Late Monday Night - A Josiah Update

One last note before I enter the week of internet silence (or whenever I call Shaw to connect us!) ...

So here we go! We are HOURS away from taking Josiah home and the only emotion I have is the "it's-about-time" emotion (if that makes any sense). We're ready. Tired. But ready.

Josiah's discharge party today was special. It was a nice gesture to have so many nurses and staff come by to share their wishes and to see us off. We tried to avoid tears altogether - I think Marie and I were too exhausted to be emotional and reflective - but it's hard knowing that these people we've seen almost every week are not going to be a part of our lives in the same way. We're going to miss them big time: they have played an enormous and foundational role in the last 15 months and they have changed our lives. God bless them.

For a while it seemed that Josiah was fighting a bug during the day - the common curse that falls up many longterm ICU patients as they are just about to be discharged! But his secretions cleared up throughout the day, he didn't need oxygen by the time evening came, and he definitely seemed more playful and alert after his post-party snooze. So pray that he isn't coming down with something because it would certainly make the first week home eventful in all the wrong ways!

We packed up most of his belongings from the hospital today. His bed came into today as well - WOW! We'll post pictures some time.

Thanks for all your continued prayers through this week - I know a lot of you will be praying for us some more as we transition home and re-discover again a whole new 'normal'. We found out today that we are even shorter than expected on nursing support, so we are praying that the program will be able to fast-track some LPN's so they can take the course this month and not be forced to wait until June.

And a final notes about home visits and stuff: I know many people will be interested in dropping by to see us and lend a hand as desired. We thank you in advance for your generosity! Please know that if you are thinking about dropping by you must give a call first, better even a day in advance. We have a handful of appointments over the next two weeks, but more importantly we are trying to avoid unannounced visitors in case we are out or sleeping (our sleeping schedule is going to be pretty funky over the next couple of weeks!) We're doing a big adjustment here going from public living to private, from '24/7 nursing-babysitting' to 'do-it-yourself-care' and we know that you kind folks will be thoughtful and understanding. Thanks so much!

In JOY and EXCITEMENT and CELEBRATION!
- Andrew, Marie & Josiah