Day +33: Going Home Tomorrow!

I can't even believe the day is tomorrow! Everything looks good enough and in order to be discharged tomorrow afternoon. It still seems so exciting, scary, and unreal to me. We're so happy he will get to go home, but there's also a new normal ahead of us. This fight is no where near over. We'll still have a good 9 months to a year (or possible more) until life can be lived without so many precautions and fear of the risk of infection. His immune system is still very fragile, and it takes a long time to grow his cells back and continue to produce them to a level of an average child his age. At any time if he develops another fever, rash, or other issue, even if it seems somewhat minor, he could easily be readmitted again. In fact, they said pretty much count on it, at least a few times... Hopefully we're the exception to the average? Hehehe. We can always hope. It seems unreal to go home, though, because we've gotten so used to life here in the hospital, and have seen many of our (well deserving) friends go home. Yet, it feels strange that it is actually and finally Kal's turn to be cheered for, sung to, and ring the bell marking the end of this stage in his BMT journey. The battle is not won, but we are marching onward!

The strongest fighter I know!

Last night, he was quite restless, which ended us both not having the best sleep in the world, although he didn't need to be rocked back to sleep, at least. I could just hear him tossing and turning a lot, making me toss and turn a lot, haha! Silly boy. (;

Kal's doctors said he'll be good to be discharged sometime in the early afternoon tomorrow. Everything is looking better, and Kal is feeling much better for the most part. He did throw up 3 times today, but again, that's totally normal behavior. It will take quite some time for his stomach and intestines to learn how to work again. Kal was so happy and smiling and babbling to all the nurses today. Every nurse that comes in just falls in love with him. The nurses here are just so sweet and really take the time to talk to him, even if they're not his scheduled nurse for the day. Nurses that have had him before will even come and visit him during their shift to check in on him. It's so sweet. He'll just smile, kick his legs, and babble to them in response to what they say- except when one nurse comes in with his beard. Kal's mesmerized by that guy's beard, hahaha! It takes Kal a moment to snap out of it and smile at him too, but he really does love that nurse as well.

Oh, you know, we like to flash ourselves, just to keep things interesting and fun! Hehehe.

In the morning, Kal got to go around again and visit his nurse friends all around the unit today. Everyone gets so excited to see him. It seriously warms my heart so much. Then, later tonight, I was allowed to take him out of the unit and go OUTSIDE on the patio! Yes, like, outside OUTSIDE! Although he had to wear a special HEPA mask, I could tell he was excited. He started breathing fast as though he forgot what fresh air smelled and felt like. His eyes kept looking around everywhere, as well. From the patio, we can get a good view of the road in front of the hospital. When Kal saw the cars passing by, he just stared at every one of them, watching them them go all the way down the road and out of sight. Watching the cars used to be one of his favorite things to do from our window or patio back home. This reminded me of the "old" Kal I used to know, and made me excited to see bits and pieces of his old personality come back.

The only way he doesn't rip that mask straight off is because he gets to suck on his binky behind it. (;

So excited to finally take him out to enjoy some fresh air together!

Looking out to the world he forgot even existed.

Well, folks. This is it! I will try and keep updating this blog with Kal's progress as much as possible, but it probably won't be every day anymore (unless we get admitted again for some random thing, haha). As you know, life will be very crazy trying to pull our lives back together and learning our "new normal" at home. As new updates come along, I'll surely let you all know how our sweet little man is doing, though! Until then... (: