Happy Anniversary??

Oct 26th marked the one year anniversary of when Mr.B was diagnosed with Hydrops and when I ended up in hospital that afternoon.  I can't believe it has been a year, it is shocking to me that it has only been a year in many regards and yet it has been the longest year of my life.

It is sad that as I am writing this that B is still in hospital and that we've really only had him home for such a short amount of time in the past year.  The good news is that Mr.B should be home this week (fingers crossed and re-crossed), only five weeks after going in this time.  Five weeks! Not what I was imagining as we were driving him into Emerge this past time.  Of course I also had no idea he'd be clinging to life once again on the verge of being intubated!

The life with B, or rather the "Life of B" is what my next chapter should be called!

As I mentioned, things are looking up for Mr.B, he is stronger, gaining weight (after losing so much in ICU that put him back to 'scrawny') and he is full of his usual vim and vigour.  He is down to just his O2 tubing and has his little cheeks and nose back to usual again, no more (extra) pesky tubes.  We are just still sorting out the kinks of his feeding and I'm and hoping that he's not being pushed too quickly.  They were taking it slow (as per my request) but the weekend Dr. (who doesn't know B at all) pushed his feed up almost full ounce per feed today.  The awesome thing?  His Nurse called me to see what I wanted to do!  Did I mention how much I adore those women on Unit 2??  I did allow the push, more or less to do our trial and error under the hospital care, not at home.  He is seemingly tolerating it so far which is great for him, the little trouper that he is.  My plan is to get him up and moving as much as possible in the next few days to see if he is 'truly' tolerating his feeds when he isn't laying in a hospital bed 20 out of 24 hrs a day.  He is also in need of a g-tube replacement by a surgeon tomorrow as the valve on his has shot.  I tried to take the feeding tube out of it last night to clean it and had geyser of fluid shoot up instead!  Thankfully it is a short procedure and hopefully (fingers crossed again) that Dr.Brindle is on service and will once again come to our rescue.

I cannot convey how very blessed I am with my children or how much love they all have for one another!  T and Ry have always been extremely close (they still sit practically on top of one another on the couch even though we have two couches) so I wasn't sure where B would fit in.  There was never a worry to be had, all three boys think the sun rises and set with the other two!  The big boys and I were up for the afternoon today and we did put B into his carseat/stroller combo and walked him around the whole hospital (those of you that know T's love for elevators will understand).  Mr.B was SO happy to be out and about and was certainly less than pleases when I took him back and put him back into the hospital crib. He was thinking I was springing him I'm sure!

I'm not quite sure what the Nurses will do when we do come home though, they will certainly miss their smiles and love that he so happily offers to each of them!  Through it all, this child smiles and laughs.  He is an inspiration and a blessing to us all!  Braeden knows that life is simply for living and loving, that is it.

So for the past year people have been telling me to ask for help. Here it is, I need a 'WebMaster' to help me form a Blood Donor webpage for people to sign up to that have donated in Mr.B's honour. I can't think of a better way to track them and it would give me a chance to thank everyone that has. We've had people coast to coast donate as well as some around the world. So, if any of you, or someone you know has the time and the gift of computers please send me a mssg. Even more so if someone want to 'donate' their time to this, even better! :)  I have a pretty good idea in my head of what I want, I just don't have the skill set to put it to computer!

We are also about to come upon a very important day in 10 days, Mr.B will be turning 1!!!  All of the times we had to live life hour to hour I wasn't sure that this day would even come.  In celebration we will be holding a Blood Drive on November 10th at 9 am with Canadian Blood Services (Every two Canadians will either require blood or know someone who does/will).  Blood Services has asked if they can throw a small Birthday party for B as well and we are thrilled!  Please come out and join the celebration of giving the gift of life!  If you are looking to donate (we have a few spots left to fill) then please message me.  The plan is to also have an Open House on the Sunday (11th, after we remember our valued Veterans of course!!) but I've not gotten around to getting all of the details of that in place yet, just reserve it for us!