(Originally posted February 22, 2009)

I just got Eli to bed (Leah's been in bed for 45 minutes or so), thus ending my first day of single motherhood. It's so awesome to be able to give my babies a snuggle when I want, although everything just got about ten times harder. And oh, the look on J.J.'s face when he saw them! They both catapulted into his bed and just cuddled with him for a good long while. Both the kids seemed to handle seeing J.J. pretty well and I think it helped settle some of their concerns.

Eli has started asking questions. Chief among his concerns right now is why J.J.'s stroke happened, why it happened while he was so young and how we know it won't happen again. I explained that we may never know why, that sometimes young people do have strokes and that often they recover to lead full, healthy lives. I let him know that we're really hopeful that Daddy will be able to get back to normal after he does lots of hard work with rehab and therapy sessions even after he comes home. I also let him know that his dad will be on medicine to help him reduce his chances of having a stroke in the future and that we'll be on the lookout for symptoms to help to keep it from happening again. He seems puzzled but satisfied. Eli's always been a very concrete thinker and I think the knowledge that strokes are something that usually happens in older people is very hard for him to reconcile with J.J.'s age.

In other news, I had to throw some big gigantic fits today about the fact that J.J.'s x-rays and ultrasound from yesterday still had not been read as of 5:00 this evening. Finally I got Dr. Acula to grace me with a personal call explaining the situation and what is going to be done to fix this. J.J. does have cellulitis in his right foot/leg. This will be treated with antibiotics and should be much better within the next few days. It will not keep him from being transferred to RHI. After his sleep study is completed this evening, we should be good to go. I'm soooo ready to get him out of the hospital and to the next stop on the road to being home with us.

I have so much more to say but no time to sit and write. I have three loads of laundry to fold, a bathroom to clean, a lasagna to heat up (thanks Nova!), bags to pack and a vague notion that I should probably try to get some sleep. More tomorrow, hopefully from rehab.

P.S. I just realized it's now been one week, almost to the minute, since J.J. was loaded into the ambulance. I can't believe it's already been that long. I can't believe it's only been that long.