RJs Army

You might notice that we've changed the blog name from Friends of RJ (which we all are) to RJ's Army. We here at blog central have been thinking that this really is a war and every day is a battle - some days you win and some days you don't, but you always need to keep your eyes on the prize. Everyone one of us are troops in the Army and we all have our specific functions as we support him at the front. Fine. We'll stop with the military metaphors now. But you get what we're saying.

Today was a not so good day - not so much medically as emotionally. When you're trapped by tubes and machines, it's hard to remember that it won't always be like this and RJ was having trouble seeing past the suck of today. In the scheme of things, he's making amazing progress but it can be hard to see through the forest of medical paraphernalia. One of the high points was pushing through a treatment that he'd been dreading - a percussion 'massage' where they shake up his lungs in order to move the mucus and get them working on their own again. He was really anxious about the treatment, but went through it with flying colors and we're all so proud of the way he handled it.

Jessica and RJ love that so many people want to visit, but at this point we have to discourage 'drop in' visits to the hospital. He is in the ICU under intense supervision and many treatments by doctors and nurses every day. There is a strict two person limit in his room and we are trying to let him get as much rest as possible. If you are close to RJ, you can contact Jessica by email or text (no phone calls right now please) or Cynthia at cyn(at)cjomololu.com and we'll try to figure out a good time. As soon as he's moved onto the regular pediatric floor and the breathing tube comes out, visiting will be much easier and he'll be thrilled to see everyone.

Thanks also to everyone who stepped up to watch Sophie! She's going to stay with Alex because he is taking such good care of the chickens as well, but it's nice to know that we have so much backup. After the baby is born we will likely have meals and childcare requests that we'll toss out so everyone will get more than enough chance to do something to ease the situation.

Keep watching the blog for daily updates as we crest this particular hill and march our way into the next challenge.