Today while Richard and Brent we running the half marathon in Chicago with Richard and Christa were cheering them on, the boys and I were sitting in out backyard. We were taking advantage of a spectacular late summer morning by drawing pictures of our home and the people we love with chalk on our back yard path.

Richard sent a text while we were drawing with a beautiful photo of him with a ribbon around his neck, holding a thank you sign. Ayrie asked me what the sign meant and I told him all about the running for ayrie blog, the work that richard and christa have done on our behalf and about all of the people who donated money so we could go to Boston. I’ve explained all of this before but I think that this was the first time that he really understood it.

I wish you could have seen his face. He was glowing. I really think he felt genuine gratitude in this heart. And then he said yay!, clapped, and jumped up into the air. I asked if he might like to make a movie for the website to thank everyone who has helped us. To my great surprise, he said yes!

From thank you and i love you

You can hear that it is hard for him to talk above a whisper (bummer) but that we’ve found a place that treats him so well that he loves the OR (operating room)! Really? After Chicago and Minneapolis he was terrified of the OR. Terrified of anything that had a smell or made a sound that reminded him of the hum of the anesthesiologist’s machines. And now he hops right up onto the surgical bed, smiling. (I’ve been told he’s a favorite of the OR staff 🙂 ) And yes, the second best thing is the giant turkey dinner that he always orders from the kitchen after he’s approved to eat solids again. He’s usually been fasting for nearly a day by that point but the way he eats his hospital food makes it seem more like a week.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. Ayrie is in a better place emotionally and physically because of you. I used to think about what Shiya and I would do if he died. I thought about this every day. I don’t anymore. And that’s because we go to an amazing surgeon and hospital and we are able to do that thanks to you.

xoxo
nora, ayrie (4) & shiya (2)