Home Sweet Home

What a long drive from Cincinnati. I picked up Becky and Titus at 6:30am at the hospital and we took off for Dallas. It was a beautiful day for a LONG drive. Titus had been pretty lethargic the last couple of days in PICU, but as soon as we got him the car, he smiled at Aidan and Noah. A few hours later, he was back to his old self: smiling, babbling, and playing. The cat did ok - but I still haven't figured out how to make a cat pee on the side of the road. She did have one explosion in her carrier to which Aidan had to clean up (his cat . . . his mess). And we learned to not hold her when you turn on Titus' suction machine (kind of freaks her out - not a good thing in an enclosed space).

And of course, Titus had a major explosion when we stopped for lunch. He did this to me on the way up there - Becky and the boys were inside McDonalds and I was changing Titus in the car. You would think after 12 years of changing diapers I should have it down, but no - each child has to decide to outdo the other.

This was a major nuclear attack. If it could be bottled, I am convinced it would stop the war in Iraq (or Afghanistan - whichever one Obama is putting his energy to this week). I used every available wipe in the car - and then was calling for Aidan to bring me paper towels from the restaurant. There was poo from his elbows to his toes - dripping out his jeans, on the seat of the car, side of the car, and even on the road. And the smell cleared out the parking lot in a manner of minutes. I believe you get the picture.

We had to stop every two hours to give Titus his eye drops. One drop of medicine had to be followed by an ointment 5 minutes later. But each "5-minute stop" turned into 15-20 minutes. After awhile, it just became a comedy of errors. Between Nashville and Memphis, Becky and I had a long discussion with Aidan and Noah and explained to them all the events of the week. A lot of tears were shed in the car. As hard as it was to hear the news this week, I found out that it's even harder to tell your boys.

We rolled into town around 11:30pm, and Vanessa, our night nurse, met us at the house. The next thing I knew, it was 8am, and Lisa, Titus' day nurse walked in with fresh donuts.

Lisa spent the morning with Titus allowing Becky and me to take Aidan and Noah to church and pick up Tucker and Cade. Lisa took the above picture - and you can see how happy he was to be home and back in his familiar surroundings. He has had a good day and sat in my lap watching football this afternoon.

This week will bring a series of follow-up appointments as Titus has his eye evaluated and other regular appointments and therapy. His breathing and lungs still sound a bit "wet" and he has some clear congestion that we are suctioning, but you can tell he's happy to be back home.