and a little bit better...

I was so pleased this morning to walk into Noah's room after church to see him sitting up and talking with Tom.  He looked so good! Well, to be honest, he still looks really bad, but he was so alert, he looked good!  He ended up being awake most of the day and evening, which is a huge improvement, just by itself, but again, his weight was down 300g, and his liver enzymes were down again too, so it really looks like things are beginning to turn around.  He still isn't peeing as much as they would like, but they continue to assure us, it will come.  You can hear that his voice is weak, it sounds kind of nasal; I'm not sure if it is the oxygen or his lungs having fluid in them, or what, but his voice sounds funny.  But, at least he is talking!

The biggest thing is that he just looks more comfortable. He is able to lean back in his bed and still breathe, and he is able to sit forward in his bed, like cross-legged for a little while and still breathe.  His breathing isn't so laboured anymore, and tonight before I left, the nurse had him down to 3 litres of oxygen from 4, so they are starting to try and wean him off the o2 these next few days.
I have to tell myself not to get too excited, he is starting to turn the corner, but he isn't all the way around it yet!  And it will take a while before they will be ready to let him go to RMH, let alone home.  A nurse told me yesterday that I shouldn't be surprised if we are still in hospital after 10 days.  From yesterday.  Well, as long as he continues to improve, I don't really care where we are.

I suppose the best part of the day was when I was leaving I leaned down to kiss his head and he hugged me!  It was great! Until tonight, he didn't have the energy to lift his arms up, but tonight I got a hug.  : )
The worst part of the day was saying goodbye to my girls.  Alyson asked me when I would be coming home and I had to say, "I don't know."  Ugh.  I don't like that.  I feel bad for them, and I want to be with them, I should be with them.  But they are really amazing and so resilient.  They have realized that this is our new life, and we just have to do this for a while, then it will be back to normal again.  I think this is in large part due to our community in Smithers, all of you have really stood in the gap for me and loved them and taken such good care of them (and Tom).  Thank you. Once again, we couldn't do all of this without your support.

Tomorrow is Halloween, and Noah has been talking about trick or treating in this neighbourhood for months! He has a great costume, and he couldn't wait to see how people in Shaughnessy decorate their houses, and what kinds of things do they give out in a neighbourhood where all the houses are worth 3-6 million dollars??? Anyway, we decided not to mention it, but today he figured it out. He was quite disappointed, but I told him I would bring his costume to the hospital (he has this great mask attached to a baseball cap - it is a man with big bushy eyebrows and a big bushy mustache with a stub of a cigar sticking out of his mouth. It is just the top half of his face, but it awesome!)  and there is a halloween parade in the afternoon, so he could either take part in it (depending on the oxygen thing) or watch it from his room.  I'm sure there will be an overabundance of candy as well, though he isn't particularly interested in eating it, just collecting it! Hopefully the activities will be enjoyable, and he can freak out a few nurses with his mask.  He has worn it around here and out and about,and he got  a good reaction, so hopefully he will enjoy tomorrow.
Well, now that it IS tomorrow, I should get to bed.  Thank you for continuing to pray for Noah, the Lord has certainly heard our cries and answered!  Thank you.