ago) it is a part communal living/part private quarters place that houses families of kids who are hospitalized or undergoing treatment.

Part of the reason for the wait for us was the fact that the floor we are on was damaged by Hurricane Ike. They just opened it up (replete with fresh paint and new carpet) today and boom, we were in. Our room is quite large with floor to ceiling picture windows. Food or drink is not allowed in the rooms and reservable television rooms are down the hall. It is a cross between a nicely appointed hotel, a dorm room, and a monastery (think simplicity).

Downstairs we have our own cubby in a freezer, a fridge and a pantry in the large kitchen with several cooking bays. Nearly every night a different organization or company sponsors dinner which makes for less work and clean up. There are activities for the kids staying here like a Teddy Bear Clinic where kids can get a health and hygiene lesson by using their stuffed animals as role models.

In addition to a significantly lower cost than a hotel, it is just nice and normalizing to be around other families who are in the same boat. Part of the way they keep costs down here is that each family has a communal chore to do to help keep the common areas clean. Ours is emptying the three small garbage cans each night in the outdoor BBQ pavilion. As it is freezing cold right now, we basically have the EASIEST job you could think of. Peek into three garbage cans to confirm that they are indeed empty and you're done!

Jack continues to do well. We are still waiting on some bloodwork the hematologists ordered to come back to discern if the clot is an anomaly or an indication that he may have some sort of ongoing condition that causes clotting issues for him. The clot still is in place as the nurses aren't able to find a pulse in his elbow or wrist yet. (By the way, this is less gruesome than it sounds since the smaller blood vessels are doing a great job of supplying his arm with blood.) While we are waiting on those results, Dr. Leonard, Jack's neonatologist, has asked the TCH vascular surgeons to consult to start pulling together information from their team and other medical centers around the country on procedural/surgical treatment options and experiences with similar cases. That way if the medications alone don't clear the clot, they will have a plan in place for next steps ready to go.

I will try to take some photos of Jack later today. He is beginning to lose that old-man-mystic-on-the-mountain-top look so common to newborns. He is fattening up and getting that lovely plump baby face. Nursing is going well as is pumping. I take a little delight in knowing that he's had virtually nothing but mother's milk since birth. The milk banking/nursing support at TCH is fantastic...a ideal model for how I wish the rest of society could be for all the other nursing moms out there.

That's all for now! Keep those prayers a'coming! They are certainly keeping us lifted up.