Sunday, January 25, 2009

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Quote of the day (thanks Susan S.): "It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters." ~ Mother Teresa

We have enjoyed being home the past two days. This morning none of us could get up. Mattie did not stir until 10am. I spent saturday night in Mattie's room, and despite Mattie sleeping through the night, I did not. Something kept waking me up and then I had a hard time falling back alseep. I just felt like I had a lot on my mind. Can't imagine what that could be, right?

We met up with Mattie's friends, Campbell and Livi (Campbell's sister) this afternoon. We all went to see the movie, "Hotel for Dogs." I hear this movie received poor reviews from the critics. Which usually means in my book, that I am probably going to like the movie. Mattie loves dogs and I think he feels this way because of his pal JJ. So when Mattie saw the previews for this movie on TV, he expressed an interest in going to see it. Mattie sat between Campbell and Livi at the theatre and truly enjoyed himself. During parts of the movie he was sitting on the edge of his chair, at other times he was bouncing to the music. Peter and I enjoyed the movie too, and I must admit I am probably the only person who can cry through "Hotel for Dogs," but there were some very touching moments in my perspective. I just liked the moral of the story... that everyone deserves a home, and some times you have to fight for what is right even though it goes against the normal order of things. It was nice that Mattie could go to the movie and also see it with his friends. It made it a good social experience for him.

After the movie, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some must haves for the hospital this week. Mattie and I stayed in the car, while Peter dealt with what looked like a VERY packed store. While Peter was shopping, Mattie noticed that a child lost his helium balloon. It was flying in the sky. Mattie and I stared at this balloon for several minutes until it went up so high in the sky we lost track of it. Mattie wanted to know what happened to all lost balloons. I told him what I thought, that they probably pop somewhere in the atmosphere and then parts of the balloon come back to the ground. Mattie thought that wasn't the case, and then proceeded to tell me a story about what he thinks happens to all lost balloons. Apparently according to Mattie balloons rise up into space, at which point God captures the balloons and saves them there for when a child is sad and needs to smile. Interesting no? I thought the story was lovely. Mattie also observed several birds hanging out in trees in the parking lot. At which point he told me to call Peter on the phone and remind him to pick up bird seeds for our feeder.

When we got home, Mattie asked us to refill the bird feeder. As soon as we did, our beautiful red headed finch came to visit. It was worth buying the bird seed, just to see this little red fellow. Mattie loves the birds too, and we both like watching them. Some how we could try to manufacture the red color on the finch's feathers, but nothing can beat the beauty of a color produced by nature. Mattie spent the rest of the afternoon building with legos. Believe me, we are keeping Legos in business and with each set that Mattie builds, he adds it to his train scene which is taking up our living room at the moment. Peter assisted Mattie all afternoon, while I was doing laundry and getting ready for another week ahead of us in the hospital. It is funny how walking up and down stairs to do laundry has become my main form of exercise. It is a sad commentary, but hospital living takes its toll out on you physically, because you do not get an opportunity to move around much. You can take this inactivity for a couple of weeks, but after a couple of months, it greatly affects your body.

We want to thank the Cooper's for a lovely dinner tonight. We all enjoyed the chicken, potatoes, and vegetables! While Peter and I were eating, Mattie was busy with his trains. As promised, we took a picture of the final product with the lamps assembled around the tracks. Mattie is so proud of his train village!

Tonight we are preparing Mattie for another hospital admission. He is not happy about this, but we keep reminding him why we need all this medicine. He understands, but none the less it is hard to know you are going back to the hospital after being discharged just a few days ago. Peter and I still have a central line dressing change ahead of us this evening. I would have hoped changing Mattie dressing would be getting easier with time, but it hasn't. We are supposed to change his dressing three times a week, but because this is such a challenging event, we do it only once a week. Fortunately we have been able to keep his dressings clean so he hasn't had a central line infection. Thankfully!

It has been a great weekend for Mattie. He was able to reconnect with his friends and the world around him. In comparison to two months ago, we are happy to see Mattie's psychological, emotional, and social progress.